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120-707: Trebizond may refer to: Trabzon , a city in Turkey formerly known as Trebizond Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461), a successor state to the Eastern Roman Empire Trebizond Eyalet (1598–1867), a province of the Ottoman Empire Trebizond vilayet (1867–1923), a province of the Ottoman Empire See also [ edit ] The Towers of Trebizond ,

240-537: A harbor at the port. When the Russians occupied Trabzon, a mole was built. They built a breakwater and were responsible for creating an extended pier, making loading and unloading easier. In 1920, Trabzon produced linen cloth, silver filagree , tanning and small amounts of cotton , silk and wool . Tobacco and hazelnuts were exported. The tobacco produced in Trabzon was called Trebizond-Platana . It

360-469: A 1956 novel by Rose Macaulay Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Trebizond . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Trebizond&oldid=1181340896 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description

480-458: A fierce debate and literary tradition that continues to this day on the topic of national identity and global citizenship . They were so influential that Bessarion was considered for the position of Pope , and George could survive as an academic even after being defamed for his heavy criticism of Plato. The Black Death arrived at the city in September 1347, probably via Kaffa . At that time

600-478: A high proportion of Neogene and Palaeogene relict plants and animals, with the closest relatives in distant parts of the world: five species of Rhododendrons and other evergreen shrubs, wingnuts , Caucasian salamander , Caucasian parsley frog , eight endemic species of lizards from the genus Darevskia , the Caucasus adder ( Vipera kaznakovi ), Robert's snow vole , and endemic cave shrimp . Millet

720-453: A later era the name "Colchians" was organically connected with the name " Lazi ", it should be remembered that Byzantine sources saw the northern limit of the spread of Laz people somewhere between the Phasis (modern. Poti ) and Dioscurias". The Greek name Kolchís ( Κολχίς ) is first used to describe a geographic area in the writings of Aeschylus and Pindar . Earlier writers speak of

840-643: A major uprising against the Roman Empire , which ended unsuccessfully. The lowlands and coastal area were frequently raided by fierce mountain tribes, with the Svaneti and Heniochi being the most powerful of them. Paying a nominal homage to Rome , they created their own kingdoms and enjoyed significant independence. Under Hadrian, the Romans established relations with Colchian tribes. Hadrian sent his advisor, Arrian , to tour Colchis and Iberia. Arrian depicted

960-417: A result of the general development of the country, Trabzon has developed its economic and commercial life. The coastal highway and a new harbour have increased commercial relations with central Anatolia, which has led to some growth. However, progress has been slow in comparison to the western and the southwestern parts of Turkey. Trabzon is famous throughout Turkey for its anchovies called hamsi , which are

1080-598: A source of revenue to the state in the form of custom duties, or kommerkiaroi , levied on the goods sold in Trebizond. The Greeks protected the coastal and inland trade routes with a vast network of garrison forts. Following the Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Trebizond came under Seljuk rule. This rule proved transient when an expert soldier and local aristocrat, Theodore Gabras took control of

1200-588: A symbol of excess condemned by Roman moralists. The Colchian hinterland lacked salt and demand was satisfied partially by local production on the coast and partially by imports from the northern coast of the Black Sea. Colchis provided slaves as a tribute to the Achaemenid Empire and Colchian slaves are also attested in Ancient Greece. The eastern Black Sea region in antiquity was home to

1320-587: A turbulent fluctuation of tribal powers and boundaries, with various hostile and anarchic tribes in the area. The Laz controlled most of coastal Colchis, while other tribes such as the Sanigs and Abasgoi escaped Roman jurisdiction. Other tribes, like the Apsilae , were becoming powerful and their king with the Romanised name Julianus was recognized by Trajan. Arrian listed the following peoples in his Periplus of

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1440-460: A wide range of trades including baking, confection, tailoring, carpentry, education, advocacy, politics and administration. The influence of this diaspora has since continued, and can still be seen in the many restaurants and shops in cities around the Black Sea in the 21st century such as in Istanbul, Odesa and Mariupol . At the same time, thousands of Muslim refugees from the Caucasus arrived in

1560-789: Is ტრაპიზონი ( T'rap'izoni ) and in Armenian it is Տրապիզոն ( Trapizon ). The 19th-century Armenian travelling priest Byjiskian called the city by other, native names, including Hurşidabat and Ozinis . Western geographers and writers used many spelling variations of the name throughout the Middle Ages. These versions of the name, which have incidentally been used in English literature as well, include: Trebizonde ( Fr. ), Trapezunt ( German ), Trebisonda ( Sp. ), Trapesunta ( It. ), Trapisonda , Tribisonde , Terabesoun , Trabesun , Trabuzan , Trabizond and Tarabossan . In Spanish

1680-574: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Trabzon The Turkish name of the city is Trabzon. The first recorded name of the city is the Greek Tραπεζοῦς ( Trapezous ), referencing the table-like central hill between the Zağnos (İskeleboz) and Kuzgun streams on which it was founded ( τράπεζα meant "table" in Ancient Greek ; note

1800-585: Is disputed. Some scholars argue the name Qulḫa (Colchís) originally referred to a land to the west of Georgia. Others argue Qulḫa may have been located in the south, near modern Göle, Turkey . According to Levan Gordeziani, while the Greek Colchis etymologically descends from Urartian Qulḫa , the Greeks may have applied the name to a different region (and/or cultures) than the preceding Urartians had. Further confusion rests in possible differences in

1920-563: Is spoken mostly by the older generations. Trabzon Province has a total area of 4,685 square kilometres (1,809 sq mi) and is bordered by the provinces of Rize , Giresun , and Gümüşhane . The total area is 22.4% plateau and 77.6% hills. The Pontic Mountains pass through the Trabzon Province. Trabzon used to be an important reference point for navigators in the Black Sea during harsh weather conditions. The popular expression "perdere la Trebisonda" (losing Trebizond)

2040-453: Is still commonly used in the Italian language to describe situations in which the sense of direction is lost. The Italian maritime republics such as Venice and in particular Genoa were active in the Black Sea trade for centuries. Trabzon has four lakes: Uzungöl , Çakırgöl, Sera, and Haldizen Lakes. There are several streams, but no rivers in Trabzon. Trabzon has a climate typical of

2160-589: Is suggested to have occurred in the city already in the 4th century BC, according to a silver drachma coin from Trapezus in the British Museum , London. Cyrus the Great added the city to the Achaemenid Empire , and was possibly the first ruler to consolidate the eastern Black Sea region into a single political entity (a satrapy ). Trebizond's trade partners included the Mossynoeci . When Xenophon and

2280-830: Is usually defined as the area east of the Black Sea coast, restricted from the north by the southwestern slopes of the Greater Caucasus , from the south by the northern slopes of the Lesser Caucasus in Georgia and Eastern Black Sea (Karadeniz) Mountains in Turkey, and from the east by Likhi Range , connecting the Greater and the Lesser Caucasus. The central part of the region is Colchis Plain, stretching between Sukhumi and Kobuleti ; most of that lies on

2400-521: The c.  13th to the 1st centuries BC, is regarded as an early ethnically Georgian polity; the name of the Colchians was used as the collective term for early Kartvelian tribes which populated the eastern coast of the Black Sea in Greco-Roman ethnography . According to Donald Rayfield , the ethnic makeup of Colchis is "obscure" and Kartvelian names "are conspicuously absent from

2520-715: The Assyrian king Tukulti-Ninurta I of the Middle Assyrian Empire (1245–1209 BC) when he mentions "40 kings by the Upper [Black] Sea". Colchis territory is mostly assigned to what is now the western part of Georgia and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of Samegrelo , Imereti , Guria , Adjara , Svaneti , Racha ; Abkhazia ; modern Russia 's Sochi and Tuapse districts; and present-day Turkey ’s Artvin , Rize , and Trabzon provinces. Colchis, Kolkha, Qulḫa, or Kilkhi, which existed from

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2640-607: The Euxine , and the Anticites or Atticitus (now Kuban ). Arrian mentions many others by name, but they would seem to have been little more than mountain torrents: the most important of them were Charieis, Chobus or Cobus, Singames, Tarsuras, Hippus, Astelephus, Chrysorrhoas, several of which are also noticed by Ptolemy and Pliny . The chief towns were Dioscurias or Dioscuris (under the Romans called Sebastopolis, now Sukhumi ) on

2760-678: The First Council of Nicea , Trebizond had its own bishop. Subsequently, the Bishop of Trebizond was subordinated to the Metropolitan Bishop of Poti . Then during the 9th century, Trebizond itself became the seat of the Metropolitan Bishop of Lazica . By the time of Justinian , the city served as an important base in his Persian Wars, and Miller notes that a portrait of the general Belisarius "long adorned

2880-634: The Golden Fleece , and the fire-breathing Colchis bulls and was the destination of the Argonauts . Colchis also is thought to be a possible homeland of the Amazons . Amazons also were said to be of Scythian origin from Colchis. According to the Greek mythology, Colchis was a fabulously wealthy land situated on the mysterious periphery of the heroic world. Here in the sacred grove of

3000-466: The Golden Fleece . It was also described as a land rich with gold, iron, timber and honey that would export its resources mostly to ancient Hellenic city-states. Colchis likely had a diverse population. According to Greek and Roman sources, between 70 and 300 languages were spoken in Dioscourias (modern Sukhumi) alone. According to Rayfield, the first mention of Colchis is during the reign of

3120-499: The Machelones , Heniochi , Zydretae , Lazi , Chalybes , Tibareni / Tubal , Mossynoeci , Macrones , Moschi , Marres , Apsilae , Abasci , Sanigae , Coraxi , Coli , Melanchlaeni , Geloni and Soani (Suani) . The ancients assigned various origins to the tribes that inhabited Colchis. Herodotus regarded the Colchians as "dark-skinned ( μελάγχροες ) and woolly-haired" and calls them Egyptians. Herodotus states that

3240-588: The Republic of Venice and in particular the Republic of Genoa were active in the Black Sea trade for centuries, using Trebizond as an important seaport for trading goods between Europe and Asia. Some of the Silk Road caravans carrying goods from Asia stopped at the port of Trebizond, where the European merchants purchased these goods and carried them to the port cities of Europe with ships. This trade provided

3360-676: The Russian Revolution of 1917 Russian soldiers in the city turned to rioting and looting, with officers commandeering Trebizonian ships to flee the scene. Governor Chrysantos was able to calm the Russian soldiers down, and the Russian Army ultimately retreated from the city and the rest of eastern and northeastern Anatolia . In March and April of 1918 the city hosted the Trebizond Peace Conference , where

3480-494: The Suez Canal greatly diminished the international trading position of the city, but did not halt the economic development of the region. In the last decades of the 19th century, the city saw some demographic changes. As the population of the province greatly expanded due to increased living standards, many families and young men - mostly Christians , but also some Jews and Greek or Turkish speaking Muslims - chose to migrate to

3600-519: The Ten Thousand mercenaries were fighting their way out of Persia , the first Greek city they reached was Trebizond (Xenophon, Anabasis , 5.5.10). The city and the local Mossynoeci had become estranged from the Mossynoecian capital, to the point of civil war. Xenophon's force resolved this in the rebels' favor, and so in Trebizond's interest. Up until the conquests of Alexander the Great

3720-483: The astrolabe . The observatory Choniades built would become known for its accurate solar eclipse predictions, but was probably used mostly for astrological purposes for the emperor and/or the church. Scientists and philosophers of Trebizond were among the first western thinkers to compare contemporaneous theories with classical Greek texts. Basilios Bessarion and George of Trebizond travelled to Italy and taught and published works on Plato and Aristotle , starting

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3840-420: The "Kolchian" ( Κολχίδα ) people and their mythical king Aeëtes ( Αἰήτης ), as well as his eponymous city Aea or Aia ( Αἶα ) , but don't make explicit references to a Kolchis nation or region. The main river was known as the Phasis (now Rioni ) and was, according to some writers the southern boundary of Colchis, but more probably flowed through the middle of that country from the Caucasus west into

3960-663: The 14th century BC, are believed to have lived in the area south of Trabzon. Later Greek authors mentioned the Macrones and the Chalybes as native peoples. One of the dominant Caucasian groups to the east were the Laz , who were part of the monarchy of the Colchis , together with other related Georgian peoples. The city was founded in classical antiquity in 756 BC as Tραπεζούς ( Trapezous ), by Milesian traders from Sinope . It

4080-426: The 16th and 17th centuries. Trebizond had a wealthy merchant class during the late Ottoman period, and the local Christian minority had a substantial influence in terms of culture, economy and politics. A number of European consulates were opened in the city due to its importance in regional trade and commerce. In the first half of the 19th century, Trebizond even became the main port for Persian exports. The opening of

4200-430: The 19th century. The city got a post office in 1845. New churches and mosques were built in the second half of the 19th century, as well as the first theater, public and private printing houses, multiple photo studios and banks. The oldest known photographs of the city center date from the 1860s and depict one of the last camel trains from Persia. Between one and two thousand Armenians are believed to have been killed in

4320-568: The 2nd century BC, the city with its natural harbours was added to the Kingdom of Pontus by Pharnaces I . Mithridates VI Eupator made it the home port of the Pontic fleet, in his quest to remove the Romans from Anatolia. After the defeat of Mithridates in 66 BC, the city was first handed to the Galatians , but it was soon returned to the grandson of Mithradates, and subsequently became part of

4440-457: The Armenian frontier or the upper Euphrates valley. New roads were constructed from Persia and Mesopotamia under the rule of Vespasian . In the next century, the emperor Hadrian commissioned improvements to give the city a more structured harbor. The emperor visited the city in the year 129 as part of his inspection of the eastern border ( limes ). A mithraeum now serves as a crypt for

4560-572: The Caucasus by the Middle Bronze Age ." It has been described in modern scholarship as "the earliest Georgian formation", which, along with the Kingdom of Iberia , would later contribute significantly to the development of the Kingdom of Georgia and the Georgian nation . Colchis is known in Greek mythology as the destination of the Argonauts , as well as the home to Medea and

4680-609: The Colchian land. Subsequently, the Colchis people appear to have overthrown the Persian Authority, and to have formed an independent state. According to Ronald Suny this western Georgian state was federated to Kartli-Iberia, and its kings ruled through skeptoukhi (royal governors) who received a staff from the king. According to David Braund's reading of Strabo 's account, the native Colchian dynasty continued ruling

4800-480: The Colchians remembered the Egyptians better than the Egyptians remembered the Colchians; the Egyptians said that they considered the Colchians part of Sesostris' army. I myself guessed it, partly because they are dark-skinned and woolly-haired; though that indeed counts for nothing, since other peoples are, too; but my better proof was that the Colchians and Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only nations that have from

4920-551: The Colchians, with the Ancient Egyptians and the Ethiopians , were the first to practice circumcision , a custom which he claims that the Colchians inherited from remnants of the army of Pharaoh Sesostris ( Senusret III ). Herodotus writes: For it is plain to see that the Colchians are Egyptians; and what I say, I myself noted before I heard it from others. When it occurred to me, I inquired of both peoples; and

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5040-486: The Crimea and southern Ukraine, in search for farmland or employment in one of the cities which had been newly established there. Among these migrants were the grandparents of Bob Dylan and Greek politicians and artists. Many Christian and Muslim families from Trabzon also moved to Constantinople, where they established businesses or sought employment - such as the grandfather of Ahmet Ertegün . These migrants were active in

5160-686: The Euxine Sea written in 130-131 (from south to north): Sanni, Machelones , Heniochi , Zudreitae, Lazi , Apsilae , Abasgoi , Sanigs and Zilchi . According to traditional accounts Christianity began to spread in the early first century by Andrew the Apostle , Simon the Zealot , and Saint Matthias . A change in burial patterns in the 3rd century was possibly due to Christian influence. The Hellenistic civilization , local paganism and Mithraic Mysteries would, however, remain widespread until

5280-453: The Greeks' own usage of the name Colchis in political and mythological contexts (i.e. the relationship between "Aia-Colchis" and "the land of Colchis"). According to the scholar of Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff : Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer. Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom. ... It would seem natural to seek

5400-880: The Karadere river valley in modern-day Araklı , 25 kilometers east of the city - the local Muslim population tried to protect the Christian Armenians. The coastal region between the city and the Russian frontier became the site of key battles between the Ottoman and Russian armies during the Trebizond Campaign , as part of the Caucasus Campaign of World War I. The Russian army landed at Atina , east of Rize on March 4, 1916. Lazistan Sanjak fell within two days. However, due to heavy guerrilla resistance around Of and Çaykara some 50 km to

5520-577: The Ottoman tax books ( tahrir defterleri ). Between 1461 and 1598 Trabzon remained the administrative center of the wider region; first as 'sanjac center' of Rum Eyalet , later of Erzincan-Bayburt eyalet , Anadolu Eyalet , and Erzurum Eyalet . In 1598 it became the capital of its own province - the Eyalet of Trebizond - which in 1867 became the Vilayet of Trebizond . During the reign of Sultan Bayezid II , his son Prince Selim (later Sultan Selim I )

5640-682: The Ottomans agreed to give up their military gains in the Caucasus in return for recognition of the eastern borders of the empire in Anatolia by the Transcaucasian Seim (a short-lived transcaucasian government). In December 1918 Trabzon deputy governor Hafız Mehmet gave a speech at the Ottoman parliament in which he blamed the former governor of Trebizond province Cemal Azmi – a non-native appointee who had fled to Germany after

5760-411: The Persian court 100 girls and 100 boys every five years. In 400 BC, shortly after the Ten Thousand reached Trapezus , a battle was fought between them and the Colchis in which the latter were decisively defeated. The influence exerted on Colchis by the vast Achaemenid Empire with its thriving commerce and wide economic and commercial ties with other regions accelerated the socio-economic development of

5880-409: The Pontic Alps. Furthermore, during the time the Köppen climate classification was created, the city center had a borderline oceanic-humid subtropical climate, falling just under the 22 °C (72 °F) threshold for the hottest month of the year, yet climate change and the city's urban heat island contributed to its reclassification as humid subtropical in recent decades. This and the fact that

6000-440: The Province of Galatia (63) and later, in Cappadocia (81). Phasis , Dioscurias and other Greek settlements of the coast did not fully recover after the wars of 60-40 BC and Trebizond became the economical and political centre of the region. Despite the fact that all major fortresses along the sea coast were occupied by the Romans, their rule was relatively loose. In 69, the people of Pontus and Colchis under Anicetus staged

6120-541: The Renaissance. Miguel de Cervantes and François Rabelais gave their protagonists the desire to possess the city. Next to literature, the legendary history of the city – and that of the Pontus in general – also influenced the creation of paintings , theatre plays and operas in Western Europe throughout the following centuries. The city also played a role in the early Renaissance ; the western takeover of Constantinople, which formalized Trebizond's political independence, also led Byzantine intellectuals to seek refuge in

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6240-426: The Russian invasion – for orchestrating the Armenian Genocide in the city in 1915, by means of drowning. Subsequently, a series of war crimes trials were held in Trebizond in early 1919 (see Trebizond during the Armenian Genocide ). Among others, Cemal Azmi was sentenced to death in absentia. During the Turkish War of Independence several Christian Pontic Greek communities in the Trebizond province rebelled against

6360-403: The Trebizond vilayet during the Hamidian massacres of 1895. While this number was low in comparison to other Ottoman provinces, its impact on the Armenian community in the city was large. Many prominent Armenian residents, among them scholars, musicians, photographers and painters, decided to migrate towards the Russian Empire or France. The large Greek population of the city was not affected by

6480-427: The Trebizond Empire as being no more than a Lazian border state. Thus from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the Lascaris and later with the Palaiologos , the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors. Geographically, the Empire of Trebizond consisted of little more than a narrow strip along the southern coast of the Black Sea , and not much further inland than the Pontic Mountains . However,

6600-400: The Turkish parliament. Ali Şükrü Bey, who had studied in Deniz Harp Okulu (Turkish Naval Academy) and worked as a journalist in the United Kingdom, is seen as a hero by the people of Trabzon, while in neighboring Giresun there is a statue of his murderer Topal Osman. Three years later Trabzon deputy Hafız Mehmet - who had testified to his knowledge of, and opposition to, the Armenian Genocide -

6720-431: The Urartians and their territories were themselves conquered by the Neo-Assyrian Empire . According to Svante Cornell , "What could be conceived as the proto Georgian statehood emerged mainly in the Western parts of today's Georgia, with the kingdom of Colchis ( Kolkheti ) in the sixth century BC." Colchis was inhabited by a number of tribes whose settlements lay along the shore of the Black Sea. Chief among those were

6840-445: The area, mostly in the Çaykara - Of dialectical region to the southeast of Trabzon. Most are Sunni Muslim, while there are some recent converts in the city and possibly a few Crypto-Christians in the Tonya / Gümüşhane area to the southwest of the city. Compared to most previously Greek cities in Turkey, a large amount of its Greek Byzantine architectural heritage survives as well. The last Emperor of Trebizond, David , surrendered

6960-473: The beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation. According to most Classical-era sources, Colchis was bordered on the south-west by Pontus , on the west by the Black Sea , as far as the river Corax. To its north was the Greater Caucasus , beyond which was Sarmatia . On its east it bordered the Kingdom of Iberia and Montes Moschici (now the Lesser Caucasus ). The south of Colchis bordered Armenia . The westward extent of

7080-424: The church and monastery of Panagia Theoskepastos ( Kızlar Manastırı ) in nearby Kizlara, east of the citadel and south of the modern harbor. Septimius Severus punished Trebizond for having supported his rival Pescennius Niger during the Year of the Five Emperors . In 257 the city was pillaged by the Goths , despite reportedly being defended by "10,000 above its usual garrison" and two bands of walls. Trebizond

7200-449: The church of St. Basil." An inscription above the eastern gate of the city, commemorated the reconstruction of the civic walls at Justinian's expense following an earthquake. At some point before the 7th century the university (Pandidakterion) of the city was reestablished with a quadrivium curriculum. The university drew students not just from the Byzantine Empire , but from Armenia as well. The city regained importance when it became

7320-443: The city by armed Turkish port-workers. Governor Chrysantos travelled to the Paris Peace Conference , where he proposed the establishment of the Republic of Pontus , which would protect its different ethnic groups. For this he was condemned to death by the Turkish Nationalist forces, and he could not return to his post in Trebizond. Instead, the city was to be handed to ' Wilsonian Armenia ', which likewise never materialized. Following

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7440-427: The city from the Turkish invaders, and regarded Trebizond, in the words of Anna Comnena , "as a prize which had fallen to his own lot" and ruled it as his own kingdom. Supporting Comnena's assertion, Simon Bendall has identified a group of rare coins he believes was minted by Gabras and his successors. Although he was killed by the Turks in 1098, other members of his family continued his de facto independent rule into

7560-421: The city gained great wealth from the taxes it levied on the goods traded between Persia and Europe via the Black Sea. The Mongol siege of Baghdad in 1258 diverted more trade caravans towards the city. Genoese and to a lesser extent Venetian traders regularly came to Trebizond. To secure their part of the Black Sea trade, the Genoese bought the coastal fortification "Leonkastron", just west of the winter harbour, in

7680-411: The city remained under the dominion of the Achaemenids. While the Pontus was not directly affected by the war, its cities gained independence as a result of it. Local ruling families continued to claim partial Persian heritage, and Persian culture had some lasting influence on the city; the holy springs of Mt. Minthrion to the east of the old town were devoted to the Persian-Anatolian Greek god Mithra . In

7800-411: The city to Sultan Mehmed II of the Ottoman Empire in 1461. Following this takeover, Mehmed II sent many Turkish settlers into the area, but the old ethnic Greek , Laz and Armenian communities remained. According to the Ottoman tax books ( tahrir defterleri ), the total population of taxable adult males (only those with a household) in the city was 1,473 in the year 1523. The total population of

7920-409: The city was much higher. Approximately 85% of the population was Christian, and 15% Muslim. Thirteen percent of the adult males belonged to the Armenian community, while the vast majority of Christians were Greeks. However, a significant portion of the local Christians were Islamized by the end of the 17th century - especially those outside the city - according to a research by Prof. Halil İnalcık on

8040-464: The city was taken without a fight by the Russian Caucasus Army under command of Grand Duke Nicholas and Nikolai Yudenich . There was also a massacre of Armenians and Greeks in Trabzon just before the Russian takeover of the city. Many adult Turkish males left the city out of fear for reprisals, even though governor Chrysantos included them in his administration. According to some sources the Russians banned Muslim mosques , and forced Turks , who were

8160-507: The city, especially after 1864, in what is known as the Circassian genocide . Next to Constantinople, Smyrna (now İzmir ) and Salonika (now Thessaloniki ), Trebizond was one of the cities where western cultural and technological innovations were first introduced to the Ottoman Empire. In 1835, the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions opened the Trebizond Mission station that it occupied from 1835 to 1859 and from 1882 to at least 1892. Hundreds of schools were constructed in

8280-555: The city. Especially Alexios II of Trebizond and his grandson Alexios III were patrons of the arts and sciences. After the great city fire of 1310, the ruined university was reestablished. As part of the university Gregory Choniades opened a new academy of astronomy, which housed the best observatory outside Persia. Choniades brought with him the works of Shams al-Din al-Bukhari, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini from Tabriz, which he translated into Greek. These works later found their way to western Europe, together with

8400-479: The country in spite of its fragmentation into skeptoukhies . Gocha R. Tsetskhladze explains that although Colchis and neighboring Iberia were once viewed as not having been under Achaemenid rule, "ever more evidence is emerging to show that they were, forming a lesser part of the Armenian satrapy ". Mithridates VI quelled an uprising in the region in 83 BC and gave Colchis to his son Mithridates , who, soon being suspected in having plotted against his father,

8520-435: The country is considered differently by different authors: Strabo makes Colchis begin at Trabzon , while Ptolemy , on the other hand, extends Pontus to the Rioni River . Although some ancient authors consider Dioscurias to be the extreme northern settlement point of Colchians (in an ethnic sense), nevertheless "they consider it as a point located on the territory of non-Colchian tribes ( Heniochi , Sanigs )". Since in

8640-472: The earliest ages, that Sesostris king of Egypt was overcome in Scythia , and put to fight, by the king of Colchis, which if true, that the Colchians not only had kings in those times, but were a very powerful people. Many modern theories suggest that the ancestors of the Laz - Mingrelians constituted the dominant ethnic and cultural presence in the region in antiquity, and hence played a significant role in

8760-471: The east of Trabzon, it took a further 40 days for the Russian army to advance west. The Ottoman administration of Trabzon foresaw the fall of the city and called for a meeting with community leaders, where they handed control of the city to Greek metropolitan bishop Chrysantos Philippidis . Chrysantos promised to protect the Muslim population of the city. Ottoman forces retreated from Trabzon, and on April 15

8880-411: The eastern Black Sea region, a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen : Cfa, Trewartha : Cf ) near the coast. A very small percentage of the province can be classified as subtropical, however, as slightly elevated rural areas near the coast are oceanic ( Cfb/Do ), the mountainous offshores are humid continental ( Dfb/Dc ) and subarctic ( Dfc/Eo ); and tundra ( ET/Ft ) can be found in the peaks of

9000-471: The eastern coast of the Black Sea , centered in present-day western Georgia . Its population, the Colchians , are generally thought to have been mainly an early Kartvelian-speaking tribe ancestral to contemporary western Georgians , namely Svans and Zans . According to David Marshall Lang : "one of the most important elements in the modern Georgian nation, the Colchians were probably established in

9120-597: The election of Mustafa Kemal as the leader of the Turkish revolution at the Erzurum Congress . The governor and mayor of Trebizond were appalled by the violence against Ottoman Greek subjects, and the government of Trabzon thus refused arms to Mustafa Kemal's henchman Topal Osman , who was responsible for mass murders in the western Pontus which were part of the Greek Genocide . Osman was forced out of

9240-463: The elevation below 20 m (66 ft) above sea level. Marginal parts of the region are mountains of the Great and the Lesser Caucasus and Likhi Range. Its territory mostly corresponds to what is now the western part of Georgia and encompasses the present-day Georgian provinces of Samegrelo , Imereti , Guria , Adjara , Abkhazia , Svaneti , Racha ; the modern Turkey ’s Rize , Trabzon and Artvin provinces ( Lazistan , Tao-Klarjeti ); and

9360-408: The ethnogenesis of the modern Georgians . Pausanias , a 1st-century BC Greek geographer, citing the poet Eumelos, assigned Aeëtes , the mythological first king of Colchis, a Greek origin. The tribes living in the southern Colchis ( Macrones , Moschi , and Marres ) were incorporated into Persia and formed the 19th satrapy , while the northern tribes submitted "voluntarily" and had to send to

9480-528: The few anthronyms found in Colchian burials." Instead, Greek , Anatolian , Iranian , and possibly Abkhaz names are present. At the beginning of the XX century, a researcher of ancient history Peter Ushakov notes: "In ancient times, during the 15th-18th centuries BC, the tribes of the Abkhazian - Circassian group inhabited the entire space of the western half of the Caucasus from the Black Sea province through

9600-511: The first practised circumcision. These claims have been widely rejected by modern historians. It is in doubt if Herodotus had ever been to Colchis or Egypt, and no Egyptian army ever set foot in the Caucasus, a region shielded by states to the south of the Caucasus too powerful for any Egyptian army to pass through, such as Urartu , Hittia , Assyria and Mitanni . According to Pliny the Elder : The Colchians were governed by their own kings in

9720-731: The fourth century. Goths , dwelling in the Crimea and looking for new homes, raided Colchis in 253, but were repulsed with the help of the Roman garrison of Pitsunda . By the first century BC, the Lazica (or the Laz) kingdom was established in the region. Lazica became known as Egrisi in 66 BC when Egrisi became a vassal of the Roman Empire after the Caucasian campaign of Pompey . Colchian coins,

9840-417: The largest ethnic group living in the city, to leave Trabzon. However, already during the Russian occupation many Turks who had fled to surrounding villages started to return to the city, and governor Chrysantos helped them to re-establish their facilities such as schools, to the dismay of the Russians. In early 1917 Chrysantos tried to broker a peace between the Russians and the Ottomans, to no avail. During

9960-591: The local aristocracy was engaged in the Trapezuntine Civil War . In 1340, Tur Ali Beg, an early ancestor of the Aq Qoyunlu , raided Trebizond. In 1348, he besieged Trebizond, however he failed and lifted the siege. Later on, Alexios III of Trebizond gave his sister to Kutlu Beg son of Tur Ali Beg, and established a kinship with them. Constantinople remained the Byzantine capital until it

10080-483: The lowest average minimum temperature is almost 5 °C (41 °F) in February. Precipitation is heaviest in autumn and winter, with a marked reduction in the summer months, a microclimatic condition of the city center compared to the rest of the region. Snowfall is somewhat common between the months of December and March, snowing for a week or two, and it can be heavy once it snows. The water temperature, like in

10200-465: The main meal in many restaurants in the city. Major exports from Trabzon include hazelnuts and tea . The city still has a sizable community of Greek-speaking Muslims , most of whom are originally from the vicinities of Tonya , Sürmene and Çaykara . However, the variety of the Pontic Greek language - known as " Romeika " in the local vernacular, Pontiaka in Greek, and Rumca in Turkish -

10320-484: The martyrdom of Eugenius and his associates Candidius, Valerian, and Aquila. Eugenius had destroyed the statue of Mithras which overlooked the city from Mount Minthrion (Boztepe), and became the patron saint of the city after his death. Early Christians sought refuge in the Pontic Mountains south of the city, where they established Vazelon Monastery in 270 AD and Sumela Monastery in 386 AD. As early as

10440-467: The massacre. Ivan Aivazovsky made the painting Massacre of the Armenians in Trebizond 1895 based on the events. Due to the high number of Western Europeans in the city, news from the region was being reported on in many European newspapers. These western newspapers were in turn also very popular among the residents of the city. Ottoman era paintings and drawings of Trebizond In 1901 the harbour

10560-440: The modern Russia ’s Sochi and Tuapse districts. The climate is mild humid; near Batumi , annual rainfall level reaches 4,000 mm (160 in), which is the absolute maximum for continental western Eurasia. The dominating natural landscapes of Colchis are temperate rainforests , yet degraded in the plain part of the region; wetlands (along the coastal parts of Colchis Plain); subalpine and alpine meadows . Colchis has

10680-489: The name was known from chivalric romances and Don Quixote . Because of its similarity to trápala and trapaza , trapisonda acquired the meaning "hullabaloo, imbroglio". Before the city was founded as a Greek colony the area was dominated by Colchians (west Georgian) and Chaldian (Anatolian) tribes. The Hayasa , who had been in conflict with the Central-Anatolian Hittites in

10800-471: The new army of Mustafa Kemal (notably in Bafra and Santa ), but when nationalist Greeks came to Trabzon to proclaim revolution, they were not received with open arms by the local Pontic Greek population of the city. At the same time the Muslim population of the city, remembering their protection under Greek governor Chrysantos, protested the arrest of prominent Christians. Liberal delegates of Trebizond opposed

10920-575: The new client Kingdom of Pontus. When the kingdom was finally annexed to the Roman province of Galatia two centuries later, the fleet passed to new commanders, becoming the Classis Pontica . The city received the status of civitas libera , extending its judicial autonomy and the right to mint its own coin. Trebizond gained importance for its access to roads leading over the Zigana Pass to

11040-486: The next century. The Empire of Trebizond was formed after Georgian expedition in Chaldia , commanded by Alexios Komnenos a few weeks before the sack of Constantinople in 1204. Located at the far northeastern corner of Anatolia , it was the longest surviving of the Byzantine successor states. Byzantine authors, such as Pachymeres , and to some extent Trapezuntines such as Lazaropoulos and Bessarion , regarded

11160-438: The oldest of which were dated to the middle of the 6th century BC, served as the primary source of evidence for the Colchian state. A reassessment of the coins, however, has revealed that these early "Colchian" coins actually represent the production of a Achaemenid satrapy. Little is known of the rulers of Colchis. From the fifth century B.C.E. onwards, Colchis was identified as Aea, the mythical home of Aeëtes , Medea ,

11280-477: The population exchange. Şükrü argued that recognition of ethnic diversity was not a threat to the Turkish nation. Topal Osman's men would eventually murder parliamentarian Şükrü for his criticism of the nationalist government of Mustafa Kemal in March 1923. Topal Osman was later sentenced to death and killed while resisting arrest. After pressure from the opposition, his headless body was hanged by his foot in front of

11400-407: The province during the first half of the 19th century, giving the region one of the highest literacy rates of the empire. First, the Greek community set up their schools, but soon the Muslim and Armenian communities followed. International schools were also established in the city; An American school, five French schools, a Persian school and a number of Italian schools were opened in the second half of

11520-489: The rest of Anatolia continued to exist throughout the 20th century, and still influences Turkish politics today. Even in the 21st century, politicians who hail from Trabzon are often faced with xenophobic attacks from both nationalist and conservative circles. During World War II shipping activity was limited because the Black Sea had again become a war zone. Hence, the most important export products, tobacco and hazelnuts , could not be sold and living standards degraded. As

11640-643: The rest of the Black Sea coast of Turkey, is generally mild, and fluctuates between 8 °C (46 °F) and 20 °C (68 °F) throughout the year. As of 1920, the port at Trabzon was considered "the most important of the Turkish Black Sea ports" by the British . It traded as far as Tabriz and Mosul . As of 1911, the Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey signed an agreement to develop

11760-487: The seaboard of the Euxine, Sarapana (now Shorapani ), Phasis (now Poti ), Pityus (now Pitsunda ), Apsaros (now Gonio ), Surium (now Vani ), Archaeopolis (now Nokalakevi ), Macheiresis, and Cyta or Cutatisium or Aia (now Kutaisi ), the traditional birthplace of Medea . Scylax mentions also Mala or Male, which he, in contradiction to other writers, makes the birthplace of Medea . In physical geography , Colchis

11880-447: The seat of the theme of Chaldia . Trebizond also benefited when the trade route regained importance in the 8th to 10th centuries; 10th-century Muslim authors note that Trebizond was frequented by Muslim merchants, as the main source transshipping Byzantine silks into eastern Muslim countries. According to the 10th century Arab geographer Abul Feda it was regarded as being largely a Lazian port. The Italian maritime republics such as

12000-506: The smelting and casting of metals. Sophisticated farming implements were made, and fertile, well-watered lowlands and a mild climate promoted the growth of progressive agricultural techniques. The earliest attestations of the name of Colchis can be found in the 8th century Greek poet Eumelus of Corinth as Κολχίδα and earlier, in Urartian records as Qulḫa mentioned by the Urartian kings, who conquered it in 744 or 743 BC before

12120-549: The son and heir of Zenon, Colchis was part of the Pontus and the Bosporan Kingdom . After the death of Polemon (8 BC), his second wife Pythodorida of Pontus retained possession of Colchis as well as of Pontus, although the kingdom of Bosporus was wrested from her power. Her son and successor, Polemon II of Pontus , was induced by Emperor Nero to abdicate the throne, and both Pontus and Colchis were incorporated in

12240-493: The subtropical microclimate zone along the shore occupies a very narrow band due to the continuous parallel mountain range starting right at the coast is why local authorities still classify the city as oceanic, as this climate subtype is better representative of the entire coastal region of the province. Summers are warm, the average maximum temperature is around 28 °C (82 °F) in August, while winters are generally cool,

12360-431: The table on the coin in the figure). In Latin , Trabzon is called Trapezus , which is a latinization of its ancient Greek name. Both in Pontic Greek and Modern Greek , it is called Τραπεζούντα ( Trapezounta ). In Ottoman Turkish and Persian , it is written as طربزون . During Ottoman times, Tara Bozan was also used. In Laz it is known as ტამტრა ( T'amt'ra ) or T'rap'uzani , in Georgian it

12480-485: The vicinity, who moved to Greece (founding the new towns of Nea Trapezounta, Pieria and Nea Trapezounta, Grevena amongst others). During the war Trebizond parliamentarian Ali Şükrü Bey had been one of the leading figures of the first Turkish opposition party . In his newspaper Tan , Şükrü and colleagues publicized critiques of the Kemalist government, such as towards the violence perpetrated against Greeks during

12600-506: The war, the Treaty of Sèvres was annulled and replaced with the Treaty of Lausanne (1923). As part of this new treaty, Trebizond became part of the new Turkish Republic . The efforts of the pro- Ottoman , anti-nationalist population of Trebizond only postponed the inevitable, because the national governments of Turkey and Greece agreed to a mutual forced population exchange . This exchange included well over 100,000 Greeks from Trebizond and

12720-529: The well-developed Bronze Age culture known as the Colchian culture , related to the neighbouring Koban culture , that emerged toward the Middle Bronze Age . In at least some parts of Colchis, the process of urbanization seems to have been well advanced by the end of the second millennium BC. The Colchian Late Bronze Age (fifteenth to eighth century BC) saw the development of significant skill in

12840-564: The whole of Colchis in a continuous strip to the sources of the Euphrates and were divided into four branches: the people of Mitanni , Colchians, Abasgi and Ubykhs ." The name Colchis is thought to have derived from the Urartian Qulḫa . In the mid-eighth century BC, Sarduri II , the King of Urartu , inscribed his victory over Qulḫa on a stele; however, the exact location of Qulḫa

12960-528: The winter of 1914–15, while during those same months the Russian navy bombarded the city a total of five times, taking 1300 lives. Especially the port quarter Çömlekçi and surrounding neighborhoods were targeted. In July 1915 most of the adult male Armenians of the city were marched off south in five convoys, towards the mines of Gümüşhane, never to be seen again. Other victims of the Armenian genocide were reportedly taken out to sea in boats which were then capsized. In some areas of Trebizond province - such as

13080-476: The year 1306. The Venetians likewise built a trading outpost in the city, a few hundred meters to the west of the Genoese. In between these two Italian colonies settled many other European traders, and it thus became known as the "European Quarter". Small groups of Italians continued to live in the city until the early decades of the 20th century. One of the most famous persons to have visited the city in this period

13200-469: Was Marco Polo , who ended his overland return journey at the port of Trebizond, and sailed to his hometown Venice with a ship; passing by Constantinople ( Istanbul ) on the way, which was retaken by the Byzantines in 1261. Together with Persian goods, Italian traders brought stories about the city to Western Europe. Trebizond played a mythical role in European literature of the late Middle Ages and

13320-529: Was conquered by the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II in 1453, who also conquered Trebizond eight years later, in 1461. Its demographic legacy endured for several centuries after the Ottoman conquest in 1461, as a substantial number of Greek Orthodox inhabitants, usually referred to as Pontic Greeks , continued to live in the area during Ottoman rule, up until 1923, when they were deported to Greece. A few thousand Greek Muslims still live in

13440-551: Was also executed, for his alleged involvement in the İzmir plot to assassinate Mustafa Kemal. The literal decapitation of the Turkish political opposition - which was in large part based in the Trabzon region - decreased the city's national influence, and led to a long-standing animosity between the Kemalists and the population of Trabzon. A political and cultural divide between the Eastern Black Sea Region and

13560-502: Was described as having "large leaves and a bright colour." Trabzon was known for producing poor quality cereals , mostly for local use. Trabzon produced a white green bean , which was sold in Europe. It was, as of 1920, the only vegetable exported out of the province. Poultry farming was also popular in Trabzon. Sericulture was seen in the area before 1914. The area produced copper , silver , zinc , iron and manganese . Copper

13680-612: Was equipped with cranes by Stothert & Pitt of Bath in England. In 1912 the Sümer Opera House was opened on the central Meydan square, being one of the first in the empire. The start of the First World War brought an abrupt end to the relatively peaceful and prosperous period the city had seen during the previous century. First Trebizond would lose many of its young male citizens at the Battle of Sarikamish in

13800-838: Was executed. During the Third Mithridatic War , Mithridates VI made another of his sons, Machares , king of Bosporus and Colchis, who held his power, but only for a short period. On the defeat of Mithridates VI of Pontus in 65 BC, Colchis was occupied by Pompey , who captured one of the local chiefs (sceptuchus) Olthaces, and installed Aristarchus as a dynast (63–47 BC). On the fall of Pompey, Pharnaces II , son of Mithridates , took advantage of Julius Caesar being occupied in Egypt , and reduced Colchis, Armenia , and some part of Cappadocia , defeating Gnaeus Domitius Calvinus , whom Caesar subsequently sent against him. His triumph was, however, short-lived. Under Polemon I ,

13920-518: Was kept for local use by coppersmiths . During the Balkan Wars production ceased due to poor exportation and fuel supplies. Trabzon Airport opened in 1957. Colchis In classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography , Colchis ( / ˈ k ɒ l k ɪ s / ; Ancient Greek : Κολχίς ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( Georgian : ეგრისი ) located on

14040-499: Was one of a number (about ten) of Milesian emporia or trading colonies along the shores of the Black Sea. Others included Abydos and Cyzicus in the Dardanelles , and nearby Kerasous . Like most Greek colonies, the city was a small enclave of Greek life, and not an empire unto its own, in the later European sense of the word. As a colony, Trapezous initially paid tribute to Sinope, but early banking (money-changing) activity

14160-472: Was subsequently rebuilt, pillaged again, by the Persians , in 258, and then rebuilt once more. It did not soon recover. Only in the reign of Diocletian does an inscription allude to the restoration of the city; Ammianus Marcellinus had nothing to say of Trebizond except that it was "not an obscure town." Christianity had reached Trebizond by the third century, for during the reign of Diocletian occurred

14280-602: Was the Sanjak-bey of Trabzon, and Selim I's son Suleiman the Magnificent was born in Trabzon in 1494. The Ottoman government often appointed local Chepni Turks and Laz beys as the regional beylerbey . It is also recorded that some Bosniaks were appointed by the Sublime Porte as the regional beylerbeys in Trabzon. The Eyalet of Trabzon had always sent troops for the Ottoman campaigns in Europe during

14400-399: Was the main staple crop in Colchis. Wheat grew in certain regions and was also imported by sea. Similarly, local wines were produced and some wines were brought from overseas. The Colchian plain provided ample grazing land for cattle and horses, with the name of Phasis associated with fine horses. The wetlands were a home for waterfowl, while Colchian pheasants were exported to Rome and became

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