| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
Adana is the marketing and distribution center for an agricultural region in which cotton, wheat, barley, grapes, citrus fruits, olives, and tobacco are produced. The chief industries in the city are textile manufacturing, tanning, and the processing of wool and various foods. Local points of interest include a great stone bridge, built in part during the reign (6th century) of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I, and the ruins of a castle dating from 782. Adana was probably founded in 63 BC by the Roman statesman Pompey the Great. For several centuries thereafter it was a way station on a Roman military road leading to the East. The city declined in importance after the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 but was rebuilt in the 8th century by Harun al-Rashid, caliph of Baghdad. Adana was held by Egypt from 1832Events February 12 Ecuador annexes the Galapagos Islands February 12 serious cholera epidemic begins in London from the East London. It is declared officially over in early May but deaths continue. At least 3000 victims March 24 In Hiram, Ohio a group of to 18401840 is a leap year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). Events January 3 One of the predecessor papers to the Herald Sun of Melbourne, Australia, The Port Phillip Herald is founded by George Cavanaugh. January 10 Uniform penny postage, when it was restored to Turkish rule.
Adana, a modern-day city located on the right bank of the Seyhan River in the CiliciaIn ancient geography, Cilicia ("Ki-LIK-ya") formed a district on the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey), north of Cyprus. Cilicia extended along the Aegean coast east from Pamphylia, to Mount Amanus (Giaour Dagh), which separated it from Syrn plain, was a caravan stop, river crossing, and frontier outpost protecting Asia Minor from incursions from SyriaThe Syrian Arab Republic is a country in Southwest Asia, bordering (from south to north) on Lebanon, Israel, Jordan, Iraq and Turkey. The border with Israel is subject to dispute, pending the resolution of outstanding conflicts over possession of the Gola. ( TarsusIn tetrapods, the tarsi are the cluster of bones in the foot between the tibia and fibula and the metatarsus. The bones of the tarsus do not belong to individual toes, whereas those of the metatarsus do. The joint between the tibia and fibula and the tars was closer to the Cilician Gate.) The history of Adana is mixed with that of TarsusIn tetrapods, the tarsi are the cluster of bones in the foot between the tibia and fibula and the metatarsus. The bones of the tarsus do not belong to individual toes, whereas those of the metatarsus do. The joint between the tibia and fibula and the tars; they seem to often be the same city, moving as the river changed position and the name changing over time. Adana was of little importance in ancient history; Tarsus, Ayas/Issus, and Kozan (formerly Sis) have usually been the major population and administrative centers, especially during the Kingdom of Lesser Armenia. Adana Massacre was the second series of large-scale massacres of Armenians to break out in the Ottoman Empire. The atrocities committed in the province of Adana in April 1909 coincided with the counter-revolution staged by supporters of Sultan Abdul Hamid ( Abdulhamit ) II (1876-1909) who had been forced to restore the Ottoman Constitution as a result of the 1908 Young Turk Revolution led by the Committee of Union and Progress (CUP). A prosperous region on the Mediterranean coast encompassing the old principality of Cilicia, once an independent Armenian state between the eleventh and fourteenth centuries, the province of Adana had been spared the 1890's massacres. The disturbances were most severe in the city of Adana where a reported 4,437 Armenian dwellings were torched, resulting in the razing of nearly half the town and prompting some to describe the resulting inferno as a "holocaust." The outbreaks spread throughout the district and an estimated 30,000 Armenians were reported killed. While attempts at resistance in Adana proved futile, and Armenians in smaller outlying villages were brutally slaughtered, two towns inhabited mostly by Armenians organized a successful defense. Hadjin (Hajen in Armenian) in the Cilician Mountains withstood a siege, while the 10,000 Armenians of Dortyol (Chorkmarzban in Armenian) held off 7,000 Turks who had surrounded their town and cut off its water supply.
The intensity of the carnage prompted the government to open an investigation, but the failure to prosecute dashed Armenian expectations of liberal reforms by the new regime. The reactionary elements of the Ottoman Empire were suspected of instigating the massacres to discredit the CUP, but the Young Turks were also implicated. The Adana Massacre exposed the twin composition of the Young Turk Movement, which consisted of both liberal and radical nationalist elements. It also demonstrated the convergent interests of the nationalists with the reactionary and conservative elements of Ottoman state in their policies toward a progressive-minded minority. For the Young Turks, the Adana Massacre proved a rehearsal for gauging the depth of Turkish animosity in the Ottoman Empire toward Christian minorities and for testing their skills in marshaling those forces for political ends. Despite the restoration of a constitutional government, the specter of mass violence was reintroduced as a mechanism of state power.
Adana, now one of the large towns of Asia Minor, about nineteen miles from the sea, derives its importance from its situation as the gateway to the Cilician plain, that great flat stretch of fertile land, possibly the most productive in this part of the world, (on east side of Taurus Mtns). In Adana all the houses are flat-topped and the roofs serve as the bedrooms for the inhabitants during the hot summers. Adana was more important for its agriculture while Tarsus was the metropolis of the area. Several types of fruit are native to this area, the apricot being an example.
From Adana, crossing the Cilician plain going west, the road from Tarsus enters the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. With every foot of ascent the coolness increases, reaching an altitude of nearly 4000 feet. Then through the famous Cilician Gates, that rocky pass through which armies have coursed since history's dawn, and the caravan has arrived on the Anatolian plain.