The Rural Settlements in the District of Çumra

Abstract

Konya iline bağlı Çumra İlçesi, kuzeyde Karatay, doğuda Karapınar, batıda Akören ve Meram, güneybatıda Bozkır, güneyde Güneysınır ilçeleri, güneydoğuda ise Karaman ili ile sınırlıdır. Bu çalışma ile Çumra ilçesi sınırları içinde yer alan kırsal yerleşme alanlarının, kuruluş yeri ve coğrafi özellikleri yerleşme coğrafyası açısından değerlendirilecektir. Araştırma sahasında jeolojik unsurlar olarak Mesozoik, Tersiyer ve Kuaterner’e ait formasyonlar yer almakla birlikte, Neojen tabakaları ve bunların üzerinde bulunan Kuaterner’e ait alüvyonlar geniş yer kaplar. Bölgenin başlıca morfolojik birimler; dağlıktepelik alanlar, ova tabanı ve Eski Konya Gölü’ne ait topografya şekilleridir. Çumra ve çevresinin iklim özellikleri yazları sıcak ve kurak, kışları soğuk ve kar yağışlıdır. Bu iklim özelliğinin bir sonucu olarak yörede ilkbahar yağışları ile hızla gelişen ve çiçeklenen, yaz kuraklığı ile kuruyan step vejetasyonu ortaya çıkarmıştır. Çumra ve çevresi M.Ö. 7000’li yıllardan bu yana yerleşmeye sahne olmuştur. Çünkü Çumra ve çevresindeki düz ve geniş alüvyal topraklarının kolay işlenebilmesi ve bu topraklardan bol ürün alınması, bu sahanın tarih boyunca farklı insan guruplarının yaşama alanı haline getirmiştir. Çumra ve çevresinin tarih öncesini anlatan en önemli merkez Neolitik dönem yerleşmesi olan Çatalhöyük’tür. Yöre tarih öncesi dönemden sonra sırasıyla Hititler, Frigyalılar, Lidyalılar, Romalılar, Selçuklular, Karamanoğulları ve Osmanlı egemenliği altında kalmıştır. Çumra’da 2012 yılında 1 kent (Çumra ilçe merkezi), 10 belediye örgütlü (kasaba) yerleşme ve 30 köy yerleşmesi vardır. Bu çalışmamızda Çumra ilçesi sınırları içinde yer alan kırsal yerleşmelerin özellikleri incelenecektir. 2011 yılı ADNKS sonuçlarına göre Çumra ilçesi sınırları içinde toplam nüfus 64.597 olup, bunun 34.586’sı kasaba ve köylerde, 30.011’i ilçe merkezinde yer almaktadır. Çumra ilçesi nüfusunun % 54’ü kırsal kesimde yaşamaktadır. Araştırma sahasındaki kırsal yerleşmeleri; bulundukları yükselti kademeleri ve morfolojik ünitelere, konumlarına, ekonomik faaliyetlerine göre, fizyonomik özelliklerine, ormana göre ve yerleşme planlarına göre tiplendirmek mümkündür. Araştırma sahasındaki köylerin mesken tipleri ve fonksiyonları, birbirinden çok farklı özellikler göstermez. Meskenleri, geleneksel ve modern konutlar olarak iki kategoride inceleyebiliriz. Geleneksel köy konutlarının büyük bir bölümü kerpiç toprak mesken iken, dağlık alandaki köy yerleşmelerinde ise toprak ve taş meskenler karışık olarak bulunmaktadır. Araştırma sahasında yer alan bir diğer köy konutları ise modern konutlardır. Çumra ilçesindeki yerleşmelerin ulaşım imkânları gelişmiş bulunmaktadır. Zaten çalışma alanı Konya-Karaman D-715 devlet karayolu üzerindedir. İlçe merkezi ve köylerin birbirlerine olan bağlantılı yolları asfalttır.The district of Çumra of Konya, situated on the south of Turkey’s largest closed basin, Konya lowland, overlays 2,320 square kilometers. The neighbouring districts are Karatay in the north, Karapınar in the east, Akören and Meram in the west, Bozkır in the southwest, Güneysınır in the south and Karaman in the southeast as a neighbouring city. In the study, principal locations and geographical features of the rural settlements in the district have been analyzed and evaluated in terms of settlement geography. In the research zone, not only formations as geological elements belonging to Mesosoic, Tersier and Kuarterner, but also silt belonging to Kuaterner and Neogen layers on which silt deposits covers a large area. Mountainous regions, base of lowland and the figures of topography belonging to the Old Lake of Konya consist the morphological units of the district. The mountainous regions consist of marn, conglomerate and pebbly limestone. In the western part of the Çumra lowland is covered with the eastern slopes of the mountains (Abazdağ) called Erenler-Alacadağ which lay in northern and southern directions, and the plateaus in front of these slopes. In the northern and eastern parts of the land, the rest of the base of the lowland lays. The base of lowland, where silt coming from the Taurus mountains and the vicinity deposited during the Neogen Era, is in 1000-1100 m izohips. Fullfilled with the alluviums came from around and the Taurus mountains has been between 1000-1100 izohips. During the Pleistosen Era, the lowland of Konya had humid and fluvial climate and was covered by a lake roughly about 15-20 m in depth, and even today, it’s possible to find residuals of the lake in the lowland of Çumra which has many similarities with the lowland of Konya. The climate of the district of Çumra and the vicinity is hot and dry in summer, whereas it’s cold and snowy in winter. On average, the annual temperature of the region is 11 degrees in Celsius and the annual rainfall is 324 mm. The insufficiency of rainfall in the region and the irregularity in the dispersion of the rainfall for months and seasons adversely affect the vegetation cover and the humidity levels of the land. As a result of these climatical features, the region now has step vegetation with fast growing plants and flowers in spring and totally dried out plants in summer. In the timberland in the soutwest of the district, oak and juniper exist dispersedly. The most vital hydrographical units of the research zone include the Çarsamba river, The Apa dam and The Old Hotamış Lake. The 90 percent of the project of the Apa dam was to support irrigation of the fields in the region, whereas 10 percent of the project was to prevent floods. Therefore, in 1963 the dam was constructed on the Çarşamba river. Another hydrographical unit is the region of the Old Hotamış Lake, and its remainder dried the Hotamış Lake is now partly swampy. Efforts and constructions are still underway around the Hotamış Lake to store the water diverted to the lowland of Konya through the Mavi Tünel project from the Göksu Basin. In the research zone, silt, brown soil, regosol soil, hydromorphic alluvial soil and red-brown soil are common. In the lowland in the region, mostly covering soil is silt in the group of azonal soils. These soil lands are crucial for agricultural activities. In the mountainous region in the southwest of the borders of the district, there is soil in the color of red-maroon. Çumra and the vicinity has been settlement since 7000 BC. As the region and the vicinity are rich in plain lands and fertile soil to cultivate and get abundant yields, the region has been a residence for many different human being communities throughout history. The Catalhoyuk, a Neolithic Age settlement, is the most important place which gives information about the history of Çumra. Çatalhöyük is one of the first settlements of the world where people lived together during the prehistoric and historic ages. There are many more different hoyuk settlements remaining from the Neolithic Age and the following ages in Çumra and in the other villages. After the prehistoric age, the region has been under the sovereignty of, respectively, The Hittites, The Phrygians, The Lydians, The Persians, The Romans, The Seljuks, The Karamanoğulları State and The Ottoman Empire. The settlements in the district of Çumra can be divided into two groups as agricultural settlements ( village settlements, the village settlements organized by municipality) and urban settlements ( the center of Çumra). At present, in Çumra, there are one urban (the center of Çumra), ten villages organized by municipality, and 30 village settlements. In the study, the features of the rural settlements in the district of Çumra will be analyzed. According to the results of the year 2011 ADNKS, total population of the district is 64.597 (31.944 male, 32.653 female). 34.586 of the population live in small towns and villages (17.097 male, 17.489 female), whereas 30.011 of the population live in the center of the district (14.847 male, 15.164 female). The 54 percent of the population of the district of Çumra live in agricultural regions. It is possible to group the names of the village settlements in the district variously. 4 villages are named because of tribal or family names, 2 villages due to individual names, 3 villages because of nature, 17 villages owing to the ancient structures and settlements, 2 villages with appellation, 2 villages because of professions, 2 villages owing to color names, and 2 villages are named because of the words qualifying nouns. The structure of 26 villages in the district is corporated, the structure of 4 villages is seperated. The categorization of the villages for their relation to the timberland may be spoken of as the following; 4 villages are in the forest, 1 village is near the forest, 25 villages are out of the forest. For the economical activities, the first economical income of 26 villages is agriculture, whereas the first economical source of 4 villages is ranching. In the research zone, the types and functions of the homes in the villages don’t show significant differences. Still, in terms of the decisive features of climate and natural vegetation, the geomorphological circumstances of the villages, the common economic activities, social, cultural and economical features, there are some differences. We can examine the agricultural houses in two categories as traditional and modern. The most of the village houses consist of traditional village houses. Because there are more traditional houses in the region and they are peculiar to the region, it will be useful to analyze the traditional village houses especially for the construction materials. The majority of the traditional village houses in the district are made of adobe. The adobe is a construction material that is made of soil blended with straw, dried under sun and shaped in wooden molds. The majority of these houses have flat roofs. In the village settlements in the southwest of the research zone, houses made of adobe and stone are located. In these villages, because of heavy snowfall in winter, the houses are covered with zinc and tile widely. Besides the traditional village houses, other village houses in the research zone are modern ones. The differences between the construction materials (reinforced concrete briquette and brick), which separate these modern houses from traditional ones, demonstrate the economical standards variety of their owners. Some of these houses belong to the citizens who work abroad and these residences are seasonally accomodated. The transportation systems of the settlements in the district of Çumra are well-designed and developed. At present, the research zone is on the D-715 mainway between Karaman and Konya. From all of the rural settlements to the center of Çumra, the transportation is easy. The connected roads of district center and villages are made of asphalt and open for the transportation during all seasons. The distances of the rural settlements to the center of the district varies from 7 to 60 km and the majority of these villages have public transport facilities