HISTORY

THE HISTORY OF THE KAZ MOUNTAINS


Ancient Greece called the Kaz Mountains "Ida". Homer explains the meaning of the word "Ida" as "the mountain with a thousand fountains" in the Iliad epic.

Like today, there were olive trees in the region in ancient times and even before that, but olive cultivation was mostly done in orchards. The traditions of the Tahtacı Turkmens, who came to the region in the 12th and 13th centuries, positively affected this structure. The Turkmens had a custom of taking seedlings or seeds from the trees they cut down, or of planting the same species of tree in place of a dead tree, or another tree according to the needs of the day. Thanks to these customs of the Turkmens, the wooded areas of the region have been kept alive and the forested areas extending to the sea have gradually evolved into olive groves.