Ilgaz Mountains (; ) is a mountain range in northwest

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 ...

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 ...

. It belongs to the

Pontic Mountains The Pontic Mountains or Pontic Alps (, meaning 'North Anatolian Mountains'), form a mountain range in northern Anatolia, Turkey. They are also known as the "Parhar Mountains" in the local Turkish and Pontic Greek languages. The term ''Parhar'' ...

system.

Geography

In west Black Sea region, there are three ranges of mountains, which run parallel to the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea 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 bound ...

coast. Ilgaz Mountains constitute the eastern part of the second range from the coast line at an average distance of . The northern slopes of the mountains are in

Kastamonu Province Kastamonu Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey, in the Black Sea Region, Turkey, Black Sea region in the north of the country. It is surrounded by Sinop Province, Sinop to the east, Bartın Province, Bartın, Karabük Province ...

and the southern slopes are in

Çankırı Province Çankırı Province () is a Provinces of Turkey, province of Turkey, which lies close to the capital, Ankara. The provincial capital is Çankırı. Its area is 7,542 km2, and its population is 195,766 (2022). Economy The economy of Çankır� ...

. The length of the mountain system from west to east is about with a width of about . Situated at , the mountain peak, known as ''Büyükhacet Tepe'', is high. The state highway D.765, which connects Black Sea coast to Central Anatolia is west of the peak. The altitude of the highest pass on the highway is .

History

The ancient

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

s and Romans generally knew the mountains as ''Olgassys''. It was considered a lofty and inaccessible mountain on the frontiers of ancient Paphlagonia and

Galatia Galatia (; , ''Galatía'') 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 (cf. Tylis), who settled here ...

, extending from the

Halys River Halys may refer to: * Health-adjusted life years (HALYs), a type of disability-adjusted life year which are used in attempts to quantify the burden of disease or disability in populations * Halys River, a western name for the Kızılırmak River ...

(''Kızılırmak'') in a southwestern direction towards the Sangarius, and containing the sources of the

Parthenius River Parthenius or Parthenios (Greek: Παρθένιος) may refer to: People * Parthenius of Nicaea (1st-century BC–14 AD), Greek grammarian and poet * Saint Parthenius (died 4th-century, Rome), Armenian saint and martyr from Rome, who suffered ma ...

. The surrounding country was filled with temples erected by the Paphlagonians. The mountain mentioned by

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; , ; ; – 160s/170s AD) was a Greco-Roman mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were important to later Byzantine science, Byzant ...

under the name of ''Ligas'', ''Gigas'', or ''Oligas'', is probably the same as the Olgassys of

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called "Gnaeus Pompeius Strabo, Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-si ...

. William Smith considered the current name a corruption of the former name.

National park

The Mount Ilgaz National Park () at the west of the highway pass was opened on June 2, 1976 and is easily accessible from the highway D.765. Total area of the park is . At the highest elevation of the park, there are a number of hotels servicing to skiers. The skiers may use a long

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers. They are the primary on-hill tran ...

to the ski area. The distance from

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

is , which makes the park nearest winter sports resort to the capital city citizens. During the summertime, the visitors may fish in the Baldıran Valley within the national park.

Ecology

Ilgaz Mountains, especially the northern slopes, are covered with dense forestry. The popular name of the forestry around Ilgaz Mountains is "sea of trees" (). Some of the wild animals living in the wooded ranges are red deer, roe deer, fallow deer, wild boar, brown bear, gray wolf, European jackal, chamois and red fox. In 1996, a new insect species was discovered in Ilgaz Mountain ecology and in 2010 it was named as ''

Merodon ''Merodon'' is a large genus of bee-like hoverflies. The majority of the species are centered on the Mediterranean and it is the second largest hoverfly genus in Europe with more than 50 European species. It is distributed over the Palaearcti ...

Ilgazense''.

In popular music

The theme of a popular

song A song is a musical composition performed by the human voice. The voice often carries the melody (a series of distinct and fixed pitches) using patterns of sound and silence. Songs have a structure, such as the common ABA form, and are usu ...

"''Ilgaz''" composed by Ahmet Samim Bilgen and lyrics by Cemil Türkarman is about Ilgaz Mountains.

References

External links

{{authority control Landforms of Kastamonu Province Landforms of Çankırı Province National parks of Turkey Ski areas and resorts in Turkey Protected areas established in 1976 Mountain ranges of Turkey Tourist attractions in Çankırı Province Tourist attractions in Kastamonu Province Important Bird Areas of Turkey