Karaburun Peninsula

The peninsula of Karaburun with its lovely bays and the wild but romantic landscape is inviting its visitors to long marches as backpackers. About 50 kilometres long and about 20 kilometres wide Karaburun stretches into the Gulf of Izmir and by this forcing the peninsula of Cesme to stretch much longer. The main town of the same name can be found at the end of the peninsula to the west of Izmir.

Because it is not absolutely sure since when the peninsula had been settled, at different places traces of former inhabitants have been found, the eldest ones dating back about 5000 to 3000 years B.C. Just 4 kilometres away from Karaburun city, inside of a cave, people found lot of tools and other daily used household goods from Bronze Age, which means that Karaburun must have long lasting history.

More pictures about Karaburun you can find in our picture gallery!

During the period of the Ionian Confederation there was a small settlement called Stelar or Stylarius in the same place where Karaburun city centre is today. In the middle ages the name Capo Calaberno was used when talking about Karaburun. During the later period of Turkish folks it changes to Ahurlu and Ahirli. Since the Osmanian Empire the old Name Karaburun was used again.

The world wide known sailor Piri Reis (16th century) is publishing his adventures and experiences in the book “Kitab-I Bahriye and offering detailed information about the coast of Karaburun. Little later the Turkish Traveller Evliya Celebi, living in the 2nd half of the 17th century was writing about Karaburun as: “Place of the Mollah of Izmir consisting of a mosque, one Turkish bath, 7 shops surrounded by olive trees and wine gardens good for getting money out.”

But Karaburun also means – directly translated from Turkish – black nose (kara = black, dark and burun = nose). The mountain at the top of the peninsula next to the city Karaburun has got the same name, maybe just because of its shape.

Until 1922 the whole peninsula was mostly settled by Greek people which were sent back to Greece because of the exchange of people at that time, one of the tragic chapters in history…

Since then nature has taken back big spots of the landscape. Some of the former settlements have been given up or are destroyed by the time or even are replaced by new holiday settlements now fitting into the landscape more or less.