East Thrace

East Thrace (blue) athin Thrace

East Thrace (blue) athin the Marmara Region o Turkey

East Thrace landscape in Edirne Province, Turkey.

East Thrace or Eastren Thrace (Turkis: Doğu Trakya or semply Trakya; Greek: Ανατολική Θράκη, Anatoliki Thraki; Bulgarie: Източна Тракия, Iztochna Trakiya), kent as Turkis Thrace or European Turkey forby, is the pairt o Turkey that is geografically pairt o Sootheast Europe. It accoonts for 3% o Turkey's laund aurie but comprises 14% o its tot population. The rest o much o the kintra is locatit on the Anatolie Peninsula as well as the Armenie Heichlands, geografically in Wastren Asie. The maist muckle ceity o the region is Istanbul, which straddles the Bosphorus strait atween Europe an Asie.

East Thrace is o historic importance as it is next tae a major sea tred corridor an consteetutes what remains o the ance-vast Ottoman region o Rumelia. It is currently o specific geostrategic importance acause the sea corridor, which includes twa narrow straits, provides access tae the Mediterranean Sea frae the Black Sea for the navies o five kintras: Roushie, Ukraine, Romanie, Bulgarie, an Georgie. The region serves as a futur connector o existin Turkish, Bulgarie, an Greek heich-speed rail networks an aw.

Defeenition

East Thrace includes aw in the eastren pairt o the historical region o Thrace. The aurie includes aw the territories o the Turkis provinces of Edirne, Tekirdağ an Kırklareli, as well as thae territories on the European continent o the provinces o Çanakkale an Istanbul. The laund borders o East Thrace wur defined bi the Treaty o Constantinople (1913) an the Bulgarie-Ottoman convention (1915), an wur reaffirmed bi the Treaty o Lausanne.

Climate

Due tae the moderatin effect o the surroondin seas, the climate tends tae be Mediterranean in chairacter. It can descend tae aboot 12 °C an can rise tae aboot 32 °C, seemilar tae Asie Turkey.

Geografie

East Thrace haes an aurie o 23,764 km² (3 percent o Turkey's laund aurie), slichtly smawer than Sardinie, an a population o aboot 11 million fowk or aboot 14 percent o the tot Turkis population (in 2015); the population density is aroond 430 fowk/km², compared tae aboot 80 fowk/km² for Asiatic Turkey, which is cried Anatolie or Asie Minor forby. Houaniver, densities are skewed bi the metropolis o Istanbul. The twa continents are separatit bi the Dardanelles, the Bosphorus (collectively kent as the Turkish Straits) an the Sea of Marmara, a route of aboot 361 km. The soothrenmaist pairt o Eastren Thrace is cried the Gallipoli peninsula. European Turkey is bordered on the wast bi Greece for 212 km an on the north bi Bulgarie for 269 km, wi the Aegean Sea tae the sooth-wast an the Black Sea tae the north-east.

River Maritsa (Turkis: Meriç), which forms the laund mairch atween Greece an Turkey, forms the naitural mairch atween Wastren Thrace an East Thrace an aw.

Province (pairt)	Area (km2)	Population (2012 census)	Density (pop/km2) (2012 census)	Population (2019 est.)
Istanbul Province (European)	3,421	8,963,431	2620.1	10,067,617**
Tekirdağ	6,218	852,321	137.1	1,055,412**
Kırklareli	6,550	341,218	52.1	361,836
Edirne	6,279	399,708	63.7	413,903
Çanakkale (European)	1,296	64,061	49.4	62,570
East Thrace (sum)	23,764	10,620,739	446.9	11,961,338**
% o naitional	3.09%	14.2%	461%	14.4%**

• ** Disclaimer: Soorces mey modify an/or release updated data, this will nae be automatically reflected in thir tables, additionally the refugee crisis' vast floating migrants hae seriously complicated data collection, especially syne 2013. Estimates an Census uise different methodology an are nae directly comparable. Source: Citypopulation.de mirroring data frae: State Institute of Statistics, Republic of Turkey (wab).

History

East Thrace wis the setting for several important events in history an legend, includin:

• The Greek myth of Hero an Leander taks place in the auncient ceity o Sestus.
• Aeneas foondit the ceity o Aenus while tryin tae find new launds during his mythological travels.
• Efter the daith o Alexander the Great, in the period cried the Diadochi, Alexander's general Lysimachus (360-281 BC) acame keeng o Thrace an established his caipital in Lysimachia.
• The Battle of Adrianople in 378 wis an important turning pynt in the decline o the Roman Empire.
• Çimpe Castle wis the first European territory held bi the Ottoman Empire.
• Edirne wis the seicont caipital o the Ottoman Empire efter Bursa.
• The Gallipoli Campaign, stertit 25 Aprile 1915, ane o the maist important campaigns o the First Warld War, wis focht on the Gallipoli peninsula.

The mass killins an displacement o Thracian Bulgaries in 1913 an the 1923 population exchange atween Greece an Turkey ethnically cleansed the Orthodox populations.

Prior tae that the distribution o ethnoreleegious groups in the local sanjaks wis as follaes:

Ottoman offeecial Statistics, 1910
Sanjak	Turks	Greeks	Bulgaries	Ithers	Tot
Edirne	128,000	113,500	31,500	14,700	287,700
Kırk Kilise	53,000	77,000	28,500	1,150	159,650
Tekirdağ	63,500	56,000	3,000	21,800	144,300
Gallipoli	31,500	70,500	2,000	3,200	107,200
Çatalca	18,000	48,500	-	2,340	68,840
Istanbul	450,000	260,000	6,000	130,000	846,000
Tot %	744,000 46.11%	625,500 38.76%	71,000 4.40%	173,190 10.74%	1,613,690
Ecumenical Patriarchate Statistics, 1912
Tot %	604,500 36.20%	655,600 39.27%	71,800 4.30%	337,600 20.22%	1,669,500

The Muslim millet wia recordit as Turkis, while the kirk members o the Ecumenical Patriarchate wur recordit as Greek.

In the past century, modren East Thrace wis the main component o the territory o the Adrianople Vilayet, which excludit the Constantinople Vilayet, but includit Wast Thrace an pairts o the Rhodopes an Sakar. A publication frae December 21, 1912 in the Belgian magazine Ons Volk Ontwaakt (‘Oor Naition Awakes’) estimatit 1,006,500 indwallers in the vilayet:

Orthodox Bulgaries - 370,000 Orthodox Greeks - 220,000 Orthodox Armenies - 30,000 Orthodox Albanies - 3,500 Orthodox Turks - 3,000

Muslim Turks - 250,000 Muslim Bulgaries - 115,000 Muslim Roma fowk - 15,000

21st century East Thrace consteetutes what remains o Turkis Rumelia, which ance stretched as far north as Hungary an as far wast as Bosnie. Rumelia wis lost piecemeal frae 1699 onwards, until in 1912 the bulk o it wis lost in the First Balkan War. Some smaw regains wur made during the Seicont Balkan War, giein East Thrace the poleetical borders veesible the day.

• 
  Hero an Leander
• 
  Coin o \ Lysimachus
• 
  Selimiye Mosque, Edirne
• 
  Cape Helles during the Gallipoli Campaign