Did you know

HISTORY

Did you know that Turkey…

• is where Alexander the Great cut the intricate Gordian knot - a shortcut to ''solving difficult problems''
• was the center of two of the major empires in history, Byzantine and Ottoman.
• is where the names of Paris, Philadelphia and Europe originate 
• gave the English language many words, including turquoise, parchment, yogurt, meander and angora
• is the location of the city of Troy, of Homer’s famous Illiad, in Western Turkey, where the Trojan War was fought for ten years
• is derived from the same language family as Finish and Hungarian
• has the oldest American school outside the United States, Istanbul's Robert College (established in 1863)
• is the birthplace of Homer (Izmir) and Aesop?
• is the place where Julius Caesar proclaimed his celebrated words, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" (I came, I saw, I conquered) when he defeated the Pontus, a formidable kingdom in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
• once was subject to a design from Leonardo da Vinci for a bridge over the Bosphorus, the strait that flows through Europe and Asia. It was never built (see the model here)

• has the oldest known human settlement in Catalhoyuk (7th millennium BC)

GEOGRAPHY AND DEMOGRAPHY

Did you know that Turkey…

• was known as Asia Minor; the Asian side of Turkey is known as Anatolia
• has 70% of its population under 35
• is the location for two of the Seven Wonders of the World - the Temple of Artemis and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus
• hosts Istanbul,  the only city in the world straddling in two continents, Europe and Asia

GOVERNMENT AND TRADE

Did you know that Turkey…

• witnessed the first known Human Rights Declaration in 1463, 485 years before the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
• witnessed the first recorded international treaty, in 1284 BC
• was producing wine as early as 4000 BC
• is where for the first time in history in 640 BC, coins made of electrum were produced and used by the Lydians in Sardis (Sart)
• provides 70% of the world's hazelnuts - probably the nuts in your chocolate bar were grown in Turkey

RELIGION

Did you know that Turkey…

• has a city called Mardin, located in the south-eastern part of Turkey, which is one of the few places where you can hear Aramaic, the native language of Jesus Christ
• hosts the final home of the Virgin Mary, to which she traveled with St. John
• has the first church ever built (St. Peter's), in Antioch, southern Turkey. It is also the site of the oldest temple, at Urfa, dated between 8500 and 9000 BC
• has what is said to be the first church of Virgin Mary, in Ephesus, which is blessed by the pope
• is the place where the First Ecumenical Council was held (Iznik), which stated that Christ and the Father were of one substance
• is the birthplace of St. Nicholas, (Demre-Myra) popularly known as Santa Claus, St. Paul (Tarsus – Antioke) and Abraham (Sanliurfa)
• is where Noah's Ark is thought to be landed, at Mount Ararat, in Eastern Turkey. The last meal on Noah’s Ark, a pudding of sweet and sour taste (asure), is still served throughout Turkey