Asia-Minor

Anatolia

Native name: Anadolu
The traditional definition of Anatolia within modern Turkey
Geography
Location	Western Asia Middle East
Coordinates	39°N 35°E / 39°N 35°E / 39; 35Coordinates: 39°N 35°E / 39°N 35°E / 39; 35
Area	756,000 km2 (292,000 sq mi)
Administration
Turkey
Capital and largest city	Ankara (pop. 5,270,575)
Demographics
Demonym	Anatolian
Languages	Turkish, Kurmanji, Arabic, Zaza, Kabardian, various others
Ethnic groups	Turks, Kurds, Arabs, Laz, various others

Anatolia (Turkish: Anadolu, in Modern Greek: Ανατολία, Anatolía, from Ἀνατολή, Anatolḗ, modern pronunciation Anatolí – "east" or "(sun)rise"), also known as Asia Minor (Turkish: Küçük Asya, in Medieval and Modern Greek: Μικρά Ἀσία, Mīkrá Asía, modern pronunciation Mikrá Asía – "small Asia"), Asian Turkey, the Anatolian peninsula, or the Anatolian plateau, is the westernmost protrusion of Asia, which makes up the majority of modern-day Turkey. The region is bounded by the Black Sea to the north, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and the Aegean Sea to the west. The Sea of Marmara forms a connection between the Black and Aegean Seas through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits and separates Anatolia from Thrace on the European mainland.

Traditionally, Anatolia is considered to extend in the east to a line between the Gulf of Alexandretta and the Black Sea to the Armenian Highlands (Armenia Major). This region is now named and largely situated in the Eastern Anatolia Region of the far north east of Turkey and converges with the Lesser Caucasus – an area that was incorporated in the Russian Empire region of Transcaucasia in the 19th century. Thus, traditionally Anatolia is the territory that comprises approximately the western two-thirds of the Asian part of Turkey.