İzmit () is a municipality and the capital district of Kocaeli Province, Turkey.Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023. Its area is 480 km2, and its population is 376,056 (2022). The capital of Kocaeli Province, it is located at the Gulf of İzmit in the Sea of Marmara, about east of Istanbul, on the northwestern part of Anatolia. Kocaeli Province (including rural areas) had a population of 2,079,072 inhabitants in 2022, of whom approximately 1.2 million lived in the largely urban İzmit City metro area made up of Kartepe, Başiskele, Körfez, Gölcük, Derince and Sapanca (in Sakarya Province). Similar to Istanbul, the area of İzmit is coterminous with its province. It is also the most populated of any city or town in Turkey whose name isn't shared with the province it is located in.
İzmit was known as Nicomedia and Ólbia in antiquity, and was the eastern and most senior capital city of the Roman Empire between 286 and 324, during the Tetrarchy introduced by Diocletian. Following Constantine the Great's victory over co-emperor Licinius at the Battle of Chrysopolis (modern Üsküdar) in 324, Nicomedia served as an interim capital city for Constantine until 330, when Constantinople (modern Istanbul) was officially proclaimed as the new capital of the Roman Empire. During the Ottoman Empire, İzmit was the capital of the Sanjak of Kocaeli. At present, the Istanbul-İzmit area is one of the main industrial regions in Turkey.
Name İzmit was known as Nicomedia () and Ólbia () in antiquity. İzmit derives from Nicomedia, prefixed with εἰς 'to' or 'into' (similar to Istanbul). Names used in English prior to official Turkish Latinization include Ismid, Iskimid, and Isnikmid.
Geography The geographical location of İzmit is between 40°-41° N and 29°-31° E, surrounded by the Gulf of İzmit at south, Istanbul and the Sea of Marmara at west, the Black Sea at north, and Sakarya at east.
The city is mostly built on hill slopes because of the cramped area, while flat plains surround the gulf, near the sea. This topographic structure divided the city into two parts. The first was created on flat plains, where the city center is located. The railway and highway networks pass from this area which is close to the Sea of Marmara. The second part was built on hills, with many historic houses from the Ottoman period in the old quarters.
History
In Antiquity, the city in Greek was called Astacus or Olbia (founded 712 BC). After being destroyed, it was rebuilt and founded by Nicomedes I of Bithynia in 264 BC under the name of Nicomedia. It remained one of the most important cities in northwestern Asia Minor.
Carthaginian general and statesman Hannibal came to Nicomedia in his final years and committed suicide in nearby Libyssa (modern Gebze), in a date between 183 and 181 BC.
The historian Arrian was born in Nicomedia, which was the metropolis of Bithynia under the Roman Empire (see also Nicaea).
In 286 AD, Roman emperor Diocletian made Nicomedia the eastern capital city of the Roman Empire, when he introduced the Tetrarchy system. Nicomedia remained as the eastern (and most senior) capital of the Roman Empire until Licinius was defeated by Constantine the Great in 324. Constantine mainly resided in Nicomedia as his interim capital city for the next six years; until in 330 he declared the nearby Byzantium as Nova Roma, which eventually became known as Constantinople (modern Istanbul). Constantine died at an imperial villa in the vicinity of Nicomedia on 22 May 337. Owing to its position at the convergence of the Asiatic roads leading to the new capital, Nicomedia retained its importance even after the foundation of Constantinople.
In 451, the local bishopric was promoted to a Metropolitan see under the jurisdiction of the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Nicomedia remained under Byzantine rule until the late 11th century, when it was captured by Seljuk Turks. However, the city soon returned to Byzantine sovereignty as a consequence of the successes of the First Crusade. After the sack of Constantinople in 1204, during the Fourth Crusade, the city of Nicomedia, with most of the Bithynia province, became a part of the Latin Empire. It was recaptured by the Byzantines around 1235 and stayed within Byzantine borders until the first half of the 14th century. The city was conquered by the Ottoman Turks in 1337.
In the early 20th century, it remained the seat of a pasha, a Greek metropolitan, and an Armenian archbishop.
İzmit was occupied by the United Kingdom on 6 July 1920, during the Turkish War of Independence. The British left it to Greece on 27 October 1920. İzmit was re-taken by the Turks on 28 June 1921.Ionian Vision: Greece in Asia Minor, 1919-1922, Michael Llewellyn-Smith, page 215, 1998 As of 1920, the British reported that the city had a population of about 13,000. In 1920–1921 atrocities were committed in the city and its surroundings during the Greco-Turkish War (1919–1922) against the Greek civilian population. An Allied report (on 1 June 1921) stated that a large number of excesses were committed by both sides during the last year, while the Turkish atrocities in the Izmit peninsula "have been more considerable and ferocious than those on the part of the Greeks".
The 7.6 earthquake of 17 August 1999 devastated the region with a maximum Mercalli intensity of IX (Violent). The shock killed more than 17,000 people and left half a million homeless. It took several years for the city to recover from this disaster, and traces of the earthquake remain visible.
Main sights
There are numerous tourist attractions in the city center and its adjacent region, such as: remains of the ancient Acropolis, Agora, Amphitheater, Nymphaeum, Necropolis the Demeter Temple the Hellenistic Üçtepeler Mound King Tombs Roman city walls, aqueducts and cisterns parts of the Temple of Augustus parts of the Palace and Arsenal of Diocletian the Byzantine fortress at the core of the Roman city walls Orhan Gazi Mosque (1333) the 14th century Süleyman Paşa Hamam the 16th century Imaret Mosque and Pertev Paşa Mosque (1580), designed by the Ottoman chief architect Mimar Sinan Pertev Paşa Fountain (1571) the 16th century Mehmed Bey Hamam Saatçi Ali Efendi Mansion (1776) Tüysüz Fountain (1782) the early 19th century Fevziye Mosque Kapanca Sokağı Fountain and Canfeda Kethüda Kadın Fountain (1827) Sırrı Paşa Mansion (mid-19th century) Kasr-ı Hümayun Palace French Theological School Redif Barracks (1863) İzmit Clock Tower (1901) Kocaeli Museum SEKA Paper Museum Fethiye Street
Economy
İzmit has a history as a port city. As of 1913, the Turkish government had been working to privatize the port. At that time, Vickers built a temporary dock, bringing a small export business to the area. The British described the port as having little business as of 1920.
During the sanjak period of İzmit, the forested regions of the area were devastated by deforestation. The wood in the region of İzmit was used to produce charcoal, primarily. During the 1920s, the area was also known for manufacturing linen. Factories were rare during that time, so most linen was handmade. It was described as being "coarse" and as being in high demand in Turkey as of 1920. İzmit was the home of two Turkish Army and Navy uniform factories. One made fez hats and the other made cloth. The area made carpet and embroidery, made by mainly Christian women.
İzmit has a large oil refinery and major paper and cement factories. Ford Motor Company has a plant here in a joint venture with Otosan, assembling the Transit/Tourneo (including the new V362 Transit/Tourneo Custom since late 2012) and Transit/Tourneo Connect vans. After Ford's Southampton Assembly Plant's closure scheduled for July 2013 was completed, and the launch of the new Otosan only V363 Transit in 2014, İzmit became the sole producer of Ford Transit vans for Europe. It is also a transportation hub, being on the main highway and railway lines between Istanbul and Ankara and having a major port.
In the past few years the province has developed into a growth point for the Turkish automotive industry, receiving investments from Ford, Hyundai, Honda and Isuzu. Tyre and rubber products are produced to world-class standard (Goodyear, Pirelli, Lassa and Bridgestone). As of today, Kocaeli province has attracted more than 1200 industrial investments, 108 of which have been established with international capital. Turkey's largest enterprise, the Tüpraş Petroleum Refinery Plant, is in Kocaeli, containing altogether 27% of the national chemical products industry, including petrochemical products. Eighteen of the 100 largest enterprises of Turkey are in Kocaeli and contribute to around 17%-18% of the national tax revenues.
Financial Times affiliated Foreign Direct Investment magazine nominated Kocaeli (the province of which İzmit is the capital) among the 25 European Regions of the Future for 2006–2007. The city was chosen along with Adana for Turkey, which scored the highest points for cost effectiveness against Kocaeli's wider infrastructure, while Adana and Kocaeli tied on points for human resources and quality of life.
The famous Turkish traditional sweet Pişmaniye is a product of İzmit and the Kocaeli Province.
Composition There are 102 neighbourhoods in İzmit District:Mahalle, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
28 Haziran Akarca Akçakoca Akmeşe Atatürk Akmeşe Cumhuriyet Akpınar Alikahya Atatürk Alikahya Cumhuriyet Alikahya Fatih Ambarcı Arızlı Arpalıkihsaniye Ayazma Bağlıca Balören Bayraktar Bekirdere Biberoglu Böğürgen Bulduk Çağırğan Çavuşoğlu Çayırköy Cedid Çubuklubala Çubukluosmaniye Çukurbağ Dağköy Doğan Düğmeciler Durhasan Emirhan Erenler Eseler Fethiye Fevziçakmak Gedikli Gökçeören Gülbahçe Kadriye Gültepe Gündoğdu Güvercinlik Hacı Hasan Hacıhızır Hakaniye Hasancıklar Hatip İzmit Cumhuriyet İzmit Fatih Kabaoğlu Kadıköy Karaabdülbaki Karabaş Karadenizliler Kaynarca Kemalpaşa Kısalar Kocatepe Körfez Kozluca Kozluk Kulfallı Kulmahmut Kurtdere Kuruçeşme Fatih Malta Mecidiye Mehmet Ali Paşa Merkez Nebihoca Ömerağa Orhan Orhaniye Ortaburun Şahinler Sanayi Sapakpınar Sarışeyh Sekbanlı Sepetçi Serdar Şirintepe Süleymaniye Sultaniye Süverler Tavşantepe Tepecik Tepeköy Terzibayırı Topçular Turgut Tüysüzler Veliahmet Yahyakaptan Yassıbağ Yenice Yenidoğan Yenimahalle Yenişehir Yeşilova Zabıtan Zeytinburnu
Transport
Located along the commercially-active Black Sea and Marmara Sea shorelines, Kocaeli boasts 5 ports and 35 industrial docks, making it an important communications center, as well as Anatolia's farthest inland contact point and a gateway to global markets. The main transportation routes, the D100 highway and the Trans European Motorway which connects Europe with Asia, along with railway lines, form an intercontinental passage network. İzmit Central railway station is one of the busiest in Turkey, built in 1977 to replace the original station.
Kocaeli neighbours one of the world's largest metropolitan centers, Istanbul. Its vicinity to Istanbul's two international airports (Sabiha Gökçen International Airport and Atatürk International Airport) which are away, respectively, from İzmit's city center, provides national and international connections.
On 1 March 1958, , a small passenger ferry sailing between İzmit and Değirmendere sank due to lodos weather. 272 people died including 38 students and seven crew. 37 passengers and two crew survived the disaster.
Public transport Rail
First opened in 1873 and then sold to Chemins de fer Ottomans d'Anatolie until its reacqusition in 1927, İzmit railway station near the D.100 highway connects Ankara–Istanbul high-speed railway, the fastest and highest-volume rail line in Turkey.
Tram