Kaş
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kaş is a district and a small fishing, yachting and tourist town in the Antalya Province of Turkey. As a tourist town it is relatively unspoiled.
Kaş has a warm and dry climate, which allows the growth of oranges, lemons and bananas.
The countryside produces honey and almonds, while on the mountains there are extensive pine forests.
South of Kaş, at a distance of about 2 Km, is the Greek island of Kastelórizo (in turkish Meis Adásı).
[edit] History
Kaş was founded by the Lycians, and its name in Lycian language was Habesos or Habesa. It was a member of the Lycian League, and its importance during this time is confirmed by the presence of one of the richest Lycian necropolis.
The ancient Greeks gave it the name of Antiphéllos or Antíphilos, since it was the harbor of the city of Phellos, which stood in front of it.
During the Roman period, Antiphéllos was famous for exporting sponges and timber. Pliny the Elder refers to the town in the fifth book of his Naturalis Historia. After 395 the town became part of the Eastern Roman Empire.
During the early Middle Ages Kaş - by that time under Byzantine rule - was bishop's see.
The town suffered because of Arab incursions, then was annexed (under the name of Andifli) to the Anatolian Sultanate of Rüm, led by the Seljuks. After the end of the Seljuk state, it came under the Ottomans.
In 1923, because of the Exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey after the Greco-Turkish War, the majority of the population, which was of Greek origin, left the town for Greece.
Since the early nineties of the last century, tourism started booming in Kaş. Tourists come mainly from the UK and Germany. As everywhere in Turkey, the growth of tourism brought an explosion in apartment building (often without license), which risks to damage seriously the landscape and the environment. Particularly affected is the beautiful Çukurbağ Peninsula, west of the town.
[edit] Sources, References
- Hazlitt, William (1851). The Classical Gazetteer: A Dictionary of Ancient geography Sacred & Profane. Whiittaker, London.
[edit] External links
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Districts of Antalya |  |
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Antalya | Akseki | Alanya | Elmalı | Finike | Gazipaşa | Gündoğmuş | İbradi | Kale | Kaş | Kemer | Korkuteli | Kumluca | Manavgat | Serik | |
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