Highlights of Bursa

In the light of science, archaeological sources date Bursa Province and its surroundings to 8500 years. It gives information that this region was effective in the settlement of the first agricultural communities that formed the Central European and Balkan culture. There are many mounds in Bursa that shed light on the prehistoric past of northwest Anatolia. About 30 of these mounds, which were villages where people lived in the prehistoric period, have been identified. Remains and finds from the Neolithic Age in Orhangazi-Ilıpınar Mound, Chalcolithic Age in Yenişehir-Menteşe Mound, Late Neolithic-Early Chalcolithic Age in Nilüfer-Akçalar Aktopraklık Mound, and Early Bronze Age in İnegöl Höyük were encountered. Turks first came to the Bursa region in 1080. Iznik, which was captured by the Seljuks between 1087-1097, became the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk State between these years. The Ottoman Principality, which was founded in 1299 in Söğüt, added İnegöl, Bilecik, Yenişehir and Iznik to its territory. The influence of the Ottomans in the region began to be seen from 1302. Orhangazi, who besieged Bursa, took the city on 06 April 1326. When Yıldırım Bayezid was defeated in the Battle of Ankara in 1402, Timur took Western Anatolia, Timur's armies came to Bursa and destroyed the city. After Timur's withdrawal, the city was besieged by Karamanoğlu Mehmet Bey during the throne struggles between Bayezid's sons, but could not be captured. With the death of Yıldırım Bayezid in 1403, Çelebi Sultan Mehmed (1402-1421) became the head of the Ottoman Empire in 1413. Çelebi Mehmed erased the negative effects of the Interregnum Period, rebuilt the State, started construction in Bursa and had Hacı İvaz Pasha build the "Green Complex". With the conquest of Istanbul in 1453, the center of the sultanate was moved to Edirne and then to Istanbul. Losing its political and cultural importance, Bursa became the center of madrasahs, dervish lodges, scholars, science and Islamic world, trade with its bazaars, and art with its poets and artists. Bursa, the first capital of the Ottoman Empire, continued its influence as the "spiritual capital" after the capital was moved to Edirne and Istanbul. With the death of Fatih Sultan Mehmet in 1481, his younger son Cem Sultan (1459-1495) and II. At the end of the fight for the throne between Bayezid, Cem Sultan's body was buried in the Muradiye Tombs in Bursa. The tomb of the first six sultans of the Ottoman World State is located in Bursa. Bursa, which was occupied by the Greeks on 8 July 1920 during the years of the War of Independence, remained under the occupation of the Greeks for two years, two months and two days. Our National Poet, the author of our National Anthem, Mehmet Akif ERSOY, wrote the poem "Bülbül" after hearing that Bursa was under occupation. On September 11, 1922, Bursa, which was liberated from the occupation as a result of great struggles, hosted the Mudanya Armistice, the most important step taken on the way to independence. It developed with the industrial establishments built in the first years of the Republic, and in 1935 the Bursa Merino Factory was opened by Atatürk. Atatürk came to Bursa for the first time on 17 October 1922 and visited Bursa 18 times in order to investigate the effects of the innovations made with the Republic on society and to make new breakthroughs in the economic field....Hide