village
A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...
Çanakkale Province
Çanakkale Province () is a province of Turkey, located in the northwestern part of the country. It takes its name from the city of Çanakkale. Its area is 9,817 km2, and its population is 559,383 (2022).
Like Istanbul, Çanakkale province ...
in Turkey. Its population is 494 (2021). The place is known for hand-made knife cutlery.
Geography and history
Babakale is located at the southwestern tip of the Biga Peninsula. It is also the westernmost tip of the Asian continent. It is from the province center
Çanakkale
Çanakkale is a city and seaport in Turkey on the southern shore of the Dardanelles at their narrowest point. It is the seat of Çanakkale Province and Çanakkale District. "Babakale" is a
lexeme
A lexeme () is a unit of lexical meaning that underlies a set of words that are related through inflection. It is a basic abstract unit of meaning, a unit of morphological analysis in linguistics that roughly corresponds to a set of forms ta ...
of
Ottoman Turkish
Ottoman Turkish (, ; ) was the standardized register of the Turkish language in the Ottoman Empire (14th to 20th centuries CE). It borrowed extensively, in all aspects, from Arabic and Persian. It was written in the Ottoman Turkish alphabet. ...
بابا (''baba'', "father") and قلعه (''kal'e'', "castle"). The location of the village is mentioned for the first time in the ''
Kitab-ı Bahriye
The ''Kitab-ı Bahriye'' () is a navigational guide written by Piri Reis, an Ottoman Cartography, cartographer, Privateer, corsair, and captain. He compiled charts and notes from his career at sea into the most detailed Portolan chart, porto ...
'' ("Book of the Sea") by
Piri Reis
Muhiddin Piri ( 1470 – 1553), better known as Piri Reis (), was an Ottoman cartographer, admiral, navigator, corsair, and geographer. He is primarily known today for his cartographic works, including his 1513 world map and the '' Kitab-ı ...
geographer
A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
and
cartographer
Cartography (; from , 'papyrus, sheet of paper, map'; and , 'write') is the study and practice of making and using maps. Combining science, aesthetics and technique, cartography builds on the premise that reality (or an imagined reality) can ...
. According to the historic book, the grave of a saint named Emek Yemez Baba was situated in the location.
Being a seaside resort, the population rises up to 4,000 in summer time. As of 2023, the
village head
A village head, village headman or village chief is the community leader of a village or a small town.
Usage
Brunei
In Brunei, village head is called or in the Malay language. It is an administrative post which leads the community of a ...
is Bekir Vargün.
Babakale Castle
The village hosts a castle built during the
Ottoman era
The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Central Euro ...
. There were a mosque, a Turkish bath and two fountains inside the castle. The Babakale Castle () is situated on a hill at
Cape Baba
Cape Baba () or Cape Lecton () is the westernmost point of the Turkish mainland, making it the westernmost point of Asia. It is located at the village of Babakale ("Father Castle"), Ayvacık, Çanakkale, in the historical area of the Troad. There ...
near the seashore. According to a marble inscription found above the main castle gate, it was built by Admiral Kaymak Mustafa Pasha between AH 1135–1141 (1722–1729 CE) to protect the settlement from French pirates. The castle is oriented in northwest–southeast direction. It has a rectangular plan with
watchtower
A watchtower or guardtower (also spelt watch tower, guard tower) is a type of military/paramilitary or policiary tower used for guarding an area. Sometimes fortified, and armed with heavy weaponry, especially historically, the structures are ...
s on four corners. Entrance to the castle is through the main gate on the middle of the northeast front. In addition, there is a small gate next to the southeastern watchtower.
Babakale is known for handcrafting knife cutlery. According to the local cutlers, the handicraft goes back to the 1720s when the castle was built; after the completion of the castle, cutting and piercing weapons such as swords, daggers and knives, which were needed by the castle-guards, were handcrafted in the beginning by master cutlers, who had immigrated from modern-day
Kazakhstan
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is a landlocked country primarily in Central Asia, with a European Kazakhstan, small portion in Eastern Europe. It borders Russia to the Kazakhstan–Russia border, north and west, China to th ...
. At one time the cutlery, which was produced in around 18 workshops, was exported to many places in a region between
Syria
Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...
and
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
from the local port via sea trade. Manufactured of
forged
Forging is a manufacturing process involving the shaping of metal using localized compression (physics), compressive forces. The blows are delivered with a hammer (often a power hammer) or a die (manufacturing), die. Forging is often classif ...
chrome steel by traditional methods, the knives of Babakale are stored in a
scabbard
A scabbard is a sheath for holding a sword, dagger, knife, or similar edged weapons. Rifles and other long guns may also be stored in scabbards by horse riders for transportation. Military cavalry and cowboys had scabbards for their saddle ring ...
and are ornamented.
The knives are categorized upon the structure of the hilt, such as the
Bowie knife
A Bowie knife ( ) is a pattern of fixed-blade fighting knives created by Rezin Bowie in the early 19th century for his brother James Bowie, who had become famous for his use of a large knife at a duel known as the Sandbar Fight.
Since its fir ...
, common knife and handle knife, as well as upon usage: the grapefruit knife is long, the belt-knife for shepherds is long, the
hunting knife
A hunting knife is a knife used during hunting for preparing the game to be used as food: skinning the animal and cutting up the meat. It is different from the hunting dagger which was traditionally used to kill wild game.
Some hunting knives ...
is long, and the
butcher knife
A butcher knife or butcher's knife is a knife designed and used primarily for the butchering or dressing of animal carcasses.
Use
Today, the butcher knife is used throughout the world in the meat processing trade. The heftier blade works well ...
is long. "Delivery of special customer orders may take up to five months" as told by a cutler.