History of Kumluca
After the conquest of Antalya during the reign of Seljuk Sultan Gıyaseddin Keyhüsrev I at the beginning of the XIIIth Century, Mübarizeddin Ertokuş, the first Chief and commander of the region, dispatched the Iğdır tribe, a member of the Three Arrows vanguard of the Oğuz Turks, to the eastern part of Lykia. After that, the western part of Antalya became known as Iğdır, and has been referred to as Iğdır, Iğdır province, and Iğdır district in the records of the Seljuks, Turkish Beyliks (Principalities) and the Ottoman State. In Ottoman sources from the beginning of the XIXth Century, the region began be referred as "İğdir maa Kardıç". The Iğdır district was administratively governed by the Antalya borough, until the enactment of the 1864 Provincial Administration Law. After this arrangement, villages that were previously overseen by the Iğdır borough first came under the responsibility of the Elmalı borough, and then the Antalya borough. At the beginning of the XXth Century, the district of İğdir maa Kardıç was divided into two districts named Kemer and Kumluca. The Kumluca district was established on the western side of the Iğdır district, while the Kemer district was established on the eastern side.
The village of Sarıkavak, which forms the administrative center of the Kumluca district, and which was under the responsibility of the Finike borough, was founded at the beginning of the XIXth Century. The “Kumluca” and “Sarıkavak” start to appear in the Ottoman archives from the XVth Century as the name of a place or location. It is known that the inhabitants of the village of Sarıkavak are skilled in milling and baking. The trade of timber as well as beekeeping, fruit cultivation, ironworking, woodworking and animal husbandry are common in the Kumluca district. Also, Towards the middle of the XXth Century, likely due to Kumluca’s close proximity to Finike Harbor, all kinds of goods were available in the region, along with an extensive fabric and tailoring sector. The products produced in the Kumluca region were distributed to both Turkey and abroad via the Finike Harbor. On April 1, 1958, the Kumluca district was administratively separated from the Finike borough, and with the merging of the Gödene and Altınyaka districts and 21 villages, including Sarıkavak as the administrative center, Kumluca became a borough of its own.