Mardin

Mardin

Mardin, city, capital of Mardin il (province), southeastern Turkey. It lies on the southern slopes of a broad highland that rises to an elevation of 3,450 feet (1,052 metres) and overlooks extensive limestone plateaus. The locality receives more rainfall than the lower plains and has hot summers and cold winters.

A ruined Roman citadel, rebuilt in medieval times, crowns the summit of the highland as evidence of Mardin’s earlier existence as the Marida (Marde, Maride, Merida) of antiquity. Marida was taken by the Seljuq Turks in the late 11th century and was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire by Sultan Selim I in 1516. The Ulu Cami (Great Mosque), dating from the Seljuq period, and the Sultan İsa Medresesi, a religious school built in the 14th century, are still standing.

Mardin is an important regional trading centre on the east-west trade routes of southern Anatolia. It is connected by a branchline with the rail line between Istanbul and Baghdad and is linked by road with Gaziantep (west), Aleppo (southwest, in Syria), Nusaybin (southeast), and Diyarbakır (northeast).

Mardin province, bordered to the south by Syria, is an agricultural area chiefly producing wheat, barley, and sesame. Angora goats are raised for mohair, and there is a small cotton- and woollen-weaving industry. In addition to Turks, the province has large populations of Arabs and Kurds. Area province, 4,973 square miles (12,879 square km). Pop. (2000) city, 65,072; province, 705,098; (2013 est.) city, 86,948; province, 773,026.