[2] The provincial capital and the biggest city in the province is Mersin, which is composed of four municipalities and district governorates: Akdeniz, Mezitli, Toroslar and Yenişehir.

The 17th-century Ottoman traveler Evliya Çelebi has recorded in his Seyahatnâme that there was also a clan named Mersinoğulları in the area.

The coastal strip has many large areas of flatland, formed from soil brought down by rivers and streams running off the mountains.

The climate is typical of the Mediterranean; very hot and rainless in summer, mild and wet in winter.

In antiquity, this coast was part of Cilicia, named for a Phoenician or Assyrian prince that had settled here.

Trade from Syria and Mesopotamia over the mountains to central Anatolia passed through here, through the Cilician Gates.

Due to the economic activity in this part of Turkey generated by the GAP Project Mersin is Turkey's biggest Mediterranean port, and also hosts an oil refinery and a free trade zone; there are a number of factories along the road between Mersin and Adana, manufacturing glass, detergents, fertilizers and many more.

In summer the hills are a popular retreat from the high humidity and extreme heat on the coast.