 
- The land of ancient Asia Minor or Anatolia is today's Turkey.
- The earliest landscape painting in history exists on a wall of a Catalhoyuk house dating from 6200 BC. It shows the eruption of a volcano, probably that of Mountain Hasan.
- St. Nicholas, known as Santa Claus today was born and lived as bishop of Myra in Demre. According to the legend, he secretly bestowed dowries upon the daughters of a poor citizen. This originated the custom of giving presents on the eve oh the feast of St. Nicholas, a tradition later transferred to the Christmas Day.
- The first recorded international treaty in the world was the Treaty of Kadesh between the Hittite and Egyptian Empires, Hattusilis III and Ramses II, in 1284 BC.
- Many city names in different parts of the world such as Philadelphia, Paris, Antioch, Troyor, the continental name "Europe" originate in Anatolia.
- In 640 BC, for the first time in history, coins made of electrum were used by Lydians in Sardis (Sart).
- The oldest known shipwreck on earth was excavated by a team headed by Don Frey in Uluburun near Kaş.
- King Midas was an Anatolian.
- Two of the Seven Wonders of the World stood in Anatolia: the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus and the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus.
- The words of Julius Caesar "Veni, vidi, vici (I came, I saw, I conquered)" were said in Amasya, east of Ankara when he came to Anatolia in 47 BC.
- Anatolia was the first major stronghold of Christianity. The Garden of Eden in the book of Genesis was said to be watered by a river which separated into four streams as it left the garden; two of them Tigris (Dicle) and Euphrates (Fırat) rise from mountains of eastern Turkey.
- Mount Ararat (Agrı) is in Anatolia. It is believed that Ararat is the place where Noah's Ark landed.
- Early Christians escaping from Roman persection sheltered in Cappadocia.
- St .Paul was born in Tarsus (southern Turkey). He undertook most of his missionary journeys and wrote most of his biblical epistles to the early Christians in Anatolia.
- The Seven Churches of Apocalypse are all situated in Anatolia; Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia and Laodicea.
- Any valuable findings from Anatolia can also be seen in museums all over the world. The Pergamum Museum of Berlin contains the Zeus Altar, Gateway to the Sanctuary of Athena from Pergamum Museum, Statues from Priene and the great Market Gate from Miletus. The British Museum has become the adopted home for the Temple of Artemis from Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, and the Harpy Tomb From Xanthos.
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