Set along the historic Silk Road that connected Constantinople with the West, Sakarya dates back thousands of years. Traces of Roman, Byzantine, and Ottoman rule are still visible today, such as the Bridge of Justinian. The Sakarya River, which extends across the province, gave the city its name. Locally, however, the city is known as Adapazari, (“island bazaar” in Turkish), as it used to be a small island.