KOCAELI

il (province), of northwestern Turkey, with an area of 1,428 sq mi (3,698 sq km), bounded on the north by the Black Sea and on the west by the Sea of Marmara. It is drained by the lower course of the Sakarya River. It was once part of the kingdom of Bithynia (3rd century BC), and Hannibal was buried there (at modern Gebze) in 183 BC. The area was taken from the Byzantine Empire by the Ottoman Turks in the 14th century. Izmit (q.v.), lying on the Izmit Krfezi (gulf), is the capital and chief city. It serves as the main outlet for the agricultural (chiefly sugar beets and tobacco), forest, and industrial (mainly cement, paper products, textiles, and petroleum) products of the il. Pop. (1983 est.) 673,600.