Alanya is a seaside resort and district of Antalya Province in the Mediterranean region of Turkey, 120km (74.6 miles) from the city of Antalya. The district has close to 400,000 inhabitants.Because of its natural strategic position on a small peninsula into the Mediterranean Sea, Alanya has been a local stronghold for many Mediterranean based empires. Alanya's greatest political importance came in the Middle Ages with the Seljuk Sultanate of Rûm under the rule of `Ala' ad-Din Kay-Qubad.The relatively moderate Mediterranean climate, and historic heritage makes Alanya a popular destination for holidaymakers, responsible for 9% of all tourism in Turkey.
Names
The city has changed hands many times over the centuries, and its name has reflected this. Alanya was first known in Latin as Coracesium or in Greek as Korakesion from the Luwian Korakassa meaning "point/protruding city. "Under the Byzantine Empire it become known as Kalonoros, or "beautiful mountain." The Seljuks renamed the city Alaiye, a derivative of the name of the Sultan `Ala' ad-Din Kay-Qubad. In his 1935 visit, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk finalized the name in the new alphabet as Alanya, changing the 'i' and 'e' in Alaiye, reportedly because of a misspelled telegram two years prior.

Though first fortified in the Hellenistic period following the area's conquest by Alexander the Great, the castle rock was likely inhabited long before that under the Hittites and the Persian Empire. Finds in the nearby Kadrini cave indicate occupation during the Paleolithic era as far back as 20,000 BC. Left to Ptolemy I Soter after 323 BC, his dynasty maintained loose control over the mainly Isaurian population, and the area became a popular spot for Mediterranean pirates who were at times loyal to Diodotus Tryphon of the Seleucid kingdom. This period ended after the city's incorporation into the Pamphylia province of the Roman Republic by Pompey in 67 BC with the Battle of Korakesion fought in the city's harbor. After the Empire's collapse and split, the city remained under Byzantine influence, becoming a suffragan of Side, in the metropolis of Pamphylia Prima. Muslims began arriving in the 7th Century, and 681 marked the end of a bishopric in Alanya. The area fell from Byzantine control after the Battle of Manzikert to tribes of Seljuk Turks, only to be returned in 1097 by Alexios I Komnenos and forces of the First Crusade.Following the Crusades, the Christian Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia periodically held the port, and it was from an Armenian, Kir Fard, that Muslims took lasting control in 1221 when the Anatolian Seljuk Sultan `Ala' ad-Din Kay-Qubad exchanged governance of the city of Aksehir for it. Seljuk rule saw the golden age of the city, and it can be considered the winter capital of their empire. Building projects, including the twin citadel, city walls, arsenal, and Red Tower made it an important seaport for western Mediterranean trade, particularly with Ayyubid Egypt and the Italian city-states. Kay-Qubad also constructed numerous gardens and pavilions outside the walls, and many of his works can still be found in the city.At the Battle of Köse Dag, the Mongol hordes broke the Seljuk hegemony in Anatolia, and Alanya was then subject to a series of invasions from Anatolian Turkish Beyliks, and even from Lusignans from the Cyprus, who overturned the Hamidoglu Beylik. The city was sold by the then ruling Karamanoðlu dynasty in 1427 to the Mamluks of Egypt for a period before the general Gedik Ahmed Pasha in 1471 incorporated it into the growing Ottoman Empire. In 1571 the city was desinated part of the province of Cyprus, then later under Konya, and in 1868 under Antalya, as it is today. After World War I, Alanya was partitioned in the Agreement of St.-Jean-de-Maurienne to Italy, if only nominally.Like most in this region, the city suffered heavily following the war and the population exchanges that heralded the Turkish Republic, when many of the city's Christians resettled in Nea Ionia, outside Athens. The Ottoman census of 1893 had put the number of Greeks in the city at 964.Tourism in the region started among Turks who came to Alanya in the 1960s for the alleged healing properties of Damlataþ cave, and later the access provided by Antalya Airport allowed the town to grow into an international resort. Strong population growth through the 1990s was a result of immigration to the city, and has driven a rapid modernization of the infrastructure.

Since the first modern motel was built in 1958, considered the first year of the tourist industry in Alanya, hotels have raced to accommodate the influx of tourists, and the city now claims 133,361 hotel beds.Damlataþ cave, which originally sparked the arrival of outsiders because of the cave's microclimate, with an average temperature of 72°F (22°C) and 95% humidity, is accessible on the west side of the peninsula with trails from Damlataþ beach. Many tourists, especially Scandinavians, Germans, Russians, and Dutch, now regularly vacation in Alanya during the warmer months. They are drawn to the area because of reasonable prices, warm weather, sandy beaches, access to Antalya's historic sites, and fine cuisine. Important subgroups of Alanya's tourist industry include retired Europeans and young Turkish men drawn by the prospect of foreign women looking for a holiday romance. As well as Damlataþ there a number of other caves and places of natural beauty. Activities include wind surfing, parasailing, banana boating and Turkey's largest go-kart track. Beginning in 2003, with the provisional elimination of restrictions on land purchases by non-nationals, the housing industry in the city has become highly profitable with many new private homes and condominiums being built for European and Asian part-time residents. This in turn has put pressure on the city's many gecekondu houses and establishments as property values rise. A height restriction in the city keeps high rise hotels to the east and west of the city, preserving the central skyline at the expense of greater tourist potential. The fringes of the city however have seen uncontrolled expansion. For various reasons, the 2006 tourist season was disappointing for Alanya's industry. Among the reasons blamed were increased PKK violence, the H5N1 bird flu found in Van, and the Mohammad cartoon controversy. Alanya officials responded with a variety of publicity iniatives, including baking the worlds longest cake on 2006-04-26, now a Guinness World Record.
Transportation
The D400 Turkish Highway connects Alanya from the east and west, and runs through the city center as Atatürk Bulvarý. Antalya Airport is 75 miles (120 km) away. There are bus and dolmuþ systems out of Alanya's two bus depots, but buses are usually limited to the major roads, and inside the city transportation is by car, taxi, or foot, as many roads in the old town are closed to traffic. The harbor includes cruise ship piers, and also seasonal ferries and hydrofoils depart for the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus.