Buldan

This article is about the town. For other uses, see Buldan (disambiguation).
Buldan

Buldan
Buldan
Coordinates: 38°2′42″N 28°49′50″E / 38.04500°N 28.83056°E / 38.04500; 28.83056Coordinates: 38°2′42″N 28°49′50″E / 38.04500°N 28.83056°E / 38.04500; 28.83056
Country  Turkey
Province Denizli
Government
 • Mayor Mustafa Gülbay (CHP)
 • Kaymakam Hacı UZKUÇ
Area[1]
 • District 508.01 km2 (196.14 sq mi)
Population (2012)[2]
 • Urban 15,914
 • District 27,484
 • District density 54/km2 (140/sq mi)
Post code 20400
Website www.buldan.bel.tr

Buldan is a town and a district of Denizli Province in the inner Aegean Region of Turkey. Buldan district area neighbors to the east and the south three other districts of the same province, namely Güney, Akköy and Sarayköy, and to the west by the areas of three districts of Aydın Province, Buharkent, Kuyucak and Karacasu, and to the northwest by Sarıgöl district of Manisa Province.

The town of Buldan is located at a distance of 46 km (29 mi) from the province seat of Denizli and lies at an altitude of 690 meters. The population of Buldan is 15,086 (as of 2010). It extends along a pretty hilltop area, with hillsides covered with pomegranates, figs, vines and blackberries. There are lovely views from the high meadows. Kestane Deresi (Chestnut Stream) is a favourite popular excursion spot situated in the upper parts of the main town.

Buldan's depending township of Yenicekent is also the site of ancient Tripolis of Phrygia.

Buldan cloth production

Clothings made out of Buldan cloth

Historically, the town has been a very important center of Turkey's textile industry, a tradition it actively pursues to this day, still largely based on independent craftspersons.

Sanjak (subprovince) of Denizli was the most vibrant center cloth production center in western Anatolia during the later 19th century and the fame of the region rested at the time on the output of two of depending large villages, Buldan and Kadıköy, as well as the neighboring town of Babadağ.

Buldan was famed for a thin handwoven cheesecloth-type fabric, with laced edges and used chiefly for bed covers and table cloths, called as "Buldan bezi" (Buldan clothes) under the name of locality. Already back in the 19th century, the townspeople wove 40,000 pieces of all-cotton colored striped cloth used called alaca used for attires and a similar number of cotton and mattress clothes. Buldan weavers also produced over one-half million handkerchiefs and a large number of cotton curtains. Another textile from Buldan that deserves mention is a vivid violet silk (peştemal) woven as a rectangular panel to be wrapped around the body. Yet another is kaplama, colorful head coverings typical of Turkey's Aegean Region and worn by men and women alike with different colors associated with each gender and various regions. Thanks to sizable production effort, the number of looms in Buldan had risen to 1,500 by the end of the 19th century.

The town's expertise reaches further back in time and a sign at the town entry greets visitors with the pride expressed for having woven the kaftan of Beyazid I the Thunderbolt for his marriage with Hafsa Hatun, daughter of Aydinid İsa Bey, in 1390. Tripolis (Phrygia) itself, a first-century AD Roman foundation, may have had the weaving industry as its reason for coming into existence.

17th century Ottoman documents also mention Buldan's importance as a textile production center, informing that until circa 1650s, the cotton cloth woven in Buldan, Denizli and Manisa was taken to Tire for dyeing, after which time that part of the operation also started to be handled locally.[3]

Süleymanlı Plateau near Buldan

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Area of regions (including lakes), km²". Regional Statistics Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. 2002. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  2. ↑ "Population of province/district centers and towns/villages by districts - 2012". Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
  3. ↑ Donald Quataert; et al. (1993). Ottoman Manufacturing in the Age of the Industrial Revolution p. 86-99 ISBN 0-521-89301-1. Cambridge University.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Buldan.

Sources

  • ed. Ronald T. Marchese (2005). The Fabric Of Life: Cultural Transformations In Turkish Society ISBN 978-1-58684-256-7. Global Academic Publishing, Binghamton University. 
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