Bursa

Bursa (boorsä') [key], city (1990 pop. 838,323), capital of Bursa prov., NW Turkey. The market center of a rich agricultural region, on the ancient Silk Road S of Constantinople, Bursa was long noted for its silks, but is now a producer of automobiles, other textiles and apparel, and metals. Founded at the end of the 3d cent. B.C. by the king of Bithynia, Prusias I, it was called Prusia ad Olympium or Prusa. It was captured by the Seljuk Turks in 1075, taken by the Crusaders in 1096, and in 1204 passed to the Byzantines. Captured in 1326 by the Ottoman Turks, it became the Ottoman capital. It was sacked by Timur in 1402; afterward Adrianople (now Edirne) became (1413) the new Ottoman capital. Among the city's sites, the Green Mosque (1421) and mosque of Beyazid I (1399) are especially noted. The town is sometimes called Brusa.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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