Diyarbakir
(2002 pop. of province 1.4 million). Diyarbakir (formerly Diyarbekir, ancient Amida, capital of the province of Diyarbakir) is located in southeastern Turkey on a basaltic plateau on the right bank of the Tigris River. Its old name, Black Amida, came from the black basalt walls surrounding the city. Diyarbakir is a very ancient city, dating back 5,000 years. Assyrians and Persians ruled there until Alexander of Macedon's conquests.
The city walls, originally Roman (297 BCE), were rebuilt by the Byzantines. Arabs arrived around 638 CE and renamed the city Doyarbakir, "abode of [the tribe of] Bakr."
The collapse of the Byzantine empire in 1071 enabled the Seljuks to annex the city. Many nomadic pastoral tribes, especially Turkmens and Kurds, then settled in the area. The city was conquered by the Kara-Koyunlus in the fifteenth century, was occupied by the Safavids in 1507, and finally fell into Ottoman hands in 1515. The Ottomans organized the newly conquered territories into the province of Doyarbakir, centered on the city of Amida. One of the largest provinces of the Ottoman empire, it had special importance because of its position near the Persian frontier. In 1923 the city was officially named Diyarbakir under the new Turkish Republic. Today Diyarbakir is a largely Kurdish town and is the major center of trade, industry, culture, and education in southeast Anatolia.
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