"Beautiful Izmir" -- the "Pearl of the Aegean" -- is Turkey's third largest city and second most important port. A city of palm-lined promenades, avenues and green parks set in sweeping curves along a circular bay, Izmir has an exceptionally mild climate and many fine hotels. The city is a busy commercial and industrial center as well as the gateway to the Aegean Region. Turkey's Aegean shores are among the loveliest landscapes in the country. The magnificent coastline, lapped by the clear water of the Aegean Sea, abounds in vast and pristine beaches surrounded by olive groves, rocky crags and pine woods. Dotted with idyllic fishing harbors, popular holiday villages, and the remains of ancient civilizations, this region offers an exceptionally attractive venue for meetings, incentives and conferences.

The original city was established in the third millenium B.C., and at that time shared with Troy the most advanced culture in Western Anatolia. By 1500 B.C. it had fallen under the influence of Central Anatolia's Hittite Empire. In the first millenium B.C., Izmir, then known as Smyrna, ranked as one of the important cities of the Ionian Federation; during this period -- one of the city's most brilliant -- it is believed that Homer lived here. The Lydian conquest of the city, around 600 B.C., brought this period to an end, and Izmir remained little more than a village throughout the Lydian and the subsequent 6th century B.C. Persian rule. In the fourth century B.C. a new city was built at the instigation of Alexander the Great on the slopes of Mount Pagos (Kadifekale). Izmir's Roman period, from the first century B.C., gave birth to its second great era. Byzantine rule followed in the fourth century and lasted until the Seljuk conquest of the 11th century. In 1415, under Sultan Mehmet Celebi, Izmir became part of the Ottoman Empire.

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LAST UPDATE: 12.20.00