Ayaş is a town and district of

Ankara Province Ankara Province ( tr, , ) is a province of Turkey with the capital city Ankara. Demographics History The site of the modern city has been home to settlements by many historic Anatolian civilizations in antiquity and classical times, in ...

in the

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is b ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, 58 km from the city of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, maki ...

which is very rich for historical monuments. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 21,239 of which 7,839 live in the urban center of Ayaş. The district covers an area of , and the average elevation is . The district is known for its mulberry trees, its tasty tomatoes and its healing mineral water spas, both for drinking and bathing. There is an annual mulberry festival in the town of Ayaş. The town has a long history and is mentioned in folk songs and the journals of the traveller

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty years, recording ...

History

The citizens of Ayaş were Oghuz tribes as the village names Bayat, Afşar and Peçenek implies. In 1554, it became a

sanjak Sanjaks (liwāʾ) (plural form: alwiyāʾ) * Armenian: նահանգ (''nahang''; meaning "province") * Bulgarian: окръг (''okrǔg''; meaning "county", "province", or "region") * el, Διοίκησις (''dioikēsis'', meaning "province" ...

center, and in 1864 it became a

Kaza A kaza (, , , plural: , , ; ota, قضا, script=Arab, (; meaning 'borough') * bg, околия (; meaning 'district'); also Кааза * el, υποδιοίκησις () or (, which means 'borough' or 'municipality'); also () * lad, kaza , ...

in Ankara Vilayeti. In Ottoman period, education was advanced in Ayaş. In 1900, there were eight

medrese Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

s, two primary

mektep A kuttab ( ar, كُتَّاب ''kuttāb'', plural: ''kataatiib'', ) or maktab ( ar, مَكْتَب) is a type of elementary school in the Muslim world. Though the ''kuttab'' was primarily used for teaching children in reading, writing, grammar, ...

s and one rüşdiye.

Settlements in the district

Towns

* Ayaş * Oltan

Villages

Picture gallery

File:Ayaş Ankara Türkiye - panoramio (4).jpg, Ayaş houses File:Ayaş, 06710 Bayram-Ayaş-Ankara, Turkey - panoramio (4).jpg, Ulu Cami File:Ayaş, Ankara, Türkiye - panoramio (4).jpg File:Ayaş Ankara türkiye - panoramio (2).jpg

Notes

References

* *

External links

District governor's official website

District municipality's official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ayas Populated places in Ankara Province Districts of Ankara Province