Abstract :
The Gediz Basin has always been an important route in terms of transportation in almost all periods of time. The main roads (the Royal Road and others) connecting particularly the Aegean coasts and Western Anatolia to the Central and the Eastern Anatolia, even farther, crossed this basin. With relatively dense textured natural roads defined largely by the geography, the basin constitutes an important passage area allowing relatively easy and uninterrupted access in all seasons.Major civilizations have been established in the basin during the history of settlement since the Antiquity, and a large number of water structures and bridges were built in those periods. Unfortunately, however, a large portion of these structures have not survived to date, some have fallen into ruins, but some still serve their original purpose. Even though settlement in the basin dates back to very early times in history, almost all of the historical bridges that have survived to date and are dealt with in this paper consist particularly of the structures belonging to the Ottoman period.Historical bridges are important remnants that determined the historic transport routes and ensured functional continuity in transportation in the basin. A historical bridge and a newly built bridge can be seen together in the same location, indicating a functional continuity in terms of transportation. On the other hand, there are bridges that remained away from the main roads, and these show that the transport routes have changed in the course of time. Likewise, bridges draw attention as very important structures also in terms of tourism, settlement, economic activities (particularly trading), architecture, history, literature and particularly local cultural values.
NaturalLanguageKeyword :
Gediz River , historical water structures , historical bridges , transport geography
