Diyarbakir

Diyarbakir , anc. Amida, city (1990 pop. 375,767), capital of Diyarbakir prov., SE Turkey, on the Tigris (Dicle) River. It is the trade center for a region producing grains, melons, cotton, copper ore, and petroleum. Manufactures of the city include flour, wine, textiles, and machinery. A Roman colony from AD 230, the city was taken (mid-4th cent.) by Shapur II of Persia. It was conquered by the Arabs in 638 and later was held by the Seljuk Turks and Persians. The Ottoman Turks captured Diyarbakir in 1515. It is a Kurdish population center. The city retains the magnificent black basalt fortification walls mainly constructed by Constantine I in the 4th cent. Diyarbakir Univ. is there.

Diyarbakir, Turkey Amida, Kara‐Amid, Dikranagerd ‘District of the Bakr People’ from the Arabic diyār ‘dwellings’ or ‘district’. Having been annexed by the Romans in 297, it fell to the Persians in 359, and to the Arabs in about 639; it was allotted to the Beni Bakr clan. Nevertheless, it was still sometimes called Kara‐Amid ‘Amid the Black’, a reference to its impressive basalt walls. It passed finally to the Ottoman Turks in 1516. The Armenians, nevertheless, called it Dikranagerd in the mistaken belief that it was the ancient city of Tigranokeita, founded by King Tigranes II the Great (c.140–55 bc), King of Armenia (95–55 bc), in the 1st century bc. The present population is largely Kurdish.