Eğirdir is the name of a
lakeA lake is a body of relatively still fresh or salt water of considerable size, localized in a basin, that is surrounded by land. Lakes are inland and not part of the ocean and therefore are distinct from lagoons, and are larger and deeper than ponds. Lakes can be contrasted with rivers or streams,...
and of the town situated on the shore of that lake (
EğirdirEğirdir, Turkey is a town and district of Isparta Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.-Features:Eğirdir lies between Lake Eğirdir and the Mount Sivri, and contains a castle said to have been built by Croesus, king of Lydia—though additions were built by the Romans, Byzantines and...
) in
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. The lake lies in the Turkish Lakes Region and is 186 kilometers (116 mi) north of
AntalyaAntalya is a city on the Mediterranean coast of southwestern Turkey. With a population 1,001,318 as of 2010. It is the eighth most populous city in Turkey and country's biggest international sea resort.- History :...
. With an area of 482 square kilometres (186.1 sq mi) it is the fourth largest (second largest freshwater) lake in Turkey.
Name
The town and the lake were formerly called
Eğridir, a Turkish pronunciation of the town's old
GreekGreek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
name
Akrotiri. Unfortunately,
Eğridir means "it is crooked" in Turkish. Therefore, to remove the negative connotations of the name, in the 1980s the “i” and the “r” were transposed in a new official name, thus creating
Eğirdir, a name that evokes spinning and flowers, although many people in Turkey still call both the town and the lake by its former name.
Islands
Lake Eğirdir has two islands, connected to the mainland by a long causeway into the town of
EğirdirEğirdir, Turkey is a town and district of Isparta Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey.-Features:Eğirdir lies between Lake Eğirdir and the Mount Sivri, and contains a castle said to have been built by Croesus, king of Lydia—though additions were built by the Romans, Byzantines and...
:
- Can Ada (meaning "Life Island") the smaller of the two islands.
- Yeşil Ada ("Green Island," formerly known as Nis) - until 1923
The 1923 population exchange between Greece and Turkey was based upon religious identity, and involved the Greek Orthodox citizens of Turkey and the Muslim citizens of Greece...
, was home to a Greek community living in stone and timber houses.
External links