East Thrace - History

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.

  • Hero and Leander

  • Coin of Lysimachus

  • Selimiye Mosque, Edirne

  • 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

Read more about this topic:  East Thrace

Famous quotes containing the word history:

    “The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
    —Tacitus (c. 55–117)

    “The view of Jerusalem is the history of the world; it is more, it is the history of earth and of heaven.”
    —Benjamin Disraeli (1804–1881)

    “We said that the history of mankind depicts man; in the same way one can maintain that the history of science is science itself.”
    —Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)