Baku, August 8, AZERTAC Located at the edge of a wide and sheltered gulf, Turkiye’s Izmir city connects to a rich hinterland extending north, east and south through a series of rivers and valleys. The Historical Port City of İzmir is surrounded by Karataş and Göztepe to the west, Alsancak to the east, Tepecik to the south and the Gulf of İzmir to the north, and encompasses the Kemeraltı, Basmane and Kadifekale regions.It is defined as a multilayered open-air museum that contains traces of the Hellenistic period, ancient Rome, Byzantines, Ottomans and modern Turkey.The area houses important symbols of Izmir such as Konak Square, the clock tower and Kemeraltı bazaar. Konak Square is a place where visitors can learn the history of Ottoman modernization by observing the bureaucratic structuring of the 19th Century in the area. The Governorate of Izmir, the City Hall of Izmir Metropolitan Municipality and Yalı Mosque occupy the square.Archaeological excavations in İzmir, which was a well-known "Port City" of the Euro-Asian "Silk Road" that offered a trade portal to the Mediterranean during the Classical Era as well, continues at the center of the city, with a population of 4.5 million, under the support of the community, the local and central authorities, and the chambers of industry - commerce.When it fully came under the Ottoman rule in the 15th Century, İzmir had the appearance of a small town, where its source of commercial function was the port itself. Beginning with the second half of the 16th Century, however, the shifting balance in the Mediterranean trade and the trade routes transporting the Eastern goods being redirected to İzmir led to the city becoming a major trade destination.During the 17th and 18th centuries, “the Little Ice Age” increased the agricultural needs of the European countries, and with a favorable climate, soil and rich crop variety, the Asia Minor, that is, İzmir's hinterland, was one of the regions in the world that was specialized in agricultural production.The port, which brought together the Western European trade represented by the consuls and trade representatives from Amsterdam, London, Marseilles and Venice and the “Eastern” Silk Road trade represented by the non-Muslim and Muslim Ottoman tradesmen from Isfahan, Iran, Aleppo and Bursa, “morphed from a small-town into an urban center”, reflecting this dual form of the trade onto physical spaces as well.