Corum
Çorum hosted the Hittite capital Hattusa (1700-1200 BCE) whose cuneiform tablets are now UNESCO Memory of the World—2026 tests whether archaeological tourism can grow alongside the automobile parts factories that now define its economy.
Çorum exists because the Hittite Empire needed a capital, and Hattusa—now a UNESCO World Heritage Site in the district of Boğazkale—served that function from 1700 BCE to 1200 BCE. This was not a minor kingdom: at its peak, the Hittite Empire controlled most of Anatolia, northern Syria, and parts of Mesopotamia. The legal system emphasized restitution over retribution; the economy ran on agriculture, trade, and tribute through ports like Ura and Troy. When the Bronze Age collapse destroyed this civilization around 1200 BCE, it left behind cuneiform tablets now preserved in the Çorum Museum and listed in UNESCO's Memory of the World register.
The province's formation reflects this archaeological inheritance. Human presence extends to the Paleolithic Age, but it was the Bronze Age Hittites who put the region on history's map. Every three years, an International Hittite Congress brings archaeologists to Çorum, and the International Hitit Fair and Festival celebrates the heritage that makes this inland Anatolian province globally significant despite its modest population of 524,000.
The transformation came through industrial diversification. Historically, Çorum's economy relied on traditional crafts—coppersmithing, tanning, hand weaving, animal husbandry. Over the past two decades, the city has become one of Turkey's most industrially advanced relative to population size. Where 20 tile and brick facilities and 10 flour mills once dominated, the province now produces cement, automobile parts, refined sugar, dairy products, textiles, computer components, and poultry through chicken farming.
Present-day Çorum (population 269,595 in the city, 524,130 provincewide) balances archaeological tourism with manufacturing growth. Located 244 kilometers from Ankara and 608 kilometers from Istanbul, it occupies an inland position that historically isolated it from coastal trade but now protects it from congestion.
By 2026, Çorum will test whether Hittite heritage tourism can grow alongside light manufacturing. The same territory that hosted the Bronze Age's most advanced legal system now hosts automobile parts factories—a transformation that would have surprised the cuneiform scribes whose tablets now draw international scholars.