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History of Turkey
From antiquity to the modern era — the historical eras, key events, and narrative that shaped Turkey.
Overview
TURKEY IS A NEW COUNTRY in an old land. The modern Turkish state--beginning with the creation of the Republic of Turkey in the years immediately after World War I--drew on a national consciousness that had developed only in the late nineteenth century. But the history of nomadic Turkish tribes can be traced with certainty to the sixth century A.D., when they wandered the steppes of central Asia.
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Historical Eras
The major periods of {country}’s history at a glance.
Ancient Anatolia
7500 BCE – 330
From Neolithic settlements at Çatalhöyük to the rise and fall of the Hittite Empire, Anatolia hosted some of the ancient world's most sophisticated civilizations. Persian conquest under Cyrus in 547 BCE and Alexander the Great's campaigns in 334 BCE brought successive Hellenistic influences. Rome and then Byzantium eventually absorbed the peninsula, culminating in Constantine's dedication of Constantinople as the New Rome in 330 CE.
Byzantine Era
330 – 1071
Constantinople served as the thriving capital of the Eastern Roman Empire for over seven centuries, preserving Greco-Roman culture and Orthodox Christianity. Byzantine Anatolia weathered Arab invasions, internal theological disputes, and persistent pressure from rival powers. The empire reached its apex under Justinian I but faced steady territorial erosion leading into the medieval period.
Seljuk & Early Ottoman
1071 – 1453
The Seljuk Turks' decisive victory at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071 opened Anatolia to Turkic settlement and Islamization. The Crusades disrupted but did not reverse this transformation, and Mongol invasions fractured the Seljuk Sultanate of Rum. From its small amirate near Bursa, founded around 1288, the Ottoman dynasty gradually absorbed rival principalities and advanced into the Balkans, setting the stage for the conquest of Constantinople.
Ottoman Empire
1453 – 1923
Mehmed II's conquest of Constantinople in 1453 established the Ottomans as the preeminent Islamic world power. The empire reached its greatest territorial and cultural zenith under Sultan Süleyman the Magnificent (1520–1566), stretching from Hungary to the Arabian Peninsula. Centuries of subsequent decline were marked by losing wars against Russia, the traumatic Balkan Wars, and Ottoman defeat in World War I, which dissolved the empire and triggered the Turkish War of Independence.
Turkish Republic
1923 – present
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk proclaimed the Republic of Turkey in 1923, replacing Ottoman imperial structures with a secular, nationalist state modeled on Western Europe. Sweeping Kemalist reforms abolished the caliphate, introduced the Latin alphabet, and modernized law, education, and governance. Turkey joined NATO in 1952 and navigated Cold War tensions, military coups, the Cyprus intervention of 1974, the PKK insurgency beginning in 1984, and ongoing negotiations for European Union membership into the twenty-first century.
Timeline Preview
The first 7 key events. View the full chronology on the timeline page.
7500 BCE
Earliest known human inhabitants of Turkey
The earliest known human inhabitants of Turkey are believed to belong to the Neolithic period and the remains of their settlements still exist in a place called Catal Hoyuk which is near the modern day Turkish city of Konya. Archaeological artifacts from these people include statues, pottery and wall paintings.
1900 BCE – 1300 BCE
Hittite Empire
The Hittite Empire flourishes, battles Egypt. Patriarch Abraham, who has been dwelling in Harran, near Sanliurfa, leaves for Canaan (Israel).
563 BCE
The Buddha born in Lumbini, in Tarai Region of Nepal
The Buddha born in Lumbini, in Tarai Region of Nepal.
547 BCE
Cyrus of Persia invades and conquers most of Anatolia
Cyrus of Persia invades and conquers most of Anatolia.
334 BCE
Alexander the Great
Alexander the Great of Macedon marches through Anatolia on his way to India.
47
St. Paul travels to the Christian and Jewish communities in Anatolia.
St. Paul travels to the Christian and Jewish communities in Anatolia.
330
Dedication of Constantinople as the New Rome
Emperor Constantine the Great dedicates Constantinople as the “New Rome,” which becomes the empire’s center of government.