Çan is surrounded by the districts of Biga and Lapseki in the north, Yenice in the east, Çanakkale and Bayramiç in the west and south. It is certainly well off the beaten track for most tourists. This is a modern working town in the heart of the province of Canakkale set deep in the countryside with a good connection to Turkeys highway network.
It used to be an agricultural town reliant on agriculture and farming. In recent times this reliance has somewhat shifted with the expansion of the ceramics industry, a Thermal Power Plant and lignite coal mining. The Kale Group ceramics factory is a major employer in the town. The area is rich in natural resources and in addition to the lignite coal deposits which are used in the Thermal Power Plant there is also Kaolin and feldspar deposits which are important materials for the ceramics industry. The Thermal Power plant here in Çan is Turkey’s cleanest and most environmentally friendly thermal power plant.
Çan is close to Mount Ida and the forests and greenery that this region is famous for, so it isn’t difficult for towns people to escape into the countryside at the weekends and enjoy the best of natural beauty that the county of Canakkale has to offer. There are also hot springs here and the Çan Municipality Thermal Hotel and Housing which was completed in 2012 brings mainly local tourists to the area. There is also the Çan Thermal Park which is very popular.
The Çan Çayı or river that flows right through the middle of the town comes from Biga. It looks like a trickle most of the time but in times of heavy rain it can be quite impressive. Çan looks set to have a prosperous future. With upgraded roads from Tekirdag, Canakkale and Balikesir and the new suspension bridge joining Gelibolu to Lapseiki this puts Çan within easy reach and a shorter travel time for many locations.
Historically there is very little information about Çan. There was a settlement named Gergithes and some ancient ruins have been found in the district and references to this location were found in Troy explaining that it was captured by the Roman Empire in 188 AD.
Çan means bell in Turkish. The market in Çan was famous for the fact that its best selling items were its bells and people from the surrounding villages and districts would come to the market to buy the bells.
Can has pretty much everything you would need from a town. All the branded shops and facilities are clearly in place and whilst there is no main shopping mall it is only a matter of time before they build one.
If you look out over the hills you will see a series of ridges over quite a large area. This is where the lignite coal was mined. The Kale factory backs right up to the old minefields and takes a huge area of the town for its production facilities and storage.