Kültürel coğrafya açısından Eşme yöresinde su yapıları (musluklar)

Abstract

Esme district is located within the administrative boundaries of Usak province in the Inner-Western Anatolia Section of Aegean Region. The research field, which covers an area of 1156 km2, includes a municipality with 60 villages and 114 towns. Esme is surrounded by Usak central district in the north, Ulubey district in the east, Denizli district in the south, and Manisa's Alasehir, Sarigol and Kula districts in the west. Esme is located within the drainage basin of Buyuk Menderes and Gediz rivers. The side branches of these two rivers forming the most important rivers of the Aegean Region also approach each other within the boundaries of Esme. There are few numbers of water sources and water structures with surface flow in the district. This has increased the number of fountains that are regarded as cultural treasures. Even though these small water structures built to meet the water needs of travelers on the road are given different names in different regions, they are generally referred as "fountain". On the roads leading to different directions from the district of Esme, these fountains are arranged along the linear lines. The most frequent place to see these structures is the main road route connecting Esme to Usak. Fountains are arranged on this line at irregular intervals. There are also numerous fountains along the road connecting Esme to the Usak-Izmir highway in the north and extending along the ridge. There are also a number of original fountains on the village roads extending from Omurca town to the northwest and connecting the villages of Esme to each other. Several fountains can also be found along the roads surrounding Ahmetler in the vicinity of the present Esme Vocational High School in the outskirts of Esme. Having once met the water needs of the travelers, these small water structures have recently lost their functions, and they go to ruins and disappear one by one.