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Mardin

Turkey / Mardin /
 city, capital city of state/province/region
Mardin (Syriac: ܡܶܪܕܺܝܢ, Arabic/Ottoman Turkish: ماردين Mārdīn, Kurdish: Mêrdîn, Armenian: Մարդին) is a city in southeastern Turkey. The capital of Mardin Province, it is known for the Turkish Artuqid (Artuklu in Turkish) architecture of its old city, and for its strategic location on a rocky hill near the Tigris River that rises steeply over the flat plains. The city has a population of 86,948, populated by ethnic Turkmens, Arabs and Kurds.

The territory of Mardin and Karaca Dağ was known as Izalla in the Late Bronze Age, a Hurrian kingdom first mentioned during the reign of Tukulti-Ninurta I, c. 1230 BC). The city was absorbed into Assyria during the Middle Assyrian Empire (1365-1020 BC), and then again during the Neo Assyrian Empire (911-605 BC).

In the Roman period, the city itself was known as Marida (Merida), supposedly from a Syriac-Assyrian name translating to "fortress". The bishopric of the Assyrian Church of the East that was centred on the town when it was part of the Roman province of Osrhoene (a former Neo Assyrian kingdom) became part of the Catholic Church in the late 17th century AD, and is still included in the Catholic Church's list of titular sees under the ancient name of the town. It was a suffragan see of Edessa, the province's metropolitan see.

Byzantine Izala fell to the Seljuks in the 11th century. During the Artukid period, many of Mardin's historic buildings were constructed, including several Mosques, Palaces, Madrassas and Hans. Mardin served as the capital of one of the two Artukid branches during the 11th and 12th centuries. The lands of the Artukid dynasty fell to the Mongol invasion sometime between 1235 and 1243, but the Artukids continued to govern as vassals of the Mongol Empire. During the battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, the Artukid governor revolted against Mongol rule. Hulegu's general and Chupan's ancestor, Koke-Ilge of the Jalayir, stormed the city and Hulegu appointed the rebel's son, al-Nasir, governor of Mardin. Although, Hulegu suspected the latter's loyalty for a while, thereafter the Artukids remained loyal unlike nomadic Bedoun and Kurd tribes in the south western frontier. The Mongol Ilkhanids considered them important allies. For this loyalty they shown, Artukids were given more lands in 1298 and 1304. Mardin later passed to the Akkoyunlu, a federation of Turkic tribes that controlled territory all the way to the Caspian Sea.

During the medieval period, the town became the centre for episcopal sees of Armenian and Assyrian-Syriac Christians. For instance, the Chaldean diocese seems to have been founded in the second half of the 16th century after breaking from the Assyrian Church of the East.

In 1517, Mardin was annexed by the Ottomans under Selim the Grim. During this time, Mardin was administered by a governor directly appointed under the Ottoman Sultan's authority. In 1923, with the founding of the Republic of Turkey, Mardin was made the administrative capital of a province named after it.
Wikipedia article: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mardin
Nearby cities:
Coordinates:   37°19'19"N   40°43'17"E

Comments

  • Mehmet AYAZ (guest)
    Mardin çok güzel bir şehir. Tarihi eserler açısından en zengin ve görülmeye değer bir ilimizdir. www.surgucum.com
  • ArnoutSteenhoek
    Polygon!