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.