Kızılırmak River

The Kızılırmak (, Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River ( grc, Ἅλυς) and Alis River ( hy, Ալիս), is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for navigation.

Geography

The Kızılırmak flows for a total of , rising in Eastern Anatolia around , flowing first to the west and southwest until , then forming a wide arch, the "Halys bend", flowing first to the west, then to the northwest, passing to the northeast of Lake Tuz (''Tuz Gölü'' in Turkish), then to the north and northeast, where it is joined by its major tributary, the Delice River (once known in Greek as the Cappadox river) at . After zigzagging to the northwest to the confluence with the Devrez River at , and back to the northeast, it joins the Gökırmak (''Blue River'' in Turkish) before finally flowing via a wide delta into the Black Sea east of Samsun at .

There are dams on the river at Boyabat, Altınkaya and Derbent.

History

The Hittites called the river the Maraššantiya, and it formed the western boundary of Hatti, the core land of the Hittite empire.

Until the Roman conquest of Anatolia the Halys River (later renamed the ''Kızılırmak'' by the Turkish conquerors) served as a natural political boundary in central Asia Minor, first between the kingdom of Lydia and the Persian Empire, and later between the Pontic Kingdom and the Kingdom of Cappadocia. As the site of the Battle of Halys, or the Battle of the Eclipse, on May 28, 585 BC, the river formed the border between Lydia to the west and Media to the east until Croesus of Lydia crossed it to attack Cyrus the Great in 547 BC. He was defeated and Persia expanded to the Aegean Sea.

In the 1st century AD Vespasian combined several provinces, including Cappadocia, to create one large province with its eastern boundary marked by the Euphrates River. This province once again splintered during Trajans reign - the newly created province of Cappadocia, bounded by the Euphrates to the East, included Pontus and Lesser Armenia. The Halys River became an interior river and never regained its significance as a political border. In the 130s a governor of Cappadocia wrote: "long ago the Halys River was the boundary between the kingdom of Croesus and the Persian Empire; now it flows under Roman dominion."

Agriculture

The river's water is used to grow rice and in a few areas water buffalo are kept.

In popular culture

The historical fiction manga '' Red River'' is named after and largely set in the Kızılırmak basin, during the age of the Hittites.

References

External links

Livius.org: Halys
- Photos
sdu.dk/halys
*List of rivers of Turkey

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kizilirmak River
Rivers of Turkey
Halys River
Ramsar sites in Turkey
Landforms of Samsun Province
Landforms of Çorum Province
Landforms of Çankırı Province
Landforms of Aksaray Province
Landforms of Ankara Province
Landforms of Kırıkkale Province
Landforms of Kırşehir Province
Landforms of Nevşehir Province
Landforms of Kayseri Province
Landforms of Sivas Province