Bursa 

(Turkish pronunciation: [buɾsa]; Ancient Greek: Προῦσα, Latin: Prusa, Ottoman Turkish: ‫ )بورسه‬is

a city in northwestern Turkey and the administrative center of Bursa Province. The fourth-most
populous city in Turkey and second-most populous in the Marmara Region, Bursa is one of the
industrial centers of the country. Most of Turkey's automotive production takes place in Bursa.
As of 2019, the Metropolitan Province was home to 3,056,120 inhabitants, 2,161,990 of whom lived
in the 3 city urban districts (Osmangazi, Yildirim and Nilufer) plus Gursu and Kestel, largely
conurbated.[2]
Bursa was the first major and second overall capital of the Ottoman State between 1335 and 1363.
The city was referred to as Hüdavendigar (‫خداوندگار‬, meaning "God's gift" in Ottoman Turkish, a name
of Persian origin) during the Ottoman period, while a more recent nickname is Yeşil Bursa ("Green
Bursa") in reference to the parks and gardens located across its urban fabric, as well as to the vast
and richly varied forests of the surrounding region. Mount Uludağ, the ancient Mysian Olympus,
towers over it, and has a well-known ski resort. Bursa has rather orderly urban growth and borders a
fertile plain. The mausoleums of the early Ottoman sultans are located in Bursa, and the city's main
landmarks include numerous edifices built throughout the Ottoman period. Bursa also has thermal
baths, old Ottoman mansions, palaces, and several museums.
The shadow play characters Karagöz and Hacivat are based on historic personalities who lived and
died in Bursa in the 14th century.[3]

Contents

 1History
 2Geography
 3Climate
 4Economy
 5Transportation
 6Education
 7Sports
 8Politics
 9Main sights
o 9.1Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque)
o 9.2Places of interest
 9.2.1Mosques and külliye complexes
 9.2.2Bazaars and caravanserais
 9.2.3Other historic monuments
 9.2.4Museums
 9.2.5Parks and gardens
 9.2.6Hot springs and thermal baths
 9.2.7Beaches
 10Gallery
 11Twin towns – sister cities
 12See also
 13References
 14Further reading
 15External links
History[edit]
See also: Timeline of Bursa history and Prousa

Historical population

Year Pop. ±%

1487 45,000 —    

1927 61,451 +36.6%

1955 128,875 +109.7%

1980 487,604 +278.4%

2000 1,184,144 +142.8%

2015 1,854,285 +56.6%

The earliest known human settlement near Bursa's current location was at Ilıpınar Höyüğü around
5200 BC.[4] It was followed by the ancient Greek city of Cius, which Philip V of Macedon granted
to Prusias I, the King of Bithynia, in 202 BC. King Prusias rebuilt the city with the advice of general
Hannibal of Carthage, who took refuge with Prusias after losing the war with the Roman Republic
and renamed it Prusa (Ancient Greek: Προῦσα; sometimes rendered as Prussa). After 128 years of
Bithynian rule, Nicomedes IV, the last King of Bithynia, bequeathed the entire kingdom to the Roman
Empire in 74 BC. An early Roman Treasure was found in the vicinity of Bursa in the early 20th
century. Composed of a woman's silver toilet articles, it is now in the British Museum.[5]
Bursa (from the Greek "Prusa") became the first major capital city of the early Ottoman
Empire following its capture from the Byzantines in 1326. As a result, the city witnessed a
considerable amount of urban growth throughout the 14th century. After
conquering Edirne (Adrianople) in East Thrace, the Ottomans turned it into the new capital city in
1363, but Bursa retained its spiritual and commercial importance in the Ottoman Empire.[6] The
Ottoman sultan Bayezid I built the Bayezid Külliyesi (Bayezid I theological complex) in Bursa
between 1390 and 1395[7] and the Ulu Cami (Grand Mosque) between 1396 and 1400.[8] After
Bayezid was defeated in the Battle of Ankara by the forces Timur in 1402, the latter's
grandson, Muhammad Sultan Mirza, had the city pillaged and burned.[9] Despite this, Bursa remained
to be the most important administrative and commercial centre in the empire until Mehmed
II conquered Constantinople in 1453. The population of Bursa was 45,000 in 1487.[10]
During the Ottoman period, Bursa continued to be the source of most royal silk products. Aside from
the local silk production, the city imported raw silk from Iran, and occasionally from China, and was
the main production centre for the kaftans, pillows, embroidery and other silk products for the
Ottoman palaces until the 17th century.[11] As it was a significant cultural and trade hub, traders, most
of whom were Armenians, became very wealthy.[12] However, this legacy of cultural pluralism in
Bursa almost entirely ended due to the events that took place from 1895 to 1925, namely
the Hamidian massacres, the Armenian genocide, and the population exchange.[13] The most
influential study of Bursa's silk trade and economic history is the work of Ottomanist Halil İnalcık.[14]
Following the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Bursa became one of the industrial
centres of the country. The economic development of the city was followed by population growth and
Bursa became the 4th most populous city in Turkey.
Ottoman Architecture in Bursa

The city has traditionally been a pole of attraction, and was a major centre for refugees from various
ethnic backgrounds who immigrated to Anatolia from the Balkans during the loss of the Ottoman
territories in Europe between the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The most recent arrival
of Balkan Turks took place between the 1940s and 1990s, when the People's Republic of
Bulgaria expelled approximately 150,000 Bulgarian Turks to Turkey.[15] About one-third of these
150,000 Bulgarian Turkish refugees eventually settled in Bursa (especially in the Hürriyet
neighborhood). With the construction of new industrial zones in the period between 1980 and 2000,
many people from the eastern provinces of Turkey came and settled in Bursa.

Geography