While the date of the city's foundation is uncertain, archaeological evidence indicates habitation at least since the Stone Age, and a thriving Phrygian town was located in the area at the end of the 2nd millennium BC. Alexander the Great conquered Ankara in 334 BC, and in the 3rd century BC the town served as the capital of the Tectosages, a tribe of Galatia (the ancient name for the region around Ankara). In 25 BC Ankara was incorporated into the Roman Empire by the emperor Augustus.

As a city of the Byzantine Empire, Ankara was attacked by both the Persians and the Arabs. In about 1073 Ankara fell to the Seljuq Turks, but the crusader Raymond IV of Toulouse drove them out again in 1101. The Byzantines, however, were unable to maintain their control, and Ankara became a bone of contention between the Seljuqs and their rivals among the Turkish frontier lords. After 1143, Seljuq princes fought among themselves for possession of the city. With the establishment of the Seljuq Empire, Ankara declined.

In 1356 the city was captured by Orhan (Orkhan), the second sultan of the Ottoman (Ottoman Empire) dynasty, and it became a part of the Ottoman domains in 1360. Ankara was besieged during the Anatolian campaign of Timur (Tamerlane). In 1403 it again became subject to Ottoman rule and, in subsequent centuries, regained its importance as a commercial and urban centre because of its location on the caravan route to the East.

After World War I, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (Atatürk, Kemal), the Turkish nationalist leader, made Ankara the centre of the resistance movement against both the government of the Ottoman sultan and the invading Greek forces; he established his headquarters there in 1919. Ankara was declared the capital of Turkey in 1923.

The architecture of the city reflects its varied history. Remains from the Roman era include a bath, the Column of Julian, and the Temple of Roma and Augustus. Byzantine remnants include the citadel and a cemetery. The square Alâeddin Mosque, with one minaret, is located near the walled citadel and dates from the Seljuq era. Ottoman buildings are numerous and include the Hacı Bayram Cami (1429), the Mahmud Pasa market (1464), and a 15th-century bazaar and caravansary that has been converted to house the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations. The modern city contains the huge Atatürk Mausoleum complex.

Government is the main business in the city, but Ankara is also Turkey's second most important industrial city after Istanbul. Factories producing wine and beer, flour, sugar, macaroni products, biscuits, milk, cement, terrazzo (mosaic paving), construction materials, and tractors are well established. Service and tourist industries are expanding rapidly.

Ankara is an important crossroads for trade and forms a major junction in the road network of Turkey. The city lies on the main east-west rail line across Anatolia. Esenboğa Airport, to the northeast, provides international services.

The city is the seat of the University of Ankara (established 1946), Hacettepe University (1206), and the Middle East Technical University (1956). The National Library is also located there, as are the state theatre and the Presidential Symphony Orchestra.

Several of Ankara's museums, which present a panorama of Anatolian history, are housed in renovated Ottoman buildings. The most important of these are the Museum of Anatolian Civilizations (with its world-renowned Hittite collection) and the Ethnographic Museum (with its holdings related to Turkish history, folklore, and art). The Atatürk Mausoleum contains the Atatürk Museum, which displays many of Atatürk's personal effects. Pop. (2000) 3,203,362.