HilmiAyhanPoppyFieldsMountIlgazCankiriTurkey

Ilgaz Mountains ( tr, Ilgaz Dağları; grc, Ὄλγασσυς, Olgassys) is a mountain range in northwest

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The ...

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 ...

. It belongs to the

Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (Turkish language, Turkish: ''Kuzey Anadolu Dağları'', meaning North Anatolian Mountains) form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the ''Parhar Mountains'' in the local Turki ...

system.

Geography

In west Black Sea region, there are three ranges of mountains, which run parallel to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

coast. Ilgaz Mountains constitute the eastern part of the second range from the coast line at an average distance of . The northern slopes of the mountains are in

Kastamonu Province Kastamonu Province ( tr, ) is one of the provinces of Turkey, in the Black Sea region to the north of the country. It is surrounded by Sinop to the east, Bartın, Karabük to the west, Çankırı to the south, Çorum to the southeast and the ...

and the southern slopes are in

Çankırı Province Çankırı Province ( tr, ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey, which lies close to the capital, Ankara. The provincial capital is Çankırı. Economy Çankırı is primarily agricultural with wheat, beans, corn and tomatoes the most c ...

. The length of the mountain system from west to east is about with a width of about . Situated at , the mountain peak, known as ''Büyükhacet Tepe'', is high. The state highway , which connects Black Sea coast to

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 borde ...

is west of the peak. The altitude of the highest pass on the highway is .

History

The ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

s and

Romans Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

generally knew the mountains as ''Olgassys''. It was considered a lofty and inaccessible mountain on the frontiers of

ancient Paphlagonia Paphlagonia (; el, Παφλαγονία, Paphlagonía, modern translit. ''Paflagonía''; tr, Paflagonya) was an ancient region on the Black Sea coast of north-central Anatolia, situated between Bithynia to the west and Pontus to the east, and s ...

and Galatia, extending from the

Halys River Halys may refer to: * Health-adjusted life years (HALYs), a type of disability-adjusted life year which are used in attempts to quantify the burden of disease or disability in populations * Halys River, a western name for the Kızılırmak River (T ...

(''Kızılırmak'') in a southwestern direction towards the Sangarius, and containing the sources of the

Parthenius River Parthenius or Parthenios (Greek: Παρθένιος) may refer to: People * Parthenius of Nicaea (1st-century BC–14 AD), Greek grammarian and poet * Parthenius of Chios, Greek epic poet. Son of Thestor, attested only in Suda. Modern historians s ...

. The surrounding country was filled with temples erected by the Paphlagonians. The mountain mentioned by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importance ...

under the name of ''Ligas'', ''Gigas'', or ''Oligas'', is probably the same as the Olgassys of Strabo. William Smith considered the current name a corruption of the former name.

National park

The Mount Ilgaz National Park ( tr, Ilgaz Dağı Milli Parkı) at the west of the highway pass was opened on June 2, 1976 and is easily accessible from the highway . Total area of the park is . At the highest elevation of the park, there are a number of hotels servicing to skiers. The skiers may use a long

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

to the ski area. The distance from

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 ...

is , which makes the park nearest winter sports resort to the capital city citizens. During the summertime, the visitors may fish in the Baldıran Valley within the national park.

Ecology

Ilgaz Mountains, especially the northern slopes, are covered with dense forestry. The popular name of the forestry around Ilgaz Mountains is "sea of trees" ( tr, ağaç denizi). Some of the wild animals living in the wooded ranges are red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, wild boar, brown bear, gray wolf, European jackal, chamois and red fox. In 1996, a new insect species was discovered in Ilgaz Mountain ecology and in 2010 it was named as ''

Merodon ''Merodon'' is a large genus of bee-like hoverflies. The majority of the species are centered on the Mediterranean and it is the second largest hoverfly genus in Europe with more than 50 European species. It is distributed over the Palaearcti ...

Ilgazense''.

In popular music

The theme of a popular

song A song is a musical composition intended to be performed by the human voice. This is often done at distinct and fixed pitches (melodies) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs contain various forms, such as those including the repetit ...

"''Ilgaz''" composed by Ahmet Samim Bilgen and lyrics by Cemil Türkarman is about Ilgaz Mountains.

References

External links

{{authority control Landforms of Kastamonu Province Landforms of Çankırı Province National parks of Turkey Ski areas and resorts in Turkey Protected areas established in 1976 Mountain ranges of Turkey Tourist attractions in Çankırı Province Tourist attractions in Kastamonu Province Important Bird Areas of Turkey