Niğde is a small rural province in the southern part of Central Anatolia, Turkey. Population is 337.931 (2010 est) of which 100.418 live in the city of Niğde. The population was 348,081 in 2000 and 305.861 in 1990. It covers an area of 7,312 km². Neighbouring provinces are Kayseri, Adana, Mersin, Konya, Aksaray and Nevşehir.

The province is surrounded on three sides by ranges of the Taurus Mountains, including Mount Hasan and the Melendiz mountains. To the west lies the plain of Emen, which opens up into the wide plain of Konya. The plain is covered with nutritious volcanic soil and Niğde is a successful agricultural region, particularly apples and potatoes.

Surrounded by mountains and at a fairly high altitude the area has a dry and chilly climate and is exposed to snows brought by cold north winds in winter. Average rainfall 0.9 mm, 78.5 mm in April, practically zero in July and August. Therefore the hillsides are more or less bare of vegetation, with some forest at the higher altitudes.
See Niğde Province for a summary of the history of the region, which goes back a long way. This is rich famland near a number of ancient trade routes, particularly the road from Kayseri (ancient Caesarea) to the Cilician Gates. Settlers throughout history include Hittites, Assyrians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantines and finally Turks from 1166 onwards. By the early 13th century Niğde was one of the largest cities in Anatolia. After the fall of the Sultanate of Rûm (of which it had been one of the principal cities), Niğde became independent, and, according to Ibn Battuta, ruinous, and did not pass into Ottoman hands till the time of Mehmet II.

More recent immigrants include Turkish people from Bulgaria and other Balkan countries, who were settled here by the Turkish authorities in the 1950s and 60s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ni%C4%9Fde