Foça

Hikayemiz

Foça is a town and district in Turkey's İzmir Province, on the Aegean coast.The town of Foça is situated at about 69km northwest of İzmir's city center. The district also has a township with its own municipality named Yenifoça, also along the shore and at a distance of 20km from Foça proper. For this reason, Foça itself is locally often called as Eskifoça in daily parlance. The ancient city of Phocaea is located between the two modern Foças.HistoryFoça was taken over by the Genoese in 1275 as a fief from the Byzantine emperor, and was an active Port during the Middle Ages, principally due to the region's rich alum reserves. The alum mines of Foça were conceded earlier by the Byzantines in 1267 to the Genoese brothers Benedetto and Manuele Zaccaria. The Genoese controlled the city even during the Ottoman era due to the lease they had gained from the Byzantines in 1275. Another important Byzantine concession to the Genoese through dowry was the nearby island of Lesbos, given to the Gattilusio family as a result of the marriage between Francesco I Gattilusio and Maria Palaiologina, sister of Byzantine emperor John V Palaiologos) in 1355. The possessions of the Gattilusio family eventually grew to include, among others, the islands of Imbros, Samothrace, Lemnos and Thasos, and the city of Aenos (modern Enez in Turkey.) From this position, they were heavily involved in the mining and marketing of alum, useful in textile production and a profitable trade controlled by the Genoese.