Situation and Importance
Once known as Adrianopolis, Edirne, capital of its province, is situated 245km/152mi northwest of Istanbul at the confluence of the Tunca and Arda with the Meriç (Maritza). It is the second largest city in European Turkey, benefiting from its position as a
major road and rail junction close to the Greek and Bulgarian frontiers. It is surrounded by fertile farming country and has recently emerged as an increasingly prosperous industrial town (textiles, leather goods, staple and luxury foods, perfume).
With its endowment of mosques (including the magnificent Selimiye Camii), caravanserais, low timber houses and narrow alleyways, this historic Thracian border town still retains its Old Turkish air.
History
Edirne was founded around A.D. 125 by the Roman emperor Hadrian (hence Hadrianopolis/Adrianopolis), afterwards being continually fought over on account of its strategic position. From the time of its capture by the Turkish Sultan Murat I, to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, Edirne was the seat of the Turkish rulers. At the end of the 19th century it became a frontier stronghold and played an important role during the Balkan Wars. In 1989 hundreds of thousands of Bulgarian Turks, fleeing across the Turkish-Bulgarian border, settled in the Edirne-Istanbul area.
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