What is Ionia?
{{Infobox | bodyclass = geography | abovestyle = background:#DEB887; | subheader = Ancient region of Anatolia | above = Ionia (Ἰωνία) | image = [[File:Turkey ancient region map ionia.JPG]] | caption = Location of Ionia in Turkey | label1 = Location | data1 = Western [[Anatolia]] | label2 = State existed | data2 = 7th–6th centuries BC | label3 = Language | data3 = [[Ionic Greek]] | label4 = Biggest city | data4 = [[Ephesus]] | label5 = | data5 = | label6 = | data6 = }} '''Ionia''' was a region in the west of [[Asia Minor]] in [[Ancient Greece|Ancient Greek]] times. It was in what is now [[Turkey]]. It was the birthplace of the Hellenic [[civilization]]. The Dorian invasion of the Peloponnesus, caused the migration of Ionic Greeks across the Aegean sea to Anatolia about 1000-900 BCE. The original Greek settlements in the region were numerous and small, but by the 8th century BCE they had consolidated themselves into 12 major cities—Phocaea, Erythrae, Clazomenae, Teos, Lebedus, Colophon, Ephesus, Priene, Myus, and [[Miletus]] on the mainland, with the islands [[Chios]] and Samos.By the end of the 7th century the Ionian cities had achieved great prosperity through their trading enterprises, their colonization efforts, and their manufacture of ceramics, textiles, and metalware. After World War One it was granted to Greece from Turkey in the [[Treaty of Sèvres]], along with most of the islands in the [[Aegean Sea|Aegean sea]], [[Thrace]], and Turkey's most important city, [[Istanbul]]. The Turkish army drove the Greeks out soon after, killing many Greek people. They did not challenge the Greeks on the Aegean Islands, though. {{geo-stub}} [[Category:Ancient Greek settlements]]