Iskenderun

Iskenderun , formerly Alexandretta , city (1990 pop. 156,198), S Turkey, on the Gulf of Alexandretta, an inlet of the Mediterranean Sea. The principal Turkish port on the Mediterranean, it has a large steel plant and is the terminus for an oil pipeline. The city was founded by Alexander the Great to commemorate his victory over the Persians at Issus in 333 BC In AD 1515 the Ottoman Empire under Selim I, its ruler, captured the city. Iskenderun was transferred (1920) to the French Syria League of Nations mandate as part of the sanjak of Alexandretta, but was returned to Turkey in 1939 (see Hatay ).

Iskenderun, Turkey Alexandretta Founded at or near the site of Alexander III the Great's^† victory over Darius III, King of Persia (336–330 bc), at Alexandria ad Issum in 333 bc. Both the previous and present names honour Alexander, Iskender being the Turkish for Alexander. At the end of the First World War it became the capital of the sancak ‘territorial division’ of Alexandretta, a French mandate until 1939. It was then ceded to Turkey, although Syrian maps still show the ‘annexed province’ as part of Syria. See Hatay.