The town is on a road and rail crossing, a natural intersection of routes between Adana, Hatay and Gaziantep.

The great fortress known as Toprakkale (Arabic: Tall Hamdūn; Frankish: Thil Hamd(o)un; Armenian: T'il Hamdun) was founded in the 8th century by the Abbasids.

The walls are protected by numerous round towers and a lethal array of embrasured loopholes (shooting ports).

Roughly 100 meters from the base of the outcrop at the west and north is a curving fortified circuit wall which creates a separate ward far larger than the interior of the summit fortress.

Toprakkale appears to be the result of many periods of construction, with the Mamluks as the last of the significant contributors.