Mersin is a large city and a port on the Mediterranean coast of southern Turkey. It is part of an interurban agglomeration – the Adana-Mersin Metropolitan Area – and lies on the western part of Çukurova, a geographical, economical, and cultural region. According to the 17th-century traveler Evliya Çelebi, the city was named after the Mersinogullari clan; another theory is that its name originates from the myrtle  which grows abundantly in the region.