Kula is a municipality and district of Manisa Province, Turkey.Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 July 2023. Its area is 981km2, and its population is 43,227 (2022). The town lies at an elevation of .
History
Koula (Greek: Κοῦλα) begun as a settlement located on the site of the former Byzantine Opsikion Theme.Ramsay, William (London, 1890). Historical Geography of Asia Minor. Royal Geographical Society. p. 123 In 1306, the city was captured by the Catalan Company under Roger de Flor.Ramsay, William (London, 1890). Historical Geography of Asia Minor. Royal Geographical Society. p. 211 In 1384, the patriarchal possessions of the church at Koula were transported to the metropolitanate of Laodicea, while in 1394, the church was assumed by the metropolitanate of Philadelphia.Vryonis, Speros (1971). The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamisation from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century. Berkeley: California University Press. pp. 297, 298
Suleiman, the ruler of Germiyan (), relocated his capital from Kütahya to Kula after granting the Ottomans control of much of his realm, as part of the dowry payment for the marriage of his daughter Devletşah Hatun with the Ottoman prince and future sultan Bayezid I ().
From 1867 until 1922, Kula was part of the Aidin Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire. Until at least 1923, the town was inhabited by a mixed population of Christians and Muslims. The Christian population was composed of Turkified descendants of the original Greek inhabitants of the town, as well as by more recent immigrants from Samos and other Aegean islands.
Composition There are 60 neighbourhoods in Kula District:Mahalle , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
Ahmetli Akgün Aktaş Ayazören Ayvatlar Balıbey Başıbüyük Battalmustafa Bayramşah Bebekli Bey Börtlüce Camicedit Çarıkballı Çarıkmahmutlu Çiftçiibrahim Dereköy Dört Eylül Emre Encekler Erenbağı Eroğlu Esenyazı Evciler Gökçeören Gökdere Gölbaşı Güvercinlik Hacıtufan Hamidiye Hayalli İbrahimağa İncesu Kalınharman Karaoba Kavacık Kenger Kızılkaya Konurca Körez Narıncalıpıtrak Narıncalısüleyman Ortaköy Papuçlu Sandal Saraçlar Sarnıçköy Şehitlioğlu Şeremet Şeritli Şeyhli Seyitali Söğütdere Tatlıçeşme Topuzdamları Yağbastı Yeniköy Yeşilyayla Yurtbaşı Zaferiye
Economy As of 1920, Kula's main industry was carpet making.
Yanıkyöre volcanic rock formations The district is renowned for the cone-shaped volcanic rock formations, numbering at about eighty, in the nearby Yanıkyöre (literally the burnt land) area, also sometimes still referred to, including in Turkey, under the Greek name of Katakekaumene, which has the same meaning. Increasingly brought to the attention of a wider public in recent years as a natural curiosity, other recently coined terms to describe the area include "Cappadocia of the Aegean Region, Turkey" or even "Kuladocia". Kula Volcanic Geopark was accepted and certificated by UNESCO on 6 September 2013 at 37th UNESCO general conference in Naples. So that Kula Volcanic Geopark joined UNESCO Global Geopark Network. Also this patent became the first geopark of Turkey, 58th geopark in Europe, and 96th geopark in the world.
See also Kula volcano
References
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