Izmir is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia and the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara. It is one of the most westernized cities in Turkey. Izmir's metropolitan area extends along the outlying waters of the Gulf of Izmir and inland to the north across the delta of the Gediz River, to the east along an alluvial plain created by several small streams and to a slightly more rugged terrain in the south. The ancient city was known as Smyrna ( Smyrni ), and the city was generally referred to as Smyrna in English, until the Turkish adoption of the Latin alphabet in 1928 made "Izmir" the internationally recognized name.