Nevşehir, formerly
Muşkara, (maybe the ancient city of
NyssaNyssa was a Roman/late-Roman town of Cappadocia. It is located near to the modern town of Harmandalı, Ortaköy district, Aksaray province, in south-central Turkey....
,
Νύσσα in
Ancient GreekAncient Greek is the stage of the Greek language in the periods spanning the times c. 9th–6th centuries BC, , c. 5th–4th centuries BC , and the c. 3rd century BC – 6th century AD of ancient Greece and the ancient world; being predated in the 2nd millennium BC by Mycenaean Greek...
), is a city and the capital district of
NevşehirNevşehir Province is a province in central Turkey with its capital in Nevşehir. It adjacent provinces are Kırşehir to the northwest, Aksaray to the southwest, Niğde to the south, Kayseri to the southeast, and Yozgat to the northeast. Nevşehir includes the area called Cappadocia - a very popular...
ProvinceTurkey is divided into 81 provinces, called il in Turkish .A province is administered by an appointed governor , and was formerly termed a "governorate" ....
in the
Central Anatolia RegionThe Central Anatolia Region is one of Turkey's seven census-defined geographical regions.- Provinces :Total population: 12,105,975* Aksaray Province* Ankara Province* Çankırı Province* Eskişehir Province* Karaman Province* Kayseri Province...
of
TurkeyTurkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
. According to the 2010 census, population of the district is 117,890 of which 85,634 631 live in the city of Nevşehir. The district covers an area of 535 km² (207 sq mi), and the town lies at an average elevation of 1224 m (4,016 ft).
History
A settlement was founded on the slopes of Mount Kahveci in the valley of Kızılırmak (the ancient
HalysHalys may refer to:* The Halys River in Anatolia , Turkish Kızılırmak .* In the Aeneid, Halys is a Trojan who defends Aeneas' camp from a Rutulian attack. He is killed by Turnus....
) by the
HittitesThe Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...
. The town along with the region came under the rule of the
AssyriaAssyria was a Semitic Akkadian kingdom, extant as a nation state from the mid–23rd century BC to 608 BC centred on the Upper Tigris river, in northern Mesopotamia , that came to rule regional empires a number of times through history. It was named for its original capital, the ancient city of Assur...
n Empire around the 8th century BC, then by the
Medes
and then by the Persians in the reign of emperor
Cyrus the GreatCyrus II of Persia , commonly known as Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus the Elder, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire. Under his rule, the empire embraced all the previous civilized states of the ancient Near East, expanded vastly and eventually conquered most of Southwest Asia and much...
in 546 BC. In 333 BC
Alexander the Great defeated the Persians. After his death, Cappadocia came under the rule of the dynasty of
AriarathesAriarathes was the name of ten kings of Cappadocia in Anatolia, between the 4th and 1st century BC. They are:*Ariarathes I of Cappadocia, ruled 331 BC or 330 BC–killed 322 BC, son of the Cappadocian satrap Ariamnes I...
with Mazaka (present-day
KayseriKayseri is a large and industrialized city in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It is the seat of Kayseri Province. The city of Kayseri, as defined by the boundaries of Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality, is structurally composed of five metropolitan districts, the two core districts of Kocasinan and...
) as capital. Cappadocian kingdom became part of the Roman empire, in the reign of Emperor
TiberiusTiberius , was Roman Emperor from 14 AD to 37 AD. Tiberius was by birth a Claudian, son of Tiberius Claudius Nero and Livia Drusilla. His mother divorced Nero and married Augustus in 39 BC, making him a step-son of Octavian...
.
The underground shelters around Nevşehir and
GöremeGöreme , located among the "fairy chimney" rock formations, is a town in Cappadocia, a historical region of Turkey. It is in the Nevşehir Province in Central Anatolia and has a population of around 2,500 people....
were originally built to escape persecution by the pagan
RomanThe Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
authorities. Many of the churches, hewn in the rocks, date from these early years of Christianity. Even when Theodosius I made Christianity the official religion of the empire the caves offered protection for the local people during raids by the Sassanid Persians circa 604 AD and by the Islamic Caliphate circa 647AD. And when
IconoclasmIconoclasm is the deliberate destruction of religious icons and other symbols or monuments, usually with religious or political motives. It is a frequent component of major political or religious changes...
became state policy in the
ByzantineByzantine usually refers to the Roman Empire during the Middle Ages.Byzantine may also refer to:* A citizen of the Byzantine Empire, or native Greek during the Middle Ages...
empire again the caves of Nevşehir became shelters for those escaping persecution.
The castle on the hill dates from the Byzantine period, when the region was on the frontline in the wars against the Islamic Caliphate.
At the
Battle of ManzikertThe Battle of Manzikert , was fought between the Byzantine Empire and Seljuq Turks led by Alp Arslan on August 26, 1071 near Manzikert...
(present-day
MalazgirtMalazgirt is a town in Muş Province in eastern Turkey, with a population of 23,697 .-Founding:...
) in 1071AD, the Byzantine emperor
Romanos IVRomanos IV Diogenes was a member of the Byzantine military aristocracy who, after his marriage to the widowed empress Eudokia Makrembolitissa was crowned Byzantine emperor and reigned from 1068 to 1071...
was defeated by the Seljuk Sultan
Alp ArslanAlp Arslan was the third sultan of the Seljuq dynasty and great-grandson of Seljuk, the eponymous founder of the dynasty...
. This led to the occupation of Anatolia by the Seljuks by 1074AD and Nevşehir along with the rest of the region became part of the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum and then under the rule of the Karamanid dynasty in 1328AD and finally under rule of the
OttomanThe Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
empire around 1487AD and was renamed "Muşkara". It remained a relatively insignificant settlement until the early 18th century.
The present-day city owes its foundation to the
grand vizierGrand Vizier, in Turkish Vezir-i Azam or Sadr-ı Azam , deriving from the Arabic word vizier , was the greatest minister of the Sultan, with absolute power of attorney and, in principle, dismissable only by the Sultan himself...
and son-in-law of the Sultan
Ahmed IIIAhmed III was Sultan of the Ottoman Empire and a son of Sultan Mehmed IV . His mother was Mâh-Pâre Ummatullah Râbi'a Gül-Nûş Valide Sultan, originally named Evmania Voria, who was an ethnic Greek. He was born at Hajioglupazari, in Dobruja...
,
Nevşehirli Damat İbrahim PashaNevşehirli Damad Ibrahim Pasha served as Grand Vizier for Sultan Ahmed III of the Ottoman Empire during the Tulip period. He was also the head of a ruling family which had great influence in the court of Ahmed III...
who was born in Muşkara and therefore took a great interest in its construction as a city. The small village with only 18 houses, formerly under the administration of the kaza of
ÜrgüpÜrgüp is a town and district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Located in the historical region of Cappadocia, and near the cave Churches of Göreme, it is renowned for its nightlife and for its good adjustment to tourism, making it a popular night stop for Cappadocia...
, was rapidly transformed with the building of mosques (the Kurṣunlu Mosque), fountains, schools, soup kitchens, inns and bath houses, and its name was changed from Muşkara to "Nevşehir" (meaning
New City in
PersianPersian is an Iranian language within the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages. It is primarily spoken in Iran, Afghanistan, Tajikistan and countries which historically came under Persian influence...
and
Ottoman TurkishThe Ottoman Turkish language or Ottoman language is the variety of the Turkish language that was used for administrative and literary purposes in the Ottoman Empire. It borrows extensively from Arabic and Persian, and was written in a variant of the Perso-Arabic script...
).
Nevşehir today
The city is located at a distance of 290 km (180 mi) from the capital
AnkaraAnkara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, and is within the historical region of
CappadociaCappadocia is a historical region in Central Anatolia, largely in Nevşehir Province.In the time of Herodotus, the Cappadocians were reported as occupying the whole region from Mount Taurus to the vicinity of the Euxine...
.
The traditional main sources of income of the city,
carpet weavingTurkish carpets come in distinct styles, from different regions of Turkey. Important differentiators between the types include the materials, construction and the patterns.-History:...
and
viticultureViticulture is the science, production and study of grapes which deals with the series of events that occur in the vineyard. When the grapes are used for winemaking, it is also known as viniculture...
have been overtaken by tourism, because of its proximity to the underground shelters, the fairy chimneys, monasteries,
caravanseraiA caravanserai, or khan, also known as caravansary, caravansera, or caravansara in English was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day's journey...
s and the famous rock-hewn churches of
GöremeGöreme , located among the "fairy chimney" rock formations, is a town in Cappadocia, a historical region of Turkey. It is in the Nevşehir Province in Central Anatolia and has a population of around 2,500 people....
.
Climate
Nevşehir has a
continental climateContinental climate is a climate characterized by important annual variation in temperature due to the lack of significant bodies of water nearby...
(
Köppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
Dsa) and semi-arid climate (
Köppen climate classificationThe Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by Crimea German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen himself, notably in 1918 and 1936...
BSk), with cold and snowy winters and hot and dry summers. Rainfall occurs mostly during the spring and autumn.
External links