The History of Turkey

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Throughout history, the middle east has often been the focus of news reporters. A middle eastern country that has not been exempt from this, is Turkey. Turkey has not only been a focus, but it also has had a very long, complicated history.

The history of turkey is a very long and detailed one. Turkey was originally settled by groups of farmers probably thousands of years ago. Today, historians call these people the Hittites. During their time, the Hittites were ruled by kings, and had their high officials buried in shaft tombs. Shortly after the Hittites moved in, Indo-Europeans moved into the area, and formed the kingdom of the Hittites, with the capital being Hattusa. The kingdom survived for hundreds of years. However environmental changes, migrations of new people, and a weak government ended the kingdom. After the downfall of the Hittite kingdom, Assyrians and Persians conquered the land and settled the kingdom of Lydia. But, this kingdom didn’t last long, as Alexander the Great conquered the Persians in the battle of Issus in 333 BC. to claim the land. In 63 BC., Roman general Pompey conquered the land and it became part of the massive Roman Empire. In 330 AD., Constantine, the emperor of the Roman Empire moved the Empire's capitol from Rome, to the city of Byzantium in modern day Turkey. Byzantium had its name changed to Constantinople when Constantine converted to Christianity. The Roman Empire split in 395 AD., and the Byzantine Empire continued to rule the land. During the early 1000's, the Seljuk Turks became one of the first Islamic peoples to rule in modern Turkey. The Seljuk Turks began to replace the area's Greek language and Christian religion with the Turkish language and the Islamic religion. The Seljuk ...

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... after the downfall of the Byzantine Empire. This religion focuses on the religious book, the Quran. The people of this religion pray to the God Allah, and must follow the five pillars of Islam. The five pillars of Islam say that one must pray five times a day everyday, know that Allah is the one and only God, pay charity to the poor, fasting during Ramadan, and visit the Mecca at least once in their life. If a Muslim person does this, they will go to heaven, and be with Allah for eternity.

The country of Turkey has a long and detailed history to it. Turkey has not had many religions, but it has had very many rulers, most of which came with a new government. The geography of Turkey can be beneficiary to the Turks, but can also be very harmful to them as well. Turkey is one of the most influential countries in the middle east, and has been for thousands of years.

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