Human and economical geographical features of Hisarcik

In this study which the town of Hisarcık of Kütahya was chosen as the studyarea, the human and economical geographical features of the area were tried to beexamined. The town of Hisarcık which is our research subject is located at the innerWest Anatolia part of the Aegean region. The town is 110 km far to the city centre ofKütahya. It is surrounded with the town of Emet in the East and North, towns of Gedizand Simav in the South, and town of Simav in the West.Hisarcık was administratively dependent to the town of Emet of Kütahya until1987. Hisarcık?s history began to change by making work of the borax mine which wasfound by the studies of the German Committee that came to the area in 1958. Afoundation and a washing factory were built at Hisarcık to make the mine work byEtibank. As a result of this liveliness brought by the mine foundation, the towndeveloped rapidly. Hisarcık has become town in 1987.The are of Hisarcık is 329 km2. Hisarcık has 4 villages with municipalityorganization and 21 villages, totally 25 settling areas which are administrativelydependent to it. The villages have a united structure. According to 2000 census, thepopulation of Hisarcık town centre is 6321, the rural population is 14581 and the totalpopulation of the town is 20902 people. 69,8 percent of the 20902 people reside in ruralarea and 30,2 percent reside in town. 50,06 percent of the population is male and 49,94percent is female.The average altitude above the sea level is 825 meters. Emet Stream (Kocadere)flows through the town centre. Emet Stream comes from the Southeast of town, passesby the East and Northeast of town and reaches to Susurluk Stream.The main means of subsistence at the villages of the surveying area areagriculture and cattle-breeding. Service sector has made a considerable developmentafter Hisarcık became town. Small-sized factories and service-repair workshops formthe industrial activities. The are is fairly convenient to develop in tourism with its geotermal springs and gren lands.The development in economical and cultural activities in the area, will decreasethe population movement out of town, and will accelerate the development of the area.