3-008-983 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

View of Smyrna from the west - Turkish Quarter, 1862. Engraving from a photograph by Mr. E. A. Drew, chief engineer of the Ottoman Railway. 'The extension of the Ottoman Smyrna and Aidin Railway to Ephesus...has laid open Ionia, with its rich resources and interesting associations, to the merchant and the traveller. Simultaneously with the opening, the fig crop of Aidin was brought down by hundreds of camels to Ephesus and transported by railway to Smyrna for shipment to the London market by steamer...The famous city and seaport...is the principal commercial emporium of Asia Minor...Its estimated population is 160,000, of whom 90,000 are Turks, 40,000 Greeks, 15,000 Jews, 10,000 Armenians, and 5000 Franks. The houses are mostly of wood and only one story in height, the streets being narrow. The Frank and Greek quarters extend for about two miles and a half along the shore; above these is the Armenian quarter; and the Turks occupy the upper parts of the city, having between them and the Armenians two close quarters inhabited by the Jews...Smyrna has a large Armenian academy, and it is the residence of Consuls of most of the principal European States'. From "Illustrated London News", 1862.