Independent Menteşe clans governed this area even after this beginning of Ottoman rule in 1424. By the late 1830s, when the English archaelogist Charles Fellows visited the area, the power of the family had declined, however. Currently, the family konak ( manor house ) is under restoration.Another manor,once the centre of a cotton estate belonging to the khedive ( viceroy) of Egypt, is now the Dalaman state farm. many people Köyceğiz village are disant descendants of African slaves brought here to work on cotton plantations. Aplantation of liquidambar orientalis, the tree used to produce church incense survives as a reminder of a once-important local industry.

The reed -fringed lake of köyceğiz, 10 km (33 ft) deep in places, is home to many water birds, including the rare Smyra kingfisher.

30 km North of Dalyan.