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East Thrace

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Coordinates: 41°9′13″N 27°22′0″E / 41.15361°N 27.36667°E / 41.15361; 27.36667

East Thrace (blue) athin Thrace
East Thrace (blue) athin the Marmara Region o Turkey
East Thrace landscape in Edirne Province, Turkey.

East Thrace or Eastren Thrace (Turkis: Doğu Trakya or semply Trakya; Greek: Ανατολική Θράκη, Anatoliki Thraki; Bulgarie: Източна Тракия, Iztochna Trakiya), kent as Turkis Thrace or European Turkey forby, is the pairt o Turkey that is geografically pairt o Sootheast Europe. It accoonts for 3% o Turkey's laund aurie but comprises 14% o its tot population.[1] The rest o much o the kintra is locatit on the Anatolie Peninsula as well as the Armenie Heichlands, geografically in Wastren Asie. The maist muckle ceity o the region is Istanbul, which straddles the Bosphorus strait atween Europe an Asie.

East Thrace is o historic importance as it is next tae a major sea tred corridor an consteetutes what remains o the ance-vast Ottoman region o Rumelia. It is currently o specific geostrategic importance acause the sea corridor, which includes twa narrow straits, provides access tae the Mediterranean Sea frae the Black Sea for the navies o five kintras: Roushie, Ukraine, Romanie, Bulgarie, an Georgie. The region serves as a futur connector o existin Turkish, Bulgarie, an Greek heich-speed rail networks an aw.

Defeenition

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East Thrace includes aw in the eastren pairt o the historical region o Thrace. The aurie includes aw the territories o the Turkis provinces of Edirne, Tekirdağ an Kırklareli, as well as thae territories on the European continent o the provinces o Çanakkale an Istanbul. The laund borders o East Thrace wur defined bi the Treaty o Constantinople (1913) an the Bulgarie-Ottoman convention (1915), an wur reaffirmed bi the Treaty o Lausanne.

Climate

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Due tae the moderatin effect o the surroondin seas, the climate tends tae be Mediterranean in chairacter. It can descend tae aboot 12 °C an can rise tae aboot 32 °C, seemilar tae Asie Turkey.

Geografie

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East Thrace haes an aurie o 23,764 km2 (3 percent o Turkey's laund aurie), slichtly smawer than Sardinie, an a population o aboot 11 million fowk or aboot 14 percent o the tot Turkis population (in 2015); the population density is aroond 430 fowk/km2, compared tae aboot 80 fowk/km2 for Asiatic Turkey, which is cried Anatolie or Asie Minor forby. Houaniver, densities are skewed bi the metropolis o Istanbul. The twa continents are separatit bi the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus (collectively kent as the Turkish Straits) an the Sea of Marmara, a route of aboot 361 km. The soothrenmaist pairt o Eastren Thrace is cried the Gallipoli peninsula. European Turkey is bordered on the wast bi Greece for 212 km an on the north bi Bulgarie for 269 km, wi the Aegean Sea tae the sooth-wast an the Black Sea tae the north-east.[2][3]

River Maritsa (Turkis: Meriç), which forms the laund mairch atween Greece an Turkey, forms the naitural mairch atween Wastren Thrace an East Thrace an aw.
Province (pairt) Area
(km2)
Population
(2012 census)[4]
Density
(pop/km2)
(2012 census)
Population
(2019 est.)
Istanbul Province (European) 3,421 8,963,431 2620.1 10,067,617**
Tekirdağ 6,218 852,321 137.1 1,055,412**
Kırklareli 6,550 341,218 52.1 361,836
Edirne 6,279 399,708 63.7 413,903
Çanakkale (European) 1,296 64,061 49.4 62,570
East Thrace (sum) 23,764 10,620,739 446.9 11,961,338**
% o naitional 3.09% 14.2% 461% 14.4%**
  • ** Disclaimer: Soorces mey modify an/or release updated data, this will nae be automatically reflected in thir tables, additionally the refugee crisis' vast floating migrants hae seriously complicated data collection, especially syne 2013. Estimates an Census uise different methodology an are nae directly comparable. Source: Citypopulation.de mirroring data frae: State Institute of Statistics, Republic of Turkey (wab).

History

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East Thrace wis the setting for several important events in history an legend, includin:

  • The Greek myth of Hero an Leander taks place in the auncient ceity o Sestus.
  • Aeneas foondit the ceity o Aenus while tryin tae find new launds during his mythological travels.
  • Efter the daith o Alexander the Great, in the period cried the Diadochi, Alexander's general Lysimachus (360-281 BC) acame keeng o Thrace an established his caipital in Lysimachia.
  • The Battle of Adrianople in 378 wis an important turning pynt in the decline o the Roman Empire.
  • Çimpe Castle wis the first European territory held bi the Ottoman Empire.
  • Edirne wis the seicont caipital o the Ottoman Empire efter Bursa.
  • The Gallipoli Campaign, stertit 25 Aprile 1915, ane o the maist important campaigns o the First Warld War, wis focht on the Gallipoli peninsula.

The mass killins an displacement o Thracian Bulgaries in 1913 an the 1923 population exchange atween Greece an Turkey ethnically cleansed the Orthodox populations.

Prior tae that the distribution o ethnoreleegious groups in the local sanjaks wis as follaes:

Ottoman offeecial Statistics, 1910[5]
Sanjak Turks Greeks Bulgaries Ithers Tot
Edirne 128,000 113,500 31,500 14,700 287,700
Kırk Kilise 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
Tot
%
744,000
46.11%
625,500
38.76%
71,000
4.40%
173,190
10.74%
1,613,690
Ecumenical Patriarchate Statistics, 1912
Tot
%
604,500
36.20%
655,600
39.27%
71,800
4.30%
337,600
20.22%
1,669,500

The Muslim millet wia recordit as Turkis, while the kirk members o the Ecumenical Patriarchate wur recordit as Greek.

In the past century, modren East Thrace wis the main component o the territory o the Adrianople Vilayet, which excludit the Constantinople Vilayet, but includit Wast Thrace an pairts o the Rhodopes an Sakar. A publication frae December 21, 1912 in the Belgian magazine Ons Volk Ontwaakt (‘Oor Naition Awakes’) estimatit 1,006,500 indwallers in the vilayet:[6]

  • Muslim Turks - 250,000
  • Muslim Bulgaries - 115,000
  • Muslim Roma fowk - 15,000

21st century East Thrace consteetutes what remains o Turkis Rumelia, which ance stretched as far north as Hungary an as far wast as Bosnie. Rumelia wis lost piecemeal frae 1699 onwards, until in 1912 the bulk o it wis lost in the First Balkan War. Some smaw regains wur made during the Seicont Balkan War, giein East Thrace the poleetical borders veesible the day.[7]

References

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  1. Zdanowski, Jerzy (2014). Middle Eastern Societies in the 20th Century. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 11. ISBN 978-1443869591.
  2. "Inland fisheries of Europe".
  3. "Turkey - Geography".
  4. "Turkish Statistical Institute. Registered population as of 2012". Archived frae the original on 10 October 2012.
  5. Pentzopoulos, Dimitri (2002). The Balkan exchange of minorities and its impact on Greece. C. Hurst & Co. Publishers. pp. 31–32. ISBN 978-1-85065-702-6.
  6. Published on December 21, 1912 in the Belgian magazine Ons Volk Ontwaakt (Our Nation Awakes) - view the table of Vilajet Manastir: Skynet GodsdBalkan Archived 2012-08-31 at the Wayback Machine
  7. "Thrace | region, Europe | Britannica". www.britannica.com (in Inglis). Retrieved 20 Mairch 2023.