[1] The site of the modern city has been home to settlements by many historic Anatolian civilizations in antiquity and classical times, including Phrygians, Lydians, Persians and Alexander the Great, Romans, and Galatians.

The city of Ankara became a fortified stronghold of the Byzantines; it fell to the Seljuk Turks and later the Ottoman Empire.

The province is irrigated by the Kızılırmak and Sakarya River systems, the Sarıyar reservoir and many natural lakes and pools.

[1] ^a The population of the city center was not included after 1980, due to the fact that Ankara received the metropolitan status.

The climate is hot and dry in summer, rainy in spring and autumn, cold and snowy in winter, wetter in the north of the province than the drier plains to the south.