History
East Thrace was the setting for several important historical events.
- The Greek myth of Hero and Leander takes place in the ancient city of Sestus.
- Aeneas founded the city of Aenus while trying to find new lands during his mythological conquests.
- After the death of Alexander the Great, in the period called the Diadochi, Alexander's general Lysimachus (360-281 BC) became king of Thrace and established his capital in Lysimachia.
- Çimpe Castle was the first European territory held by the Ottoman Empire.
- Edirne was the second capital of the Ottoman Empire after Bursa.
- The Gallipoli Campaign, one of the most important of the First World War, was fought near the city of Gelibolu.
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Hero and Leander
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Coin of Lysimachus
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Selimiye Mosque, Edirne
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Beach Hellas, in the Gallipoli Campaign
Prior to the population exchange between Greece and Turkey, the distribution of nationalities in the local Sanjacks was as follows:
| Ottoman Official Statistics, 1910 | |||||||
| Sanjack | Turks | Greeks | Bulgarians | Others | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Edirne | 128,000 | 113,500 | 31,500 | 14,700 | 287,700 | ||
| Kirk Kilisse | 53,000 | 77,000 | 28,500 | 1,150 | 159,650 | ||
| Tekirdağ | 63,500 | 56,000 | 3,000 | 21,800 | 144,300 | ||
| Gallipoli | 31,500 | 70,500 | 2,000 | 3,200 | 107,200 | ||
| Çatalca | 18,000 | 48,500 | 2,340 | 68,840 | |||
| Istanbul | 450,000 | 260,000 | 6,000 | 130,000 | 846,000 | ||
| Total % |
744,000 46,11% |
625,500 38,76% |
71,000 4,40% |
173,190 10,74% |
1,613,690 | ||
| Ecumenical Patriarchate Statistics, 1912 | |||||||
| Total % |
604,500 36,20% |
655,600 39,27% |
71,800 4,30% |
337,600 20,22% |
1,669,500 | ||
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Famous quotes containing the word history:
“Man watches his history on the screen with apathy and an occasional passing flicker of horror or indignation.”
—Conor Cruise O’Brien (b. 1917)
“No one can understand Paris and its history who does not understand that its fierceness is the balance and justification of its frivolity. It is called a city of pleasure; but it may also very specially be called a city of pain. The crown of roses is also a crown of thorns. Its people are too prone to hurt others, but quite ready also to hurt themselves. They are martyrs for religion, they are martyrs for irreligion; they are even martyrs for immorality.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)
“As I am, so shall I associate, and so shall I act; Caesar’s history will paint out Caesar.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)