| TURKEY--no, not the bird;
the country J,
is often called the cradle of civilizations and it really has an
interesting location and history. Do you want to learn more about
this country? Let's take a small quiz and explore together. Click
on the links to learn more.
-
Do you know where
Turkey is?
-
Did you know TURKEY has land
on two continents?
-
Did you know Santa
Claus was born in TURKEY?
-
Do you know where the name
TURKEY comes from?
-
Did you know 2 of the 7 wonders
of the world are in TURKEY?
-
Did you know the TROJAN
Horse was in TURKEY?
|
Geography
|
Turkey occupies a
unique geographic position, lying partly in Asia and partly in
Europe,
|
Turkey
is bordered on the northwest by Bulgaria and Greece; on the
north by the Black Sea;
on the south by Iraq, Syria, and
the Mediterranean Sea; and on the west by the Aegean Sea. The
total area of Turkey is 779,452 sq km (300,948 sq mi).
|
on the northeast by Georgia and
Armenia;
on the east by Iran and the
Azerbaijan;
|
Top
|
Santa
Claus
Although accounts of his life
are confused and historically unconfirmed, according to
tradition Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) was a native of
Patara, formerly a city in the ancient district of Lycia, Asia
Minor (now Turkey).
("Nicholas, Saint," Microsoft® Encarta®
Encyclopedia 2000. © 1993-1999 Microsoft Corporation. All
rights reserved.) |
Top
What's in a Name?
Turkey, is the Anglicized form of the word "Turkiye"
which means the land of the Turks. How the bird turkey got
it's name is a mystery.
One suggestion is that in the 16th century, merchants trading
along the seaboards of the Mediterranean were known as Turkes.
They probably included the birds in their merchandise and they
became known as turkey fowls. One other theory is that
Columbus thought the New World was connected to India and that
turkeys were really peacocks, so he named them "Tuka"
which is peacock in the Tamil language of India. In Spain, the
turkey was often referred to as the Indian fowl, an allusion
which is repeated in the French "dindon" formed from
"d'Inde", which means "from India". See
this very interesting article
about naming of the bird turkey in different languages around
the world.
Click here
for a partial list of Turkish origin words in the English
language.
|
|
Top
Wonder
Which?
Two of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World are in Turkey.
Click on the pictures to learn more about each of them. |
| Temple
of Artemis in Ephesus
|
Mausoleum
at Halikarnassus (Bodrum)
 |
Top
Trojan
Horse
The battlefield of the Trojan War is in the Turkish city
"Troy" near Dardanelles.
Follow this link
for more information on Troy and the Trojan Horse.
|
 |
Top
For comments and
questions send an e-mail to Tarkan
Kacmaz
Page developed by Tarkan
Kacmaz
Last revised on 10.30.2000
The URL of this page is http://php.indiana.edu/tkacmaz/w505/kacmaz.html
|
