Turkey history timeline
This chart puts 17 states and peoples of Anatolia on one timeline in order, from Troy (c. 3000 to 1180 BCE) to Republic of Turkey (1923 CE to the present).
See it on the interactive chart
- Troyc. 3000 to 1180 BCE
- Hattiansc. 2500 to 1700 BCE
- Hittite Old Kingdomc. 1650 to 1400 BCE
- Hittite Empire (New Kingdom)c. 1400 to 1190 BCE
- Greek cities of Asia Minorc. 1050 to 133 BCE
- Phrygiac. 900 to 695 BCE
- Lydiac. 680 to 546 BCE
- Achaemenid Anatolia546 to 334 BCE
- Kingdom of Pergamon282 to 133 BCE
- Kingdom of Pontus281 to 63 BCE
- Roman Anatolia133 BCE to 395 CE
- Byzantine Empire395 to 1453 CE
- Sultanate of Rum1077 to 1308 CE
- Empire of Trebizond1204 to 1461 CE
- Karamanidsc. 1250 to 1487 CE
- Ottoman Empire1299 to 1922 CE
- Republic of Turkey1923 CE to the present
- Anatolian
- Greek
- Other Indo-European
- Iranian
- Latin and Romance
- Turkic
- People or culture without a state
In order
Troy
Fortified citadel guarding the Dardanelles, rebuilt in nine layers. Troy VI and VIIa were probably the Wilusa of Hittite texts. Troy VIIa burned around 1180 BCE, and some scholars link its fall to the Trojan War of Greek epic.
Hattians
Bronze Age people of central Anatolia who spoke Hattic, a non-Indo-European language of uncertain affiliation. Their main centre Hattush became the Hittite capital, and the Hittites kept the name 'land of Hatti' for their state.
Hittite Old Kingdom
Hattusili I made Hattusa his capital and his grandson Mursili I raided as far as Babylon in 1595 BCE. Palace murders and succession wars then weakened the kingdom for over a century.
Hittite Empire (New Kingdom)
Suppiluliuma I broke Mitanni and took northern Syria, making the Hittites Egypt's great rival. After Kadesh they signed one of the oldest surviving treaties, then Hattusa was gradually abandoned around 1190 BCE.
Greek cities of Asia Minor
Greek city-states on the Aegean coast of Anatolia, settled probably in the 11th century BCE. Miletus was home to the Ionian school of philosophy, and the Ionian Revolt of 499 BCE against Persia opened the Greco-Persian Wars.
Phrygia
Kingdom of central Anatolia whose people, Greek writers said, came from the Balkans. Its best-known king was Midas, and the great Tumulus MM at Gordion is generally thought to be his father's tomb. Greek tradition says Cimmerians overran it around 695 BCE.
Lydia
Under the Mermnad kings Lydia struck the first known coins, from electrum. Its last king, the famously wealthy Croesus, lost Sardis to Cyrus the Great in 546 BCE.
Achaemenid Anatolia
Persian satraps at Sardis and Dascylium governed western Anatolia for the Achaemenid kings. Alexander's defeat of the satraps' army at the Granicus in 334 BCE opened Anatolia to Macedonian conquest.
Kingdom of Pergamon
Attalid kingdom that broke away from the Seleucids and built a great library and the Pergamon Altar. Attalus III left his kingdom to Rome in his will in 133 BCE.
Kingdom of Pontus
Black Sea kingdom ruled by a dynasty of Persian descent. Mithridates VI fought three wars with Rome and ordered the massacre of Romans across Asia in 88 BCE before Pompey crushed him.
Roman Anatolia
Rome formed the province of Asia from the Attalid kingdom of Pergamon in 133 BCE. Asia was one of the empire's richest provinces, and Constantinople, across the Bosporus, became the eastern capital in 330.
Byzantine Empire
The eastern Roman Empire settled its field armies in Anatolian themes and kept Anatolia from permanent Arab occupation, then lost much of it to the Turks after Manzikert in 1071. The Ottomans took Constantinople in 1453.
Sultanate of Rum
Seljuk branch state with a Turco-Persian court, seen as the beginning of Turkish history in Anatolia. It built caravanserais and madrasas, and the poet Rumi took his name from it. The Mongols won at Köse Dağ in 1243 and made it a vassal.
Empire of Trebizond
Black Sea Greek state founded by the Komnenos brothers with Georgian help, which grew rich on trade linked to Mongol Tabriz. Mehmed II conquered it in 1461 after a month-long siege.
Karamanids
Turkish beylik of central Anatolia, among the most powerful states there from the mid-14th century and a long-time rival of the Ottomans. Mehmed Bey declared Turkish the official language in 1277. The Ottomans ended it in 1487.
Ottoman Empire
From a small beylik in Bithynia the House of Osman built an empire on three continents, taking Constantinople in 1453 and Mamluk Egypt under Selim I. It collapsed after defeat in the First World War, and the sultanate was abolished in 1922.
Republic of Turkey
Founded by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk after the War of Independence, with secular reforms including a Latin alphabet in 1928. A NATO member since 1952, governed since 2002 by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan's Justice and Development Party.
Major events
- Hittites sack Babylon. Mursili I leads a 2,000 km march into Mesopotamia and sacks Babylon, ending Hammurabi's dynasty and opening the way for the Kassites.
- Battle of Kadesh. Ramesses II and the Hittite king Muwatalli II fight one of the largest chariot battles in history in Syria. Both claim victory, and a peace treaty follows in 1259 BCE.
- Late Bronze Age collapse. Over a few decades around 1200 BCE, Hattusa is burned or abandoned, Ugarit is sacked and Sea Peoples raid the coasts. The Hittite Empire and the palace states of the Aegean collapse.
- Council of Nicaea. Emperor Constantine I convenes at least 200 bishops at Nicaea (now Iznik, Turkey) to settle the relationship of God the Son to God the Father. The council produces the first part of the Nicene Creed and rules on the date of Easter.
- Battle of Manzikert. Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan defeats and captures Emperor Romanos IV. Turks move west into Anatolia, which slowly becomes Turkish.
- Battle of Chaldiran. Selim I's Ottoman army, with heavy artillery the Safavids lack, defeats Ismail I. The Ottomans annex Eastern Anatolia and briefly occupy the Safavid capital Tabriz.
- Armenian genocide. The Ottoman government deports and massacres its Armenian population. Between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians die.
- Treaty of Lausanne. The Allies make peace with Turkey and recognise it as the Ottoman successor state. A convention signed at Lausanne exchanges about 1.2 million Greek Orthodox Christians and up to 400,000 Muslims.
Questions
What is the order of states and peoples of Anatolia?
By start date: Troy, Hattians, Hittite Old Kingdom, Hittite Empire (New Kingdom), Greek cities of Asia Minor, Phrygia, Lydia, Achaemenid Anatolia, Kingdom of Pergamon, Kingdom of Pontus, Roman Anatolia, Byzantine Empire, Sultanate of Rum, Empire of Trebizond, Karamanids, Ottoman Empire and Republic of Turkey.
How many states and peoples of Anatolia were there?
This timeline shows 17. Other lists count differently, depending on how they treat rival states and periods of division.
Which came first?
Troy, c. 3000 to 1180 BCE, is the earliest on this timeline.
Where do these dates come from?
Each row's dates were checked against the sources listed on that row's own page, mostly English Wikipedia articles, which cite the underlying scholarship. Dates that are uncertain are marked c.