Levent Marina is the only marina located in the gulf.
Geology
The Gulf of İzmir was formed during the
Quaternary
The Quaternary ( ) is the current and most recent of the three periods of the Cenozoic Era in the geologic time scale of the International Commission on Stratigraphy (ICS). It follows the Neogene Period and spans from 2.58 million years ...
geological period.
The east-west direction pit of the gulf was formed as a result of breaking the faults.
Flora and fauna
The northeastern coast of the gulf is the habitat of the
Mediterranean monk seal
The Mediterranean monk seal (''Monachus monachus'') is a monk seal belonging to the family Phocidae. , it is estimated that fewer than 700 individuals survive in three or four isolated subpopulations in the Mediterranean, (especially) in the Ae ...
.
İzmir Birds Paradise
İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban agglo ...
in the north of the gulf and
Çakalburnu Lagoon in the south are the breeding ground of the birds.
History
It is known that the first settlements around the gulf were in the
Neolithic Age
The Neolithic period, or New Stone Age, is an Old World archaeological period and the final division of the Stone Age. It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wide-ranging set of developments that appear to have arisen independently in several parts ...
.
The most known settlement is
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
, which was established around present-day
Bayraklı
Bayraklı is a metropolitan district of İzmir and a district of İzmir Province in Turkey. Bayraklı was turned into a district by a decree of the Government of Turkey on March 6, 2008. Previously, it was a quarter within İzmir's Karşıyaka dis ...
in 3300s BC.
Timur
Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...
, who came to İzmir after the
Battle of Ankara
The Battle of Ankara or Angora was fought on 20 July 1402 at the Çubuk plain near Ankara, between the forces of the Ottoman Sultan Bayezid I and the Emir of the Timurid Empire, Timur. The battle was a major victory for Timur, and it led to the ...
, seized İzmir Port Castle and its surroundings in December 1402 and ordered the destruction of the castle.
During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, naval battles occurred between
Sancakburnu Castle and Urla in March 1915 and around Uzunada in May 1916.
Economy
Port of İzmir
The Port of İzmir ( tr, İzmir Limanı), alternatively known as Port of Alsancak, is a seaport in İzmir, Turkey. It is situated in the Gulf of İzmir.
History
İzmir was an important port of the Ottoman Empire and the first quay was constructed ...
is a cargo and passenger port located to the east of the gulf. It is the seventh largest port of the country in terms of container volume and thirteenth in terms of cargo tonnage.
There are nine active passenger
ferry quays in the gulf. The İZKARAY project, which envisages the joining of the two sides of the gulf with a bridge, an artificial island and a tunnel, will provide road and rail connections between
Balçova
Balçova (pronounced Balchova), is a district of Izmir Province in Turkey. It is one of the eleven districts in the Greater Metropolitan Area of Izmir, the smallest in terms of area. Balçova is a fully urbanized at the rate of 100,0 per cent an ...
and
Çiğli
Çiğli (''Silleon'' in Greek) is a metropolitan district of İzmir in western Turkey. It covers the northern end of İzmir Metropolitan Municipality around the mouth of the River Gediz, across the Gulf of İzmir from the main city. The Gediz delt ...
districts.
Shipwrecks
There are five known shipwrecks in the Gulf of İzmir.
At a depth of 16.4 meters off the Sancakburnu Castle, there are wrecks of two ships, one of which is 118 meters and the other is 86 meters long, which crashed into each other in 1957. There is another shipwreck located off Güzelbahçe at a depth of 42 meters, which was discovered at the beginning of 2017, thought to be a 78 meters long cargo ship that sank in the late 1800s.
It is also stated that one to four ships were sunk in the gulf during the First World War.
Dozens of shipwrecks off the Sancakburnu Castle were removed from the sea in 1967 and in the following years.
Pollution
In the period when 200,000 people lived around the gulf, the discharge of wastewater into the gulf did not cause any obvious problems.
However, with the population exceeding 500,000 and industrialization, waste that has exceeded the capacity of the gulf to renew itself has begun to be discharged into the gulf.
In this period, pollution became noticeable and the people could no longer swim in the gulf.
With the population exceeding 1.7 million in the 1990s, the level of pollution has risen a lot and heavy metal traces were found in fish.
In 1992, the treatment and sewage system, called the Grand Canal Project, started to be built by
İZSU.
Launched in October 2002, the system prevented waste water discharge to the gulf. By the 2010s, it was observed that the pollution in the gulf was removed and the marine life returned to normal.
With the Gulf of İzmir Oceanographic Monitoring Project carried out by İZSU since 2000, the cleaning of the gulf is tracked.
Leisure
Sailing
Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cour ...
is supported by
Karşıyaka S.K. and
Göztepe S.K.
Göztepe Spor Kulübü (, Göztepe Sports Club), also known as Göztepe, is a Turkish sports club based in the Göztepe and Güzelyalı neighborhoods of İzmir. The "AŞ" refers to ''incorporated company'', as besides football, the club also ...
in the inner gulf. Yacht, sailing, canoe, rowing and dragon boat races are held in the gulf with the İzmir Gulf Festival, which is organized annually since 2017. The gulf hosts the
İnciraltı Sea Museum
The İnciraltı Sea Museum is a naval museum in the İnciraltı neighborhood of Izmir's Balçova district in Turkey. Located near the İnciraltı Ozdilek Shopping Center, it was opened on July 1, 2007.
Main attractions of the museum are two dec ...
and the
Zübeyde Hanım Education and Museum Ship. There are nine
Blue Flag beach
The Blue Flag is a certification by the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) that a beach, marina, or sustainable boating tourism operator meets its standards.
The Blue Flag is a trademark owned by FEE, which is a not-for-profit non-gov ...
es around the gulf (four in Foça, three in Karaburun, one in Güzelbahçe and one in Urla). There is a ban on diving in twelve points in the gulf to protect cultural and natural heritage.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulf of Izmir
Geography of İzmir
Landforms of İzmir Province
Izmir
Izmir