Cappadociya Blog

https://www.britannica.com/place/Cappadocia

Cappadocia | History, Location, & Facts Cappadocia, ancient district in east-central Anatolia, situated on the rugged plateau north of the Ta**us Mountains, in the center of present-day Turkey. Cappadocia’s landscape includes dramatic expanses of soft volcanic rock, shaped by erosion into towers, cones, valleys, and caves.

Neolithic pottery and tools found in Cappadocia attest to an early human presence in the region. Excavations at the modern town of Kültepe have uncovered the remains of the Hittite-Assyrian city of Kanesh, dating from the 3rd millennium BCE. The tens of thousands of clay tablets recovered from the remains of an Assyrian merchant colony at Kanesh are among the oldest written documents discovered in Turkey.

Stone formations and cave city in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Stone formations and cave city in Cappadocia, Turkey.
© Galyna Andrushko/Fotolia
The earliest appearance of the name of Cappadocia dates from the 6th century BCE, when Cappadocia’s feudal nobility was dominated by a Persian satrapy and Zoroastrian temple cults were widespread. Because of its rugged terrain and modest agricultural output, the area remained underdeveloped in antiquity, with only a few significant cities.

Cappadocia, ancient district in east-central Anatolia, situated on the rugged plateau north of the Ta**us Mountains, in the centre of present-day Turkey. The boundaries of the region have varied throughout history. Cappadocia’s landscape includes dramatic expanses of soft volcanic rock, shaped by erosion into towers, cones, valleys, and caves. Rock-cut churches and underground tunnel complexes from the Byzantine and Islamic eras are scattered throughout the countryside.

The village of Göreme serves as the region’s main tourist centre and is also one of the few Cappadocian settlements still inhabited today. Christians gave the town of Göreme its name meaning ‘you cannot see here’, as they hid in the area during the Arab invasion.

8. The Göreme Open-Air Museum encompasses the best known religious complexes in the area. Alongside the other rock sites of Cappadocia, it was enlisted as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1985.

9. Music concerts are often held in the surrounding cave buildings of Cappadocia, including the week-long Cappadocia Music Festival which showcases choirs and orchestras.

10. The region of Cappadocia is a large grape producer and it’s believed that wine-making has a long history here. There’s a number of wine-tasting shops where visitors can sample the goods and in recent years wines from the region have won international awards.

Discover Cappadocia for yourself on one of our Turkey tours or let us know if you have any more interesting facts in the comments section below.