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26-626: Between the Taurus Mountains to the north, and the sandy beaches of the Mediterranean coast, much of the district is surrounded by a flat plain. This is mostly fertile farmland and agriculture is well-developed in Manavgat, keeping livestock and growing crops including grains, sesame and many fruits and vegetables; in recent years olives have also been planted. There is no industry except for food-processing, so apart from agriculture

52-628: A hot-summer Mediterranean climate ( Köppen : Csa ), with very hot, dry summers and mild, rainy winters. The ancient cities of Side and Selge date back to the 6th century BC. Manavgat was taken over by the Seljuk Turks in 1220 and the Ottoman Empire in 1472.The town also has a castle named "Zindan Kalesi"literally Dungeon Castle in English . With 64 kilometres (40 mi) of hot, sunny coastline, much of it sandy beaches, with

78-402: A long river and the waterfall, well-protected countryside including mountains and forests, Manavgat has an important tourist industry. There is plenty of accommodation on the coastline and many places to explore including historical sites, rivers, streams and caves. And there is the sea itself including the odd experience of swimming from fresh water into the salt sea at the rivermouth. Predictably

104-545: Is 89%. About 43% of the male population and about 27% of the female population graduated from middle school. Infant mortality is 0.48%. Urban population growth rate is 2.42%. Population density is 117 as of November 2020.(In the table below, the four second-level municipalities are merged within Mersin proper.) The city of Mersin is one of busiest cities in Turkey. Due to the economic activity in this part of Turkey generated by

130-519: Is a 98-metre-high (322 ft) railway bridge constructed in the 1910s by Germans . Mersin Province Mersin Province ( Turkish : Mersin ili ), formerly İçel Province ( Turkish : İçel ili ), is a province and metropolitan municipality in southern Turkey , on the Mediterranean coast between Antalya and Adana . Its area is 16,010 km , and its population is 1,916,432 (2022). The provincial capital and

156-649: Is a natural frontier: west is Cilicia , east is Syria. There are several passes, like the Amanian Gate (Bahçe Pass) , which are of great strategical importance. In 333 BC at the Battle of Issus , Alexander the Great defeated Darius III in the foothills along the coast between these two passes. In the Second Temple period, Jewish authors seeking to establish with greater precision the geographical definition of

182-681: Is a problem in many areas, but it never snows on the coast, only in the mountainous areas. In antiquity, this coast was part of Cilicia , named for a Phoenician or Assyrian prince that had settled here. Trade from Syria and Mesopotamia over the mountains to central Anatolia passed through here, through the Cilician Gates . The geographer Strabo , described the region as being divided into "Rugged Cilicia" ( Cilicia Trachea , Κιλικία Τραχεία in Greek ) and "Flat Cilicia" ( Cilicia Pedias , Κιλικία Πεδιάς). The capital of both sections of Cilicia

208-503: The GAP Project Mersin is Turkey's biggest Mediterranean port, and also hosts an oil refinery and a free trade zone ; there are a number of factories along the road between Mersin and Adana , manufacturing glass, detergents, fertilizers and many more. With all this activity a modern city has grown with a university and other major amenities. Mersin does not have the huge volume of tourists enjoyed by neighbouring Antalya or

234-717: The Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau . The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğirdir in the west to the upper reaches of the Euphrates and Tigris rivers in the east. It is a part of the Alpide belt in Eurasia . The mountain range under the current name was mentioned in The Histories by Polybius as Ταῦρος ( Taûros ). Heinrich Kiepert writes in Lehrbuch der alten Geographie that

260-756: The Promised Land , began to construe Mount Hor as a reference to the Amanus range of the Taurus Mountains, which marked the northern limit of the Syrian plain . During World War I , the German and Turkish railway system through the Taurus Mountains proved to be a major strategic objective of the Allies. This region was specifically mentioned as a strategically controlled objective slated for surrender to

286-592: The Allies in the Armistice , which ended hostilities against the Ottoman Empire . In addition to hiking and mountain climbing, there are two ski resorts on the mountain range, one at Davras about 25 km (16 mi) from the two nearest towns of Egirdir and Isparta , the second is Saklıkent 40 km (25 mi) from the city of Antalya . The Varda Viaduct , situated on the railway lines Konya - Adana at Hacıkırı village in Adana Province ,

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312-783: The Central Taurus Mountains. It has many peaks rising above 3,000–3,700 m (9,800–12,100 ft). Mt. Kizlarsivrisi , 3,086 m (10,125 ft), in the Bey Mountains is the highest peak in the Western Taurus. The Central Taurus Mountains are roughly defined to include northern Mersin Province and northwestern Adana Province . The highest point in the Central Taurus is Mt. Demirkazık (3,756m). The Cilician Gates or Gülek Pass has been

338-569: The area. Ninth biggest province of Turkey by land area, Mersin consists 2,02% of Turkey . 87% of the land area is mountain, leading up to the rocky heights of the central Taurus Mountains , the highest peak is Medetsiz (3,584 m) in the Bolkar range, and there are a number of important passes over to central Anatolia . There are many high meadows and small plains between 700 and 1500m. The coastal strip has many large areas of flatland, formed from soil brought down by rivers and streams running off

364-475: The biggest city in the province is Mersin , which is composed of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz , Mezitli , Toroslar and Yenişehir . Next largest is Tarsus , the birthplace of Paul the Apostle . The province is considered to be a part of the geographical, economical and cultural region of Çukurova , which covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye and Hatay . The capital of

390-603: The cuisine includes fish from the Mediterranean. The villages of Kumköy and Ilıca on the coast are particularly lively. In 2021 there was the country’s largest forest fire to that time. There are 106 neighbourhoods in Manavgat District: Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish : Toros Dağları or Toroslar, Greek : Ταύρος) are a mountain complex in southern Turkey , separating

416-691: The local economy depends on tourism. The mountains are covered with forests and typical Mediterranean shrubs, there are small plains higher in the mountains too, traditionally used for summer grazing by the yörük nomads. Manavgat has a Mediterranean climate of hot, dry summers and warm, wet winters; the temperature rarely drops to freezing. The district is irrigated by the Manavgat River, and has two dams for hydro-electric power. In 2001 plans began to export water from these reservoirs to Israel and other Mediterranean countries including Malta and Cyprus ; as of 2006 these plans are on hold. Manavgat has

442-594: The mountains. This is fertile land, the largest area being the plain of Tarsus . The largest rivers are the Göksu and the Berdan (Göksu Calycadnus and Berdan Cydnus of antiquity), but there are many small streams running into lakes, reservoirs or the Mediterranean sea. Mersin has 321 km of coastline, much of it sandy beach. The climate is typical of the Mediterranean; very hot and rainless in summer, mild and wet in winter. The winter rains can be very heavy and flooding

468-592: The name was borrowed into Ancient Greek from the Semitic ( Old Aramaic ) root טורא ( ṭūrā ), meaning "mountain". The Taurus Mountains are divided into three chains from west to east as follows; The Western Taurus Mountains form an arc around the Gulf of Antalya . It includes the Akdağlar, Bey Mountains, Katrancık Mountain, Kuyucak Mountains, and Geyik Mountains. The East Taşeli Plateau and Goksu River divide it from

494-703: The principal pass through the Eastern Taurus since ancient times, connecting the coastal plain of Cilicia with Central Anatolia . The Tarsus-Ankara Highway ( E90 , O-21 ) passes through it. Mountain ranges in the Central Taurus include: The Southeastern Taurus Mountains form the northern boundary of the Southeastern Anatolia Region and North Mesopotamia . They include the Nurhak Mountains, Malatya Mountains, Maden Mountains, Genç Mountains, and Bitlis Mountains. They are in

520-410: The province is the city of Mersin . The province is named after its biggest city Mersin. Mersin was named after the aromatic plant genus Myrsine ( Greek : Μυρσίνη , Turkish : mersin ) in the family Primulaceae , a myrtle that grows in abundance in the area. The 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi has recorded in his Seyahatnâme that there was also a clan named Mersinoğulları in

546-462: The provinces of Mersin and İçel were merged. The new province was named "İçel" and the city of Mersin was made its capital. The province was renamed to "Mersin" on 28 June 2002. Mersin province is divided into thirteen districts four of which are actually included within the municipality of Mersin city (shown in boldface letters). About 50% of the population of the province is younger than 24 years of age. 68% were born in Mersin. The literacy rate

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572-725: The southern slopes of the Beydaglari range. The mountains have a Mediterranean climate , with dry summers and rainy winters. Temperatures vary with elevation, with warm winters on the lower coastal slopes and cold winters in the high mountains and in the interior. At lower elevations, the predominant vegetation forest and woodland of evergreen oaks and Turkish pine ( Pinus brutia ), and areas of maquis shrubland . Above 1200 meters elevation are montane forests of black pine ( Pinus nigra ), Lebanon cedar ( Cedrus libani ), Taurus fir ( Abies cilicica ), and juniper ( Juniperus spp.). The high peaks are home to alpine meadows. The bull

598-478: The various storm-gods of the ancient Near East, were a people whom modern scholars place in the Taurus Mountains at their probable earliest origins. A Bronze Age archaeological site, where early evidence of tin mining was found, is at Kestel . The pass known in antiquity as the Cilician Gates crosses the range north of Tarsus . The Amanus range in southern Turkey is where the Taurus Mountains are pushed up as three tectonic plates come together. The Amanus

624-590: The watershed of the Euphrates River and Tigris River . The Taurus Mountains were formed by the collision of the African and Eurasian tectonic plates . The predominant underlying rock is limestone . In the Aladaglar and Bolkar mountains, limestone has eroded to form karstic landscapes of waterfalls , underground rivers , and some of the largest caves of Asia . The Manavgat River originates on

650-683: Was Tarsus and Mersin was its seaport. The Seljuks later captured it from the Byzantines and it then came under the Crusaders then the Seljuks again and finally the Ottomans captured it and it remained part of the Ottoman Empire until 1922. The province of Mersin until 1933 didn't include the western territories of the modern province, which then constituted the separate İçel province, with Silifke as its administrative center. In 1933,

676-503: Was commonly the symbol and depiction of ancient Near Eastern storm gods , hence Taurus the bull, and hence the name of the mountains. The mountains are a place of many ancient storm-god temples. Torrential thunderstorms in these mountains were deemed by the ancient Syrians to be the work of the storm-god Adad to make the Tigris and Euphrates rivers rise and flood and thereby fertilise their land. The Hurrians , probably originators of

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