Here are some interesting facts about Turkey that you probably did not
know.
1) The Life and
Spirit of Santa Claus Santa Claus has been evolving for over 1500 years.
Around 280 AD a man named Nicholas was born in Turkey. He became an
orphan at 13 when a plague killed his parents. A great portion of his
inheritance he donated to charity and then he set off upon a sincere
study of religion, becoming an ordained priest at 19. Soon after he
became the Bishop of Myra. After his death he was declared a saint
and became the patron saint of sailors, merchants, maidens and children
because of the following legends. When a ship ran aground and the crew
on board was in danger they prayed to St. Nicholas. They suddenly looked
up and there he was in a red bishop’s robe flying towards them.
He saved them and flew away.
2)The famous Trojan Wars took place in Western
Turkey, around the site where the Trojan horse rests today.
3)The oldest known human settlement is in Catalhoyuk,
Turkey (7th Millenium B.C.)
4)Ephesus and Halicarnasus
(the place for the two of the Seven
Wonders of the ancient world) are in Turkey.
5)The first church
built by man (St. Peter’s Church) is in Antioch (Antakya), Turkey.
6)Noah’s Ark landed on Mount
Ararat (Agri Dagi) in Eastern
Turkey.
7)The last meal on Noah’s Ark, a pudding of sweet and sour
taste (asure),
is still served throughout Turkey.
8)Turks introduced coffee
to Europe.
9)Turks gave the
Dutch their famous tulips.
10)Istanbul is the
only city in the world built on two continents.
11)Tradition in Turkey says
that a stranger at one’s doorstep is considered "God’s guest" for
at least three days.
12)Turkey is noted for
having one of the three most famous and distinctive traditional
cuisines in the world.
13)The First Ecumenical
Council was held in Iznik,
Turkey.
14)Writing was first used by people in ancient Anatolia.
The first clay tablets in the ruins of Assyrian
Karum (Merchant Colony) date back to 1950 B.C.
15)The oldest tin mine was found in Göltepe, 60
miles south of Tarsus.
16)The first Neolithic paintings found on man-made walls are in Catalhöyük,
Turkey.
17)Anatolia is the
birthplace of historic legends, such as Homer
(the poet), King Midas, Herodotus
(the father of history), and St.
Paul the Apostle.
18)Julius Caesar proclaimed his celebrated words, "Veni, Vid, Vici (I
came, I saw, I conquered)" in Turkey when he defeated the Pontus,
a formidable kingdom in the Black
Sea region of Turkey.
19)Female goddesses like Cybele
dominated the Central
Anatolian pantheon for thousands of years before these supernatural
powers were transformed to male gods.
20)The Hittites sold
Abraham the cave where he buried his wife Sarah, when the Israelites came to
Palestine.
21)The first church dedicated to Virgin
Mary is in Ephesus.
22)Cherry was first introduced to Europe from Giresun
(Northern Turkey)
23)Turkey has hundreds beaches and marinas which
have the "Blue Flag" (an
European award for the best clean water) on the Mediterranean
and Aegean.
24)The first recorded international treaty
in the world was the Treaty of Kadesh
between the Hittite and
Egyptian Empires, Hattusilis III and Ramses II, in c.1275 BC.
25)The oldest known shipwreck
on Earth was found and excavated in Uluburun near Kas,
in the Mediterranean
region of Turkey.
26)In 640 BC, for the first time in history, coins made of electrum were used
by the Lydian king Croesus
in Sardis, in Aegean
region of Turkey.
27)King Midas lived in Gordion,
capital of Phrigia.
28)Alexander the Great
cut the Gordian knot near Ankara.
The double knotting technique used in Turkish
rugs is also called as Gordian Knot.
29)The Garden of Eden in the Book of Genesis was said to be watered by a
river which separated into four streams as it left the garden; two of them the
Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Firat) rise from the mountains of Eastern
Turkey.
30)Early Christians
escaping from Roman persecutions found shelter in Cappadocia.
31)The Seven Churches of Apocalypse are all situated in the Aegean
region of Anatolia;
Ephesus, Smyrna (Izmir),
Pergamum, Thyatira (Nazilli),
Sardis, Philadelphia
(Alasehir) and Laodicea.
32)Sultan
Beyazit II dispatched the Ottoman
Navy to bring the Jewish people who were expelled from Spain in 1492 and they
were brought safely to the Ottoman
lands.
33)Istanbul has the
historical building of Sirkeci Train Station. This was the last stop of the
Simplon-Orient Express – "kings of trains and train of kings" -
between Paris and Constantinople (Istanbul)
from 1883 to 1977. Agatha Christie was one of the passengers of this famous
train.
34)The number of species of flowers in Turkey
is approximately 9,000, of which 3,000 are endemic. In Europe for instance there
are 11,500 species. This shows the richness of flora
and fauna in Anatolia.
We have also compiled some useful information about Turkish culture that
you may find useful click here to find out more.
