Buca (, ) is a municipality and

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 county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

İzmir Province İzmir Province () 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 districts out of 30 in to ...

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 ...

. Its area is 178 km², and its population is 522,404 (2022). It is the biggest district of İzmir Province as terms of population. It covers the southeastern part of the agglomeration 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 ...

and the adjacent countryside.

History

Buca was one of the preferred settlement areas of İzmir's community of

Levantines The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use today in archaeology and other cultura ...

. The great mansions they built in the 19th century stand to this day, most of them restored. The district center is situated slightly inland like the district of

Bornova Bornova is a municipality and Districts of Turkey, district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 220 km2, and its population is 454,470 (2022). It is the third largest district in İzmir's metropolitan area and is almost fully urbanized at ...

with which it shares important points in common, and on the higher ground that commands the southern shores of the tip of the

Gulf of İzmir The Gulf of İzmir (), formerly known as the Gulf of Smyrna, is a gulf on the Aegean Sea, with its inlet between the Karaburun Peninsula and the mainland area of Foça. It is in length by in breadth, with an excellent anchorage. The city of İz ...

. Buca existed from the Byzantine times and was inhabited by Greeks, mainly farmers. However, Buca started to develop as of the end of the 17th century when the

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

consulate in İzmir moved there following the 1676 plague and the

1688 Smyrna earthquake The 1688 Smyrna earthquake () first occurred on 30 June. A second earthquake struck eleven days later at 11:45 on 10 July, and lasted 10 seconds according to the information provided by the British earthquake scientist Nicholas Ambraseys (1929– ...

that seriously shook İzmir's core as an international trade center. Its rich Levantine residents who acquired the surrounding

vineyards A vineyard ( , ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines. Many vineyards exist for winemaking; others for the production of raisins, table grapes, and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is kno ...

typically had

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

backgrounds, as opposed to those who originally came from

Britain Britain most often refers to: * Great Britain, a large island comprising the countries of England, Scotland and Wales * The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, a sovereign state in Europe comprising Great Britain and the north-eas ...

and who preferred Bornova. But in the case both of Bornova and of Buca, the concentration in terms of ethnic backgrounds was far from having an exclusive nature. Yet, in 1770, following the failure of the Orlov Revolt, a revolt of the Greeks in today's Greece against the Ottoman occupation encouraged by the Russian Nobles Orlov in 1770 (during the

Russo-Turkish War (1768–1774) The Russo-Turkish wars ( ), or the Russo-Ottoman wars (), began in 1568 and continued intermittently until 1918. They consisted of twelve conflicts in total, making them one of the longest series of wars in the history of Europe. All but four of ...

), many Greeks from the revolted regions fled from

Peloponnese The Peloponnese ( ), Peloponnesus ( ; , ) or Morea (; ) is a peninsula and geographic region in Southern Greece, and the southernmost region of the Balkans. It is connected to the central part of the country by the Isthmus of Corinth land bridg ...

Chios Chios (; , traditionally known as Scio in English) is the fifth largest Greece, Greek list of islands of Greece, island, situated in the northern Aegean Sea, and the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, tenth largest island in the Medi ...

Andros Andros (, ) is the northernmost island of the Greece, Greek Cyclades archipelago, about southeast of Euboea, and about north of Tinos. It is nearly long, and its greatest breadth is . It is for the most part mountainous, with many fruitful and ...

, and

Kythira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...

and settled in Buca, contributing to the growth of the place. Later, in 1861, when the railway reached Buca from Smyrna, many rich Europeans from Smyrna built their summer houses in Buca. Yet, due to its substantial growth, Buca soon became a suburb of Smyrna and people started to stay there permanently. At the beginning of the 20th century, there were three Greek Orthodox churches, two Greek community schools (one for males, one for females) as well as some private Greek schools also, while there were two private English schools, one catholic nonnes' school and one Capuchin monks school. . However, Greek inhabitants were expulsed in 1922 and fled to Greece, where they named their new settlement " Neos Voutzas" (meaning "New Buca"), close to Athens. As a result, there are today only a

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

and a

Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...

church in service in Buca. Many of the 19th-century houses have been restored and are still being used either by public institutions or by private persons, although many still need care. The core area of Buca could preserve its traditional architectural tissue based on two-storey residences, while apartment blocks mushroomed in its extensions, as it is the case in all localities in Turkey which had to absorb immigration. There are a number of municipal parks, notably a vast ongoing project that comprises seven artificial lakes.

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Allied Land Command The Allied Land Command (LANDCOM), formerly Allied Land Forces South-Eastern Europe (LANDSOUTHEAST), is the standing headquarters for NATO land forces which may be assigned as necessary. The Commander of LANDCOM is the primary land warfare advisor ...

headquarters was established in Buca in 2012.

Composition

There are 48

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Buca District:Mahalle
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023. * 29 Ekim * Adatepe * Akıncılar * Atatürk * Aydoğdu * Barış * Belenbaşı * Bucakoop * Çağdaş * Çaldıran * Çamlık * Çamlıkule * Çamlıpınar * Cumhuriyet * Dicle * Doğancılar * Dumlupınar * Efeler * Fırat * Gaziler * Göksu * Güven * Hürriyet * Inkılap * İnönü * İzkent * Karacaağaç * Karanfil * Kaynaklar Cumhuriyet * Kaynaklar Merkez * Kırklar * Kozağaç * Kuruçeşme * Laleli * Menderes * Murathan * Mustafa Kemal * Seyhan * Şirinkapı * Ufuk * Vali Rahmi Bey * Yaylacık * Yenigün * Yeşilbağlar * Yiğitler * Yıldız * Yıldızlar * Zafer

Education

Dokuz Eylül University Dokuz Eylül University () (DEÜ) is a Public university, public research university in İzmir, Turkey. Founded in 1982, it is organized into 18 faculties. It holds the distinction of being the first university in Turkey to implement the probl ...

, one of the two larger universities in İzmir, has its newly built main campus located in Buca, in the locality called Tınaztepe. While the university has dependencies scattered all over İzmir, it is largely associated with Buca, in the same way as the other large university,

Ege University Ege University or Aegean University () is a public research university in Bornova, İzmir. It was founded in 1955 with the faculties of Medicine and Agriculture. It is the first university to start courses in İzmir and the fourth oldest unive ...

, is associated with Bornova.

Hippodrome

The

hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

of İzmir is located in Buca, in the quarter named Şirinyer along the road to İzmir metropolitan center, and the hippodrome is known under the name of this quarter (as ''Şirinyer Hipodromu''). Şirinyer area used to be called Kızılçullu, in reference to a legend according to which

Tamerlane Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol tradition, Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timuri ...

would have established his headquarters here during his 1402 siege of İzmir (''"Kızılçullu" meaning "red horseclothes"''), and Buca's Levantine population, who owned orchards and vineyards here, had named the area under the no less assumptive name of Paradiso.

Notable people

Çevik Bir Çevik Bir (born 1939) is a Turkish Army, Turkish retired army general. He was a member of the Turkish General Staff in the 1990s. He took a major part in several important international missions in the Middle East and North Africa. He was born i ...

, the retired Turkish general who was the force commander of during the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Operation Restore Hope The Unified Task Force (UNITAF), also known as Operation Restore Hope, was a United States-led, United Nations-sanctioned multinational military force deployed to Somalia from 5 December 1992 to 4 May 1993. It was established to replace United ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

and an influential figure in Turkey's politics and diplomacy in the 1990s, is from Buca and a public square is named after him. The Swedish naturalist Fredrik Hasselquist (1722–1752) died in Buca.

Gallery

Image:Şirinyer_Hippodrome.jpg,

Hippodrome Hippodrome is a term sometimes used for public entertainment venues of various types. A modern example is the Hippodrome which opened in London in 1900 "combining circus, hippodrome, and stage performances". The term hippodroming refers to fr ...

of İzmir in Şirinyer, Buca Image:Buca evleri1.jpg, 19th century

Levant The Levant ( ) is the subregion that borders the Eastern Mediterranean, Eastern Mediterranean sea to the west, and forms the core of West Asia and the political term, Middle East, ''Middle East''. In its narrowest sense, which is in use toda ...

ine house in Buca Image:Buca evleri14.jpg, Buca street with old houses Image:Bucaevleri.jpg, Easygoing lifestyle in Buca Image:Mevlana Statue, Buca.jpg, 23 meters high statue of

Mevlana Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī (), or simply Rumi (30 September 1207 – 17 December 1273), was a 13th-century poet, Hanafi '' faqih'' (jurist), Maturidi theologian (''mutakallim''), and Sufi mystic born during the Khwarazmian Empi ...

in Buca

References

External links

Metropolitan Municipality of Greater İzmir

Dokuz Eylül University

Dokuz Eylül University Forum
* {{Authority control Populated places in İzmir Province Districts of İzmir Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey