Outline of History

The Kingdom of Hatti (2500-1650 BCE)

Turkey’s first historic civilization, called Hatti, had a great influence on the Hittites. The Hatti were present by 2500 BCE but their origin is unknown as well as the source of their language. Their state was made up of small principalities of central Anatolia. The Hatti are one of the oldest people known by name.

2000-1750 BCE
Hitties enter central Anatolia and begin to rule in city-states.

1800 BCE
Abraham, the progenitor of the Hebrews, lives in Haran, in southeastern Anatolia.

The United Kingdom of the Hitties (1650-1193 BCE)

The Hitties were an Indo-European people, from the east and were gradually absorbed by the Hatti. They were among the first to perfect the war chariot, and became a great power in the ancient world. Their state and culture developed in central Anatolia, as the Hatti before them. The Hittite Period is roughly contemporary with the height of the Minoan civilization on Crete, the rise and fall of Mycenaen Greece, and the Middle and New Kingdoms of Egypt.

1650-1620 BCE
Hattusilis I founds the Old Hittite Kingdom and makes Hattusas the capital.

1225-1200 BCE
Reign of Suppiluliumas II. Naval attacks by mysterious People of the Sea, Phrygians, and the Kaska tribes, as well as famine and the weakening of the central authority, lead to the collapse of the Hattite empire (ca. 1193 BCE) Hattusas is destroyed.

Kingdom of Urartu in East, Period of Greek Colonization in West
(1193-547 BCE)

1100 BCE
Greeks colonize Aegean coast of Anatolia-Aeolis in north, Ionia in center, Doris in South. Ionias found 12 major cities, including Ephesus, Priene, and Miletus.

1000-700 BCE
Kingdom of Phrygia centered at Gordion. The legendary King Gordius ties the Gordian knot. His son Midas acquires the golden touch.

750-650 BCE
The epic poet Homer is born in the region of Smyrna (modern Izmir).

625-585 BCE
Cyaxares founds the Median Empire, and swallows eastern Anatolia.

625-547 BCE
Birth of the philosopher Thales in Miletus. As the first of the Ionian natural philosophers, he asserts that water is the basis of all things, makes discoveries in geometry and astronomy, predicting a solar eclipse during a battle between the Lydians and Medes.

610-547 BCE
The philosopher and noted mathematician Aniximander formulates the first systematic philosophical view of the world, is said to have introduced the sundial to Greece and made the first world map.

560-478 BCE
Xenophanes, poet and religious philosopher born in Colophon (in Ionia) and later a student of Aniximander criticizes the anthropomorphic representation of gods and attacks the mythical gods’ immorality. His pantheistic philosophy stresses the unity of all things: The all is one and the one is God.

Persian Period (547-334 BCE)

547 BCE
King Croesus learns from the Oracle at Delphi that a great empire will fall if he crosses the Halys river (modern Kizilirmak). Croesus interprets this to mean he will be victorious against the Persians but is defeated, and his own empire falls. All of Anatolia is incorporated into the Persian Empire.

540 BCE
Temple of Artemis, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is completed at Ephesus.

Heraclitus the philosopher is born in Ephesus.

490 BCE
Darius the Mede defeats the Ionians on his way to invade Greece. Darius is repelled at Marathon (490 BCE) and his successor Xerxes is beaten at Salamis (480 BCE) and again at Plataea and Mycale (479 BCE). Iona and most of Anatolia remain under Persian control until Alexander crosses the Dardanelles in 334 BCE.

484-420 BCE
Herodutos the historian and traveler of Halicarnassus (modern Bodrum) is particularly noted for his account of the Persian wars.

353 BCE
The Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of the World, is erected at Halicarnassus. It served as the tomb for Mausolus, a Persian governor in Caria.

The Hellenistic Age (334-31 BCE)

334 BCE
Alexander the Great crosses the Dardanelles (Hellespont) and defeats Persian forces at the Granicus river to liberate Iona, Caria, and Lycia from the Persians. He then marches to Perge and then turns north for Gordion, where he cuts the Gordian knot. Turning southeast, he defeats the Persian army led by Darius III at Issus (near Iskenderun), before moving to Syria, Israel and Egypt.

301 BCE
After Alexander’s death, two of his former generals, Lysimachus and Seleucus take up a military campaign along with their ally Cassander (King of Macedonia) and defeat the rebel Antigonus at the Battle of Ipsus in Phrygia. Turkey is divided: Lysimachus takes the west, Seleucus takes the southeast, and a native dynast named Mithradates I (302-266 BCE), founds the Kingdom of Pontus in the north.

278 BCE
The Gauls invade from the west and settle in central Anatolia. In 275 BCE the Seleucid emperor Antiochus I, defeats them with his elephants.

250 BCE
Apollonius of Rhodes composes his epic poem Argonautica, describing the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts along the Black Sea coast of Colhis in search of the Golden Fleece from a time before the Trojan War.

197-159 BCE
Reign of Eumenes II, son of Attalus I. He backs Rome against the Seleucid Antiochus III and is rewarded with western Anatolia. In 190 BCE he found Hierapolis (modern Pamukkale) and builds the monumental library in Pergamum (an attempt to rival Alexandria). The altar of Zeus, a Hellenistic masterpiece, is erected in Pergamum (ca. 166 to 159 BC).

120-63 BCE
Mithradates VI, king of Pontus comes from the north to conquer much of Anatolia. He attacks western Anatolia in 88 BCE, and plans a revolt that results in the death of thousands of Romans, leading to war with Rome. He is eventually driven out by Pompey.

64-24 BCE
The geographer Strabo from Amasia (now modern Amasya) composes Geographica, the most important work of its kind to survive the ancients.

The Roman Period (31 BCE-280 CE)

47 BCE
Julius Caesar defeats Pharnaces of Pontus, the son of Mithradates VI, at Zela (Zile, near Amasya). In his report on the campaign, Caesar utter his famous saying, Veni, vidi, vici. (I came, I saw, I conquered)

41 BCE
Mark Anthony met Cleopatra at Tarsus during the Roman civil war.

31 BCE
With ascendancy of Emperor Augustus came a period of great prosperity in Anatolia.

34-36 CE
Beginning of the Christian mission at Antioch.

47 CE
Saul of Tarsus, converted to Christianity on the road to Damascus becomes a missionary of his faith in a series of journeys through this land. The firs journey takes him to Perge in Pamphylia, Antioch in Pisidia, and Iconium (modern Konya); the second to Galatia; the third again to Galatia, then Phrygia and Ephesus. Paul writes letters to the Galatians and Ephesians. St. John pastors the church at Ephesus.

114-116
Emperor Trajan brings army to eastern Anatolia and fights an inconclusive war against the Parthians.

The Christian Period - The Rise of Byzantium (280-1092 CE)

280
Armenia is increasingly publicly Christian. The Armenians become the first nation to adopt Christianity as its official religion.

284
Emperor Diocletian divides the Roman Empire into east and west (285), keeping the former.

250-300
Saint Nicholas, bishop of Myra (near Demre, in Lycia) was supposedly responsible for secret bestowed dowries upon the daughters of a poor citizen. A custom of giving presents on the eve of the feast of St. Nicholas, later gave rise to our traditions of Christmas Day.

312-330
Constantine becomes emperor of reunification after defeating Maxentius at the battle of Milvian Bridge near Rome.  According to legend, Constantine dreams of a cross in the sky before the battle. His reign is marked by increasing official acceptance of Christianity.  In 313, Christianity becomes the religio licita of the reunited empire.  Constantine convenes the First Ecumenical Council (320’s) of bishops at Nicaea (modern Iznik), confirming the divinity and equality of the Son in the Christian Trinity (Nicene Creed).  Arianism is declared heresy. Arius believed that God created a Son who was neither equal or eternal.  Constantine founds (330) the New Rome (Constantinople) on the site of Byzantium.

455
Rome is sacked and badly damaged from the north.  Constantinople becomes the center of the civilized world.

527-565
Byzantium reaches the height of its power during reign of Justinian I, who recovers lost territory, codifies Roman law and builds the great church of Hagia Sophia (Holy Wisdom) in Constantinople.

636-718
Arabs defeat Sassanids, conquer Iran, Egypt and Syria from Byzantium.  They twice besiege Constantinople but are repulsed.

726-787
Emperor Leo III bans image worship thus starting the Iconoclast controversy finally settled at the Council of Nicaea which again permits the religious use of living likeness.

976-1025
Basil II expands Byzantine power in Europe, annexes Armenia (1021), and brings Byzantine culture to its height during the tenth and eleventh centuries.

1054
Schism between Constantinople and Rome over primacy of the Pope over the bishopric.

1071
Romanus IV Diogenes is defeated and captured by the Turks.  Eastern Anatolia is now open to large-scale Turkish immigration.

Rise of Seljuk Turks (1075-1326)

1075
Suleyman-Shah captures Nicaea and Turks now control most of Anatolia, which is divided into several principalities.

1081-1118
Alexius I Comnenus, a brilliant Byzantine emperor, holds off the Normans and the Pechenegs in the west and asks the Pope for aid in attack of the Turks.  His daughter, Anna Comnena, writes the Alexiad, a historical narrative biography of her father.

1095-98
Pope Urban II preaches the First Crusade at Council of Clermont.  Crusaders capture Nicaea, Edessa becomes a Crusader county; Jerusalem falls.

1143-1180
Manual I Comnenus ascends to power and Constantinople shines as a leading cultural center. His problems in the West allowed the Seljuks to expand their power base.

1187-1191
Saladin captures Jerusalem, bringing on the Third Crusade.  Emperor Frederick Barbarossa lead the German army of the Third Crusade, crossing Anatolia and capturing Konya but later drowning in Cilicia.

1204
The Fourth Crusade turns from Egypt to Constantinople, which is stormed and sacked. Byzantium is partitioned by Crusaders (who establish the Latin Empire).

The Ottoman Empire (1326-1922)

1354-1400
Ottomans occupy Ankara, cross the Dardanelles to Kallipolis (Gallipoli, modern Gelibolu), which serves as their base of expansion into Europe. Victory at Kossovo (1389) ends the Serbian Empire and establishes Ottoman rule in the Balkans.

1421-1451
Under the reign of Murat II, the Ottoman expansion continues in Europe and Anatolia until the battle of Varna in Bulgaria (1444) when the last major Christian army falls to the new Ottoman Empire established in earnest by Mehmet II, the Conqueror (1451-1481).  Mehmet conquered Constantinople and finishes the Byzantine Empire after a 50 day siege in 1453.

1465-1478
Construction of Topkapi palace (Yeni Saray) in Istanbul.

1696
Peter the Great takes Azov in the Crimea, giving Russia Black Sea access. He later attempts to take on the Ottoman’s European territory  but is unsuccessful.

1798
Napoleon captures Ottoman Egypt to cut off British communications with the India colony.  The French later (1802) surrender Egypt to the British who restore it to the Ottomans.

1853-1856
The Crimean War: Turkey, England, France, and Sardinia defeat Russian aggression. Florence Nightingale tends the wounded in Crimea and Istanbul (Uskudar).

1914-1920
The Ottoman Empire enters World War I as ally of Central Powers. In the Gallipoli Campaign the allies attempt to capture the Dardanelles, Constantiople, and the Bosphorus.  Ottoman stiff resistance (led in part by Turkish officer Mustafa Kemal later known as Ataturk), results in allied disaster.  Treaty of Sevres (1920) between Ottomans and allies (excluding United States and Russia), dissolved and apportioned Ottoman Empire to the victors.  The Turks are left with only Istanbul and Central Anatolia but the treaty is rejected by Mustafa Kemal.  Greece invades western Anatolia, but Kemal turns them back (1922).

Modern Turkey (1923- present)

1923
Mustafa Kemal is elected first president of Turkish Republic. Ankara replaces Istanbul as the capital. Exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey and normalization of relations begin to shape.

1928
Islam is declared no longer central to the state, it is to be a secular and pluralistic republic.  One significant gesture is that the Arabic letters are exchanged for the Latin lettering in the Turkish language.

1939
Turkey signs treaty of cooperation with France and England, but remains distinctly neutral during World War II.

1952
Turkey joins NATO.

1961
After a coup lead by General Cemal Gursel (who was subsequently elected President) a new constitution was adopted by national referendum. A later coup will bring yet another constitution (1980-82).

1991
Turkey suffers by joining UN embargo on Iraq, and allows US to use airbases on Turkish soil. Iraqi Kurds pour over border seeking refuge.