Gediz

History

Until 1970, Gediz was located at present-day Eskigediz, 7 km to the north on the upper reaches of the Gediz Çayı stream. After the old town was destroyed in the 1970 Gediz earthquake, the town was rebuilt at its present location on the plain. The site of the present town was previously known as Karılar Pazarı. Gediz's origins are in the ancient and medieval settlement of Kadoi (), which was located at present-day Eskigediz. Kadoi's earliest known mention was by Polybios in the 2nd century BCE. In Roman times, the town was located in Phrygia Epiktetos, near the border of Phrygia, Mysia, and Lydia. (The sources for this period are Strabo, Stephanus of Byzantium, and Ptolemy.) The 6th-century Synekdemos of Hierokles later mentions Kadoi as part of Phrygia Pakatiane. Kadoi was also a Christian diocese attested consistently from the 7th through 12th centuries in the Notitiae. Until around the 9th century, it was listed as subordinate to Laodikeia, and after that as under Hierapolis until the 12th century. Gediz was administered as a sanjak under the Seljuk dynasty as well as the succeeding Germiyan beylik. The oldest mosque in what is now Eskigediz, the Umurbey mosque (also called the Serdar mosque), dates from the Seljuk period. Two mosques in present-day Eskigediz were built under Ottoman auspices in the 1500s. The first was the Kurşunlu Cami, built in 1540 by one Mustafa bin Hamza. It was the first domed mosque in Gediz. Also in the 1500s, the Tapu Defter #438, from the reign of Süleyman the Magnificent, listed Gediz as a nahiye in the Sanjak of Kütahya. At the end of the Ottoman period, wrote that Gediz's importance had partly come from its trade connection with İzmir. He also noted that the town's houses were covered with black clay soil, which he said gave…

Geography

The elevation of Gediz is . The area was described, in 1920, as having expansive oak forests. Gediz has a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), with hot, dry summers, and chilly winters with some snow.

Most-observed species

• European Bee-eater

  Merops apiaster Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  7
• Common Blue

  Polyommatus icarus (von Rottemburg, 1775) · Insecta
  7
• Mistle Thrush

  Turdus viscivorus Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6
• Great Tit

  Parus major Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  6
• Crested Lark

  Galerida cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  5
• Common Chaffinch

  Fringilla coelebs Linnaeus, 1758 · Aves
  5
• Lysandra osmarr (Gerhard, 1853)

  Lysandra osmarr (Gerhard, 1853) · Insecta
  4
• Common Buzzard

  Buteo buteo (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  4

Most recent

• M 4.8 — 2026-04-11
  16 km N of Simav, Turkey
• M 4.2 — 2026-04-02
  14 km ESE of Sındırgı, Turkey
• M 4.4 — 2026-01-26
  15 km SE of Sındırgı, Turkey
• M 4.9 — 2026-01-23
  10 km ESE of Sındırgı, Turkey
• M 4.1 — 2026-01-21
  15 km SE of Sındırgı, Turkey
• M 4.5 — 2026-01-21
  12 km SE of Sındırgı, Turkey