Kutahya

Kutahya is a city in western Turkey with 237,804 inhabitants (2011 estimate), lying on the Porsuk river, at 969 metres above sea level. It is the capital of Kutahya Province, inhabited by some 564,294 people (2011 estimate). The region of Kutahya has large areas of gentle slopes with agricultural land culminating in high mountain ridges to the north and west. The city’s Greek name was Kotyaion, Latinized in Roman times as Cotyaeum.

Kutahya, known as Cotyaeum in antiquity, lay on the great road from the Marmara region to the Mesopotamian plains; the town flourished and declined according to the changing importance of the trade routes. As a medieval Byzantine town, it was taken by the Seljuq Turks toward the end of the 11th century. It functioned as the capital of the Germiyan Turkmen principality from 1302 to 1429 before its absorption into the Ottoman Empire. During the 16th century, Kutahya emerged as a centre of the Ottoman ceramic industry, supplying tiles and faience for mosques, churches, and other buildings in Turkey and parts of the Middle East. Its importance was eclipsed by the growth of neighbouring Eskisehir at the end of the 19th century, but the development of industries at Kutahya in the mid-20th century restored some of the town’s former importance.