Bursa

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Fourth largest city of Turkey, in northwest Anatolia.

Bursa was the first major conquest of the early Ottomans in 1324. A modest Byzantine provincial market town, it quickly developed as the first capital of the growing Ottoman Empire, featuring many of the finest examples of early Ottoman architecture. Positioned on the northern foothills of Uludağ (Bithynian Mount Olympus) close to the Sea of Marmara, with easy access to the Mediterranean and on the natural extension of Anatolian routes, it became a major international commercial center, where European, mainly Genoese, merchants bought silk and other Eastern goods. It was also widely known for its abundant hot springs and magnificent baths.

Even after the conquest of Constantinople (now Istanbul) in 1453, when it became the definitive capital of the empire, Bursa remained an imperial city and a thriving international market, with significant manufacture of cotton and silk textiles, in addition to its long-established role as terminus for long-distance Asian caravan trade. With a population of about 40,000 in the sixteenth century, it was the largest city in Anatolia. Bursa's growth was hampered in the seventeenth century as a result of the Ottoman policy of promoting İzmir as the major port for Asian and European trade, but the city retained its position as a prominent, if less prosperous, cultural, manufacturing, and commercial center. During the Tanzimat period of free trade, with competition from industrialized Europe, Bursa's silk and cotton textile manufacture suffered significantly, but both the Ottoman policy of industrialization and private investment in steam-powered plants allowed recovery of local production before the end of the century. Bursa became the seat of an enlarged province incorporating several northwest Anatolian districts. Abdülhamit II's efforts to glorify the early Ottoman heritage also contributed to the city's growing fortunes.

Bursa was occupied by the Greek army after World War I, and the city suffered during the ensuing Turkish War of Independence, especially with the destructive retreat of the Greek army in 1922 and the loss of its non-Muslim population. As a result of the state-led industrialization during the 1920s and 1930s, Bursa recovered its textile manufacturing prominence, but its real growth came in the 1960s, with the establishment by private enterprises first of large-scale canning and food processing and then of the automotive industry. In 2000, Bursa was the third largest contributor to Turkey's gross domestic product, with its population of 2,106,687, of whom 1,288,068 reside in the city center. It also ranked fifth among Turkish cities with respect to socioeconomic development. Even with this rapid industrial transformation, however, Bursa still maintains its role as a spa and a heritage center; Uludağ has recently become a favorite winter resort and its highland pastures have regained their early-Ottoman importance for summering. Uludağ University, opened in 1975, aims to foster the city's traditional position of cultural and intellectual prominence.

Bibliography

Özendeş, Engin. The First Ottoman Capital, Bursa: A PhotographicHistory. Istanbul: Yapi-Endüstri Merkezi Yayinlari, 1999.

Turkish Ministry of Culture. Information found at http://www.kultur.gov.tr/portal/default_en.asp?belgeno=1934.

— I. METIN KUNT UPDATED BY BURÇAK KESKIN-KOZAT

The country code is: 90
The city code is: 224