İzmir Province () is a

province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...

and

metropolitan municipality A metropolitan municipality is a municipality established to serve a metropolitan area. Canada In generic terms and in practical application within Canada, a metropolitan municipality is an urban local government with partial or complete consol ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in western

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of

İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, and is the capital of İzmir Province. In 2024, the city of İzmir had ...

, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 districts out of 30 in total. To the west, it is surrounded by the Aegean Sea, and it encloses the Gulf of Izmir. Its area is , and its population is 4,462,056 (2022). Neighboring provinces are Balıkesir to the north, Manisa to the east, and Aydın to the south. The traffic code of the province is 35. Major rivers of the province include the Küçük Menderes river, Koca Çay (with Güzelhisar dam), and Bakırçay.

History

It is one of the oldest cities and ports of ancient Ionia in the Mediterranean Sea. The original settlement was founded around 3000 BC, and the city has survived through different iterations to this day. It was inhabited by Greek populations from antiquity until the destruction of Smyrna in 1922 and the exchange of populations that followed with the Treaty of Lausanne. In its long history it has changed location twice. The first location (prehistoric times) was mentioned by Strabo as "Old Smyrna" and the second location was built by

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

and his descendants (Hellenistic period). Ionians, in about 11th century BC, established the League of Ionia. It was later conquered by the

Persians Persians ( ), or the Persian people (), are an Iranian ethnic group from West Asia that came from an earlier group called the Proto-Iranians, which likely split from the Indo-Iranians in 1800 BCE from either Afghanistan or Central Asia. They ...

and retaken by the Greeks before being subsumed into the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

. In Roman times it became very prosperous and the Romans honored it three times with the praiseworthy title of "young girl" because of its amazing prosperity. The term "Catholic Church" was first used in 110 in a letter from St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Church of Smyrna. After the split of the Roman Empire, the area became part of what is now called the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

until it was conquered by the

Ottoman Turks The Ottoman Turks () were a Turkic peoples, Turkic ethnic group in Anatolia. Originally from Central Asia, they migrated to Anatolia in the 13th century and founded the Ottoman Empire, in which they remained socio-politically dominant for the e ...

in the 14th century. In 1424, Smyrna was conquered by the Ottomans. However, before and after its occupation, Venetians and Genoese tried several times to include it in their Republics. On September 13, 1472, the Venetians, under Pietro Mocenigo, captured and destroyed the city, in a failed attempt. Following the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

, the province was ceded to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

, but was retaken by the forces of

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk Mustafa Kemal Atatürk ( 1881 – 10 November 1938) was a Turkish field marshal and revolutionary statesman who was the founding father of the Republic of Turkey, serving as its first President of Turkey, president from 1923 until Death an ...

in the

Turkish War of Independence , strength1 = May 1919: 35,000November 1920: 86,000Turkish General Staff, ''Türk İstiklal Harbinde Batı Cephesi'', Edition II, Part 2, Ankara 1999, p. 225August 1922: 271,000Celâl Erikan, Rıdvan Akın: ''Kurtuluş Savaşı tarih ...

. As a result of the 1923 Treaty of Lausanne, all Greek Orthodox inhabitants of the province were deported, and İzmir Province was incorporated into the modern republic of

. An

earthquake An earthquakealso called a quake, tremor, or tembloris the shaking of the Earth's surface resulting from a sudden release of energy in the lithosphere that creates seismic waves. Earthquakes can range in intensity, from those so weak they ...

on 30 October 2020 killed 117 people in the area.

Archaeology

In January 2021, archaeologists headed by Elif Koparal, announced the discovery of the ruins of a 2500 year-old temple of

Aphrodite Aphrodite (, ) is an Greek mythology, ancient Greek goddess associated with love, lust, beauty, pleasure, passion, procreation, and as her syncretism, syncretised Roman counterpart , desire, Sexual intercourse, sex, fertility, prosperity, and ...

from the 5th century BC in the Urla-Çeşme peninsula. Among other findings in and around the temple, they found a statue piece depicting a woman, a terracotta female head and an inscription that reads, "This is the sacred area". The traces of the temple were first excavated in 2016. File:Ephesus_Celsus_Library_Façade.jpg, The ancient city of

Ephesus Ephesus (; ; ; may ultimately derive from ) was an Ancient Greece, ancient Greek city on the coast of Ionia, in present-day Selçuk in İzmir Province, Turkey. It was built in the 10th century BC on the site of Apasa, the former Arzawan capital ...

is in the Province of

File:Agora_of_Smyrna,_built_during_the_Hellenistic_era_at_the_base_of_Pagos_Hill_and_totally_rebuilt_under_Marcus_Aurelius_after_the_destructive_178_AD_earthquake,_Izmir,_Turkey_(18699693425).jpg, Agora of

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

Geography

Districts

* Aliağa * Balçova *

Bayındır Bayındır is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 548 km2, and its population is 40,073 (2022). The central town of the district is situated in the valley of the Küçük Menderes. History ...

Bayraklı Bayraklı is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 30 km2, and its population is 299,859 (2024). It covers the northern part of the metropolitan area of İzmir İzmir is the List of largest cities and tow ...

* Bergama * Beydağ * Bornova * Buca *

Çeşme Çeşme, officially the Çeşme Municipality, is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 285 km2, and its population is 48,924 (2022). It sits at Turkey's westernmost end, on a promontory on t ...

* Çiğli * Dikili *

Foça Foça is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 251 km2, and its population is 34,946 (2022). The town of Foça is situated at about northwest of İzmir's city center on the Aegean Sea, Aege ...

* Gaziemir * Güzelbahçe * Karabağlar * Karaburun * Karşıyaka *

Kemalpaşa Kemalpaşa is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 681 km2, and its population is 114,250 (2022). Kemalpaşa town is from the historical and traditional center of İzmir, (Konak, İzmir, Ko ...

* Kınık * Kiraz * Konak * Menderes * Menemen * Narlıdere *

Ödemiş Ödemiş () is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,019 km2, and its population is 132,740 (2022). It is located 113 km southeast of the city of İzmir. About 4 km north of Ödemiş town are the ru ...

* Seferihisar * Selçuk *

Tire A tire (North American English) or tyre (Commonwealth English) is a ring-shaped component that surrounds a Rim (wheel), wheel's rim to transfer a vehicle's load from the axle through the wheel to the ground and to provide Traction (engineeri ...

* Torbalı * Urla File:İzmir location districts.svg, Districts of the İzmir Province File:A_photo_from_Çeşme,_Turkey.jpg,

is located in the province

Demographics

Wind power generation

"The greater Izmir region produces 20% of Turkey’s

wind power Wind power is the use of wind energy to generate useful work. Historically, wind power was used by sails, windmills and windpumps, but today it is mostly used to generate electricity. This article deals only with wind power for electricity ge ...

from wind turbines capable of generating more than 1,300 megawatts (MW)."

References

External links

İzmir governor's official website

İzmir metropolitan municipality's official website

Directorate of Culture and Tourism in İzmir

Local administrations in İzmir

İzmir weather forecast information
{{DEFAULTSORT:Izmir Province