Bozdağ is a town in

İzmir Province İzmir Province ( tr, İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 distri ...

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

Geography

Bozdağ is a part of

Ödemiş Ödemiş is a district of İzmir Province of Turkey, as well as the name of its central town (urban population 75,577 as of 2012), located 113 km southeast of the city of İzmir. About 4 km north of Ödemiş town are the ruins of Hypa ...

district of İzmir province. It is at the east of the province at on Bozdağ Mountains which it is named after. Distance to Ödemiş is . The population of Bozdağ is 552. as of 2020.

History

The ancient name of Bozdağ was ''Tmolos''. It was a border town of

Lydian Kingdom Lydia ( Lydian: ‎𐤮𐤱𐤠𐤭𐤣𐤠, ''Śfarda''; Aramaic: ''Lydia''; el, Λυδία, ''Lȳdíā''; tr, Lidya) was an Iron Age kingdom of western Asia Minor located generally east of ancient Ionia in the modern western Turkish prov ...

in the 6th century BC. After it was plundered by

Achaemenid Empire The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest em ...

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

it lost its importance.

Ibn Battuta Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Battutah (, ; 24 February 13041368/1369),; fully: ; Arabic: commonly known as Ibn Battuta, was a Berbers, Berber Maghrebi people, Maghrebi scholar and explorer who travelled extensively in the lands of Afro-Eurasia, ...

visited the Sultan Muhammad, son of Aydin, at his summer retreat located here, spending 14 days. While there Ibn Battuta examined a " stone that fell from the sky". According to unclaimed reports, During Ottoman era, it was a summer residence of

Mehmet II Mehmed II ( ota, محمد ثانى, translit=Meḥmed-i s̱ānī; tr, II. Mehmed, ; 30 March 14323 May 1481), commonly known as Mehmed the Conqueror ( ota, ابو الفتح, Ebū'l-fetḥ, lit=the Father of Conquest, links=no; tr, Fâtih Su ...

while he was still a prince ( tr, şehzade) governing in Manisa.Mayor's page
In 1963 it was declared a township.

Economy

Fruits and vegetables are produced. At high altitude, the town is cooler than the surrounding and some houses are used as yayla (summer resort) for İzmir or Ödemiş citizens. Winter tourism also seems to be promising.

Recreation

Bozdağ is a beautiful area with Mount Bozdağ which attracts climbers, trackers and skiers. The Bozdağ Mountain is a perfect place for outdoor activities at a suitable altitude. The Mountain Bozdağ has an elevation of 2156 meters with different routes to hike, climb and ski from. Since it is located in a country with high temperatures, weather changes are common around the mountain and there can be unexpected changes which interferes with the plans of hikers, skiers and climbers. Therefore the ski season does not last a long time. The skiing resort on Mount Bozdağ is located 8 km away from the Bozdağ village. It has a cablelift which goes all the way up to the summit but it does not have long skiing pistes. The mountain is fit for trackers mainly during summer since there are no snow. The tracking routes require more skill, technical equipment and climbing knowledge to be able to complete successfully and safely.

History of climbing

Mount Bozdağ has attracted climbers since 1980, mainly climbers from Izmir. The mountain has different routes which can be used by climbers. They come in different difficulty levels and the north face of the mountain has areas with risks of avalanches. There has been 2 deaths during the last 30 years on Mount Bozdağ. One of them due to falling on ice(January 1987), the other due to an avalanche(February 2013). The first climbings were accomplished by IDA (Izmir Dağcılık Ajanlığı-Izmir Mountaineering Agency). The climbers followed a route which started and followed the west ridge of the mountain (this route is now known as "The Classic"). In February 1986, Mount Bozdağ was climbed successfully from the North Face and North Ridge of the Mountain for the first time by Mustafa Arif Demir and Mehmet Akif Demir. The most difficult and technical route of the mountain, Dik Deresi (Steep River) is a mix of rock, ice and snow. The first his route was climbed was in January 1995 by Mustafa Arif Demir and Muammer Yalçın. Ever since, the number of climbers has increased and there now is a winter celebration organized by IDADIK to climb Mount Bozdağ through different routes. One of the oldest climbing clubs in Turkey, IDADIK (Izmir Moutaineering and Nature Sports Speciality Club) encourages young climbers and people to climb and learn about the mountains in Turkey.

References