Eastern Thrace

Climate

While being not a very large region, Eastern Thrace has a variety of different climate types that lie close to but are substantially different from each other. Inland areas have temperate continental climate that is similar to that found in inland regions of Balkans, while milder climate of places on the Black Sea coast resembles more of an oceanic climate, typical to other areas of Turkish Black Sea coast. Climate of areas on Marmara and Aegean coasts is similar to the Mediterranean climate, though strong winds carry continental influences easily down to coast, making it much colder than it might be, considering its fairly southern latitude.

In general, no matter where you are heading in the region, consider these facts when planning your trip:

It can rain in any season, including summer, but summer showers tend to last no more than 15–20 minutes, no matter how heavy they may be and they tend to be heavy. Other than sudden cloud formations before showers, it tend to be sunny throughout the summer, though.

Haze and sometimes very heavy fog is common in autumn, especially in November.

Winters are cloudy, mostly rainy or perhaps, sleety, cold and windy in the region—it's no wonder that ancient Greeks considered Thrace to be the homeland of Boreaus, the god of cold northern winds. While the temperature usually does not drop below -10°C although there is a record low of -24°C in 1940s infamous for their cold, it feels much colder than it actually is, due to the high-ish relative humidity in the region. It snows every winter, too, and it stays on the ground for at least a few days—more in inland locations than the coast, as expected.

History

Thracians, an ancient people speaking an Indo-European language and whom the larger area surrounding the region was named after which derived from the Thracian Zrayka were the native folk of the region. Except a brief period during Odrysian Kingdom 5th–3rd century BC, these warrior tribes never formed a united nation. Except for landmark-ish tumulii, which they erected for their nobles as monumental tombs, not much other than some ruins and artifacts hardly distinguishable from natural formations by untrained eyes is left physically from this period, although some villages and rivers across the region still carry names that are phonetically corrupted forms of their original Thracian names.

Around 4000 BC, Greek colonists from Aegean Islands made their debut in the region along the Marmara coast, although never succeed to penetrate much inland due to opposition of vicious Thracian tribes. Some of the cities Greeks founded in the region still exist to this day, such as Tekirdağ.

Around 335 BC, Alexander the Great—part of army of whom was actually consisted of Thracian troops—showed up in the region on his way to India.

It was the Romans—who took over the region around the early years of Christ—who first truly united the region into a single authority and named it the province of Thracia. Since the region was on the main route named Via Egnatia between the later Roman capital of Constantinople and Rome, the other major city of the empire, it never fell into a backwater status.

After the Roman Empire was divided in two, Eastern Thrace consecutively changed hands between Bulgarian Kingdom and Byzantine Empire, or Eastern Roman Empire, several times in 10th century CE.

Ottoman Turks set foot in around 1350s for the first time in Thrace and in Europe. Eastern Thrace was mainly the warehouse and breadbasket of the imperial capital of Constantinople during this period in addition to its strategic importance stemmed from the fact that it lies on the major routes between the capital and its European possessions.

During the turmoil before, during, and after WWI, local Greeks and Bulgarians, who formed a substantial part of region's population, emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria respectively, and replaced in return by Turkish/Muslim immigrants from mostly Greece and Bulgaria, but also from other Balkan countries. 1950s also saw a Jewish emigration from the region towards newly-founded Israel.

Understand

Eastern Thrace is located in the northwestern corner of Turkey and makes up 3% of the country’s landmass. Although this percentage might seem small at first, Eastern Thrace is only slightly smaller than whole of Belgium, for example.

Eastern Thrace is essentially a peninsula surrounded by Greece Western Thrace and Bulgaria Northern Thrace to the west and north respectively and bouded by Black Sea, Bosphorus, the Sea of Marmara, Dardanelles, and the Aegean Sea to the northeast, east, south, and southwest respectively.

Central parts of Eastern Thrace are dominated by Thracian plains, which are fairly...well, plain. These plains produce much of the country's wheat and sunflower, and a ride through in sunflower season July is indeed very pleasant amongst yellow flowers. However, being one of the powerhouses of Turkish economy, more east you go on the plains, less agricultural the landscape becomes—around Çerkezköy and north, west, and east of Çorlu is essentially nothing other than urban conglomeration going hand in hand with endless rows of factories. Northeastern coast and its adjacent area, on the other hand, is dominated by low-lying range of Istranca Mountains covered with lush broadleaf forests, typical of Turkish Black Sea coast, as well as the northern reaches of the region along the Bulgarian border. Southwestern parts dominated by Ganos and Koru Mountains, another low lying mountain range, and Gallipoli Peninsula are covered mostly with pine forests, in addition to vast vineyards on the foothils of Ganos Mountain, which supply almost half of Turkey's wine production.

Culture of today’s Eastern Thrace shares many similarities with cultures of Balkan Southeastern Europe countries as much of the region’s population is descendants of people who immigrated from those countries starting from late 1800s to the date.

Eastern Thrace is a part of Marmara Region.