By the 15th century, theOttomans had conquered the city, maintaining control over it until thepartition of the Ottoman Empire after the Allied victory inWorld War I. It subsequently became asanjak in theFrench mandate of Syria until 1938, when France granted the region independence. The city became part of theHatay State which in turn united with Turkey in 1939.
İskenderun preserves the name, but probably not the exact site, ofAlexandria ad Issum. The settlement was so called having been founded byAlexander the Great in 333 BC to supersedeMyriandus as the key to theSyrian Gates, about 37 km (23 miles) south of the scene of his victory at theBattle of Issus against the PersianKing Darius III.[8] Alexander camped in the highlands of İskenderun, aroundEsentepe, and then ordered the city to be established and namedAlexandria. İskenderun is one of many cities founded on Alexander's orders, includingAlexandria, Egypt.
The importance of the place comes from its relation to the aforesaid Syrian Gates, the easiest approach to the open ground of Hatay Province andAleppo.[8] Because of its hilly, rough surroundings, the city also went by the name ofAlexandria Scabiosa ('Alexandria the Mountainous').[9]
There was fighting here under theOttoman Empire: in 1606 the army of GeneralKuyucu Murat Pasha suppressed theJelali revolts. The Ottomans continued to fortify the city, and the remains of the early 17th-century Ottoman castle walls can still be seen where the Güzün stream crosses the Varyant road. The city was well described in 1675 by the English naval chaplainHenry Teonge in his diary. The next army to cross theBelen Pass and attackAnatolia through here were theEgyptians ofMuhammad Ali in 1832.
However, in the later Ottoman period the city developed as the main port on the Mediterranean for the overland trade fromBaghdad andIndia, which had great importance until the establishment of theEgyptian overland route. Alexandretta served as a base, first forGenoese andVenetian merchants, then Western and Northern European merchants. The BritishLevant Company maintained an agency andfactory here for 200 years, until 1825, in spite of high mortality among its employees[8] because of regional disease, some due to lack of sanitation systems. During the 19th century the port grew, and the road toAleppo was improved.[citation needed] Sanitation was also improved,[8] and the railway was built in 1912.
At the outset ofWorld War I, when Britain was contemplating thepartition of the Ottoman Empire,Lord Kitchener considered the conquest of Alexandretta to be essential in providing Britain with a port and railhead from which to accessIraq. He proposed a new railway be built to the east from Alexandretta, which would greatly reduce the time for reaching India from the UK. The De Bunsen Committee (8 April – 30 June 1915), a British inter-departmental group which was set up to discuss the issue in greater detail, preferredHaifa for this purpose.[13]
Ultimately the British decided not to attack the Ottoman Empire via Alexandretta. On 8 February 1915 the French foreign minister,Théophile Delcassé, protested to Britain's Foreign Secretary,Sir Edward Grey about such an attack, citing a commitment that Britain made in 1912 that it had no designs on Syria.[14] The German field marshal,Hindenburg, later said that
Perhaps not the whole course of the war, but certainly the fate of our Ottoman Ally, could have been settled out of hand, if England had secured a decision in that region, or even seriously attempted it. Possession of the country south of the Tauras [mountains] would have been lost to Turkey at a blow if the English had succeeded in landing at Alexandretta.[15]
Turkish forces under Colonel Şükrü Kanatlı entered İskenderun on 5 July 1938
TheRepublic of Hatay was founded in 1938 and, in 1939, it joined the Republic of Turkey after a referendum. The referendum was, and still is, regarded as illegitimate, as the Turkish government moved supporters into the city[21][22] and theTurkish Army "expelled most of the province's Alawite Arabs, Greek and Armenian majority" to decide the referendum result.[23]
In the 2010s Syria still claimed against Turkey its sovereignty on the Alexandretta region.[19]
In February 2023, the city was heavily damaged bypowerful earthquakes and subsequent floods and fires.[25] On 8 February 2023, the fire at the Port of Iskenderun was extinguished[26] but broke out again the next day.[27]
İskenderun has aMediterranean climate with hot, dry summers, and mild, moderately rainy winters (Köppen:Csa, Trewartha:Cs). At certain times of the year the town is swept by a strong wind called 'Yarıkkaya'. The countryside contains large areas of fruit groves. It is an important producer oforanges,tangerines andlemons, and even tropical fruits such asmangoes.
Climate data for İskenderun (1991-2020 normals, extremes 1975-2010)
19th-century travelerMartin Hartmann put the population of Iskenderun at roughly 500 households with no entry on ethnicity. Out of the 29 other settlements he listed in the Ottomannahiyah of Iskenderun, 19 wereTurkish (366 houses), 2 wereAlawite (100 houses), 2 were Turkish-Alawite mixed (28 houses), and no information was listed for the remaining 6. He did not list any Sunni Arab households.[32]
Bakras (Bagras) Castle, which was built in antiquity and restored many times in later centuries (particularly during theCrusades, when it was a stronghold of theKnights Templar), served as a watchtower on the 27 km (17 mi) mountain road from İskenderun toAntakya (Antioch).
Panoramic view of theGulf of İskenderun from İskenderun's district center
Distinctive İskenderun dishes includeKünefe, a hot dessert with cheese. The main dishes include the Turkish staples such asdöner and otherkebabs served in the flatdürüm bread,lahmacun and alsoAntakya influenced cuisine includingkibbeh, and sourpomegranate syrup used as a salad dressing. İskenderun in particular offers good quality fish and prawns.
^Cpt. Charlewood (1871). "Euphrates Valley Railway".Report and Transactions of the Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art.4 (2): 428.
^Parsons, Abraham (1808). "Travels in Africa and Asia".The Critical Review, or, Annals of Literature.3 (14): 135.
^Justice, Alexander (1707).A General Treatise of the Monies and Exchanges of all trading Nations. S. and J. Sprint, and J. Nicholson. p. 232.
^Büyükşehir İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
^Fisk, Robert."A LAND IN THE SHADOW OF DEATH".The Independent. London.Archived from the original on 7 May 2022. Retrieved15 September 2013.After engineering a fraudulent referendum in north-west Syria – the Turks trucked their supporters into the city
