Osmangazi - History

History

It was stated that there were various settlements in Bursa and its surroundings by 4000 B.C. But the certain information related to the region belongs to 700 B.C. Homeros called the region as Mysia. There are two villages that remind Mysia settlements: Misi (Gümüştepe) and Misebolu. The region is called as Phrygia in the historical geography. It is known that Kimmers, running from Skyths, put an end to Phrygian sovereignty. The name of Bursa comes from the founder of this city, Prussias, the King of Bythinia. The Bythinians, who immigrated to the region in 7th century B.C., used the name Bythinia.

It was pointed out that one of the most important commanders that Carthage had recommended the establishment of the City of Prusias and Olympus to King Prusian I. in 185 B.C. By the time, "Prusa" has been transformed to Bursa.

When Bythinia joined the Roman Empire in 74 B.C., it became the Asian Province that was governed by proconsuls (head of the province), who are assigned in Rome.

Bursa was under the sovereignty of Byzantine between 385-1326 A.D. The city became a thermal city after the thermal baths while silk production in the region started in 550 A.D. Bursa was seized by Osman Bey in 1307 and conquered by Orhan Bey, the son of Osman Bey, on 6 April 1335. The capital of the empire was moved to Bursa in 1335 and new development movements were initiated. When Bursa was conquered, the city consisted of the inner castle, but Orhan Gazi had the Orhan Gazi Complex built out of the town. Public buildings such as mosques, baths, soup houses, hospitals, madrasahs were built out of the walls, where new settlements had been created, hence a new tradition of settling area had been established. Right after the conquest of Istanbul by Sultan Mehmed I., the active role of Bursa and its qualification as the administrative center had faded away. There are no buildings surviving from Roman and Byzntium era. It is perveiced that the walls surrounding the city were built by Bythinians and used by Romans, Byzantiums and Ottomans after maintenance.

Bursa had developed more than other cities in the first two centuries of Ottomans. It was ornamented with a number of architectural structures and became a trade city as well as a science city, where various famous madarasahs were located. Hüdavendigar Complex of Sultan Murat I., Yıldırım Complex of Sultan Bayezid I., Green Complex whose construction was initiated by Sultan Mehmet I. and finished by Sultan Murat II. had affected the spatial development of Bursa and those still exist. Industrialization within the city was accelerated in the republican era, so that the population and the urban development of the city have changed in 1960s. The geographical location and the agricultural and industrial potential have increased the attraction of the city.