SMYRNA, a large commercial city of Asia Minor, situated at the head of a long and winding gιιlph on the western coast of the Grecian Archipelago, and, with the exception of Constantinople, the most important sea-port of the Turkish empire. It has an imposing appearance from the sea; and its bay, besides numerous small craft, is frequented by ships from the chief ports of Europe. The present town is about four miles in circuit, and extends about a mile along the water. The bay is so completely landlocked, that nothing is seen from the town but the projecting points that enclose it. The interior of the city is not so inviting as its aspect from without. The streets are narrow, dirty, and ill-paved, and the houses are for the most part unseemly wooden edifices; but though their external appearance is rather gloomy, the situation of those built along the water is delightful, as they have all gardens attached to them, at the foot of which are summer-houses overlooking the sea. Of late years Smyrna has been greatly improved, and well-built hotels and excellent lodginghouses now invite the traveller to a city where, we are assured, not only the “decencies of house-keeping and housefurnishing, but the comforts and luxuries of life flow in abundantly from London and from Paris.” The houses of painted wood, which were so unworthy of its ancient fame, are rapidly giving way to palaces of stone, which are rising in all directions; and in the course of a few years Smyrna will really be an elegant city, with every indication of prosperity and opulence. The bazaars, though well provided with goods, are by no means splendid in their structure. There are two very fine caravanseras, enclosing square courts, which, being covered with cupolas, make a handsome appearance. The shops are also arched over, and are very fine. The principal buildings are the mosques, the baths, the inns, and the market-place. Some of the mosques are very noble edifices; and likewise the inns, as already remarked. At the east end of the city is a large hill, about three quarters of a mile in circumference, on which the castle was built. The edifice appears to have been the work of the Genoese, and to have been by no means magnificent. Along its circumference, however, may still be traced the remains of a very thick and strong wall, apparently that of the ancient castle, and corresponding in its appearance with another which appears to have surrounded the whole city. Behind the city is an extensive plain, most luxuriant and highly cultivated, and crowned with numerous olive-trees; it is watered by a small river, from fifty to a hundred yards broad, which contains little water, unless when artificially confined. Of the former magnificence of this ancient city, scarcely any traces are now to be seen. The reason of this is stated by Pococke to be, that the ancient structures have been demolished to furnish materials for modern ones; and a more recent traveller, Arundel, assigns much the same reason. The present does not occupy the site of the ancient city. The latter was situated on the hills, to the south of the present town; but the earthquakes to which it is subject, and by which it was more than once nearly destroyed, together with the greater convenience of trade, occasioned its removal to the plain below, and to the lower declivities of the mountains; and accordingly it is observed by Mr. Arundel, that “few of the Ionian cities have furnished more relics of antiquity, or of greater merit, than Smyrna. But the convenience of transporting them, with the number of investigations, have exhausted the ruins; it is therefore not at all wonderful, that of the stoas and temples, the very ruins have vanished; and it is now extremely difficult to determine the sites of any of the ancient buildings, with the exception of the stadium, the theatre, and the temple of Jupiter Acraeus, which was within the Acropolis.” Of the stadium here mentioned, the ground-plan only remains, stript of its marble seats and decorations; and only the foundations can be seen of the splendid theatre, built on the slope of a hill, the site of which is now covered with houses. On a gateway belonging to the castle is a colossal statue of very fine workmanship, though much mutilated, which has been supposed to be that of the Amazon Smyrna, from which the city is reported to have derived its name. Marks of a very extensive aqueduct may also be traced, though a late traveller doubts of its very high antiquity.

Smyrna is increasing in population and in wealth. It is a great commercial emporium, and a crowded resort of merchants from all countries, with their various costumes, language, and religion. It is the most general entrepot for the productions of the Levant, and its port is crowded with ships from the most distant ports. It has a safe and capacious roadstead, where there is good anchorage, and where the largest ships can load and unload close to the wharfs. Nearly every power in Europe has a consul at Smyrna, who is vested with more than ordinary authority. There are about twenty commercial houses at Smyrna; and the Venetians, Genoese, and other Italians, the Dalmatians, Dutch, French, and Americans, have also establishments. No other town in Asiatic or European Turkey has so great a trade. All classes are engaged in business. The higher order of Franks deal often to a great extent; while the lower classes, consisting of persons from nearly every country in the Mediterranean, obtain employment as boatmen, carpenters, tailors, shoemakers, and the trade is carried on by Jews, mostly brokers. The Greek dealers are in general petty shopkeepers, very cunning, and not remarkably trustworthy. The Jews are liable to the same objections, but they often guarantee each other’s transactions. The Armenians are the largest traffickers, but though usually strict at a bargain, they are generally solvent, and honourable as well as honest. The Turkish dealers, are, however, superior to them in all moral qualities, as they are inferior in means and in talents for business; yet they sometimes deal largely, and their bond is punctually discharged the day it becomes due.

The largest article of import is coffee, the favourite beverage of all classes in Turkey and Western Asia. The chief supply is derived from America, from England, France, also in smaller quantities from Holland, Trieste, Leghorn, and Genoa. Sugar is the next article in importance, and the supply is furnished by the same countries which supply coffee. Indigo is exclusively imported from England. The exports from Smyrna consist of silk from Brassa, about two hundred miles from Smyrna, which is forwarded by caravans to this port, and is the richest article of export. This branch of trade promises to increase, as there is so great a demand for the raw material in Britain. Opium is largely exported, particularly to America, whence it has found its way to China, though the trade is now vigorously proscribed by the Chinese authorities, and has caused the expulsion of the English from the port of Canton. Drugs and gums are exported to the English market; galls for England, Germany, France, and Valona or Avlona, a sea-port in European Turkey at the entrance of the Gulf of Venice. British shipping receives full cargoes of this more than of any other article, with the exception of fruit. These, with madder, sponges, olive-oil, wax, hare-skins, goats and sheep’s wool, complete the articles of export. Figs and raisins may be considered as the great staple article of Smyrna, which are celebrated for their excellence, and are exported in large quantities. The exports from this country to Smyrna are increasing. From 1827 to 1830, they had increased from L.53l,704 to L.1,139,616, nine-tenths of which were cotton goods, for which there is a great desire, being cheaper than those from any other quarter; and the late commercial treaty concluded with Turkey in 1838 will extend this trade.[7:20:430] Smyrna is well supplied with provisions, with fish and fruit of all kinds, and with excellent wines from the interior or from the islands. Of late years a great change has taken place in the manners and character of its inhabitants. Mr. Arundel, who resided many years in the place as British chaplain, has stated that numerous printing-presses, and journals in the different languages, viz. French, English, Greek, and Italian, have familiarised the inhabitants of Smyrna with the politics and literature of Europe. Even a few years' ago, the Greek youths of Smyrna had no other means of acquiring knowledge, but very inferior day-schools and private instruction. There are now not only several seminaries, one dignified with the name of a college, for the education of the French youth of both sexes, but likewise for the Greeks there are various free schools, where numerous pupils not only learn the rudiments of knowledge, but also every branch of polite literature. There is a public dispensary, where persons of all nations are gratuitously relieved without regard to any distinction of religion. It is not easy to form an accurate account of the population. Mr. Arundel estimates the number of inhabitants from 100,000 to 120,000. There are twenty mosques, three Greek churches, two for Roman Catholics, one Armenian, one Protestant Episcopal, and one Dutch. The Jews have numerous synagogues, and the environs are adorned with cypress groves, the burial-places of the Mahometans.

Smyrna was one of the most celebrated cities in the ancient world, and claims, along with others, to be the birthplace of Homer. It is said originally to have been a colony from Ephesus, and soon attained to great prosperity. The original city was destroyed by the Lydians, and was rebuilt by Antigonus and Lysimachus, though on a somewhat different spot. It surpassed its former splendour: the streets were beautifully laid out, well paved, and adorned with porticos. Under the Roman emperors, Smyrna, which was esteemed one of the most beautiful of the Ionian cities, was ruined by the desolations of the barbarians. It was captured by Tamerlane, and sacked, with great slaughter of the inhabitants. When the Turks gained undisputed possession of the Greek empire, and peace was restored, commerce again revived, owing to the favourable position of the place; and from that period it enjoyed almost uninterrupted repose, until the era of the Greek revolution. That event has now passed away, and Smyrna is prospering as the greatest commercial city in the Levant. Long. 27. 4. 45. E. Lat. 38. 29. N.