As indicated previously, the Bursa Plain region has been inhabited since the Neolithic. The intensive
settlement that took place here during the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Eras, as well as in Antiquity, was due
largely to its highly convenient geographical characteristics.
The question remains as to what effect thirty years of such intensive immigration and subsequent unplanned
urbanization has had on the Bursa Plain and surrounding settlements. The General Censuses of 1980, 1985, 2000
and 2008 provide important clues regarding the great change that has taken place in both rural settlements and
the city of Bursa. According to the General Census of 1980, there were 27 villages on the Bursa Plain at altitudes
of between 75 and 100 m, inhabited by a total of 57,826 people.