A History of Turkey, Part 1

PROFILE
Region: The Middle East
Climate: Seasonal Temperate, Hot Mediterranean
Leader(s): Tayyip Erdogan, since 2014 (at time of writing)
Population: 79,463,663
Capital: Ankara
Largest City: Istnabul
Currency: Turkish Lira
Languages: Turkish
Independence: N/A, was created from the Ottoman Empire in 1920
Territories or Colonies: None

THE FACTS
Turkey, officially the Republic of Turkey is a large nation in the Middle East & Europe, bordering Bulgaria. It is often known as the crossroads of the world because it's located on the divide between Europe and Asia. Istanbul is one of the few Intercontinental Cities like Panama City, Panama (half in South America, half in North America) or Port Said, Egypt (half in Africa, half in Asia). 

Turkey is known for its unique cuisine, culture and language that is unlike any other in the world. It's culture is an interesting mix of Middle Eastern, Central Asian and Eastern European influences.

BEFORE THE BYZANTINES (????-324)
Turkey is home to some of the oldest civilizations in the world. It's in close proximity to the cradle of humanity (the Tigris and Euphrates delta) and is home to what many consider the oldest city in the world Catalhoyuk. This town was a clump of buildings (what would be considered a village or small town by today's standards). It had agriculture on its edges (a recent invention), specialization within its walls like artisans and potters, etc. and was home to four to five thousand, one of the largest concentrations of people at this time.

Keep in mind that most humans were either a). nomads who just wandered around, ate whatever they could and preoccupied themselves with hunting, sleeping, sex and figuring out why the terrifying light in the sky always goes behind the earth or b.) you were a farmer who without the tools needed for large scale agriculture were relegated to small measly plots where you could grow a couple of the crops that grew in your local area and nothing else. Life wasn't great and living cities was important because it allowed you to have a career other than farmer, hunter or gatherer. 

At this time there was no such thing as a Turkish people. There were various groups like the Hattians, Hittites and others who would set up a primitive empire centered around a large town and spread their influence around the general area, and then would be wiped out by the Assyrians or some other group that wanted to control that land even more. The period between 2000 and 1200 BCE was a period of varying control by various groups. Stability wasn't anywhere to be found. 

Persia controlled the region for a bit, but the most important ruler the region had was Rome. Rome set up the farthest reaches of its Empire in Anatolia. They set up a capital in Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire or Eastern Roman Empire actually became more stable and powerful than the Western Roman Empire. When Rome was sacked in 410 by those nasty Barbarians it didn't really affect the Byzantines who were off doing their own thing in Turkey and Greece. 

Next post I will go into the rest of the history up to the renaissance. Turkey might require three posts as it's very complex.