Akyaka, Muğla

Infobox Settlement
settlement_type =
subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = TUR
timezone=EET
utc_offset=+2
map_caption =Location of PAGENAME within Turkey.
timezone_DST=EEST
utc_offset_DST=+3
official_name = Akyaka

---

image_caption = Arch. Nail Çakırhan own house in Akyaka, recipient of 1983 Aga Khan Award for Architecture
image_blank_emblem =
blank_emblem_type =


subdivision_type1=Region
subdivision_name1 = Aegean
subdivision_type2=Province
subdivision_name2 = Muğla
population_total =
population_urban =
population_as_of =
population_footnotes =
population_density_km2 =
area_total_km2 =
elevation_m =
latd = 37
latm = 03
latNS = N
longd = 28
longm = 19
longEW = E
postal_code_type=Postal code
postal_code = 48x xx
blank_info = 48|blank_name=Licence plate
area_code = (0090)+ 252
leader_name =
website = [http://www.akyaka.bel.tr www.akyaka.bel.tr]
leader_name1 =
gwebsite = [http://www.ula.gov.tr www.ula.gov.tr]

Akyaka is a township with own municipality in Ula district of Muğla Province in southwestern Turkey. The town is situated at the far end of the Gulf of Gökova, at the start of the fertile Gökova plain, and is a rising center for international tourism due to its advantageous location and natural beauties.

History

Much of Gökova plain had been unproductive for centuries, until the later half of the 20th century, and was covered with marshlands ridden with malaria. The inhabitants abandoned their settlements and fields entirely during the months of active malaria and moved to highland plateaus ("yayla"). The few arable land available was usually owned by large landowners from the district center of Ula. An organized program to combat malaria, one of the priorities of the young Turkish Republic of the 1920s, was enacted under a specific law in 1926, in the frame of which ownership titles were awarded to individuals or groups of people on the basis of the swampland they drained, and were quite successful in the transformation of Akyaka region, especially through the local projects lasting from 1925 to 1940. In the following decades, conversion of fields for cash crops, particularly tobacco, dominated the local economy and this until the 1970s when the first steps in the tourism industry were taken.

Idyma

Safe altitude considerations governed the choice for settlements of the ancients as well. Akyaka was the location of the historic city of Idyma, some of whose remains reaching back at least to the 4th century BC, when it was founded as a Carian city, are still visible. Idyma urban zone may have extended as large as the area between the immediate east of Akyaka until the village of Kozlukuyu, 3 km away. The acropolis, city walls 200 meters in length and several rock tombs are located along the steep climb (sea level to 600 meters) of the present-day Sakar pass. The Acropolis was explored by the French archaeologist Louis Robert in 1937.

In 546 BC, the Persian armies under the command of Harpagos conquered the area, but the Carian customs and the religion remained unchanged. Delian League took over between 484 and 405 BC and Idyma is mentioned in the tax lists for the years 453-452 BC, the earliest written document on the city. The same reports mention a local sovereign by the name of Paktyes, whose descendants may have founded a dynasty which governed Idyma and to whose members the rock tombs could be attributable. The city also produced coins, one side of which was marked with the name Idimion, and the other side with the head of a Pan, hinting at a shepherd's cult.

From 167 BC to at least the 2nd century AD, Idyma, together with the entire region south of Muğla ("Mobolla") was part of the Rhodes's mainland possessions ("Peraea"). A Byzantine castle worth restoring also stands on the slopes of Sakar and an underground tunnel leads to the bank of the stream of Azmakdere or Kadın Azmak, possibly named Idymus in ancient times.

ee also

* Gulf of Gökova
* Turkish Riviera
* Blue Cruise
* Foreign purchases of real estate in Turkey

Resources

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External links

* [http://www.akyakam.com Akyakam.com]
* [http://www.akyaka.com.tr AkyakaGuide.com]
* [http://www.mepartous.com Akyaka]
* [http://www.akyakatukey.com Akyaka Turkey]
* [http://www.gokova.com Akyaka Gökova Turkey]
* [http://www.akyaka.org.uk Akyaka.org.uk]
* [http://www.gokovabelediye.com Gŏkova Town Council Website in Turkish & English]