Trabzon Province (Turkish:Trabzon ili) is aprovince andmetropolitan municipality ofTurkey on theBlack Sea coast. Its area is 4,628 km2,[2] and its population is 818,023 (2022).[1] Located in a strategically important region, Trabzon is one of the oldesttradeport cities inAnatolia. Neighbouring provinces areGiresun to the west,Gümüşhane to the southwest,Bayburt to the southeast andRize to the east. Aziz Yıldırım was appointed Governor of the province in August 2023.[3] The capital of the province isTrabzon.
Beşikdüzü and Şalpazarı gained district status in 1988, Çarşıbaşı, Düzköy, Köprübaşı, Dernekpazarı and Hayrat in 1990. The district Ortahisar was created from the former central district of Trabzon Province at the2013 Turkish local government reorganisation.[5][6]
Remarkably attractive throughout its history,Trabzon was the subject of hundreds oftravel books by westerntravellers, some of whom had named it "city oftale in the East." The capital cityTrabzon was founded, as Trapezus, by Greek colonists from Sinope, modernSinop, Turkey. Starting from the 9th century BC, the city had also been mentioned by historians such asHomeros,Herodotus,Hesiodos. The first written source regarding Trabzon isAnabasis, authored byXenophon.
The province was a site of major fighting between Ottoman andRussian forces during theCaucasus Campaign ofWorld War I, which resulted in the capture of the city of Trabzon by the Russian army under command ofGrand Duke Nicholas andNikolai Yudenich in April 1916. The province was restored to Turkish control in early 1918 following Russia's exit from World War I with theTreaty of Brest-Litovsk.
In September 1935 the thirdInspectorate General (Umumi Müfettişlik, UM) was created.[8] Its creation was based on the Law 1164 from June 1927,[9] which was passed in order toTurkefy the population.[10] The Trabzon province was included in this area. The third UM span over the provinces ofErzurum,Artvin,Rize, Trabzon,Kars,Gümüşhane,Erzincan andAğrı. It was governed by an Inspector General seated in the city ofErzurum.[8][11] The Inspectorate General was dissolved in 1952 during the Government of theDemocrat Party.[12]
In April 2021, archaeologists announced the discovery ofRoman and Byzantine period archeological remains in theOrtahisar district. The southern part of the wicker columns and fortifications of the Roman emperorHadrian's period, trench walls ofByzantine period dating back to 1460 have been discovered. Remains of Roman tiles and pottery were also discovered during the excavations. According to the Trabzon City Municipality, the excavation area is planned to be turned into anopen-air museum.[13][14][15]
^Bayir, Derya (2016-04-22).Minorities and Nationalism in Turkish Law. Routledge. pp. 139–141.ISBN978-1-317-09579-8.
^Fleet, Kate; Kunt, I. Metin; Kasaba, Reşat; Faroqhi, Suraiya (2008-04-17).The Cambridge History of Turkey. Cambridge University Press. p. 343.ISBN978-0-521-62096-3.
