HISTORY OF ÇANAKKALE

    The first settlers came to the town of Çanakkale in the 4th century B'.C Nine different settiementperiods have determined from the remais of Troy.However in the 9th cetury B.C. the Greeks began colonizing the province, the region came under Lydian rule in the 2d century B.C. The Persians took over in the7th century B.C. 334 B.C. Alexander the Great crossed the strait and stepped on to Asian soil for the first time. He joined the Persians in a fierce battle on Kocabas coast.After Alexander the area changed hands several times until it came under Roman rule in 191 B.C. It was annexed later by the Byzantines.
    The Islamic fleet passed through the Strait in the years 668 and laid siege to
Istanbul. The Turks conquered Chanakkale for the first time in the l4th century.
    The Ottomans seized the Anatolian side of the strait in the mid l4th century.
They crossed the Strait into Thracian territory under the command of Süleyman
Pasha, the son of Orhan Gazi. They also conquered Gallipoli.
    Although Gelibolu was regained by Papal forces, Ottoman Sultan Murat I. took
it back for a short time during the next year.
    Yildirim Beyazit founded the Stı'ait Guard here in 1390, turning Gelibolu into a
naval base, utilising the existing docks.
In the l5th century Sultan Mehmet the Conquerer built citadels on both banks of
the Strait and founded the city of Chanakkale.
    Although the Russian fleet forced the Strait in 1770 they were later defeated.
    Chanakkale suffered its most difficult, but most honourable, days during the
First World War. Turkish Soldiers established a legend that the Chanakkale
Strait was impassable.
Chanakkale became a province after the formation of the Turkish Republic