Denizli

Capital of Denizli province, southwest Turkey, 176 km/110 mi southeast of Izmir; population (2000) 275,500. Situated at an altitude of 450 m/1,476 ft in the fertile Büyük Menderes Valley, it is an agricultural and mining centre. Cotton textiles and carpets are manufactured.

Features Pamukkale (ancient Hierapolis) lies 20 km/13 mi to the north. A major tourist attraction and natural phenomenon, its brilliant white terraces and pools are formed by mineral deposits from a thermal waterfall.

Other nearby archaeological sites include Laodicea founded by Antiochus I, king of Syria; and the 13th-century Akhan Caravansary, a resting point serving one of the main medieval caravan routes.

History Denizli was founded in the 3rd century BC and grew to significance under Roman occupation. It was seized by the Seljuk Turks in 1094, and taken into the Ottoman Empire in 1428. In 1710 and 1899 it was devastated by earthquakes.