Tutsak, Sadiye Uşak Üniversitesi - Fen Edebiyat Fakültesi - tarih bölümü, Turkey

Uşak-Izmir Road Construction Works in the Western Anatolia Transportation Case

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Transportation conditions are one of the major factors which affect the economic and social development of a settlement. Uşak which has been highlighted for its production of carpets and rugs was a city with high trade potential, although it was a county of the Province of Kütahya. As the highways were not sufficient and smooth, it was a tough challenge to carry the export goods of Uşak to the Port of Izmir which it had commercial ties with. The state began to place bigger emphasis on the road construction as a consequence of the fact that foreign capital started to establish itself firmly in Western Anatolia, the English desire for penetrating into the region with 1838 Trade Agreement, the efforts the Ottoman State for maintaining the central organization and the complaints by the local people. However, the road construction attempts turned fruitless due to financial problems and officials delaying the works. The efforts for dealing with this issue came along with the search for road construction in order to meet the needs. The following work which you’ll read is targeted at stating how the road construction works were realized in parallel with the commercial importance of Uşak and the benefits provided by the railway line passing through Usak and reaching Afyon.

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Usak , highway , railway , Izmir , Afyon , Western Anatolia

Tarih Incelemeleri Dergisi

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