Erzincan lies in the west of eastern Anatolia, in the Euphrates basin. It has been an important settlement since the second millennium BC, and the Hittites, Urartians, Persians, Greeks and Romans all held it in turn. After the battle of Manzikert in 1071 it passed to Turkish rule.
It also stood on the historic Silk Road, which made it a point of cultural passage for centuries — and that long history is why the province has the mixed inheritance and the many-sided identity it does.
The landscape is the other half of the province. The Kemaliye canyon, also called Karanlık, ranks among the notable canyons of the world: ringed by high rock, it offers ground for walking and for extreme sports alike. The Euphrates, one of the region's major rivers, makes an ideal course for rafting, and the Girlevik waterfall draws people in summer for its cool air.
