Mardin

▪ Turkey

      city, capital of Mardin il (province), southeastern Turkey. It lies on the southern slopes of a broad highland that rises to an elevation of 3,450 feet (1,052 metres) and overlooks extensive limestone plateaus. The locality receives more rainfall than the lower plains and has hot summers and cold winters. A ruined Roman citadel, rebuilt in medieval times, crowns the summit of the highland as evidence of Mardin's earlier existence as the Marida (Marde, Maride, Merida) of antiquity. Marida was taken by the Seljuq Turks in the late 11th century and was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Selim I in 1516. The Ulu Cami (Great Mosque), dating from the Seljuq period, and the Sultan İsa Medresesi, a religious school built in the 14th century, are still standing.

      Mardin is an important regional trading centre on the east-west trade routes of southern Anatolia. It is connected by a branch line with the Istanbul-Baghdad railway and is linked by roads with Gaziantep (west), Aleppo (in Syria), Nusaybin (southeast), and Diyarbakır (northeast).

      Mardin province, bordered on the south by Syria, is an agricultural area chiefly producing wheat, barley, and sesame. Angora goats are raised for mohair, and there is a small cotton- and woollen-weaving industry. The province has a large population of Arabs and Kurds, in addition to the Turks. Area 4,973 square miles (12,879 square km). Pop. (2000) city, 65,072; (2004 est.) province, 760,000.

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