Sources for Anatolia map:
Only the successor to the Medes, the Achaemenid Persians, laid claim to the entire peninsula. Some regions belonged to dependent princes, the same as in the era of the Hittites. Isolated spots were practically independent.[1]
Eastern Anatolia
editTroy, Taurus, Anti-Taurus [1]
Principle Features of Eastern Anatolia: Nemrut, Sipan, Ararat, Binguel[2]
Eastern Anatolia, which can be defined as the part of eastern Turkey located south of the Pontic Range, bordered to the west by the upper stretches of the Euphrates River and, to the south, by the Taurus Mountains, is mainly a region of mountains and highlands. The Taurus Range, which runs west to east from the Mediterranean almost as far as the Zagros Mountains, forms the region’s southern backbone and acts as a clear-cut geographic and ecological border that separates the eastern Anatolian highlands from the lowlands of southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria. Much more difficult to identify are its geographical eastern borders, because of the strong geographic and ecological continuity with the Lesser Caucasus.[3]
Where is “eastern Anatolia?” A standard definition identifies Anatolia as “the peninsula of land that today constitutes the Asian portion of Turkey,”1 or the part of Turkey that lies east of the Aegean and the Bosporus. Indeed, with some exceptions (e.g., Köroğlu 2003), most archaeological accounts delimit eastern Anatolia as the upland plateau that extends from the northern Euphrates eastward to the Turkish border (e.g., Bartl 2001; Çilingiroğlu 2001; Yakar 2000).[4]
The eastern Anatolian plateau rises up from central Anatolia at the Taurus Mountains...The Pontic Range marks the plateau’s northern border...East of the Black Sea the mountains of the lesser Caucasus mark the northeastern border, which arc from the northwest to southeast to form the eastern limit of the plateau. The southern boundary of the eastern Anatolian highland coincides with the southern reaches of the Antitaurus Mountains, particularly the Malatya, Muş, Van, and Kurdish (or Hakkari) Ranges...[4]
Confusingly, geographers have assigned three terms to this single geological zone to designate regions that partially or largely overlap: the eastern Anatolian plateau, the Armenian plateau, and the Iranian plateau. The first two of these designations overlap substantially, such that the terminological differences, which also exist in archaeological parlance, primarily result from the shifting political fortunes and cultural trajectories of the region since the nineteenth century.[4]
Situated near the western limit of the eastern Anatolian plateau, the Elazığ region fell broadly within the ambit of the Late Bronze Age Hittite Empire (Sevin 1991; Seeher, chapter 16, and Beal, chapter 26 in this volume).[4]
Features of eastern Anatolia’s landscape: Ararat, the Nemrut, and the Supan Dağ, Lake Van (the largest lake in Turkey), Bingöl, Van, Kars, and Sarıkamış districts.[3]
Mountains and Rivers
editThe two highest mountains in Anatolia Suphan Dag (4058 m) and Ararat (5123 m) are to the northwest and north-northeast of Ahta Dag [5]
Largest Rivers: Araxes, Çoruh, Kara Su, Murat, and Euphrates[3]
The Euphrates, Kara Su, Murat, and Araxes therefore form part of a complex natural communication system connecting eastern Anatolia both to the southern Caucasus and the Upper Euphrates Valley and, more indirectly, to the lowlands of southeastern Anatolia and northern Syria.[3]
Van
editThe best evidence for such large-scale irrigation in eastern Anatolia comes from the Van region, where canals, dams, aqueducts, and associated monumental inscriptions can be attributed to the kings of Urartu (Belli 1999; Zimansky 1985:66–70).[6]
Lake Van Catchment KBA [7]
ANATOLIAN IRON AGES 3 published by the British Institute at Ankara [8]
Southeastern
editPlains of southeastern Anatolia:[6]
- Urfa/Harran Plain (Creekmore 2008; Yardımcı 2004)
- the Malatya Plain (Di Nocera 2008)
- the Cizre/Silopi Plain (Algaze 1989; Algaze et al. 1991; Kozbe 2008; Parker 2001)
Northern boundary of SE Anatolia:
At the northern fringes of southeastern Anatolia, sites of the Early Transcaucasian (ETC) or Kura-Araxes culture (actually a heterogeneous group of cultures with general similarities in ceramics) emerged in the mid-fourth millennium b.c.e. and expanded into the third millennium b.c.e. (see, most recently, Kohl 2007:86–102; Rothman 2003; Marro, chapter 12, and Sagona, chapter 30 in this volume). The communities using this material culture appear to have dislodged or replaced the communities using northern Mesopotamian ceramics in the Caucasus (Marro 2007b). Although frequent in the Karakaya and Keban Dam regions, the distinctive ETC ceramics are very uncommon in the lower plains and river valleys of southeastern Anatolia.[6]
Boundaries of SE Anatolia:
For purposes of this reassessment, I define southeastern Anatolia as the lowland area bordered by the Taurus Mountains on the north and the Tur Abdin Mountains to the south, the latter a low limestone mountain range with elevations between 900 m and 1,400 m (Radner 2006). The hinterlands of the Upper Euphrates River and its various tributaries form the natural western border of the area considered here, while the hinterlands of the Tigris River and its various tributaries in turn mark its eastern extent.[9]
Northeastern Anatolia/Erzurum:
The archeology of the Early Bronze Age northeast Anatolia has often been characterized by the dominant presence of the so-called Karaz Ware...In northeast Anatolia, this distinctive ceramic tradition is represented in the archaeological contexts of major excavated sites of the Erzurum plain: Karaz, Guzelove, Pulur, Buyuktepe, and Sos Huyuk (Kosay, Turfan 1959; Kosay, Vary 1964; 1967; Sagona et al 1993; Sagona et al 1996)[10]
In the central zone of the eastern Anatolian plateau, recent research in the Erzurum region...Sos Höyük, located on the western Pasinler Plain.[4]
Eastern Anatolia from (currently cited) Mitchell source:
These arrangements need to be seen as a whole, since they involved a completely new plan for the defence and administration of the whole of eastern Anatolia, to say nothing of the rest of the Levant. The key factor was the decision to turn the whole Pontic heartland of Mithridates' kingdom into a province, to be attached to Bithynia. This province was divided into the territories of eleven cities, but various adjacent regions were handed over to native rulers who had supported Pompey during the war. The identification of the eleven cities has been a matter for dispute, but the essentials of the strategy are clear. The new province contained three longstanding Greek colonial foundations on the Black Sea coast, Amastris, Sinope, and Amisus. The others, in all probability, comprised Mithridates' former royal capital at Amaseia[11]
Cilicia
editEveryday that the Macedonians spent in Anatolia was a day in which the Persians could rush troops to the Cilician Gates and block this exit from the Peninsula. Except at the Gates, there was no southern route out of Anatolia, for the Taurus mountains were impassible. The alternative was to go east, through the more torturous Antitaurus, a route of 215 miles at heights of up to 5,000 feet[1]
The Taurus Mountains, reaching heights of about 11,500 feet separated Cilicia from Cappadocia ... the main entry from the Taurus Mountains was by the Cilician gates, a long and narrow pass leading to the city of Tarsus. Through this Gate, Alexander the Great, as well as the Crusaders, entered Asia Minor.[12]
Antioch:
These texts make it clear that the regiment was stationed in southern Asia Minor, most probably at Antioch itself.[13]
Armenia
editSuny:
No matter what the Ottomans named the region or how they divided it up, mapmakers outside the Empire designated the extensive mountainous plateau in eastern Anatolia as Armenia. Six provinces (vilayets) Erzurum, Van, Bitlis, Sivas, Harput, Mamuretulaziz, and Diyarbakir were included as the Vilayet-i Sitte The name Armenia like the maps and the linking of the six provinces into one category, was a claim that connected a people and a territory. Contemporaries, both local and foreign, referred to the same area as Kurdistan"[14]
What was considered Armenia ... was contained within the eastern part of what the ancient Greeks had called Anatolia and modern Westerner's called Asia Minor. Anatolia's most stunning lake, the largest in modern Turkey, is Lake Van, near the city that carries its name and encloses the island of Aghtamar with its 10th century Armenian cathedral Surp Khatch[14]
Vaspurakan [14]
The Six Vilayets (includes map on page 76) [15]
Russian diplomats did take a keen interest in rail development in northeastern Turkey along the Black Sea coast, and in the Armenian areas of eastern Anatolia[16]
Scholars views differ on the origin of the Armenian people...according to another hypothesis, which suggests no mass migration, it is considered that the proto-Armenians were the native inhabitants of this territory situated on the highlands of the Anatolian plateau between the Black Sea and the Caspian Seas[12]
Araxes, Ararat [12]
Hewsen notes that the natural frontiers of the Armenian plateau are clearly defined in the east, the north west, and the south, while the borders in the west, the southeast and the north are obscure.[12]
19th-20th century
editThe Sèvres Treaty confirmed the dismemberment of the Ottoman Empire. The new Turkey was little more than a rump State in Central Anatolia, losing all European—except for Istanbul—and Arab possessions of the former Ottoman Empire and all territories east of the Euphrates on the Anatolian plateau."[17]
The Sèvres Peace Treaty had also affirmed the independence of Armenia and had forced the Ottomans to cede large tracks of Eastern Anatolia to Armenia. After his military victories, Mustafa Kemal forced the Armenians to recognize the old borderline between Russia and the Ottoman Empire by the Alexandropol Treaty of 2 December 1920. Meanwhile, the Turks regained control of Kurdistan north of Iraq and Syria that had become autonomous under the Sèvres Peace Treaty. With the Ankara Treaty of Friendship of 16 March 1921, relations with Soviet Russia were normalized and all capitulations cancelled.[17]
By the terms of the Russian-Ottoman Black Sea Agreement of 1900, the Russian Tsar reserved ther riht to veto any railway development projects in northern or eastern Anatolian areas abutting the Caucasus.Cite error: The
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...only a small portion of Circassians migrating to Ottoman territory during this period could be settled in Eastern Anatolia. This group was comprised almost solely of those who migrated to Erzurum from the eastern and central areas of the North Caucasus - Dagestan ,Chechnya, Ossetia and Kabarda...settled chiefly in the Erzurum vilayet..."[18]
Sarikamis, mus, bitlis [19][18]
Sivas, Adana[20]
Trabzon, Laz settlement[21]
While in line with the Ottoman Empire's general policy on settlement, the migration of refugees from the North Caucasus (commonly known as Circassians) to Eastern Anatolia[18]
Science
editAlong the southern side of Anatolia there are two mountain ranges, the Taurus and the Bitlis Zagros sutre mountains in the west and west respectively...there is close temporal association between the major tectonic events that affected the whole of eastern Turkey including the elevation of the Pontides, the eastern Anatolian high plateau and the Bitlis mountain range which are roughly syncronous[22]
The North Anatolian transform fault (NATF) and the East Anatolian Transfer Fault (EATF) are the most active tectonic elements of Anatolia that have formed during the NeoTectonic period[22]
Etymology
editEarly etymology based on numismatic evidence from Danishmend era - "very plausible"[23] (see also fn 20)
19th century definition currently represented in the article as the "traditional" definition — "now generally considered as synonymous in extent with Asia Minor" from 1859 source[24]
1841 source: "The modern name is Anatoli or Natolia from the Greek word anatoli"[25]
2003 Routledge: "The term Anatolia, derived from the Greek word for "east" is commonly used to denote the Asian territory of modern Turkey in pre-Classical antiquity"[26]
References
edit- ^ a b c Brice, Lee L.; Slootjes, Daniëlle (2014-11-21). Aspects of Ancient Institutions and Geography: Studies in Honor of Richard J.A. Talbert. BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-28372-5.
- ^ Mill, Hugh Robert (1908). The International Geography. D. Appleton.
- ^ a b c d Palumbi, Giulio (2011-09-05). "The Chalcolithic of Eastern Anatolia". The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0009. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
- ^ a b c d e Khatchadourian, Lori (2011-09-05). "The Iron Age in Eastern Anatolia". The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0020. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
- ^ Fevzi Özgökçe; Kit Tan; Vladimir Stevanović (2005). "A new subspecies of Silene acaulis (Caryophyllaceae) from East Anatolia, Turkey". Annales Botanici Fennici. 42 (2): 143–149. JSTOR 23726860.
- ^ a b c Ur, Jason (2011-09-05). "Ancient Landscapes in Southeastern Anatolia". The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0038. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
- ^ Barrios, V.; Carrizosa, Santiago; Darwall, W. R. T.; Freyhof, Jörg; Numa, C.; Smith, K. (2014-01-01). Freshwater key biodiversity areas in the Mediterranean basin hotspot: informing species conservation and development planning in freshwater ecosystems. International Union for Conservation of Nature. ISBN 978-2-8317-1698-5.
- ^ ANATOLIAN IRON AGES 3: The Proceedings of the Third Anatolian Iron Ages Colloquium Held at Van, 6-12. British Institute at Ankara. 1994. ISBN 978-1-912090-69-3.
- ^ Matney, Timothy (2011-09-05). "The Iron Age of Southeastern Anatolia". The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Anatolia. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780195376142.013.0019. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
- ^ Takaoğlu, Turan (2000-12). "Hearth structures in the religious pattern of Early Bronze Age northeast Anatolia". Anatolian Studies. 50: 11–16. doi:10.2307/3643011. ISSN 2048-0849 0066-1546, 2048-0849. Retrieved 2018-05-06.
{{cite journal}}
: Check|issn=
value (help); Check date values in:|date=
(help) - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Mitchell
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c d Dashdondog, Bayarsaikhan (2010-12-07). The Mongols and the Armenians (1220-1335). BRILL. ISBN 978-90-04-18635-4.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
mitchell
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ a b c Suny, Ronald Grigor (2015-03-22). "They Can Live in the Desert but Nowhere Else": A History of the Armenian Genocide. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-1-4008-6558-1.
- ^ Whitehorn, Alan (2015-05-26). The Armenian Genocide: The Essential Reference Guide: The Essential Reference Guide. ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-61069-688-3.
- ^ McMeekin, Sean (2012-05-07). The Berlin-Baghdad Express. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-05853-8.
- ^ a b "Peace Treaties after World War I". Retrieved 2018-05-06.
- ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference
caucasus
was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Gorman, Anthony (2015-05-29). Diasporas of the Modern Middle East. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 978-0-7486-8611-7.
- ^ Dadrian, Vahakn (2017-09-29). Warrant for Genocide: Key Elements of Turko-Armenian Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-29967-1.
- ^ Dadrian, Vahakn (2017-09-29). Warrant for Genocide: Key Elements of Turko-Armenian Conflict. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-351-29967-1.
- ^ a b Cemen, Ibrahim; Yilmaz, Yucel (2017-03-03). Active Global Seismology: Neotectonics and Earthquake Potential of the Eastern Mediterranean Region. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-94501-8.
- ^ Wittek, Paul (2013-05-20). The Rise of the Ottoman Empire: Studies in the History of Turkey, thirteenth–fifteenth Centuries. Routledge. ISBN 978-1-136-51319-0.
- ^ Charnock, Richard Stephen (1859). Local Etymology: A Derivative Dictionary of Geographical Names. Houlston and Wright.
- ^ Rosenmüller, Ern Frid Car (1841). The biblical geography of Asia Minor, Phoenicia, and Arabia. Thomas Clark.
- ^ Gates, Charles (2003). Ancient Cities: The Archaeology of Urban Life in the Ancient Near East and Egypt, Greece and Rome. Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-12182-8.