Edirne
(2002 pop. 128,000). Edirne is the capital of the province of Edirne in northwestern Turkey, near the border with Greece and Bulgaria and the confluence of the Tundzha, Maritsa, and Arda rivers. The city is the gateway from the Balkans to the east. The first settlers were most likely Thracian tribes, succeeded by the Macedonians and later by the Romans under the emperor Hadrian (76–138 CE), who namedthe city Hadrianopolis or Adrianopolis. The city was captured by the Ottoman sultan Murad I (1326?–1389) in 1362, after which it became Edirne, the second capital of the Ottoman empire after Bursa. From here Fatih Sultan Mehmed planned his attack on Constantinople in 1453. Due to Edirne's importance as one of the first capitals of the Ottoman empire, many Ottoman monuments, mosques, and palaces adorn the city. Most notable is the Sultan Selim Mosque, commissioned by Sultan Selim II (1524–1574), built between 1568 and 1574 by the distinguished Ottoman architect Mimar Sinan (1489–1588). The mosque's dome has a diameter of 31.5 meters, a few centimeters larger than the Saint Sophia dome in Istanbul, and has the second-highest minarets in the world, surpassed only by those in Mecca.
The Sultan Selim Mosque in Edirne in the 1990s. (CHRIS HELLIER/CORBIS)Edirne was occupied by the Russians during the Russian-Turkish wars in 1829 and 1878–1879, and by the Bulgarians in 1913. After World War I the Greeks laid claim to Edirne from 1920 to 1922. Edirne officially became part of the Turkish Republic in 1923 under the Treaty of Lausanne. Each summer Edirne hosts the popular Kirkpinar Festival, a 600-year-old competition of greased wrestling.
Further Reading
Statistical Yearbook of Turkey, 1998. (1998) Ankara, Turkey: Devlet I Statistik Enstitusu.
This is the complete article, containing 278 words
(approx. 1 page at 300 words per page).
