Izmit

Port and capital of Kocaeli province in northwest Turkey, on the Gulf of Izmit, an inlet of the Sea of Marmara, 80 km/50 mi southeast of Istanbul; population (2000) 233,300. It is a local market centre, trading in olives and tobacco. Industries include oil-refining, engineering, and the manufacture of cement, chemicals, paper, and textiles. The port was formerly ancient Nicomedia, seat of the kings of Bithynia.

Izmit dates from Roman times, and has many Roman remains, including a castle, aqueducts, and a temple of Augustus. The Saatci Efendi Konak is a restored 18th-century Ottoman mansion, which now houses an ethnological museum.

Iznik porcelain tiles, created in workshops at nearby Lake Iznik in the 15–17th centuries, were used to decorate numerous mosques, tombs, palaces, and villas in the area. In August 1999, Izmit was the epicentre of an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Richter scale. It devastated the region, killing 17,100 and injuring 44,000 people. 300,000 homes and 40,000 businesses were damaged or destroyed.