Turkey

One of the world's earliest large settlements, in central Anatolia. Dates are approximate.

Bronze Age power of Anatolia that rivalled Egypt and fought the Battle of Kadesh.

The kingdom of Lydia in western Anatolia mints the earliest true coinage around 600 BCE.

Greek city-states settle the Aegean coast; Ionia becomes a cradle of early philosophy and science.

Achaemenid Persia rules Anatolia until Alexander the Great.

After Alexander, kingdoms such as Pergamon rule Anatolia in the Hellenistic age.

Anatolia becomes a prosperous heartland of the Roman Empire.

Constantine founds Constantinople in 330; it anchors the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire for over a millennium.

Seljuk victory over Byzantium opens Anatolia to Turkic settlement, beginning its Turkification.

Seljuk successor state ruling much of Anatolia from Konya.

Osman I founds the dynasty that will grow into a vast empire spanning three continents.

Mehmed II takes Constantinople, ending the Byzantine Empire and making the city the Ottoman capital.

The empire reaches its height in power, law and culture under Suleiman the Magnificent.

From the Treaty of Karlowitz onward, the empire steadily loses territory and is called the "sick man of Europe".

Defeat in World War I leads to the partition and collapse of the Ottoman Empire.

Nationalist forces under Mustafa Kemal resist partition and secure Turkey's borders.

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk proclaims the republic and launches sweeping secular modernization.