Ankara first achieved prominance as a crossroads. Akuwash, the Hittite name for the city, was established over 3000 years ago at the intersection of 2 trade routes. The Phrygians moved in after the decline of the Hittite empire and then Alexander the Great arrived. Subsequently occupied by the Seleucids and the Galatians Ankyra became part of the Roman Empire in 25 BC.

The Byzantines hung on to the city until 1071 AD when the Seljuk Turks rolled into town (renaming it Enguriye). The city's importance declined throughout the Ottoman period until Angora was just somewhere that goats were raised and everybody had nice jumpers.

The collapse of the Ottoman Empire and the birth of the Turkish Republic shook things up a little. Ataturk founded his provisional government here in 1920 and the population hs increased from 30,000 to it's current figure of 5 million or so.

Ankara was designed to be a modern capital city. The basic model was that of a spacious European city with parks and wide boulevards. Much of the original vision has subsequently been lost but there are still areas of the city where you'll forget that you're in Asia. The "melting pot of East and West" motif has been just about worn out but it applies here perhaps more than anywhere else in Turkey.