natolia (from Greek: ??at???, Anatol?

; Turkish: Anadolu, "east" or "[sun]rise"),

also known as Asia Minor (Medieval and Modern Greek: ????? ?s?a, Mikr� As�a, "small
Asia"; Turkish: K���k Asya), Asian Turkey, the Anatolian peninsula or the Anatolian
plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of
modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the
Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Armenian Highlands to the east and the Aegean
Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean
seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from
Thrace on the European mainland.

The eastern border of Anatolia is traditionally held to be a line between the Gulf
of Alexandretta and the Black Sea, bounded by the Armenian Highland to the east and
Mesopotamia to the southeast. Thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that
comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey.
Nowadays, Anatolia is also often considered to be synonymous with Asian Turkey,
which comprises almost the entire country;[5] its eastern and southeastern borders
are widely taken to be Turkey's eastern border.[6] By some definitions, the area
called the Armenian highlands lies beyond the boundary of the Anatolian plateau.
The official name of this inland region is the Eastern Anatolia Region.[7][8]

The ancient inhabitants of Anatolia spoke the now-extinct Anatolian languages,

which were largely replaced by the Greek language starting from classical antiquity
and during the Hellenistic, Roman and Byzantine periods. Major Anatolian languages
included Hittite, Luwian, and Lydian, among other more poorly attested relatives.
The Turkification of Anatolia began under the Seljuk Empire in the late 11th
century and continued under the Ottoman Empire between the late 13th and early 20th
centuries. However, various non-Turkic languages continue to be spoken by
minorities in Anatolia today, including Kurdish, Neo-Aramaic, Armenian, Arabic,
Laz, Georgian and Greek. Other ancient peoples in the region included Galatians,
Hurrians, Assyrians, Hattians, Cimmerians, as well as Ionian, Dorian and Aeolian
Greeks.

Contents
1 Geography
2 Etymology
3 Names
4 History
4.1 Prehistory
4.2 Ancient Near East (Bronze and Iron Ages)
4.2.1 Hattians and Hurrians
4.2.2 Assyrian Empire (21st�18th centuries BC)
4.2.3 Hittite Kingdom and Empire (17th�12th centuries BC)
4.2.4 Neo-Hittite kingdoms (c. 1180�700 BC)
4.2.5 Neo-Assyrian Empire (10th�7th centuries BC)
4.2.6 Cimmerian and Scythian invasions (8th�7th centuries BC)
4.2.7 Greek West
4.3 Classical Antiquity
4.4 Early Christian Period
4.5 Late Medieval Period
4.6 Ottoman Empire
4.7 Modern times
5 Geology
5.1 Climate
5.2 Ecoregions
6 Demographics
7 Cuisine
8 See also
9 References
10 Bibliography
11 Further reading
12 External links
Geography
Main article: Geography of Turkey

The location of Turkey (within the rectangle) in reference to the European

continent. Anatolia roughly corresponds to the Asian part of Turkey

1907 map of Asia Minor, showing the local ancient kingdoms. The map includes the
East Aegean Islands and the island of Cyprus to Anatolia's continental shelf.
[dubious � discuss]
Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to an indefinite line
running from the Gulf of Alexandretta to the Black Sea,[9] coterminous with the
Anatolian Plateau. This traditional geographical definition is used, for example,
in the latest edition of Merriam-Webster's Geographical Dictionary,[1] Under this
definition, Anatolia is bounded to the east by the Armenian Highlands, and the
Euphrates before that river bends to the southeast to enter Mesopotamia.[2] To the
southeast, it is bounded by the ranges that separate it from the Orontes valley in
Syria (region) and the Mesopotamian plain.[2]

Following the Armenian genocide, Ottoman Armenia was renamed "Eastern Anatolia" by
the newly established Turkish government.[10][11] Vazken Davidian terms the
expanded use of "Anatolia" to apply to territory formerly referred to as Armenia an
"ahistorical imposition", and notes that a growing body of literature is
uncomfortable with referring to the Ottoman East as "Eastern Anatolia".[12] Most
archeological sources consider the boundary of Anatolia to be Turkey's eastern
border.[13]

The highest mountains in "Eastern Anatolia" (in Armenian Plateau) are Mount S�phan
(4058 m) and Mount Ararat (5123 m).[14] The Euphrates, Araxes, Karasu and Murat
rivers connect the Armenian plateau to the South Caucasus and the Upper Euphrates
Valley. Along with the �oruh, these rivers are the longest in "Eastern Anatolia".
[15]

Etymology
The oldest known reference to Anatolia � as �Land of the Hatti� � appears on
Mesopotamian cuneiform tablets from the period of the Akkadian Empire (2350�2150
BC).[citation needed] The first recorded name the Greeks used for the Anatolian
peninsula, ?s?a (As�a),[16] presumably echoed the name of the Assuwa league in
western Anatolia.[citation needed] As the name "Asia" broadened its scope to apply
to other areas east of the Mediterranean, Greeks in Late Antiquity came to use the
name ????? ?s?a (Mikr� As�a) or Asia Minor, meaning "Lesser Asia" to refer to
present-day Anatolia.

The English-language name Anatolia itself derives from the Greek ??at??? (anatol?)
meaning �the East� or more literally �sunrise� (comparable to the Latin-derived
terms "levant" and "orient").[17][18] The precise reference of this term has varied
over time, perhaps originally referring to the Aeolian, Ionian and Dorian colonies
on the west coast of Asia Minor. In the Byzantine Empire, the Anatolic Theme (??
at?????? ??�a) was a theme covering the western and central parts of Turkey's
present-day Central Anatolia Region.[19][20]

The term "Anatolia" is Medieval Latin.[21]

The modern Turkish form of Anatolia, Anadolu, derives from the Greek name A?at???
(Anatol?). The Russian male name Anatoly and the French Anatole share the same
linguistic origin.
Names
Further information: Geographical name changes in Turkey
The term "Anatolia" originally referred to a northwestern Byzantine province. By
the 12th century Europeans had started referring to Anatolia as Turchia. It has
historically also been called "Asia Minor". In earlier times, it was called "(Land
of the) R�m" by both the Greeks and the Seljuqs.[22]

During the era of the Ottoman Empire mapmakers outside the Empire referred to the
mountainous plateau in eastern Anatolia as Armenia. Other contemporary sources
called the same area Kurdistan.[23] Geographers have variously used the terms east
Anatolian plateau and Armenian plateau to refer to the region, although the
territory encompassed by each term largely overlaps with the other. According to
archaeologist Lori Khatchadourian this difference in terminology "primarily
result[s] from the shifting political fortunes and cultural trajectories of the
region since the nineteenth century."[13]

Turkey's First Geography Congress in 1941 created two regions to the east of the
Gulf of Iskenderun-Black Sea line named the Eastern Anatolia Region and the
Southeastern Anatolia Region,[24] the former largely corresponding to the western
part of the Armenian Highland, the latter to the northern part of the Mesopotamian
plain. According to Richard Hovannisian this changing of toponyms was "necessary to
obscure all evidence" of Armenian presence as part of a campaign of genocide denial
embarked upon by the newly established Turkish government and what Hovannisian
calls its "foreign collaborators".[25]