Kızılırmak River

{{#invoke:other uses|otheruses}} Template:Short description Template:Infobox river The Kızılırmak (Template:IPA, Turkish for "Red River"), once known as the Halys River (Template:Langx) and Alis River, is the longest river flowing entirely within Turkey. It is a source of hydroelectric power and is not used for navigation.

Geography

The Kızılırmak flows for a total of Template:Convert,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> rising in Eastern Anatolia around Template:Coord, flowing first to the west and southwest until Template:Coord, then forming a wide arch, the "Halys bend", flowing first to the west, then to the northwest, passing to the northeast of Lake Tuz (Tuz Gölü in Turkish), then to the north and northeast, where it is joined by its major tributary, the Delice River (once known in Greek as the Cappadox river) at Template:Coord. After zigzagging to the northwest to the confluence with the Devrez River at Template:Coord, and back to the northeast, it joins the Gökırmak (Sky River in Turkish) before finally flowing via a wide delta into the Black Sea northwest of Samsun at Template:Coord.

History

The Hittites called the river the Maraššantiya,<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> and it formed the western boundary of Hatti, the core land of the Hittite empire.Template:Cn Thales of Miletus is said to have used early engineering techniques to allow the Lydian army to cross the river.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Until the Roman conquest of Anatolia the Halys River (later renamed the Kızılırmak by the Turks) served as a natural political boundary in central Asia Minor, first between the kingdom of Lydia and the Persian Empire, and later between the Pontic Kingdom and the Kingdom of Cappadocia. As the site of the Battle of Halys, or the Battle of the Eclipse, on May 28, 585 BC,<ref>Historically it was known as the Battle of Halys; it has since been renamed by some as the Battle of the Eclipse, as the first premodern battle which can be dated with certainty due to the eclipse which brought about its sudden end.</ref> the river formed the border between Lydia to the west and Media to the east until Croesus of Lydia crossed it to attack Cyrus the Great in 547 BC. He was defeated and Persia expanded to the Aegean Sea.

In the 1st century AD Vespasian combined several provinces, including Cappadocia, to create one large province with its eastern boundary marked by the Euphrates River. This province once again splintered during TrajanTemplate:'s reign - the newly created province of Cappadocia, bounded by the Euphrates to the East, included Pontus and Lesser Armenia. The Halys River became an interior river and never regained its significance as a political border. In the 130s a governor of Cappadocia wrote: "long ago the Halys River was the boundary between the kingdom of Croesus and the Persian Empire; now it flows under Roman dominion."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Dams and agriculture

The river's water is used to grow rice and in a few areas water buffalo are kept. There are dams on the river at Boyabat, Altınkaya and Derbent. Dams have reduced the flow of sediment to the delta, allowing coastal erosion.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>

External links

• Livius.org: Halys - Photos
• sdu.dk/halys