Keşan is the name of a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivision ...

Edirne Province Edirne Province ( tr, ) is a Turkish province located in East Thrace. Part of European Turkey, it is one of only three provinces located entirely within continental Europe. Edirne Province is bordered by Tekirdağ Province and Kırklareli P ...

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 in ...

, and also the name of the largest in the district town of Keşan ( bg, Кешан; gr, Κεσσάνη,

Byzantine Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the Ottoman c ...

: Ρουσιον, ''Rusion'')Kenneth M. Setton, Norman P. Zacour, Harry W. Hazard, A History of the Crusades: The Impact of the Crusades on the Near East Wisconsin University Press 1985, p. 545
/ref>Hakan T. Karateke, Evliyā Çelebī’s Journey from Bursa to the Dardanelles and Edirne, From the Fifth Book of the Seyāḥatnāme, Leiden - Boston 2013, p. 197
/ref>Hakan Eşme, Keşan'ın Tarihçesi
/ref> In 2010 Keşan had a permanent population of 54,314; in the summer this increases to 70,000 because of an influx of

tourist Tourism is travel for pleasure or business; also the theory and practice of touring, the business of attracting, accommodating, and entertaining tourists, and the business of operating tours. The World Tourism Organization defines tourism ...

s. The mayor is Mustafa Helvacıoğlu ( AKP). Keşan district is bordered by İpsala and Uzunköprü to the north,

Malkara Malkara ( el, Μάλγαρα, Malgara) is a town and district of Tekirdağ Province in the Marmara region of Turkey. It is located at 55 km west of Tekirdağ and 190 km from Istanbul. It covers an area of 1,225 km², which makes ...

to the east, Şarköy to the southeast,

Gelibolu Gelibolu, also known as Gallipoli (from el, Καλλίπολις, ''Kallipolis'', "Beautiful City"), is the name of a town and a district in Çanakkale Province of the Marmara Region, located in Eastern Thrace in the European part of Turkey on th ...

and the

Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea ; tr, Ege Denizi ( Greek: Αιγαίο Πέλαγος: "Egéo Pélagos", Turkish: "Ege Denizi" or "Adalar Denizi") is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans ...

to the south and

Enez Enez is a town and a district of Edirne Province, in Thrace, Turkey. The ancient name of the town was Ainos ( el, Αίνος), Latinised as Aenus. The mayor is Özkan Günenç ( CHP). The population is 10,886 as of 2018. Enez consists of an old ...

to the west.

Agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people t ...

and

commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

are the two most important sources of

income Income is the consumption and saving opportunity gained by an entity within a specified timeframe, which is generally expressed in monetary terms. Income is difficult to define conceptually and the definition may be different across fields. For ...

in Keşan. Because of its proximity to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

, there is a daily flow of tourists in and out of the district.

Literacy Literacy in its broadest sense describes "particular ways of thinking about and doing reading and writing" with the purpose of understanding or expressing thoughts or ideas in Writing, written form in some specific context of use. In other wo ...

is 98%. The local music includes

gaida A gaida is a bagpipe from Southeastern Europe. Southern European bagpipes known as ''gaida'' include: the , , (), () () or (), ''(')'', , also . Construction Bag Gaida bags are generally of sheep or goat hide. Different regions have ...

, tupan, and hora dance.

History

Humans have lived here continuously from the

30th century BC The 30th century BC was a century that lasted from the year 3000 BC to 2901 BC. Events * Before 3000 BC: An image of a deity (detail from a cong) recovered from Tomb 12 in Fanshan, Yuyao, Zhejiang, is made during the Neolithic period by the ...

. The first inhabitants were the Proto-Thracian and

Thracian The Thracians (; grc, Θρᾷκες ''Thrāikes''; la, Thraci) were an Indo-European speaking people who inhabited large parts of Eastern and Southeastern Europe in ancient history.. "The Thracians were an Indo-European people who occupied t ...

tribes. Many Thracian

coin A coin is a small, flat (usually depending on the country or value), round piece of metal or plastic used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order t ...

s of the Odrises have been found here.''Keşan -'' Rumeli Balkan Edirne haberleri, Trakya-net.com/
/ref> From 580 BC to 1359 AD first it was a central part of the

Odrysian kingdom The Odrysian Kingdom (; Ancient Greek: ) was a state grouping many Thracian tribes united by the Odrysae, which arose in the early 5th century BC and existed at least until the late 1st century BC. It consisted mainly of present-day Bulgaria and ...

of Thrace, and after that was ruled by the

Persian 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 emp ...

, the

Macedonian Empire Macedonia (; grc-gre, Μακεδονία), also called Macedon (), was an ancient kingdom on the periphery of Archaic and Classical Greece, and later the dominant state of Hellenistic Greece. The kingdom was founded and initially ruled by ...

, the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post- Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings around the Medit ...

(including i.е.

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constanti ...

), the

Bulgarian Empire In the medieval history of Europe, Bulgaria's status as the Bulgarian Empire ( bg, Българско царство, ''Balgarsko tsarstvo'' ) occurred in two distinct periods: between the seventh and the eleventh centuries and again between th ...

, the Byzantine Empire, the

Latin Empire The Latin Empire, also referred to as the Latin Empire of Constantinople, was a feudal Crusader state founded by the leaders of the Fourth Crusade on lands captured from the Byzantine Empire. The Latin Empire was intended to replace the Byzant ...

, again the

and the Byzantine Empire. The Thracian town on

Via Egnatia The Via Egnatia was a road constructed by the Romans in the 2nd century BC. It crossed Illyricum, Macedonia, and Thracia, running through territory that is now part of modern Albania, North Macedonia, Greece, and European Turkey as a contin ...

mentioned by Klaudios Ptolemaios and by many others during over of 1900 years before the Turks, have the names: Zorlanis (and Zerlanis, Zorlanae, Zorlanea), Topiris (and Topir, Topiro, Topirion), Kission (and Kissos, Kissan, Kissupolis), Rusion (and Russa, Roussa, Rossion)Mete ESİN. Keşan Bahânesiyle-1, 20.04.2006
/ref>Mete ESİN. Keşan Bahânesiyle-2, 20.04.2006
in Greek ρουζ - rous mean rouge. Here is the place of the remarkable Battle of Rusion where the Bulgarian Tzar Kaloian defeated the Latin empire army in 1206, and again spread the Bulgarian control over the fortress that begin form the first Bulgarian conquest in 538 AD and the next: of khan

Zabergan Zabergan ( grc-x-medieval, Ζαβεργάν) was the chieftain of the Kutrigur Bulgar Huns, a nomadic people of the Pontic–Caspian steppe, after Sinnion. His name is Iranian, meaning full moon. Either under pressure from incoming Avars,; or ...

in 559, Bulgarian and

Slavs Slavs are the largest European ethnolinguistic group. They speak the various Slavic languages, belonging to the larger Balto-Slavic branch of the Indo-European languages. Slavs are geographically distributed throughout northern Eurasia, m ...

in 617, 623 and 626,

Caesar Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...

Tervel Khan Tervel ( bg, Тервел) also called ''Tarvel'', or ''Terval'', or ''Terbelis'' in some Byzantine sources, was the khan of Bulgaria during the First Bulgarian Empire at the beginning of the 8th century. In 705 Emperor Justinian II named ...

in 705 and 717-718,

Great khan Khagan or Qaghan (Mongolian:; or ''Khagan''; otk, 𐰴𐰍𐰣 ), or , tr, Kağan or ; ug, قاغان, Qaghan, Mongolian Script: ; or ; fa, خاقان ''Khāqān'', alternatively spelled Kağan, Kagan, Khaghan, Kaghan, Khakan, Khakha ...

Krum Krum ( bg, Крум, el, Κροῦμος/Kroumos), often referred to as Krum the Fearsome ( bg, Крум Страшни) was the Khan of Bulgaria from sometime between 796 and 803 until his death in 814. During his reign the Bulgarian territo ...

in 813, Tzar Simeon the Great in 896, 913, 921, 922 and 923, Bulgarian troops in 1047, Tzar

Ivan Asen II Ivan Asen II, also known as John Asen II ( bg, Иван Асен II, ; 1190s – May/June 1241), was Emperor ( Tsar) of Bulgaria from 1218 to 1241. He was still a child when his father Ivan Asen I one of the founders of the Second Bulgarian Em ...

in 1235-1236, Tzar Michail Shishman in 1328. The castle of Rusion was stay on the hill about 4 km southwest of center of the present Kesan and some ruins still exist around 40.826272N 26.679587E at so called "Kaletepe" (tur.- Fortress hill). ''Rusion'' did not fall easily to the Osman Turks, first In 1359 the fortress was taken for a short time by invaders of Gazi Süleyman Paşa before finally being permanently held in 1362 by Lala Şahin Paşa. In the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...

''Rusion'' was renamed to ''Rusköy'' (tur. Rus village) a name derived from the medieval fortress-town, and later to ''Keşan'' (from gr. Kissos, Kissupolis). Keşan belonged to the Galipoli Sanjak, and as such was part of the

Rumelia Eyalet The Eyalet of Rumeli, or Eyalet of Rumelia ( ota, ایالت روم ایلی, ), known as the Beylerbeylik of Rumeli until 1591, was a first-level province ('' beylerbeylik'' or ''eyalet'') of the Ottoman Empire encompassing most of the Balkans ( ...

and then the Province of the Kapudan Pasha. It was a

nahiya A nāḥiyah ( ar, , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level division w ...

center in

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 , ...

at first, later it was bound to İpsala kaza. It was transferred to the Eyalet of Edirne in 1530. According to the Ottoman population statistics of 1914, the

of Keşan had a total population of 30,644, consisting of 15.371

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, o ...

, 15.221 Muslims, 51

Armenians Armenians ( hy, հայեր, ''hayer'' ) are an ethnic group native to the Armenian highlands of Western Asia. Armenians constitute the main population of Armenia and the ''de facto'' independent Artsakh. There is a wide-ranging diaspora ...

and 1

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites"" ...

. Keşan was invaded by the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

in 1829 and in

1878 Events January–March * January 5 – Russo-Turkish War – Battle of Shipka Pass IV: Russian and Bulgarian forces defeat the Ottoman Empire. * January 9 – Umberto I becomes King of Italy. * January 17 – Batt ...

, by the

Bulgarians Bulgarians ( bg, българи, Bǎlgari, ) are a nation and South Slavic ethnic group native to Bulgaria and the rest of Southeast Europe. Etymology Bulgarians derive their ethnonym from the Bulgars. Their name is not completely unders ...

between 1912 and 1913 (on 14 November 1912 Bulgarian Hayrabol detachment commanded by

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Petar Salabashev take the town and Tzar Ferdinand reside some days here), by the

between 30 of July 1920 and 1922. It was ceded to

Republic 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 in S ...

on 19 November 1922. Keşan district reached its present borders after the separation of nahiya of Enez in 1953. A large part of the population are Bulgarian speaking Muslims, immigrants from Bulgaria and Greece, Roma, and

Turkmens Turkmens ( tk, , , , ; historically "the Turkmen"), sometimes referred to as Turkmen Turks ( tk, , ), are a Turkic ethnic group native to Central Asia, living mainly in Turkmenistan, northern and northeastern regions of Iran and north-we ...

Notable people

* Selim Sesler (1957–2014), clarinet virtuoso of Romani heritage * Aleko Trendafilov - volunteer in Thesaloniki detachment of the Bulgarian

Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps The Macedonian-Adrianopolitan Volunteer Corps ( bg, Македоно-одринско опълчение, ''Makedono-odrinsko opalchenie'') was a volunteer corps of the Bulgarian Army during the Balkan Wars. It was formed on 23 September 1912 an ...

, born and resident of Keşan * Kosta Yanev - volunteer in 3rd

company A company, abbreviated as co., is a legal entity representing an association of people, whether natural, legal or a mixture of both, with a specific objective. Company members share a common purpose and unite to achieve specific, declared go ...

of the 10th

Prilep Prilep ( mk, Прилеп ) is the fourth-largest city in North Macedonia. It has a population of 66,246 and is known as "the city under Marko's Towers" because of its proximity to the towers of Prince Marko. Name The name of Prilep appea ...

battalion A battalion is a military unit, typically consisting of 300 to 1,200 soldiers commanded by a lieutenant colonel, and subdivided into a number of companies (usually each commanded by a major or a captain). In some countries, battalions are e ...

of Bulgarian

, born and resident of Keşan„Македоно-одринското опълчение 1912-1913 г. Личен състав“, Главно управление на архивите, 2006, стр. 818.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kesan Districts of Edirne Province Towns in Turkey Populated places in Edirne Province