The human and economic geography of Gelendost district (Isparta)

Gelendost is a district of Isparta Province located in the Lakes Region. The district is located in the Northeast of Isparta. Gelendost has an area of 624 km² and its altitude above sea level is an average of 940 meters. Yalvaç is located in the north of Gelendost, Eğirdir in the south, Şarkikaraağaç and Yenişarbademli in the east and Eğirdir Lake in the west of Gelendost. It has a 27 km coast to Eğirdir Lake. Gelendost, which was connected to the province of Konya in 1415, later became a village of Afşar sub- district with the development of Afşar Village. Gelendost, which became the sub-district center again in 1930, was connected to the Şarkikaraağaç district and in 1954 it acquired the District Status. Although Gelendost is located in the Mediterranean Region as a geographical region, like Isparta to which it is affiliated, its climate does not have the characteristics of the full Mediterranean climate. It is affected by both the Mediterranean climate and the continental climate of Central Anatolia. For this, it can be called as transition climate between Mediterranean climate and continental climate. The fact that the summer is hot and dry in the region where the steppe area occupies a lot of space makes it necessary to irrigate agricultural products from the beginning of June. While there were 15 villages in Gelendost, a sub-district of Şarkikaraağaç district in 1935, the number of settlements connected to Eğirdir, Mahmatlar and Sarıidris villages, decreased to 13 in 1940. There any has not been administrative border change since 1940. The municipal status of Bağıllı Village, which was converted into a town in 1967 and Yaka Village, which was turned into a town in 1975, ended in 2013 due to the population falling below 2000 people. It is seen that the population of Gelendost, which was 9739 in 1940, reached 17757 in 1970 and 22739 in 1990. In this period in which the population constantly increased, fluctuations occurred in the population growth rate after 1970 due to the migration of workers outside the country. With the acceleration of migration from rural to urban in the 2000s, the Gelendost population declined to 15059 in 2021. The oldest settlements within the borders of Gelendost district date back to BC. It dates backto 3000 years. Throughout the history of the research area; It came under the domination of Hittite, Phrygian, Lydian, Persian, Roman, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman civilizations. In Gelendost, which gained the status of a district in 1954, today there are 13 village settlements outside the district center. The main economic livelihood in Gelendost is agriculture and animal husbandry. Agricultural activities are more prominent than livestock activities. While dry farming areas had a share of 90% in the the total agricultural areas in the early 1990s, today the share of irrigated agricultural areas in the total agricultural areas has increased to 35% with the irrigation projects that have started to operate. This situation made apple cultivation gain importance in the region. Compared to 1991, apple production increased 10 times in 2021. Thus, the share of agriculture in economic activities has also increased. Keywords; Human Geopraphy, Economic Geopraphy, Isparta, Gelendost, Agriculture