Darende ( ) is a municipality and

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 ...

Malatya Province Malatya Province (; ) is a Provinces of Turkey, province and Metropolitan municipalities in Turkey, metropolitan municipality of Turkey. Its area is 12,259 km2, and its population is 812,580 (2022). It is part of a larger mountainous area. Th ...

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

. Its area is 1,482 km², and its population is 24,588 (2022). It lies to the northwest of

Malatya Malatya (; ; Syriac language, Syriac ܡܠܝܛܝܢܐ Malīṭīná; ; Ancient Greek: Μελιτηνή) is a city in the Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Malatya Province. The city has been a human settlement for thousands of y ...

, south of

Sivas Sivas is a city in central Turkey. It is the seat of Sivas Province and Sivas District.İl Beledi ...

, east of

Kayseri Kayseri () is a large List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. Historically known as Caesarea (Mazaca), Caesarea, it has been the historical capital of Cappadocia since anc ...

History

Darende had been known by various names including ''Taranda/Daranda'', and ''Derindere''. It has been presumed that the district had been inhabited since 7000-5000 BC due to the estimations made for the nearby archaeological sites such as Arslantepe and Cafer Höyük. Arslantas-Darende8

The first known administrative unit in Darende was reportedly established by

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 ...

. One of the Hittites remains within the district is a pair of

lion The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large Felidae, cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body (biology), body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the ...

statues residing around ''Arslantaş'' region, the west of Darende. In chronological order, the governance to date was controlled by

Mitanni Mitanni (–1260 BC), earlier called Ḫabigalbat in old Babylonian texts, ; Hanigalbat or Hani-Rabbat in Assyrian records, or in Ancient Egypt, Egyptian texts, was a Hurrian language, Hurrian-speaking state in northern Syria (region), Syria an ...

Assyrians Assyrians (, ) are an ethnic group indigenous to Mesopotamia, a geographical region in West Asia. Modern Assyrians share descent directly from the ancient Assyrians, one of the key civilizations of Mesopotamia. While they are distinct from ot ...

Achaemenids The Achaemenid dynasty ( ; ; ; ) was a royal house that ruled the Achaemenid Empire, which eventually stretched from Egypt and Thrace in the west to Central Asia and the Indus Valley in the east. Origins The history of the Achaemenid dy ...

, Romans, Byzantines, Umayyads,

Abbasids The Abbasid Caliphate or Abbasid Empire (; ) was the third caliphate to succeed the Islamic prophet Muhammad. It was founded by a dynasty descended from Muhammad's uncle, Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib (566–653 CE), from whom the dynasty takes i ...

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

, Danishmends, Rum Seljuks,

Ilkhanids The Ilkhanate or Il-khanate was a Mongol khanate founded in the southwestern territories of the Mongol Empire. It was ruled by the Il-Khans or Ilkhanids (), and known to the Mongols as ''Hülegü Ulus'' (). The Ilkhanid realm was officially known ...

, Eretnids, Dulkadirids, Mamluks and

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 ...

. Due to the configuration of the natural canyons surrounding the district (e.g. Tohma Canyon), the district has been reported to be one of the hops residing on trade, migration and military routes connecting various neighbouring regions; as an example,

Šuppiluliuma I Šuppiluliuma I, also Suppiluliuma () or Suppiluliumas (died c. 1322 BC) () was an ancient Hittite king (r. –1322 BC).Bryce 2005: xv, 154; Freu 2007b: 311 dates the reign to c. 1350–c. 1319 BC; Kuhrt 1995: 230 dates him within the range 1370 ...

, who expanded

across the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

and the

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

against

Egyptian Empire The New Kingdom, also called the Egyptian Empire, refers to ancient Egypt between the 16th century BC and the 11th century BC. This period of ancient Egyptian history covers the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Twentieth dynasties. Through radioc ...

, had been using the district to access the south, and

Basil I Basil I, nicknamed "the Macedonian" (; 811 – 29 August 886), was List of Byzantine emperors, Byzantine emperor from 867 to 886. Born to a peasant family in Macedonia (theme), Macedonia, he rose to prominence in the imperial court after gainin ...

had been carried out his expeditions against Muslims over the district. During the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of Roman civilization *Epistle to the Romans, shortened to Romans, a letter w ...

reign of 200 AD, Darende was one of the Roman settlements which was deduced from the records that the Roman Emperor

Trajan Trajan ( ; born Marcus Ulpius Traianus, 18 September 53) was a Roman emperor from AD 98 to 117, remembered as the second of the Five Good Emperors of the Nerva–Antonine dynasty. He was a philanthropic ruler and a successful soldier ...

had transformed the neighbouring encampment of Melitene into a

municipium In ancient Rome, the Latin term (: ) referred to a town or city. Etymologically, the was a social contract among ('duty holders'), or citizens of the town. The duties () were a communal obligation assumed by the in exchange for the privileges ...

against the

Parthian Empire The Parthian Empire (), also known as the Arsacid Empire (), was a major Iranian political and cultural power centered in ancient Iran from 247 BC to 224 AD. Its latter name comes from its founder, Arsaces I, who led the Parni tribe ...

during the same period. One of the Roman sites within the district is the Ozan Monument which is a single-chamber

mausoleum A mausoleum is an external free-standing building constructed as a monument enclosing the burial chamber of a deceased person or people. A mausoleum without the person's remains is called a cenotaph. A mausoleum may be considered a type o ...

dating back either 200 AD or 50 AD, presumably a popular monument style in

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

during the

Hellenistic Period In classical antiquity, the Hellenistic period covers the time in Greek history after Classical Greece, between the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BC and the death of Cleopatra VII in 30 BC, which was followed by the ascendancy of the R ...

Early Muslim conquests The early Muslim conquests or early Islamic conquests (), also known as the Arab conquests, were initiated in the 7th century by Muhammad, the founder of Islam. He established the first Islamic state in Medina, Arabian Peninsula, Arabia that ...

reached the region during Caliph Omar's reign and the district was conquered by Habib ibn Maslama for a short period of time, and it was reconquered by the same commander during

Mu'awiya I Mu'awiya I (–April 680) was the founder and first caliph of the Umayyad Caliphate, ruling from 661 until his death. He became caliph less than thirty years after the death of the Islamic prophet Muhammad and immediately after the four Rashid ...

's reign around 653–654. Between 7th and 12th centuries, the administration of the district had changed hands rather frequently; however, Darende seems not to be noted until, for the first time, ''Taranta'' had been registered as a

bishop A bishop is an ordained member of the clergy who is entrusted with a position of Episcopal polity, authority and oversight in a religious institution. In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance and administration of di ...

under the

metropolitan bishop In Christianity, Christian Christian denomination, churches with episcopal polity, the rank of metropolitan bishop, or simply metropolitan (alternative obsolete form: metropolite), is held by the diocesan bishop or archbishop of a Metropolis (reli ...

of ''Melitene'' in the 13th

Notitiae Episcopatuum The ''Notitiae Episcopatuum'' (singular: ''Notitia Episcopatuum'') were official documents that furnished for Eastern countries the list and hierarchical rank of the metropolitan and suffragan bishoprics of a church. In the Roman Church (the mos ...

(12th century).

Composition

There are 67

neighbourhoods A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neighbourh ...

in Darende District: * Ağılbaşı * Ağılyazı * Akbaba * Akçatoprak * Akova * Aşağıulupınar * Ayvalı * Balaban * Barındır * Başkaya * Baytarbağı * Beybağı * Çaybaşı * Çınar * Çukurkaya * Gaziköy * Gökçeören * Gökyar * Göllüce * Güdül * Günerli * Günpınar * Hacı Derviş * Hacılar Şeyhli * Hacılar Sıragoz * Hacolar * Heyiketeği * Hisarcık * Hisarkale * İbrahimpaşa * Ilıca * Irmaklı * Kaldırım * Karabacak * Karabayır * Karaoğuz * Kavak * Kaynak * Kerimli * Kılıçbağı * Kölükler * Kurudere * Kuzpınar * Medişeyh * Mehmetpaşa * Mollauşağı * Nadir * Nurkuyusu * Ozan * Palanga * Sakarya * Sandıkkaya * Sayfiye * Şendere * Şuğul * Sungur * Üçpınar * Uzunhasan * Yarımca * Yavuzlar * Yazıköy * Yenice * Yeniköy * Yenipınar * Yeşiltaş * Yukarıulupınar * Zaviye

Demographics

Evliya Çelebi Dervish Mehmed Zillî (25 March 1611 – 1682), known as Evliya Çelebi (), was an Ottoman Empire, Ottoman explorer who travelled through his home country during its cultural zenith as well as neighboring lands. He travelled for over 40 years, rec ...

claimed that the town's population was wholly made up of Armenians and Turkomans at the time of his travels.

Culture

Folk music

A metadata analysis on Turkish folk music in Darende has reported twelve

ballad A ballad is a form of verse, often a narrative set to music. Ballads were particularly characteristic of the popular poetry and song of Great Britain and Ireland from the Late Middle Ages until the 19th century. They were widely used across Eur ...

s of the district:

Language of ''Hazeyince''

Within the circles of craftsman and little artisan of Darende, a

cryptolect A cant is the jargon or language of a group, often employed to exclude or mislead people outside the group.McArthur, T. (ed.) ''The Oxford Companion to the English Language'' (1992) Oxford University Press It may also be called a cryptolect, argo ...

(mini secret language) called ''Hazeyince''/''Hazeynce'' had been emerged and being used to date. The vocabulary of the cant fetched words from various languages such as

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

, Persian and

Russian Russian(s) may refer to: *Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *A citizen of Russia *Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages *''The Russians'', a b ...

, and merged into the Turkish grammar in order to exclude people outside of the circle during communications when necessary.

Festivals

One of the traditional-summer festivals being held in Darende is the ''Zengibar Karakucak Wrestling Festival'', which is a Oguz- Turkic folk wrestling style.

Notable people

* Somuncu Baba (1331–1412), Ascetic Islamic preacher * Darendeli Cebecizade Mehmed Pasha (1714-1784),

Grand Vizier Grand vizier (; ; ) was the title of the effective head of government of many sovereign states in the Islamic world. It was first held by officials in the later Abbasid Caliphate. It was then held in the Ottoman Empire, the Mughal Empire, the Soko ...

of the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

* Darendeli Topal Izzet Mehmed Pasha (1723-1784)

of the

* Topal Izzet Mehmed Pasha (1792–1855),

of the

References

{{Authority control Populated places in Malatya Province Districts of Malatya Province Metropolitan district municipalities in Turkey