Adiyaman
Encyclopedia
Adıyaman is city in southeastern Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

, capital of the Adıyaman Province
Adiyaman Province
Adıyaman Province is a province in south-central Turkey. The province was created in 1954 out of part of Malatya Province. Area 7,614 km². Population 590,935 , up from 513,131 in 1990. The capital is Adıyaman....

. It is one of the fastest-growing cities in Turkey. The population rose from 100,045 (1990) to 202,735 (2010 census figures).

Etymology

The city officially had the name Hısn-ı Mansur ("Castle of Mansur") until the year 1926, named after the fortified castle perched on a hill around which the city grew. As this name was difficult for the locals to pronounce, people were referring the city as adı yaman, which means "its name is tough" or "(the place) whose name is tough" in Turkish. In 1926, this term was adopted as the official name of the city. In present-day Turkish, the word yaman can also have a strong positive connotation, just like the English word 'terrific'.

Climate

Adıyaman has a semi-arid climate. Summers are very hot and very dry. Temperatures reach 40 °C (104 °F) at the height of summer for the majority of the time. The highest recorded temperature was 45.3 °C (113.5 °F) on 30 July 2000. Winters in Adıyaman are cool/cold and quite often snowy. The lowest recorded temperature was -10 C on 23 February 1985.

History

The area has been inhabited as far back as it's possible to discover. Research in the cave of Palanlı 10 km north of Adıyaman show occupation in 40,000 BC and other digs in Samsat reveal continuous occupation through the stone and Bronze Ages.

From 900BC onwards came waves of invasions from Assyrians, Persians, and Macedonians until the Commagene kingdom was founded in 69BC. This was the civilisation that built the statues on top of nearby Mount Nemrut
Mount Nemrut
Nemrut or Nemrud is a high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues is erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BCE.-Location and description:...

. The capital was in Samsat (Samosata
Samosata
Samosata was an ancient city on the right bank of the Euphrates whose ruins existed at the modern city of Samsat, Adıyaman Province, Turkey until the site was flooded by the newly-constructed Atatürk Dam....

) but the town of Adıyaman was a walled city of the Commagenes. The city walls of Adıyaman have been restored and replaced many times since.

The Commagene kingdom lasted until the Romans came in 72AD. Yet more campaigns and invasions followed and Adıyaman was controlled by Byzantines
Byzantine Empire
The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

 395-670, Ummayads from 670 and then Abbasids 758-926. Then the area returned to Byzantine control during 859-1114. The Arabs returned from 1114 to 1204 and finally came the arrival of the Turks. The Arabic name for the castle and town was Hısn-ı Mansur.

Turks moved into the area from 1114 onwards and for most of the 13th century was settled by the Selçuk
Selçuk
Selçuk is the central town of Selçuk district, İzmir Province in Turkey, 2 km northeast of Ephesus.Its original Greek name, Agios Theológos referred to John the Theologian. Under the Ottoman Empire, it was known as Ayasoluk...

 Turks often disrupted by Mongol invasions. From 1298 to 1516 the town was under the control of the Mameluks. Adıyaman was brought into the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 by Selim I
Selim I
Selim I, Yavuz Sultân Selim Khan, Hâdim-ül Haramain-ish Sharifain , nicknamed Yavuz "the Stern" or "the Steadfast", but often rendered in English as "the Grim" , was the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire from 1512 to...

 in 1516, but local power often rested with the Dulkadiroğulları tribe of Türkmen
Turkmen
Turkmen or Turkoman or Turkman may refer to:* Of or relating to Turkmenistan, a country in Central Asia, specifically:** Turkmen SSR, that country as a constituent republic of the former Soviet Union...

 people that settled here.

Adıyaman today

The city of Adıyaman provides shops and infrastructure to an agricultural region watered by the River Euphrates
Euphrates
The Euphrates is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia...

. It is not an industrial city, people riding mules and donkeys are still a common sight. The Atatürk reservoir
Atatürk Dam
The Atatürk Dam , originally the Karababa Dam, is a zoned rock-fill dam with a central core on the Euphrates River on the border of Adıyaman Province and Şanlıurfa Province in Southeastern Anatolia Region of Turkey...

 is near the city and with more investment in irrigation, this could become a richer agricultural zone. The people are religious and conservative; it is hard to find a beer in Adıyaman, or other social amenities like cafes, cinemas, and theatre. The cuisine is typical of south-east Turkey, including dishes like çiğ köfte and Maraş
Maras
In ancient Latvia, Māras or Māras diena was a festival, celebrated on August 15, held in honor of Māra, the Latvian goddess. It marked the midpoint between Jāņi and Miķeļi...

-style ice-cream.

The main population of Adıyaman consists of ethnic Kurds. The vernacular
Vernacular
A vernacular is the native language or native dialect of a specific population, as opposed to a language of wider communication that is not native to the population, such as a national language or lingua franca.- Etymology :The term is not a recent one...

 of Adıyaman is Kurmanji
Kurmanji
Kurmanji or Northern Kurdish is the most commonly spoken dialect of the Kurdish language.- Scripts and books :...

, although today Adıyaman is inhabited by a cosmopolitan mixture of people from other parts of Turkey.

The folk dances of Adıyaman are well-known, (see http://www.adiyaman.gov.tr/kultur/halk_oyunu_giysileri.html for illustrations of the traditional costume).

Adıyamanspor is a minor league football team.

Places of interest

There is some passing tourist trade, the main tourist attraction being Mount Nemrut
Mount Nemrut
Nemrut or Nemrud is a high mountain in southeastern Turkey, notable for the summit where a number of large statues is erected around what is assumed to be a royal tomb from the 1st century BCE.-Location and description:...

.
The ancient city of Arsemia, the summer retreat of the Kingdom of Commagene
Kingdom of Commagene
The Kingdom of Commagene was an ancient kingdom of the Hellenistic Age.Little is known of the region of Commagene prior to the beginning of the 2nd century BC. However, it seems that, from what little evidence remains, Commagene formed part of a larger state that also included Sophene...

, can also be visited.
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