İskilip is a

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

Çorum Province Çorum ( tr, ) is a province in the Black Sea Region of Turkey, but lying inland and having more characteristics of Central Anatolia than the Black Sea coast. Its provincial capital is the city of Çorum, the traffic code is 19. History Excav ...

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

, on the left bank of the River Kızılırmak, located at 56 km from the city of

Çorum Çorum () (Medieval Greek: Ευχάνεια, romanized: Euchaneia) is a northern Anatolian city that is the capital of the Çorum Province of Turkey. Çorum is located inland in the central Black Sea Region of Turkey, and is approximately from A ...

, 100 miles (160 km) northeast of

Ankara Ankara ( , ; ), historically known as Ancyra and Angora, is the capital of Turkey. Located in the central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5.1 million in its urban center and over 5.7 million in Ankara Province, mak ...

and 60 miles (100 km) southeast of Kastamonu. It covers an area of 1,187 km², and has an elevation of 2460 ft (750 m). The population is about 39,124, of which 20,660 live in the town of İskilip (as of 2010). The mayor is Ali Sülük.

Etymology

Former names included ''Iskila'' (the name given to the area in Hittite times), ''Asklepios'' / ''Aesculapius'' (in

ancient Greek Ancient Greek includes the forms of the Greek language used in ancient Greece and the ancient world from around 1500 BC to 300 BC. It is often roughly divided into the following periods: Mycenaean Greek (), Dark Ages (), the Archaic p ...

), ''Blocium'' / ''Bloacium'', ''İmad'', ''Iskelib'' / ''İskelib'' (the ancient name returning into use in the

Seljuk Turk The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

ish era), and ''Direklibel''.

Geography

İskilip lies on a well-watered plain, several miles off the road between

Çankırı Çankırı, historically known as Gangra (Greek: Γάγγρα), is the capital city of Çankırı Province, in Turkey, about northeast of Ankara. It is situated about 800 m (2500 ft) above sea level. History Çankırı was known in ...

and

Amasya Amasya () is a city in northern Turkey and is the capital of Amasya Province, in the Black Sea Region. It was called Amaseia or Amasia in antiquity."Amasya" in '' The New Encyclopædia Britannica''. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica Inc., 15th e ...

among wooded hills, at the foot of a limestone rock crowned by the ruins of an ancient fortress now filled with houses. Near the town are saline springs, from which salt is extracted. The climate is dry. The highest point is Mount Teke (1700m). The local economy depends on agriculture, especially grains and pulses, and forestry. Iskilip lies on the

North Anatolian Fault The North Anatolian Fault (NAF) ( tr, Kuzey Anadolu Fay Hattı) is an active right-lateral strike-slip fault in northern Anatolia, and is the transform boundary between the Eurasian Plate and the Anatolian Plate. The fault extends westward fro ...

. By one calculation the geographic center of all land area on the earth surface, is a mile or so to the northeast of Iskilip town, not far from Başmakçı, İskilip, making it the ''centre of the world''.

History

People have been attracted to the saline springs of İskilip since the earliest times, and the town stands on a route through the mountains to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, ...

coast. Therefore, this is one of the longest-settled areas of

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The r ...

; copper was smelted here in ancient times, when the plain was settled by the Hittite and

Hatti Hatti may refer to *Hatti (; Assyrian ) in Bronze Age Anatolia: **the area of Hattusa, roughly delimited by the Halys bend **the Hattians of the 3rd and 2nd millennia BC **the Hittites of ''ca'' 1400–1200 BC **the areas to the west of the Euphrat ...

civilizations (from 3000 BC). Rock carvings on the hill of ''Yivlik'' are said to date to the Hittite period. The Hattic city was then possessed by Paphlagonian kings (from 900-700 BC), was mentioned in the

Iliad The ''Iliad'' (; grc, Ἰλιάς, Iliás, ; "a poem about Ilium") is one of two major ancient Greek epic poems attributed to Homer. It is one of the oldest extant works of literature still widely read by modern audiences. As with the '' Odys ...

, and was visited by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer from the Greek city of Halicarnassus, part of the Persian Empire (now Bodrum, Turkey) and a later citizen of Thurii in modern Calabria ( Italy). He is known for ...

. Then came the

Galatia Galatia (; grc, Γαλατία, ''Galatía'', "Gaul") was an ancient area in the highlands of central Anatolia, roughly corresponding to the provinces of Ankara and Eskişehir, in modern Turkey. Galatia was named after the Gauls from Thrace (c ...

ns and the kings of Pontus, but these were soon displaced by a much stronger civilization. For the

ancient Romans In modern historiography, ancient Rome refers to Roman civilisation from the founding of the city of Rome in the 8th century BC to the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century AD. It encompasses the Roman Kingdom (753–509 B ...

, who paid their soldiers in salt, the area had great importance. The Romans and, subsequently, the Byzantines settled here for a thousand years, making İskilip one of their key strongholds on the Kızılırmak. Byzantine rule of Anatolia ended in 1071 following the Byzantines' defeat by the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

at the battle of

Malazgirt Malazgirt or Malâzgird ( ku, Melezgir; hy, Մանազկերտ, Manazkert; grc-x-medieval, Ματζιέρτη, Matziértē), historically known as Manzikert ( grc-x-medieval, Μαντζικέρτ, links=no), is a town in Muş Province in eastern ...

, and İskilip was soon settled (1074) by the Danishmend Turks, who brought Islam to the region. Centuries of fighting ensued between further Turkish clans and, from the 13th century, waves of

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

and

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

invaders. In 1390, with the aid of

ian armies, the Ottoman Sultan

Bayezid I Bayezid I ( ota, بايزيد اول, tr, I. Bayezid), also known as Bayezid the Thunderbolt ( ota, link=no, یلدیرم بايزيد, tr, Yıldırım Bayezid, link=no; – 8 March 1403) was the Ottoman Sultan from 1389 to 1402. He adopted t ...

moved against the Turkish lords who, by now, were in control of this corner of Anatolia. After severe fighting in which an Ottoman

prince A prince is a Monarch, male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary title, hereditary, in s ...

was killed and the castles of

, Kalecik, and others were besieged, Bayezid (''the Thunderbolt'') prevailed and the area was brought under Ottoman control. But the castle of İskilip had been seriously damaged, and most of the population dispersed during the fighting, never to return, perhaps wisely, as the area, in 1402, was the scene of even more terrible warfare between Bayezid's Ottomans and the Tatars of

Timur Timur ; chg, ''Aqsaq Temür'', 'Timur the Lame') or as ''Sahib-i-Qiran'' ( 'Lord of the Auspicious Conjunction'), his epithet. ( chg, ''Temür'', 'Iron'; 9 April 133617–19 February 1405), later Timūr Gurkānī ( chg, ''Temür Kür ...

. Following the

Ottoman Interregnum The Ottoman Interregnum, or the Ottoman Civil War ( 20 July 1402 – 5 July 1413; tr, Fetret Devri, , Interregnum Period), was a civil war in the Ottoman Empire between the sons of Sultan Bayezid I following the defeat of their father at the ...

, rule was restored by Bayezid's son

Mehmed I Mehmed I ( 1386 – 26 May 1421), also known as Mehmed Çelebi ( ota, چلبی محمد, "the noble-born") or Kirişçi ( el, Κυριτζής, Kyritzis, "lord's son"), was the Ottoman sultan from 1413 to 1421. The fourth son of Sultan Bayez ...

, but İskilip's misfortune persisted, with destruction returning in 1509 in a large earthquake known as the ''little Armageddon''. At some stage, the area must have recovered, as, by the 17th century,

Evliya Çelebi Derviş Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi ( ota, اوليا چلبى), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through the territory of the Ottoman Empire and neighboring lands over a period of forty ye ...

recorded a fortified town of 150 households, and, in 1849, French traveler

Vital Cuinet Vital-Casimir Cuinet, commonly known as Vital Cuinet (December 19, 1833 in Longeville – September 6, 1896 in Constantinople (now Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code ...

recorded a city of 2,000 homes with a predominantly Muslim population of 10,563. There were 108 mosques, six dervish lodges, six koran schools, a civic building, five libraries, a market of 510 shops, two

caravanserai A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was a roadside inn where travelers ( caravaners) could rest and recover from the day's journey. Caravanserais supported the flow of commerce, information and people across the network of trade routes coverin ...

s, four Turkish baths, 18 fountains, a water garden, 18 tanneries, 63 flour mills, six bakeries, 10 coffee houses, a courthouse, a tax office, a post office, a telegraph office, and a census bureau. Gardens were used to grow

buckthorn ''Rhamnus'' is a genus of about 110 accepted species of shrubs or small trees, commonly known as buckthorns, in the family Rhamnaceae. Its species range from tall (rarely to ) and are native mainly in east Asia and North America, but found t ...

for making

natural dye Natural dyes are dyes or colorants derived from plants, invertebrates, or minerals. The majority of natural dyes are vegetable dyes from plant sources—roots, berries, bark, leaves, and wood—and other biological sources such as fungi. Archae ...

. Thus, it is evident that the town has had a predominantly Turkish population since the 13th century, and the people of İskilip are said to speak Turkish with an accent that is the closest in modern Turkey to the language spoken by those first immigrants from the Central Asian heartland. In the early days of the

Turkish Republic Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

, linguists from the Turkish Language Institute conducted research in İskilip as part of the institute's program to bring authentic Turkish vocabulary into the language. Unable to sustain the manufacturing or large-scaled trade that fuels a modern city, from the late 19th century, İskilip has declined and is now eclipsed by nearby Çorum, much to the resentment of the people of İskilip, who will buy cars with Ankara license plates rather than Çorum and will go to great lengths to avoid visiting the provincial capital. In 1930, the first bridge over the Kızılırmak was built, with wood, to connect İskilip with Çorum. The first school in İskilip was opened in 1935, and the first high school in 1968. Taybi Ovasi Kızılırmak

İskilip today

Modern İskilip is a small town that provides the area with schools and other amenities. The cuisine is typical of much of Anatolia, including a particularly renowned rice-based

dolma Dolma (Turkish for “stuffed”) is a family of stuffed dishes associated with Ottoman cuisine, and common in modern national cuisines of regions and countries that once were part of the Ottoman Empire. Some types of dolma are made with whol ...

, wheat soup keshkek, fruit syrup (

pekmez Pekmez ( tr, pekmez, az, bəkməz/doşab) is a molasses-like syrup obtained after condensing juices of fruit must, especially grape by boiling it with a coagulant agent like wood ashes or ground carob seeds. It is used as a syrup or mixed with tah ...

), a dry egg-noodle

erişte Kesme or erişte is a type of egg noodle found in various Turkic countries, Iran and Afghanistan. It is also found in Turkish cuisine and is called ''erişte'' and “kesme” in modern standard Turkish. The word itself is a nominalisation of t ...

, spice-cured beef pastırma, roasted chick peas

leblebi Leblebi ( tr, leblebi; acm, لبلبي, leblebi; ar, قضامة, Qdameh, Qudamah; fa, نخودچی, Nokhodchi; scn, Càlia) is a snack made from roasted chickpeas, common and popular in Iran, Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Iraq, Greec ...

, a round loaf called Okkalık, and, of course, a local

kebab Kebab (, ; ar, كباب, link=no, Latn, ar, kabāb, ; tr, kebap, link=no, ) or kabob (North American) is a type of cooked meat dish (food), dish that originates from Middle Eastern cuisine, cuisines of the Middle East. Many variants of the ...

, which is a meat-and-vegetable casserole.

Notable people

Ahmet Peker Ahmet Peker (born November 4, 1989) is a Turkish sport wrestler in 55 kg division of Freestyle. The tall athlete is a member of Bursa Büyükşehir Belediyespor Club in Bursa, where he is coached by İsmail Faikoğlu. In 2009, he was named ...

(born 1989), Freestyle wrestler *

Ebussuud Efendi Ebussuud Efendi ( tr, Mehmed Ebüssuûd Efendi, 30 December 1490 – 23 August 1574)İsmail Hâmi Danişmend, ''Osmanlı Devlet Erkânı'', Türkiye Yayınevi, İstanbul, 1971, p. 114. was a Hanafi Maturidi Ottoman jurist and Qur'an exegete, w ...

, Ottoman

Shaykh al-Islām Shaykh al-Islām ( ar, شيخ الإسلام, Šayḫ al-Islām; fa, شِیخُ‌الاسلام ''Sheykh-ol-Eslām''; ota, شیخ‌ الاسلام, Şhaykḫu-l-İslām or ''Sheiklı ul-Islam''; tr, Şeyhülislam) was used in the classical e ...

* İskilipli Âtıf Hodja - (d. 1926) Islamic scholar executed in the early days of the Turkish Republic for his opposition to the banning of the fez and other symbolic headgear. * İsmail Beşikçi (b. 1939) Sociologist, historian and writer, although from a conservative family in İskilip has written on issues including

Kurdish nationalism Kurdish nationalism (, ) is a nationalist political movement which asserts that Kurds are a nation and espouses the creation of an independent Kurdistan from Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey. Early Kurdish nationalism had its roots in the Ottoma ...

, the founding of the republic and the period of a one-party state.

References

External links

Local district council's official websiteA local newspaperA local interest website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Iskilip Populated places in Çorum Province Districts of Çorum Province