Bursa is located in the northwest of the Anatolian peninsula and southeast of the Marmara Sea. The shores of the Marmara Sea are 135 km away. The most important peak in the province is Uludag, which is a ski resort and national park. The most significant lakes are Lake Iznik and Lake Uluabat.
The history of the region goes all the way back to the Chalolithic era (5000-3500 BC). Archeological investigations in the area have uncovered remains dating back to this period. Besides copper, the distinctive material of the Chalolithic age, items made of stone, flint and bone have also been found.
The Bithynians had a number of settlements on the slopes of Olympos (Uludag) in antiquity. The foundations of the city of Prusa were laid by the Bithynian King Zipotes in the 3rd century BC and it was made the seat of administration during the reign of Prusias I between 230-180 BC. In the 12th century BC the Trallians a Phrygian tribe moved into the area. The Roman era begins here with the bequest of the kingdom to Rome by King Nikomedes IV upon his death. After the Roman empire was divided into two in 395 AD, it came under the rule of the Byzantines. Text Source : Ministry of Culture
BURSA
The land on which the Ottoman Empire was founded has made Bursa an important historic town. Bursa has preserved its historical heritage with the utmost care and still is a historic city with hundreds of historical sites. The Green Mosque and Mausoleum (Yesil Türbe) and the Great Mosque (Ulucami) are among the unique historical places. No other city in the world has more plentiful thermal spring resources; Bursa, which has used these springs as a cure for centuries, still preserves its Turkish baths. Karagöz and Hacivat (traditional shadow puppetry based on the characters Karagöz and Hacivat), which is the foundation of the Turkish traditional theater, Kiliç-Kalkan (a folkloric dance performed with swords and shields) and the folkloric dances of the mountain region are important contributions of Bursa to the culture of Turkey. Uludag Mountain, which can be seen anywhere from the city, is the most important ski resort in Turkey.
Bursa has produced nationally and internationally well known brands. Iskender kebab, Mahlaç cheese, Kemalpasa dessert, Uludag soda, Özdilek towels, Merinos cloth, Ipekis silk, Tofas (Fiat) and Renault are brands that have been integrated into Bursa during recent years. Bursa is the only city where the real table olive is produced.
It is a city of immigrants. Bursa first welcomed immigrants from Rumelia and the Caucasus in the 1880s and immigrants from the Balkans soon after. At the end of the war of independence in 1923, Greek and Armenian immigrants left Turkey and Turkish immigrants from Greece settled in Bursa; in 1951, 1968 and 1989, Bursa which hosted tens of thousands of immigrants from Bulgaria and Yugoslavia, was also subject to intensive migration from eastern Turkey in 1970s.
In the 19th century, Julie Pardoe described Bursa as follows. "I have never visited such a beautiful city. The valley that seems to reach the eternity under a canopy of trees. Beautiful flowers, herbs with odours that cannot be described with words and trees with flowers on them have aligned in our path. Lilac-coloured rockroses with golden spots in their middles, henna trees with snow white seeds, wild marshmallows, mallows with pastel pink and white leaves, turquoise blue flowers the size of a daisy and beehive followers which stick out between the rocks at the sides of the roads and seem like good, fighting evil and look twice as beautiful in this contrast and passion flowers which preserve their beauties as usual, and other flowers which we haven't seen before have all filled the path and the land."
During the same era, Helmuth Von Moltke said: "It is very hard to decide which capital of the Ottoman Empire is more beautiful, the predecessor or the successor? Bursa or Istanbul? The sea in Istanbul and the land in Bursa fascinate you. In one of them the scene is painted in blue and the other is painted in green."
Baptistin Poujoulat has said, "Bursa is like a surreal city coming out from " Tales of 1001 Nights ", but Robert Walsh's description is more interesting: "The nature created Bursa as if just for Turks".
Text Source :Bursa "Healthy Cities"
IZNIK
Historically NICAEA, town, northwestern Turkey. It lies on the eastern shore of Lake Iznik. Founded in the 4th century BC by the Macedonian king Antigonus I Monophthalmus, it was an important center in late Roman and Byzantine times. The ancient city's Roman and Byzantine ramparts, 14,520 feet (4,426 m) in circumference, remain. The town was besieged and conquered in 1331 by the Ottoman Turks, who renamed it Iznik and built the Green Mosque (1378-91). Iznik's prosperity, which was interrupted by the competing growth of nearby Istanbul as an Ottoman center after 1453, revived in the 16th century with the introduction of faience pottery making. Iznik subsequently became famous for its magnificent tiles, but after the workshops were transferred to Istanbul c. 1700, Iznik began to decline. Its economy suffered a further blow with the construction of a major railway bypassing the town. Today Iznik is a small market town and administrative center for the surrounding district. Pop. (1980) 13,231.
Iznik is worldwide famous for its tiles. Iznik Tiles are made on a very clean white base with hard backs and under-glaze decorations in a unique technique.
Iznik became a center of worldwide attention once again when the year 1989 was declared the year of Iznik. Several activities relating to Iznik took place; a symposium, an international exhibition and the publication of several books. The Iznik Foundation was established in September 1993.
