Adana (pronounced [aˈda.na]), is a large city in southern Turkey and a major agricultural, industry and commercial center. It is the fifth most populous city in Turkey. The city is situated on the Seyhan River, 30 kilometres (19 miles) inland from the Mediterranean Sea, in south-central Anatolia. It is the administrative seat of the Adana Province and has a population of 2.1 million, making it the most populated city of the region. Adana-Mersin metropolitan area, with a population of over 6 million, stretches over 70 kilometres (43 miles) from east to west and 25 kilometres (16 miles) from north to south; encompassing the cities of Mersin, Tarsus and Adana.
Adana lies in the heart of Çukurova, a geographical, economical and cultural region that covers the provinces of Mersin, Adana, Osmaniye, and Hatay. Home to approximately six million people,[2] the region is mostly a large stretch of flat, fertile land regarded as one of the most agriculturally productive areas of the world.
According to an ancient Greco-Roman legend, the name has its origins in Adanus and Sarus, the two sons of Uranus, who came to a place near the Seyhan (Sarus) River, where they built Adana.[8] An older legend relates the city's name to Adad (also known as Tesup or Ishkur), the Thunder God in the Akkadian, Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian and Hittite mythologies, who was believed to live in the nearby forest, and whose name was given to the region
The theory goes that since the Thunder God brought so much rain and this rain in turn brought such great abundance in this particular region, this god was loved and respected by its inhabitants and, in his honor, the region was called the "Uru Adaniyya"; in other words "the Region of Ada".
Adana's name has had many different versions over the centuries: Adanos, Ta Adana, Uru Adaniya, Erdene, Edene, Ezene, Batana, Atana, Azana, Addane.
Adana is located at the northeastern edge of the Mediterranean, where it serves as the gateway to the Çukurova plain, which has historically been known in the West as the Cilicia plain. This large stretch of flat, fertile land lies southeast of the Taurus Mountains.
From Adana, crossing the Çukurova westwards, the road from Tarsus enters the foothills of the Taurus Mountains. The temperature decreases with every foot of ascent, as the road reaches an altitude of nearly 4,000 feet (1,200 m). It goes through the famous Cilician Gates, the rocky pass through which armies have coursed since the dawn of history, and continues to the Anatolian plain.
The north of the city is surrounded by the Seyhan reservoir and HEP, which was completed in 1956. The dam was constructed for hydroelectric power (HEP) and to irrigate the lower Çukurova plain. Two irrigation channels in the city flow to the plain, passing through the city center from east to west. There is another canal for irrigating the Yüreğir plain to the southeast of the city.
The history of the Tepebağ tumulus in the middle of Adana dates to the Neolithic Period, 6000 B.C., and the time of the first human settlements. It is considered to be the oldest city of the Çukurova region
The history of Adana is intrinsically linked to the history of Tarsus; they often seem to be the same city, moving as the neighbouring Seyhan River changed its position. Their respective names also changed over the course of the centuries. Adana was of relatively minor importance during the Roman's influential period, while nearby Tarsus was the metropolis of the area. During the era of Pompey, the city was used as a prison for the pirates of Cilicia. For several centuries thereafter, it was a waystation on a Roman military road leading to the East. After the permanent split of the Roman Empire in 395 AD, the area became a part of the Byzantine Empire, and was probably developed during the time of Julian the Apostate. With the construction of large bridges, roads, government buildings, irrigation and plantation, Adana and Cilicia became the most developed and important trade centers of the region. Ayas (today Yumurtalık), and Kozan (formerly Sis) were the other major urban and administrative centers in the area, especially during the period of the Cilicians
In the mid-7th century, the city was captured by the Arabs. According to an Arab historian of that era,[14] the name of the city was derived from Ezene, the prophet Yazene's grandson.
The Byzantines recaptured Adana in 964. After the victory of Alp Arslan at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the Seljuq Turks overran much of the Byzantine Empire. They had reached and captured Adana sometime before 1071 and continued to hold the place until Tancred, a leader of the First Crusade, captured the city in 1097.
In 1132, it was captured by the forces of the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, under its king, Leo I. It was taken by Byzantine forces in 1137, but the Armenians regained it around 1170. In 1268, there was a terrible earthquake which destroyed much of the city. Adana was rebuilt and remained a part of the Kingdom of Cilician Armenia until 1359, when the city was ceded by Constantine III to the Mamluk Sultan of Egypt in return for obtaining a peace treaty. The Mamluks' capture of the city allowed many Turkish families to settle in it. The Ramadanids family, one of the Oghuz families brought by the Mamluks, ruled Adana until the Ottomans captured the city. The Ramadanid family still remains as a prominent family to this day, as Onur family after the surname reform.
From the end of the Renaissance to the modern era (1517–1918), the Ottoman Empire ruled the area.
In the 1830s, in order to secure Egypt's independence from the Ottoman Empire, the army of Muhammad Ali Pasha, the vali of Ottoman Egypt and Sudan, invaded Syria on two occasions, and reached the Adana plain. The soldiers of Muhammad Ali Pasha destroyed Adana Castle and the Walls, a major hit to city's history. The subsequent peace treaty secured Egypt's independence, but (at the insistence of Great Britain, Austria, Russia and Prussia) required the evacuation of all Egyptian forces from Syria, and its return to Ottoman sovereignty. In the aftermath, Adana was established as a province in its own right.
The Adana massacre occurred in the Ottoman Vilayet of Adana in April 1909. A religious-ethnic clash in the province amid governmental upheaval led to a series of anti-Armenian pogroms throughout the region.[15] Despite official denial, which placed the blame squarely on the Armenians and the death count at a mere 1,500, the massacres in the entire province of Adana resulted in the deaths of roughly 25,000 Armenians.[16] In 1915, Ottoman troops rounded up all Armenians (approx. 20,000[17]) living in the city of Adana and marched them out into the Syrian desert in the course of the Armenian Genocide, resulting in the complete eradication of the Armenian communities in and around the city.
After World War I, the Ottoman government surrendered control of the city to French troops, and the four battalions of the French Armenian Legion were sent to occupy Adana and oversee the repatriation of Armenian refugees. The French forces were, however, spread too thinly in the region and, as they came under withering attacks by Muslim elements both opposed and loyal to Mustafa Kemal Pasha, eventually reversed their policies in the region. The Armenian Legion was gradually disbanded, the repatriation was halted, and the French ultimately abandoned all pretensions to Cilicia, which they had originally hoped to attach to their mandate over Syria.[18] On 20 October 1921, the Treaty of Ankara was signed between France and the Turkish Grand National Assembly. Based on the terms of the agreement, France recognized the end of the Cilicia War, and French troops together with the remaining Armenian volunteers withdrew from the city on 5 January 1922.[19]
On 30 January 1943, British prime minister Winston Churchill secretly met with Turkish president İsmet İnönü inside a train wagon at the Yenice Station, 23 kilometres (14 miles) outside of Adana (the so-called Adana Meeting or Adana Conference). Churchill wanted Turkey to join the Second World War on the side of the Allies; the details of which were later discussed at the Second Cairo Conference in December 1943, which was attended by İnönü, Churchill and Roosevelt.
The city was hit by a 6.2 magnitude earthquake (1998 Adana-Ceyhan earthquake) on 27 June 1998. The disaster killed 145 and left 1,500 people wounded and many thousand homeless in the city. The total economic loss was estimated about US$ 1 billion.