Uludag
Encyclopedia
Uludağ uˈɫudaː, the ancient Mysia
n Olympus, is a mountain in Bursa Province
, Turkey
, with an altitude of 2543 m (8,343 ft). It is a popular center for winter sports such as skiing
, and a national park
of rich flora
and fauna
. Summer activities, such as trekking and camping
, also are popular.
In Turkish
, Uludağ means "Sublime Mountain", but in colloquial Turkish, the older name Keşiş Dağı, "Mountain of Monks," is still used. In ancient times the range of which it is a part, extending along the southern edge of Bithynia
, was known as Olympos in Greek and Olympus in Latin, the western extremity being known as the Mysian Olympus and the eastern as the Bithynian Olympus, and the city of Bursa was known as Prusa ad Olympum from its position near the mountain. Throughout the Middle Ages
, it contained hermitages and monasteries: "The rise of this monastic centre in the 8th c. and its prestige up to the 11th are linked to the resistance of numerous monks to the policy of the iconoclast
emperors and then to a latent opposition to the urban, Constantinopolitan
monasticism of the Studites.". One of the greatest monks of the Christian East, the wonder-working Byzantine monk Saint Joannicius the Great, lived as a hermit on this mountain.
Mt. Uludağ is the highest mountain of the Marmara
region. Its highest peak is Kartaltepe at 2543 m (8,343 ft). To the north are high plateaus: Sarıalan, Kirazlıyayla, Kadıyayla, and Sobra.
There is an abandoned wolfram
mine near the summit. The mine and the integrated plant, which were built in 1974 for 60 million dollars, were eventually closed in 1989 due to high production costs.
, Uludağ is easily ascended by car or cable-car. The park is about 22 km (14 mi) south of Bursa and is signposted from there. Bursa can be reached by road from Istanbul
. The cable-car ascends from Bursa and has an intermediate stop in the alpine meadows of Kadiyayla at about 1200 m (3,937 ft) elevation. It ends at Sarialan at about 1630 m (5,348 ft).
Habitats of the park range from maquis
on the lower slopes, through deciduous
woodland and beech
and fir
forest to alpine meadows at the highest levels. It is a refuge for mountain birds, such as Lammergeier
and other vultures, Golden Eagle
and more than 20 other raptor
species. Other high-altitude species include Alpine Accentor
, rock thrush
es and choughs. The area is also good for eastern specialities such as Isabelline Wheatear
, and, at almost the most westerly points of their range, Red-fronted Serin
and Krüper's Nuthatch
. The dense fir forest holds Short-toed Treecreeper
, Common Crossbill
and Tengmalm's Owl
, a rare and very local bird in Turkey, as well as the White-backed Woodpecker
.
The rare and local butterfly, Parnassius apollo graslini, is found on Uludag and the area has much of interest to botanists, with colourful pink primroses, Primula vulgaris
var sibthorpii; Leopard's-bane, Duronicum orientalis; crocuses: the purple Crocus siberi and yellow Crocus flavus
; and grape hyacinths, Muscari racemosum
.
Mysia
Mysia was a region in the northwest of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia . It was located on the south coast of the Sea of Marmara. It was bounded by Bithynia on the east, Phrygia on the southeast, Lydia on the south, Aeolis on the southwest, Troad on the west and by the Propontis on the north...
n Olympus, is a mountain in Bursa Province
Bursa Province
Bursa Province is a province in western Turkey, along the Sea of Marmara. Its adjacent provinces are Balıkesir to the west, Kütahya to the south, Bilecik and Sakarya to the east, Kocaeli to the northeast and Yalova to the north. The province has an area of 11,043 km2 and a population of 3,187,000...
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
, with an altitude of 2543 m (8,343 ft). It is a popular center for winter sports such as skiing
Skiing
Skiing is a recreational activity using skis as equipment for traveling over snow. Skis are used in conjunction with boots that connect to the ski with use of a binding....
, and a national park
National park
A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or owns. Although individual nations designate their own national parks differently A national park is a reserve of natural, semi-natural, or developed land that a sovereign state declares or...
of rich flora
Flora
Flora is the plant life occurring in a particular region or time, generally the naturally occurring or indigenous—native plant life. The corresponding term for animals is fauna.-Etymology:...
and fauna
Fauna
Fauna or faunæ is all of the animal life of any particular region or time. The corresponding term for plants is flora.Zoologists and paleontologists use fauna to refer to a typical collection of animals found in a specific time or place, e.g. the "Sonoran Desert fauna" or the "Burgess shale fauna"...
. Summer activities, such as trekking and camping
Camping
Camping is an outdoor recreational activity. The participants leave urban areas, their home region, or civilization and enjoy nature while spending one or several nights outdoors, usually at a campsite. Camping may involve the use of a tent, caravan, motorhome, cabin, a primitive structure, or no...
, also are popular.
In Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
, Uludağ means "Sublime Mountain", but in colloquial Turkish, the older name Keşiş Dağı, "Mountain of Monks," is still used. In ancient times the range of which it is a part, extending along the southern edge of Bithynia
Bithynia
Bithynia was an ancient region, kingdom and Roman province in the northwest of Asia Minor, adjoining the Propontis, the Thracian Bosporus and the Euxine .-Description:...
, was known as Olympos in Greek and Olympus in Latin, the western extremity being known as the Mysian Olympus and the eastern as the Bithynian Olympus, and the city of Bursa was known as Prusa ad Olympum from its position near the mountain. Throughout the Middle Ages
Middle Ages
The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...
, it contained hermitages and monasteries: "The rise of this monastic centre in the 8th c. and its prestige up to the 11th are linked to the resistance of numerous monks to the policy of the iconoclast
Iconoclasm (Byzantine)
The Byzantine Iconoclasm encompasses two periods in the history of the Byzantine Empire when Emperors, backed by imperially-appointed leaders and councils of the Orthodox Church imposed a ban on religious images or icons. The "First Iconoclasm", as it is sometimes called, lasted between about 730...
emperors and then to a latent opposition to the urban, Constantinopolitan
Constantinople
Constantinople was the capital of the Roman, Eastern Roman, Byzantine, Latin, and Ottoman Empires. Throughout most of the Middle Ages, Constantinople was Europe's largest and wealthiest city.-Names:...
monasticism of the Studites.". One of the greatest monks of the Christian East, the wonder-working Byzantine monk Saint Joannicius the Great, lived as a hermit on this mountain.
Mt. Uludağ is the highest mountain of the Marmara
Marmara Region
The Marmara Region , with a surface area of 67.000 km², is the smallest but most densely populated of the seven geographical regions of Turkey...
region. Its highest peak is Kartaltepe at 2543 m (8,343 ft). To the north are high plateaus: Sarıalan, Kirazlıyayla, Kadıyayla, and Sobra.
There is an abandoned wolfram
Wolframite
Wolframite WO4, is an iron manganese tungstate mineral that is the intermediate between ferberite and huebernite . Along with scheelite, the wolframite series are the most important tungsten ore minerals. Wolframite is found in quartz veins and pegmatites associated with granitic intrusives...
mine near the summit. The mine and the integrated plant, which were built in 1974 for 60 million dollars, were eventually closed in 1989 due to high production costs.
Uludağ National Park Turkey
The highest area in western AnatoliaAnatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...
, Uludağ is easily ascended by car or cable-car. The park is about 22 km (14 mi) south of Bursa and is signposted from there. Bursa can be reached by road from Istanbul
Istanbul
Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...
. The cable-car ascends from Bursa and has an intermediate stop in the alpine meadows of Kadiyayla at about 1200 m (3,937 ft) elevation. It ends at Sarialan at about 1630 m (5,348 ft).
Habitats of the park range from maquis
Maquis shrubland
thumb|220px|Low Maquis in Corsica.220px|thumb|High macchia in Sardinia.Maquis or macchia is a shrubland biome in the Mediterranean region, typically consisting of densely growing evergreen shrubs such as holm oak, tree heath, strawberry tree, sage, juniper, buckthorn, spurge olive and myrtle...
on the lower slopes, through deciduous
Deciduous
Deciduous means "falling off at maturity" or "tending to fall off", and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally, and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
woodland and beech
Beech
Beech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.-Habit:...
and fir
Fir
Firs are a genus of 48–55 species of evergreen conifers in the family Pinaceae. They are found through much of North and Central America, Europe, Asia, and North Africa, occurring in mountains over most of the range...
forest to alpine meadows at the highest levels. It is a refuge for mountain birds, such as Lammergeier
Lammergeier
The Lammergeier, Lammergeyer, or Bearded Vulture, Gypaetus barbatus , is the only member of the genus Gypaetus. Traditionally considered an Old World vulture, it actually forms a minor lineage of Accipitridae together with the Egyptian Vulture , its closest living relative...
and other vultures, Golden Eagle
Golden Eagle
The Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
and more than 20 other raptor
Bird of prey
Birds of prey are birds that hunt for food primarily on the wing, using their keen senses, especially vision. They are defined as birds that primarily hunt vertebrates, including other birds. Their talons and beaks tend to be relatively large, powerful and adapted for tearing and/or piercing flesh....
species. Other high-altitude species include Alpine Accentor
Alpine Accentor
The Alpine Accentor, Prunella collaris, is a small passerine bird found throughout the mountains of southern temperate Europe and Asia at heights above 2000 m. It is mainly resident, wintering more widely at lower latitudes, but some birds wander as rare vagrants as far as Great Britain.It is...
, rock thrush
Rock thrush
The rock thrushes, Monticola, are a genus of chats, medium-sized mostly insectivorous or omnivorous songbirds. They were in former times placed in the thrush family Turdidae but actually belong in the closely related Muscicapidae...
es and choughs. The area is also good for eastern specialities such as Isabelline Wheatear
Isabelline Wheatear
The Isabelline Wheatear, Oenanthe isabellina, is a small passerine bird that was formerly classed as a member of the Thrush family Turdidae, but is now more generally considered to be an Old World flycatcher, Muscicapidae....
, and, at almost the most westerly points of their range, Red-fronted Serin
Red-fronted Serin
The Red-fronted Serin or Fire-fronted Serin is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It prefers high mountain regions and is 11–12 cm long....
and Krüper's Nuthatch
Krüper's Nuthatch
The Krüper's Nuthatch, Sitta krueperi, is a small nuthatch. The name commemorates the German naturalist Theodor Johannes Krüper.thumb|left|Illustration by [[Joseph Wolf]], 1865-Distribution and habitat:...
. The dense fir forest holds Short-toed Treecreeper
Short-toed Treecreeper
The Short-toed Treecreeper, Certhia brachydactyla, is a small passerine bird found in woodlands through much of the warmer regions of Europe and into north Africa. It has a generally more southerly distribution than the other European treecreeper species, the Common Treecreeper, with which it is...
, Common Crossbill
Common Crossbill
The Common Crossbill is a small passerine bird in the finch family Fringillidae. It breeds in the spruce forests of North America, where it is known as Red Crossbill, as well as Europe and Asia; some populations breed in pine forests in certain areas of all three continents, and in North...
and Tengmalm's Owl
Tengmalm's Owl
Boreal Owl, Aegolius funereus, is a small owl. It is also known as the Tengmalm's Owl after Swedish naturalist Peter Gustaf Tengmalm. Other names for the owl include Richardson's Owl, Funeral Owl , Sparrow Owl and Pearl Owl...
, a rare and very local bird in Turkey, as well as the White-backed Woodpecker
White-backed Woodpecker
The White-backed Woodpecker is a Eurasian woodpecker belonging to the genus Dendrocopos.It is the largest of the spotted woodpeckers in the western Palearctic, 24–26 cm long with wing-span 38–40 cm and has plumage similar to the Great Spotted Woodpecker, but with white bars across the...
.
The rare and local butterfly, Parnassius apollo graslini, is found on Uludag and the area has much of interest to botanists, with colourful pink primroses, Primula vulgaris
Primula vulgaris
Primula vulgaris is a species of Primula native to western and southern Europe , northwest Africa , and southwest Asia...
var sibthorpii; Leopard's-bane, Duronicum orientalis; crocuses: the purple Crocus siberi and yellow Crocus flavus
Crocus flavus
Crocus flavus , is a plant of the Crocus genus in the Iridaceae family. It grows wild on the slopes of Greece, former Yugoslavia, Bulgaria, Romania and North West Turkey with bright orange-yellow flowers which Tennyson likened to a fire...
; and grape hyacinths, Muscari racemosum
Muscari racemosum
Muscari racemosum is a perennial bulbous plant, one of a number of species and genera known as Grape Hyacinth. Originally from south-west Turkey where it grows in rocky places, it is sometimes grown as an ornamental plant. It may be found in the horticultural literature under the synonym Muscari...
.