History The ancient name of Niğde is “Nahita”. The finds from Bahçeli and the tin mine unearthed in Çamardı-Kestel show that the history of Niğde dates back to 5,000 B.C. From Assyrian and Hittite written documents we learn that Hittite rule began in 1,800 B.C. and continued for a thousand years.  The region passed to the Phrygians rule after the Assyrians ended the Hittite domination in 710 B.C. Until the Romans came to the region in 17 B.C. it had been home to the Medines, the Persians, the Hellenistic Cappadocian Kingdom of Alexander and the Kingdom of Pergamum. When in 395 A.D. the Roman Empire split into two, Niğde became part of Byzantine (East Roman) lands. Seljuk Dynasty began as the Turks came in Anatolia in 1071 and continued to expand until 1308. In 1470 the region was definitively under the rule of the Ottoman Empire and remained so until the emergence of the Turkish Republic. During the Ottoman period, Niğde lost its old importance to a great extent. With the establishment of the Republic, it gained provincial status in 1923.