İzmit

İzmit, also Kocaeli (formerly Nicomedia), city in northwestern Turkey, capital of Kocaeli Province. İzmit is located at the head of the Gulf of İzmit, at the eastern end of the Sea of Marmara. It is an important naval base and the trade center of a tobacco-growing region. Industries include the manufacture of tobacco and paper products, chemicals, cement, textiles, and beer. A busy port, İzmit is also connected by road and rail to other Turkish cities. İzmit is an ancient city, but few antiquities remain. After the destruction of the Megarian colony of Astacus, the city of Nicomedia was rebuilt in 264 bc by Nicomedes I of Bithynia and served as capital of the kingdom. Carthaginian leader Hannibal died here in 183 bc. Later the residence of Roman Emperor Diocletian, the city was captured by the Seljuk Turks in the 11th century and by the Ottoman Turks in the mid-14th century. A powerful earthquake struck İzmit and the surrounding region in August 1999, collapsing more than 76,000 buildings in the city and causing the deaths of almost 2,000 residents. Population 210,068 (1997 estimate).