Van, Turkey

Van is a major city located in eastern Turkey.

It serves as the capital and largest city of the Van Province. The city sits on the eastern shore of Lake Van. This location has made it a vital urban center for thousands of years. Archaeological evidence suggests human settlement in this region dates back to at least 5000 BCE.

One key site is the Tilkitepe Mound, located near the shores of the lake. This mound provides essential information about the oldest cultures in the area.

In the 9th century BCE, the city was known as Tushpa.

At this time, it was the capital of the Urartian kingdom. The early settlement was built on a steep-sided bluff. This site is now known as Van Castle, or Van Kalesi. The Urartians left behind cuneiform inscriptions from the 8th and 7th centuries BCE. The modern name "Van" actually comes from the Urartian endonym, Biaina.

Following the Urartian era, many different powers competed for control of the region. The Orontids ruled in the 7th century BCE, followed by the Persians in the mid-6th century BCE. A famous trilingual inscription remains on the cliffs near the fortress.

This inscription was created by Xerxes the Great in the 5th century BCE. It features three languages: Old Persian, Babylonian, and Elamite. Later, Alexander the Great conquered the area in 331 BCE. The region eventually became part of the Armenian kingdom, serving as a major center under King Tigranes II.

Throughout the middle centuries, the land saw constant shifts in power. The Parthian Arsacid dynasty ruled until the 3rd century CE. Later, the Sasanian Empire and the Byzantine Empire fought long wars in this territory. The Byzantine Empire held the region briefly from 628 to 640 CE. Following this, Muslim Arabs invaded and established the province of Arminiya. Local Armenian rulers eventually re-emerged, specifically the Artsruni dynasty. They founded the Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan in 908 CE.

The arrival of the Seljuk Turks changed the region's history. After the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, the area fell under Turkic control.

Various groups held the city later, including the Mongols and the Timurids. Between the 15th and 17th centuries, the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Safavid Empire fought for the city.

The Ottomans gained a definite hold in 1548. The Treaty of Zuhab in 1639 finally made Ottoman control permanent.

By the early 20th century, Van was a diverse and politically important city. It sat near the borders of the Persian, Russian, and Ottoman Empires. The population demographics of this era are a subject of great debate. Before World War I, some estimates placed the city population at 50,000 people.

These estimates included roughly 30,000 Armenians and 20,000 Muslims. Other records from the 1914 Ottoman census provided different figures for the entire province. This period was marked by significant tension between different ethnic and religious groups.

The early 1900s brought great hardship to the people of Van. During the 1910s, the Armenian population faced the Armenian genocide.

In 1915, the Armenian residents of the city launched a rebellion to defend themselves. This occurred as they sought to avoid the attacks happening in rural areas. Russian troops eventually arrived to relieve the defenders in May 1915. These violent events caused massive changes in the local population. Today, the city is mostly inhabited by Kurds.