Iskenderun of Hatay, is a modern city at the coast of the bay which is remembered with its name. It is a green, and warm for four seasons tourism center and busy commercial harbor besides, which is based on the Mountain Nur, that is ascended just like awall right behind the coast.

History

Antiquity

Iskenderun preserves the name, but probably not the exact site, of Alexandria ad Issum, founded to supersede Myriandrus as the key of the Syrian Gates by Alexander the Great in 333 BC, about 23 miles south of the scene of his victory at the Battle of Issus. The importance of the place ever since has derived from its relation to this pass, the easiest approach to the open ground of Hatay and of Northern Syria, and the Romans continued to fight with Persia for control of this area during their era of dominance.

Alexander camped at the high-lands of Iskenderun, around Esentepe, and then ordered the city to be established and named "Alexandrette". Iskenderun is one of many cities founded by Alexander's orders, including Alexandria.

The Ottomans

The area was still a scene of fighting under the Ottomans, as it was here in 1606 that the army of general Kuyucu Murat Pasha suppressed the rural uprising of Celali Canbulatoğlu. The Ottomans continued to fortify the city and the remains of early 17th century Ottoman castle walls can still be seen, (where the Güzün stream crosses the Varyant road). The next army to cross the Pass of Belen and attack Anatolia though here were the Egyptians of Muhammad Ali in 1832.

However in the later Ottoman period the city grew and grew as the main outlet for the overland trade from Baghdad and India, which had great importance until the establishment of the Egyptian overland route. Iskenderun served as a base first of Genoese and Venetian merchants, then West and North European merchants. The British Levant Company maintained an agency and factory here for 200 years, until 1825, in spite of appalling mortality among its employees. During the 19th century the port grew, the railway was built in 1912, and the road to Aleppo was improved.

Geography

Iskenderun is located on the Mediterranean coast on the eponymous Gulf of İskenderun at the foot of the Nur Mountains (Amanos Mountains).

Iskenderun is a busy commercial centre, with 200,000 people the largest city in Hatay, surpassing the Hatay provincial seat of Antakya. The city is one of Turkey's largest ports on the Mediterranean and an important industrial centre home to the Russian-built İsdemir compound, one of Turkey's largest steelworks. Iskenderun has a cosmopolitan populace speaking both Turkish and Arabic, and an active, modern life with good hotels, restaurants and cafes along the palm-lined sea front, and there is a variety of accommodation for visitors. Iskenderun is also an important naval training base. There is a small Suryani Christian community in the city.

The climate on this stretch of the Mediterranean is very, very hot and humid in summer, when people escape to the countryside or to the beach. At certain times of the year the town is swept by the strong wind called 'yarık kaya'. The countryside contains large areas of fruit groves, important producers of oranges, tangerines and lemons, and even tropical dishes such as mangoes.