Bornova

Bornova is a metropolitan district of İzmir in İzmir Province in Turkey. It is the third largest district in İzmir's Greater Metropolitan Area of and is almost fully urbanized at the rate of 98,6 per cent, with corresponding high levels of development in terms of industry and services. Bornova's center is situated at a distance of 8 km to the northeast from the traditional center of İzmir and 5 km from the coastline at the tip of the Gulf of İzmir to the west. Bornova district area is surrounded by the district areas of Manisa center and Menemen to the north, Kemalpaşa to the east, Buca to the south, and Konak and Karşıyaka to the west, where the larger part of İzmir's urban area extends. Bornova is home to Ege University's main campus and for many in Turkey, Bornova's name is synonymous with the university's hospital, one of the largest and the foremost medical centers in western Turkey for decades.

During the Ottoman period, Bornova was called "Birunabad", often rendered as "Bournabad" or "Bournabat" in Western sources, although explanations as to how that name was composed vary. A number of sources seek the explanation in the Persian and Ottoman Turkish term birun, which means "outer, exterior", abad being a suffix common to a number of cities across the Islamic world and which forms a place name when attached to the name of a person or to a proper name, such as Haydarabad or Islamabad. Although befitting a settlement slightly outside a greater metropolitan zone, that the name "Birunabad" is based on an adjective in Bornova's case, makes an association with an earlier Byzantine name more likely. In fact, under the Byzantine and Nicean Empires the region was called "Prinobaris" and was notable for being a source of considerable revenues for the Haghia Sophia from its attached properties here, and was for this reason alternatively known as "Hagiosophitike chora". As such, Birunabad, Bournabat and now Bornova could be converted forms of this name.

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