Karabük, Karabuk Turkey

town, northwestern Turkey, on the Yenice River. Once a small hamlet, it has grown rapidly since the establishment of Turkey's first major iron and steel complex there in 1940. The works were expanded greatly in the 1950s and '60s. Facilities include a coking plant, blast furnaces, a foundry, and tube works; chemical plants produce sulfuric acid and phosphates. The mills receive coal and manganese by rail from Zonguldak and iron ore from the Divriği mines; dolomite and limestone are obtained locally. Karabük lies on the Ankara-Zonguldak railway line and is linked by road with Ankara and Kastamonu. Pop. (1990) 105,373.

Karabük is one of the newest provinces of Turkey in the Northern part of Anatolia located about 200 kilometers north of Ankara. Until few years ago it was a district of Zonguldak than in 1995 it became a city of its own. It was built in the 1930s as the seat of the iron and steel industry of Turkey. Its area is 1.376 square kilometers with a population of 230.000 approximately. Karabük lies in a location near Filyos river formed by the merge of Arac and Soganli rivers. Districts of the city are: Safranbolu, Yenice, Eflani, Eskipazar, and Ovacik.

In the old times Karabük was an important route between Amasra on the coast and central Anatolia. The history of the city goes back to the early years of the Republic, it was a small sub-village formed by 13 houses in the Oglebeli village of Safranbolu. There was also a small train station on the route of Ankara - Zonguldak. It started to develop with the industrialization of the country. One of the first steal factories of the Republic was built here in 1939 after which it grew rapidly.

There are no proven facts about the origin of its name; in Turkish Kara means Black or Land and Bük means corner. But some local people believe that Bük is the name of the vegetation in the area, so maybe Karabük means "Land of Bük vegetation".

Karabük has its own resources of dolomite and limestone, while coal and manganese is brought from Zonguldak and iron ore from Divrigi. This allows a varied, yet basic industry in Karabük, including a coking plant, blast furnaces, a foundry and tube works. There are also chemical plants that produce sulfuric acid and phosphates. Nearby are the Zonguldak coal fields.

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