Browse / Türkiye / Balıkesir / Ayvalık
Ayvalık
Balıkesirtown
Ayvalık
Total population
68,831
Demographic figures from TurkStat. Overview below cites Wikipedia and may reference a different year.
City facts
Facts from Wikidata (CC0).
Overview
Ayvalık is a municipality and district of Balıkesir Province, Turkey. Its area is 305 km2, and its population is 75,126 (2024). It is a seaside town on the northwestern Aegean coast of Turkey. The town centre is connected to Cunda Island by a causeway and is surrounded by the archipelago of Ayvalık Islands, which face the nearby Greek island of Lesbos.
Read more on WikipediaHistory & geography
History
Archeological studies in the region have shown that Ayvalık and its environs were inhabited in the prehistoric era. Joseph Thacher Clarke believed that he had identified Ayvalık as the site of Kisthene, which was mentioned by Strabo as a ruinous place beside a harbour beyond Cape Pyrrha. However, Engin Beksaç of Trakya University preferred to site Kisthene at Kız Çiftlik, near the centre of Gömeç. In his survey of the prehistoric and protohistoric settlements on the southern side of the Gulf of Adramytteion (Edremit) carried out in the 1990s and early 2000s, Beksaç studied the Ayvalık region. The survey identified several different settlements near the centre of Ayvalık which appear to relate to the Early Classical period. However, some settlements near the centre of Altınova were related to the prehistoric period, especially the Bronze and Iron Ages. Kortukaya was identified in the survey as one of the most important settlements in the area and one that aids in the understanding of the interaction between the peoples of the interior and of the coast. The same is true of Yeni Yeldeğirmeni, another settlement near the centre of Altınova. Beksaç identified traces of a hill fort on Çıplak Island (Chalkys). Some Late Bronze Age and Early Iron Age pottery fragments related to the Aeolians were also found here. Two tiny settlements, near the centre of Ayvalık, formed part of the peraia of Mytilene. Pordoselene, on the eastern side of Cunda Island, near the sea, was another important settlement in Antiquity. All the archaeological data was related to the Classical and Medieval Ages. During the Byzantine period, the constant threat posed by Arab and Turkish piracy prevented the islet settlements from growing larger. Only Cunda Island could maintain a higher level of…
Geography
Ayvalık is the southernmost district of Balıkesir province and lies between Edremit Gulf and Dikili Gulf of the Aegean Sea. Its centre is situated on a narrow coastal plain surrounded by low hills to the east which are covered with pine and olive trees. Ayvalık is surrounded by the archipelago of the Ayvalık Islands (the largest of which is Cunda Island) in the west, and by a narrow peninsula in the south named the Hakkıbey Peninsula. South of Ayvalık are Altınova and Küçükköy/Sarımsaklı which have long pristine beaches. To the north are Gömeç, Burhaniye and Edremit. Dikili district of İzmir Province is to the south of Ayvalık. To the east of Ayvalık lies Bergama, with the remains of ancient Pergamon. The Greek island of Lesbos is west of Ayvalık and connected to it by ferry. The town has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa) with mild, rainy winters and hot, dry summers.
Excerpted from the corresponding Wikipedia article (CC BY-SA).
Geography
Coordinates & boundaries from the US Census TIGER/Line shapefiles.
Climate
Air quality
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Amenities nearby
Wildlife & biodiversity
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Photos
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Geography & sun
Elevation, sunrise/sunset and daylight from Open-Meteo. Solar climatology from NASA POWER.
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Public attention
Pageview totals from the Wikimedia Pageviews API.
Books about Ayvalık
Search results from Open Library.
Recent natural events nearby
Ground air-quality sensors
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Gallery
Sources
- • Wikipedia
- • Wikidata
- • Open-Meteo / sunrise-sunset.org
- • Wikipedia Pageviews API
- • Open Library
- • Wikidata SPARQL (CC0) — population, area, elevation, inception, head of government, Commons image