Nigde, Turkey

Nigde is a small city and the capital of Nigde Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey. Population is 78,088 in the city and another 99,308 in surrounding villages. Elevation is 1,300 m.The city is located between the volcanic Melandiz Mountains, including the Mount Hasan stratovolcano near the city of Aksaray to the north, and the Niðde Massif to the south-southeast. The massif is a metamorphic dome that contains abandoned antimony and iron mines. Several marble quarries are currently active in the pure white crystalline marble of the massif. See Niðde Province for a summary of the history of the region, which goes back a long way. This is rich famland near a number of ancient trade routes, particularly the road from Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) to the Cilician Gates. Settlers throughout history include Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and finally Turks from 1166 onwards. By the early 13th century Niðde was one of the largest cities in Anatolia. After the fall of the Sultanate of Rûm (of which it had been one of the principal cities), Niðde became independent, and, according to Ibn Battuta, ruinous, and did not pass into Ottoman hands till the time of Mehmet II.More recent immigrants include Turkish people from Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, who were settled here by the Turkish authorities in the 1950s and 60s.