Interesting facts about Turkey

• The land of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia is where Turkey is located today.
• Many city names such as: Philadelphia, Paris, Troy and the continent of Europe were originated in Anatolia.
• Coins made of electrum were used by the Lydians in 640 BC for the first time in history.
• One of the earliest landscape painting of human history showing the eruption of a volcano can be found in Catalhoyuk, Turkey and is approximately 8,000 years old.
• Tulips were already much appreciated for centuries during the Ottoman Empire in the east, where flowers decorated gardens and palaces. In the 16th century, the ambassador of the Habsburg monarchy went to visit Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and received tulip bulbs from him as a gift and took them to Vienna.In Vienna the bulbs were given to the Flemish botanist called Charles de l'Écluse. With an invitation to teach in Holland, Charles left Vienna with his tulip bulbs in his luggage.

Artemis Temple- One of the 7 wonders of the world

• King Midas was from Anatolia.
• Alexander the Great cut the Gordian knot near Ankara. The double knot in Turkish carpets is called the Gordian knot.
• Two of the Seven Wonders of the World stood in Anatolia: the temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnasus (Bodrum).
• In 47 BC. Julius Caesar pronounced the words: "I came, I saw, I conquered" near Ankara.
• Anatolia was the first major stronghold of Christianity. In the Book of Genesis, at the Garden of Eden you will find the Tigris and Euphrates. Rivers that are today called "Dicle" and "Firat" respectively. Both are located in eastern Turkey.
• The seven churches of the Apocalypse were situated in Anatolia: Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.

Halicarnasus Temple
One of the 7 wonders of the world

• Mount Ararat is in Eastern Anatolia. Ararat is the place where it is said that Noah's Ark came to rest after the great flood.
• St.Paul was born in Tarsusi, in southern Turkey .
• St. Nicholas, known as "Santa Claus" was the bishop of Myra in Demre, Turkey.
• Sultan Beyazit II accepted the Jewish community which were expelled from Spain in 1492 and dispatched the Ottoman navy to bring them to Turkey.
• The first man to fly was Turkish Hezarfen Ahmet Çelebi in the 17th century.

 
Next visit of our virtual tour through Istanbul:
Underground Cistern