İskenderun

İskenderun, known to European merchants as Alexandretta, stands at the head of a gulf beneath the Amanus Mountains. Its name recalls Alexander the Great and his victory over Darius near Issus. For the inland city of Aleppo, the harbour offered a Mediterranean outlet across the mountain barrier; for sailors and merchants it was a meeting point between sea routes and the roads of northern Syria.

For a long time Alexandretta remained in the shadow of Tripoli, another port serving Aleppo. In the closing years of the sixteenth century Venetian merchants made growing use of its landing place, and during the early seventeenth century it became Aleppo's principal port. Its commercial life followed the arrival of ships. Few people lived there permanently in the 1660s, but the settlement came alive during the trading season, when merchants, customs officials and travellers gathered around the harbour. When shipping ceased for the season, many departed again.