Afyonkarahisar District (also known as ''Merkez'', meaning "central") 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, municip ...

in the

Afyonkarahisar Province Afyonkarahisar Province (), often shortened to Afyon Province, is a Provinces of Turkey, province in western Turkey. Its area is 14,016 km2, and its population is 747,555 (2022). The provincial capital is Afyonkarahisar. Adjacent provinces a ...

of Turkey. Its seat is the city

Afyonkarahisar Afyonkarahisar (, 'poppy, opium', ''kara'' 'black', ''hisar'' 'fortress') is a major city in western Turkey. It is the administrative centre of Afyonkarahisar Province and Afyonkarahisar District. Its population is 251,799 (2021). Afyon is in the ...

. Its occupied an area of , and had a population of 319,574 in 2021.

Etymology

Afyonkarahisar means "opium black castle" in Turkish. It was named as "Karahisar" meaning black castle ("kara" meaning black and "hisar" meaning castle) in the 13th century CE after the

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

overlooking the town. The prefix "afyon" meaning opium was added to the name in 1923 because of the

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

production in the region. It is also mentioned by the name Merkez meaning "central" in Turkish.

History

Early years

Human civilization has begun in the Early Bronze Age about 5000 years ago in the region. In 1800 BCE,

Hittites The Hittites () were an Anatolian peoples, Anatolian Proto-Indo-Europeans, Indo-European people who formed one of the first major civilizations of the Bronze Age in West Asia. Possibly originating from beyond the Black Sea, they settled in mo ...

occupied the region until the Phrygians populated it from 12th to 6th century BCE. The Hittites built a primitive fort atop the high granite rock overlooking the town of

(then known as Hapanuwa). In 333 BCE,

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon (; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), most commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the Ancient Greece, ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia (ancient kingdom), Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip ...

captured the region, and named the region as Akroinon or Akronium. The name was subsequently used by the Macedonians, Selucids, and the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

, which ruled over the region.

Middle ages

Akroinοn became an important fortress in the Armeniakon theme during the

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

rule due to its strategic location. It finds mention in the Byzantine history when it was attacked in 716 and 732 CE by Arabs invaders. After Byzantine emperor Leo III won a decisive victory over an

Umayyad Caliphate The Umayyad Caliphate or Umayyad Empire (, ; ) was the second caliphate established after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and was ruled by the Umayyad dynasty. Uthman ibn Affan, the third of the Rashidun caliphs, was also a member o ...

in the Battle of Akroinon in 740 CE, the town was renamed as Nicopolis or city of Nicholas.( Greek for "city of victory"). Since the 10th century, it was also a bishopric of Phrygia Salutaris. In the 11th century CE, the region became part of the frontier zone between the Byzantine Empire and the invading Turks. The region was lost by the Byzantines to the

Seljuk Turks The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; , ''Saljuqian'',) alternatively spelled as Saljuqids or Seljuk Turks, was an Oghuz Turks, Oghuz Turkic, Sunni Muslim dynasty that gradually became Persianate society, Persianate and contributed to Turco-Persi ...

from the Sultanate of Rum when

Manuel I Komnenos Manuel I Komnenos (; 28 November 1118 – 24 September 1180), Latinized as Comnenus, also called Porphyrogenitus (; " born in the purple"), was a Byzantine emperor of the 12th century who reigned over a crucial turning point in the history o ...

captured the region in the middle of 12th century CE. The Seljuks renamed the castle as "Kara Hisar". When the town was occupied by the Sâhib Ata in the 13th century CE, the region was called as Sahip Kara Hisar in honour of him. The region had been in the middle of battles for much of the

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and at times directed by the Papacy during the Middle Ages. The most prominent of these were the campaigns to the Holy Land aimed at reclaiming Jerusalem and its surrounding t ...

, and was finally conquered by the

Ottomans Ottoman may refer to: * Osman I, historically known in English as "Ottoman I", founder of the Ottoman Empire * Osman II, historically known in English as "Ottoman II" * Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empir ...

under Beyazid I in 1392 CE. The Ottomans lost it after the invasion of Timur Lenk in 1402 CE, but recaptured it in 1428-29 CE.

Later years

Under the Ottoman empire, the region was situated on the major trade route linking

Smyrna Smyrna ( ; , or ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean Sea, Aegean coast of Anatolia, Turkey. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna ...

and Western Asia. It thrived as a major centre of opium production, and Afyon became a wealthy city. In 1902, a fire burning for 32 hours destroyed parts of the city. The region was a major producer of raw opium until the late 1960s, when the production was controlled and a ban was enforced except licensed production for pharmaceutical purposes. The name was officially changed to Afyonkarahisar in 2004.

Geography

Afyonkarahisar district is one of the 18 districts in the

of Turkey. Its occupied an area of , and had a population of 319,574 in 2021. The region is home to many thermal springs, which were used by human since the

Bronze Age The Bronze Age () was a historical period characterised principally by the use of bronze tools and the development of complex urban societies, as well as the adoption of writing in some areas. The Bronze Age is the middle principal period of ...

. The Romans constructed various marble baths using the springs, and large social complexes were built around these during the Ottoman era. The waters of the springs have a temperature range of and contain various mineral salts such as

sodium chloride Sodium chloride , commonly known as Salt#Edible salt, edible salt, is an ionic compound with the chemical formula NaCl, representing a 1:1 ratio of sodium and chloride ions. It is transparent or translucent, brittle, hygroscopic, and occurs a ...

, and

sodium bicarbonate Sodium bicarbonate ( IUPAC name: sodium hydrogencarbonate), commonly known as baking soda or bicarbonate of soda (or simply “bicarb” especially in the UK) is a chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. It is a salt composed of a sodium cat ...

Sub-divisions

There are 15

municipalities A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

in Afyonkarahisar district including the city and capital of

: *

* Beyyazı * Çayırbağ * Çıkrık * Değirmenayvalı * Erkmen * Fethibey * Gebeceler * Işıklar * Kocatepe *

Nuribey Nuribey is a town (''belde'') and municipality in the Afyonkarahisar District, Afyonkarahisar Province, Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part ...

* Salar * Susuz * Sülümenli * Sülün There are 22 villages in the district: * Alcalı * Anıtkaya * Bayramgazi * Belkaracaören * Bostanlı * Burhaniye * Çavdarlı * Değirmendere * Gözsüzlü * Halımoru * Kaplanlı * Karaarslan * Kızıldağ * Kozluca * Köprülü * Küçükkalecik * Olucak * Omuzca * Saadet * Saraydüzü * Sarık * Yarımca

References

{{Afyonkarahisar District Districts of Afyonkarahisar Province