The Karaburun Peninsula has most probably already been inhabited since prehistory. But the most important traces of settlements date from the classical period. The geographical profile of the Karaburun Peninsula is such that there are only few and mostly small fields for agricultural use. But in spite of this lack of large fields, the peninsula has known a certain number of rather wealthy settlements since that period. One of the reasons might be that the climate is very mild and that the region was a safe area, difficult to attack from the outside.

The villages of the peninsula usually were built on the slopes inside the land. The villagers build their houses there where the land couldn’t be used for agriculture and also because higher up they were safer than at the waterfront. Since a couple of years though, the villages have developed seasonal settlements near the sea.

geographical situation

The Karaburun Peninsula lays in West-Anatolia, on the Turkish Aegean Coast northward of the Urla headland. Southern of Karaburun lays the tourist center of Çesme. The northern and eastern coast of the Karaburun Peninsula form the natural bay of Izmir.  The superficies of the peninsula is 436 km².

The district of Karaburun is part of the Izmir province. Apart from the little township of Karaburun the district counts also the township of Mordogan and thirteen little villages. The distance to Izmir is 100 km., 46 km. to Çeşme, 14 sea-miles to the Turkish coastline of Foça, 20 sea-miles to the Greek island of Lesbos and 15 sea-miles to the island of Chios. Its neihgbouring disctricts are Urla in the south-east and Çesme in the south. 

The Karaburun Peninsula possesses a difficult geographical profile. The north-south oriented 1.218 m. high Bozdag range forms the backbone of the peninsula. On many places the mountains or steep slopes fall directly into the sea.

how to get there

From the interurban bus-station of Balçova in Izmir a buss is leaving for Karaburun every half hour in summer and every hour in winter. The bus-trip lasts for about 2,5 hours.

Karaburun bus station telephone: (0232) 731 40 22

Izmir/Balçova bus station telephone: 0232) 277 77 57

 There is no connection by boat until today.

Apart from certain villages a bus is going early mornings from the villages to the city center of Karaburun and back in the afternoon. 

history

The history of the Karaburun Peninsula starts in prehistorical time. Searches in a number of natural caves have resulted in the finding of stone axes, primitive tools and potsherds. The found artifacts have been dated at about 4.000 B.C. (Chalcolithicum). Experts think that in that period settlements existed in the Manastir, Çakmak Tepe, Mordogan and Ildiri area.

More important settlements appeared only between the 12^th and 11^th century B.C., after the fall in Anatolia of the Hittites and following the invasions of the Akkads and the arrival of the Aeoli and Ionians who erected cities on the Aegean coast and on the Islands of Lesbos, Samos and Chios. In that period 12 major settlements formed the Ionian Confederation: Miletus, Myus and Priene in the south, Ephesus, Colophon, Teos and Lebedos in the center, Erythrai, Clazomenai and Phokaia in the north and the Islands of Samos and Chios. Erythrai was located on the Karaburun Peninsula, “Mimas” with its former name. The city of Erythrai was one of the most important and rich member states of the Ionian Confederation. The city became famous because of being the residence of one of the Sibyls, the legendary fortune tellers and proclaimers of the divine will. In the 5^th century B.C. Erythrai came under Persian rule. In 334 B.C. the city gained its independence following the victory of Alexander the Great on the Persians. In 133 B.C. Erythrai was annexed to the Kingdom of Bergama and became thus part of the East-Roman Empire.  

There were five little settlements on the Karaburun Peninsula controlled by Erythrai: Polikhna, Pteleon, Sidousa, Boutheia and Elaiousa. One doesn’t know with certainty where exactly these settlements were laying. But suggestions have been made for the following matches: Pteleon in today's Denizgiren village, Sidousa in Ahirli (old name for the center of Karaburun City) and the Sahip island in front of the coast of Karaburun City, Boutheia in the old village of Meli and Polikhna in Balikliova.

After the East-Roman Empire, Erythrai became part of the Byzantine Empire with a short interval between 1086-1085 where it fell in the hands of Çaka Bey. Later on, as from 1426 the Karaburun Peninsula belonged to Aydinoglu Mehmet Bey and thus to the Ottoman Empire.   

One of the major historical events on the Karaburun Peninsula is without any doubt the Sheikh Bedrettin insurrection which took place some 600 years ago in the period after the battle of Ankara, after which the Ottoman Empire had become unmanageable because of the fratricides between the sultans. During this period of great unrest the population suffered enormously from exaggeratedly high taxes and exploitation. The Ottoman theologian and philosopher Sheikh Bedrettin, who had a great feeling of social justice and freedom and who was an adherent of a democratically elected governing model, defended the oppressed Turkish, Greek and Jewish poor people and organized the biggest insurrection Anatolia ever saw. His device was: “Share all you have apart from the cheek of your beloved one”. One of his most loyal followers was Börklüce Mustafa, who after a series of initial victories on the troops of the sultan, had to withdraw on the Karaburun Peninsula with 10,000 of his men. Finally an ultimate battle took place in the Valley of the Torment on the Karaburun Peninsula, where all his men were slaughtered. Börklüce Mustafa was crucified while Sheikh Bedrettin was taken to the city of Serez where he was hung. This was also the end of a remarkable uprising after which for 80 years nobody was allowed to settle on the Karaburun Peninsula...

In the recent past the Karaburun Peninsula was also home to large numbers of Jewish and Greek inhabitants. Many villages had an important Greek population after the immigrations from the Greek islands in the course of the 19th century. In 1923 the Greek population left during the exchange after the victory of the Turkish Army during the Independance War. 

mythology

Karaburun, the old Mimas, has been mentioned several times in Greek mythology. In his Odyssey Homer mentions “windy Mimas” meaning the Bozdag range of the Karaburun Peninsula. And indeed, the Karaburun Peninsula is known for its strong winds during storm-weather in winter and also for the many windmills which were build through the ages. In the near future this same peculiarity will be exploited by wind turbines and thus add a new dimension to this characteristic of the peninsula.

Another link has been made between the mythological story of the beautiful young Narcissus and the narcissus flower which is growing all over the Karaburun Peninsula. The ancient Greek poet Homer and presumed author of the Illiad and the Odyssey, was born in this region. Again according to Greek mythology , the Goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus asked the goddess Iris (Thaumantia with her other name and messenger of the Olympic gods and also goddess of the rainbow) to go and sit high on top of Mount Mimas so that she could detect the love affairs Zeus had with other goddesses and mortal beauties. South-west of the Mount Mimas a little lake which is drying out in summer, still carries the name of Lake Iris. For more interesting details about all these mythological stories click here...

The villagers of the Karaburun Peninsula stay attached to their old traditions and habits, of which hospitality and open-heartedness are the most typical qualities. The people in the villages gain their living with small scaled agricultural activities and stock-breeding. Narcissi, olives and olive oil, mandarin oranges, artichoke and honey are the most common products. The stock consists mainly of goat and sheep. A small number of cows produce the necessary milk for diary products. Goat milk is used for the making of the so called “kelle” cheese, which is oozed out in self woven little baskets and also for the “kopanesti” cheese, which is only produced in this area.

Pottery and basket-making used to be well represented handicrafts. But today only a few people still master these techniques.

The Karaburun Peninsula is also having a number of villages which have lost their population for various reasons. Some of these villages were emptied during the period after 1923 when the mainly orthodox families left their villages and moved to Greece after the victory of the Turkish Army at the end of the Independence War. The muslim families which came from Greece and were settled in these villages by the new Turkish Government left them after a while. 

Karareis, Egriliman, Denizgiren, Teke, Kösedere İskelesi and Yenicepinar had a rather important number of inhabitants in the period before 1923, but were abandoned after that. The reason for that was that the families living in these villages were mainly orthodox families. After the departure of the ortodox villagers, the Muslim villagers of the villages of Sazak, Manastir (Kalecik) and Yeniliman stayed for a while in the half emptied villages. But later on they also left their villages. The village of Hacilar near Mordogan was abandoned after 1950 for unknown reason. The villages of Çullu and Hisarcik were abandoned after an earthquake in 1949 had destroyed most of the houses.  

A certain number of abandoned villages have recently been inhabited again like the villages of Denizgiren and Tolas near Küçükbahçe as well as the village of Yeniliman. Certain places also developped as second residence areas such as Saipalti, Esendere, Kaynarpinar, Ardiç, Asagi and Yukari Boyabag, Karareis and Görence.

flora

The Karaburun Peninsula possesses a rich fauna and flora. Although one finds a very varied range of wild flowers especially in spring, every season has its typical flowers and plants.

The Karaburun Peninsula has a typical Mediterranean overgrowth. But the peninsula also offers a couple of only is this region growing special products such as the “Hurma”- olive (an olive which through a microclimate effect ripens directly on the tree and needs no further treatment before consumption), the narcissus flower and the artichoke. In the hills and in the valleys one finds many healing plants, the villagers still use to prevent or cure various illnesses. The different types of thyme and sage, wild lavender and hundreds of wild flowers turn the Karaburun Peninsula into a huge natural garden.

The overgrowth of the Karaburun Peninsula exist mostly of dense Mediterranean shrub with the exception of some locally growing bigger trees and bushes. The following are typical for the area: strawberry tree, wild olive tree, strawberry tree of the Levant, turpentine tree, kermes oak, Persian lilac, maple-tree, mastic tree and the omnipresent rockrose.

In the higher parts of the peninsula pine forests are dominating.

One also finds many healing plants which are still used by the villagers such as spurge, pennyroyal, common poppy, perforate St-John’s-wort, thyme, caper, silifa, Aaron’s rod, sea squill, sage, wild lavender etc.

Olives, narcissus, hyacinths, artichokes, mandarine oranges and lemons are part of the crops the villagers earn their living with.

animals

The fauna of the peninsula is also worth mentioning. The Karaburun Peninsula is one of the rare breeding places on earth of the extinction threatened  and very rare Monkseal  Monachus monachus  of which only about 430 specimen are surviving in the whole world. The quite rare seagull Laris audouinni can also be spotted in Karaburun.

The Karaburun Peninsula has a varied wildlife stock: wild boar, marten, badger, otter, hare, birds of prey (eagle, buzzard, falcon etc.), water-turtles, river-crabs, chameleon, snakes, lizards as well as many butterflies and other insects like beetles, grasshoppers, praying mantis etc.

The breeding-stock consists mainly of goats and sheep. In the vicinity of the villages one may find bee hives for honey.

But also the sea which surrounds the peninsula  has a lot to offer. According to the season a great variety of different fish are passing along the shores of Karaburun. The best known is the lesser gray mullet of which more than twenty varieties are known. A typical way of fishing is the so called “Dalyan"-technique, where a net is spread on the bottom of the sea and attached by ropes to a watching post on the shore. When the fish shoal passes over the net, the ropes are pulled and the net lifted while the fish stays trapped in the net. In certain bays fish-farms have been installed for the production of mainly white bream and perch.