Rethinking the Industrial Heritage of Ayvalik through Trajectories on Extracting Olive Oil and Soap Making

Abstract

Ayvalik, a city located in northwest Anatolia, has been at the forefront of olive-based industries since the 1880s, when the industrialization of Europe led to the growth of commerce and agriculture in Anatolia, including first Istanbul and Izmir, followed by Ayvalik, due to their strategic locations. Ayvalik, which was an important Greek settlement under Ottoman rule, experienced a major turning point with the population exchange between Greece and Turkey in 1923, an event that caused dramatic changes in the political, demographic, and economic structure of all of Anatolia. Nonetheless, Ayvalik has maintained its importance through its ongoing olive-based industries and well-preserved historical urban fabric, the likes of which represents one of an exceptional example of living testimony of continuing land-use by Turks. Following the relocation of industrial activities in the 1980s, many of the industrial heritage buildings became non-functional, while half of them were converted into different cultural-touristic sites in the 2000s. This study presents a comprehensive view of the industrial heritage of Ayvalik by performing an up-to-date synthesis of the cultural material related to trajectories on industry and production processes to understand the evolution of the industrial heritage and how urban and daily life have been reflected and transformed.