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Manisa (Ottoman Turkish: مانيسا Manisa; Greek: Μαγνησία) is a large city in Turkey's Aegean Region and the seat of Manisa Province. Historically, the city was also called Magnesia, and more precisely as Magnesia ad Sipylum, by the name of the Mount Sipylus (Mount Spil) that towers over the city. The English language root words "magnet" and "magnesia", their derivations, as well as their equivalents in many other languages, derive from the city's name. In Ottoman times, many of the sons of sultans received their education in Manisa and the city is commonly known as "the city of shahzades" (Şehzadeler şehri) in Turkey, a distinctive title it shares only with Amasya and Trabzon. Today, Manisa is a booming center of industry and services, advantaged by its closeness to the international port city and the regional metropolitan center of İzmir and by its fertile hinterland rich in quantity and variety of agricultural production. Traditionally spreading out immediately from the slopes of the Mount Sipylus, Manisa's area of extension more than tripled in size in the last decade, with the construction of new block apartments, industrial zones and the Celal Bayar University campus. |