Pozantı
District and municipality
Map showing Pozantı District in Adana Province
Map showing Pozantı District in Adana Province
Pozantı is located in Turkey
Pozantı
Pozantı
Location in Turkey
Coordinates: 37°25′40″N 34°52′16″E / 37.42778°N 34.87111°E / 37.42778; 34.87111
CountryTurkey
ProvinceAdana
Government
 • MayorMustafa Çay (MHP)
Area
899 km2 (347 sq mi)
Elevation
780 m (2,560 ft)
Population
 (2022)[1]
19,852
 • Density22/km2 (57/sq mi)
Time zoneTRT (UTC+3)
Area code0322
Websitewww.pozanti.bel.tr

Pozantı (Greek: Πενδοσις, romanized: Pendhòsis, formerly Arabic: الْبَدَندُون, romanized: el-Bedendûn) is a municipality and district of Adana Province, Turkey.[2] Its area is 899 km2,[3] and its population is 19,852 (2022).[1] The town is in the highlands of Çukurova, and is a major gateway to the Mediterranean coasts. Pozantı stands in the foothills, at the bottom of one of the few passes through the mountains. The mayor is Mustafa Çay (MHP).

History

Pozantı has had a number of names. In antiquity it was Pendonsis or Pendosis, to the Arabs El Bedendum, and finally Bozantı and Pozantı in Turkish.

Standing at the entrance to a pass across the Taurus Mountains, Pendonsis was strategically important, as the gateway between the high plain of Anatolia and the low plain of Cilicia or Çukurova and the Middle East beyond. Pozantı has passed through the hands of Hittites, Persians, Alexander the Great, Rome and Byzantium. Muslim forces moved through the area in the period of the Abbasids, followed by the Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. During the Crusades, control of the pass was returned to the Byzantines, then the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia and the Mamluks, before finally being brought under Ottoman control by Selim I in 1517.

Pozantı is windy and bleak, and for most of its history was a fort and a road-house, but more people began to live in the area permanently when a railway was built in 1917. However, passing trade on the road is still a major driver of the local economy.

Pozantı was briefly occupied by French forces at the end of World War I.

Composition

There are 21 neighbourhoods in Pozantı District:[4]

Transportation

Pozantı Gar is the railway station of Pozantı, served by three main line services, connecting Pozantı to Adana, Niğde, Kayseri, Ankara and Karaman.

As the gateway to Çukurova, Pozantı is a stopping point for several coach companies that operate routes from Central Anatolia to Çukurova and further east.

Landmarks

The only historical building in the city center is the mosque and fountain of Ottoman general Cemal Paşa, built in 1919 and since repaired and extended. At the entrance to the pass are the old and new castles of Anhşa.

The Casemates of İbrahim Pasha, the remains of a 19th-century fort, are located on the hill named Tekir, next to the modern highway D.750. The ruins of the Byzantine town of Fenese lay near the village of Aşçıbekirli. More ruins have been found near the village of Kamışlı in the high meadows (yayla) of Ören and Asar.

See also

References

Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Karaisalı-Pozantı.
  1. 1 2 "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2022, Favorite Reports" (XLS). TÜİK. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  2. ↑ Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  3. ↑ "İl ve İlçe Yüz ölçümleri". General Directorate of Mapping. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
  4. ↑ Mahalle, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023.
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