İzmir Province

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İzmir Province

Location of İzmir Province in Turkey

Overview
Region:	Aegean Region, Turkey
Area:	11,973 (km²)
Total Population	3,769,000 TUIK 2007
Licence plate code:	35
Area code:	0232
Governor	M. Cahit Kıraç
Governor Website	http://www.izmir.gov.tr
Weather forecast	turkeyforecast.com/weather/izmir

İzmir is a province of Turkey in western Anatolia on the Aegean coast, whose capital is the city of Izmir. On the west it is surrounded by the Aegean sea, and it encloses the Gulf of İzmir. Its area is 11,973 km.², population 3,769,000 (2007 est). The population was 3,370,866 in 2000. Neighbouring provinces are Balıkesir on the north, Manisa on the east, and Aydın on the south. Its traffic code is 35, and its capital is İzmir city.

The main rivers of the province are Küçük Menderes Nehri, Koca Çay (with Güzelhisar dam), and Bakır Çay.

[edit] Districts

İzmir Province is divided into 28 districts (capital district in bold):

Of these, Balçova, Bornova, Buca, Çiğli, Gaziemir, Güzelbahçe, Karşıyaka, Konak, and Narlıdere are metropolitan districts, making up the city of Izmir.

[edit] History

The area was first settled by Ionian Greeks in about the 11th century BCE who established the city of Smyrna, now İzmir city. It was later conquered by the Persians, retaken by the Greeks, before being subsumed into the Roman Empire. After the split of the Roman Empire, the area became part of the Byzantine Empire until conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century. Following the First World War the province was ceded to Greece, but was retaken by the forces of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk in the Turkish War of Independence. of Greek civilians by Turkish soldiers (see Great Fire of Smyrna). As a result of the Treaty of Lausanne all non-Turkish and non-Muslim inhabitants of the province had to leave, and İzmir Province was incorporated into the modern republic of Turkey.