İzmir Province

İzmir Province (İzmir ili) is a province and metropolitan municipality of Turkey in western Anatolia, situated along the Aegean coast. Its capital is the city of İzmir, which is in itself composed of the province's central 11 districts out of 30 in total. To the west, it is surrounded by the Aegean Sea, and it encloses the Gulf of Izmir. Its area is , with a population of 4,425,789 in 2021. The population was 3,370,866 in 2000. Neighboring provinces are Balıkesir to the north, Manisa to the east, and Aydın to the south. The traffic code of the province is 35. Major rivers of the province include the Küçük Menderes river, Koca Çay (with Güzelhisar dam), and Bakırçay. Aliağa Balçova Bayındır Bayraklı Bergama Beydağ Bornova Buca Çeşme Çiğli Dikili Foça Gaziemir İzmir Karabağlar Karaburun Karşıyaka Konak Kemalpaşa Kınık Kiraz Menderes Menemen Narlidere Ödemiş Seferihisar Selçuk Tire Torbalı Urla It is one of the oldest cities and ports of ancient Ionia in the Mediterranean Sea. It was founded around 3000 BC and has survived to this day. It was inhabited by Greek populations from antiquity until the destruction of Smyrna in 1922 and the exchange of populations that followed with the Treaty of Lausanne. In its long history it has changed location twice. The first location (prehistoric times) was mentioned by Strabo as "Old Smyrna" and the second location was built by Alexander the Great and his descendants (Hellenistic period). Ionians, in about 11th century BC, established the League of Ionia. It was later conquered by the Persians and retaken by the Greeks before being subsumed into the Roman Empire. In Roman times it became very prosperous and the Romans honored it three times with the praiseworthy title of "young girl" because of its amazing prosperity. Izmir was not the first city to recognize Rome as a deity. The term "Catholic Church" was first used in 110 in a letter from St. Ignatius of Antioch to the Church of Smyrna. After the split of the Roman Empire, the area became part of what is now called the Byzantine Empire until it was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century.