Editing Trabzon (section)

==History==

===Iron Age and Classical Antiquity===
{{multiple image
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 | image1 = Hermes Trabzon museum.jpg
 | caption1 = Bronze statue of [[Hermes]], 2nd c. BC, found near Tabakhane bridge in the center of Trabzon. Displayed in [[Trabzon Museum]].
 | image2 = Head and left hand from a bronze cult statue of Anahita, a local goddess shown here in the guide of Aphrodite, 200-100 BC, British Museum (8167370318).jpg
 | caption2 = Head and hand of a 2nd c. BC bronze statue of (possibly [[Anahit]] as) [[Aphrodite]], found near [[Kelkit]] to the south of Trabzon province. On display in the [[British Museum]].
}}
Before the city was founded as a Greek colony the area was dominated by [[Colchis|Colchians]] (west Georgian) and [[Chalybes|Chaldian]] (Anatolian) tribes. The [[Hayasa]], who had been in conflict with the Central-Anatolian [[Hittites]] in 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 people|Laz]], who were part of the monarchy of the [[Colchis]], together with other related [[Kartvelians|Georgian]] peoples.<ref>''Phoenix: The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus'' by Charles Burney, David Marshall Lang, Phoenix Press; New Ed edition (December 31, 2001)</ref><ref>Ronald Grigor Suny, The Making of the Georgian Nation: 2nd edition (December 1994), Indiana University Press, {{ISBN|0-253-20915-3}}, page 45</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://timothygrove.blogspot.ro/2012_07_01_archive.html|title=A Star in the East|website=TimothyGrove.Blogspot.ro|date=23 July 2012|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref>

The city was founded in [[classical antiquity]] in 756 BC as Tραπεζούς (''Trapezous''), by [[Milesians (Greek)|Milesian]] traders from [[Sinop, Turkey|Sinope]].<ref name="Bosneagu2022">{{cite book | author = Romeo Bosneagu | date = 22 February 2022 | title = The Black Sea from Paleogeography to Modern Navigation: Applied Maritime Geography and Oceanography | publisher = Springer Nature | pages = | isbn = 978-3-03-088762-9 | oclc = 1299382109 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=lr9gEAAAQBAJ}}</ref> It was one of a number (about ten) of Milesian ''emporia'' or [[colonies in antiquity|trading colonies]] along the shores of the Black Sea. Others included [[Abydos (Hellespont)|Abydos]] and [[Cyzicus]] in the [[Dardanelles]], and nearby [[Giresun|Kerasous]]. Like most [[Hellenic civilization|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 is suggested to have occurred in the city already in the 4th century BC, according to a silver [[Ancient drachma|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]]).

[[File:The Return of the Ten Thousand under Xenophon.jpg|thumb|left|Thálatta! Thálatta! ("The Sea! The Sea!").<br /> Trebizond was the first Greek city the [[Ten Thousand]] reached on their retreat from Persia. 19th c. illustration by Herman Vogel.]]
Trebizond's trade partners included the [[Mossynoeci]]. When [[Xenophon]] and the [[Ten Thousand (Greek)|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]] 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 the 2nd century BC, the city with its natural harbours was added to the [[Kingdom of Pontus]] by [[Pharnaces I of Pontus|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 (people)|Galatians]], but it was soon returned to the grandson of Mithradates, and subsequently became part of the new client Kingdom of Pontus. When the kingdom was finally annexed to the [[Roman Empire|Roman]] province of [[Galatia (Roman province)|Galatia]] two centuries later, the fleet passed to new commanders, becoming the ''[[Classis Pontica]]''. The city received the status of [[Free city (classical antiquity)|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 the Armenian frontier or the upper [[Euphrates]] valley. New roads were constructed from [[Persian Empire|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.<ref name=Miller-9>[[William Miller (historian)|William Miller]], ''Trebizond: The Last Greek Empire'', 1926, (Chicago: Argonaut Publishers, 1968), p. 9</ref> The emperor visited the city in the year 129 as part of his inspection of the eastern border ([[Limes (Roman Empire)|limes]]). A [[mithraeum]] now serves as a crypt for the church and monastery of Panagia Theoskepastos (''Kızlar Manastırı'') in nearby Kizlara, east of the citadel and south of the modern harbor.

[[File:Aquila, Valerian, Eugene and Candidus of Trebizond (Menologion of Basil II).jpg|thumb|left|Martyrdom of Eugenius, Candidius, Valerian, and Aquila. Work dated to 985, [[Vatican Library]].]][[File:Trabzon City walls and Aquaduct.JPG|thumb|Parts of the [[Walls of Trabzon|city walls of Trabzon]] and the Eugenius Aqueduct are among the oldest remaining structures in the city.]]

[[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.<ref name=Miller-9/> {{anchor|258 sack}} Trebizond was subsequently rebuilt, pillaged again, by the [[Sasanian Empire|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 the martyrdom of [[Eugenius of Trebizond|Eugenius]] and his associates Candidius, Valerian, and Aquila.<ref>Miller, ''Trebizond'', p. 10</ref> 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 the [[First Council of Nicea]], Trebizond had its own bishop.<ref name="Hewsen46">Hewsen, 46</ref> Subsequently, the Bishop of Trebizond was subordinated to the [[Metropolitan Bishop]] of [[Poti]].<ref name="Hewsen46" /> Then during the 9th century, Trebizond itself became the seat of the Metropolitan Bishop of [[Lazica]].<ref name="Hewsen46" />

===Byzantine period===
{{Main|Chaldia}}
{{multiple image
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| image1            = Hagia Anna Trabzon.JPG
| caption1          = [[Saint Anne Church, Trabzon|Saint Anne Church]], to the east of the walled city, is the oldest church in the city, possibly dating back to the 6th or 7th century.
| image2            = Trabzon,Ortahisar1.jpg
| caption2          = The 10th-century cathedral Panaghia Chrysokephalos (now [[Fatih Mosque, Trabzon|Fatih Mosque]]), the most impressive Byzantine building in the city
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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 the church of St. Basil."<ref name=Miller-11>Miller, ''Trebizond'', p. 11</ref> An inscription above the eastern gate of the city, commemorated the reconstruction of the civic walls at Justinian's expense following an earthquake.<ref name=Miller-11/> 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.<ref>Calzolari, V. "The Armenian translation of the Greek Neoplatonic Works" in ''Greek Texts and Armenian Traditions: An Interdisciplinary Approach'', 2016, p. 51</ref><ref> History of Trebizond, Virtual Genocide Memorial [https://virtual-genocide-memorial.de/region/the-black-sea-marmara-and-aegean-littorals-eastern-thrace-and-central-anatolia/trabzon-trapezounta-trebizond-vilayet-province/] </ref>

The city regained importance when it became 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 silk]]s into eastern Muslim countries.<ref>R.B. Serjeant, ''Islamic Textiles: material for a history up to the Mongol conquest'', 1972, pp 63, 213, noted by David Jacoby, "Silk Economics and Cross-Cultural Artistic Interaction: Byzantium, the Muslim World, and the Christian West", ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' '''58''' (2004:197–240)  p. 219 note 112.</ref> According to the 10th century [[Arabs|Arab]] geographer [[Abu'l-Fida|Abul Feda]] it was regarded as being largely a [[Lazica|Lazian]] port. The Italian maritime republics such as 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.<ref name="latorio">{{cite book|author=William Miller |title=The Latin Orient |year=2009 |pages=51–54 |publisher=Bibliobazaar LLC|isbn=978-1-110-86390-7}}</ref> 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 a source of revenue to the state in the form of custom duties, or ''kommerkiaroi'', levied on the goods sold in Trebizond.<ref>Speros Vryonis, ''The Decline of Medieval Hellenism in Asia Minor and the Process of Islamization from the Eleventh through the Fifteenth Century'' (Berkeley: University of California, 1971), p. 16</ref> The Greeks protected the coastal and inland trade routes with a vast network of garrison forts.<ref>Robert W. Edwards, "The Garrison Forts of the Pontos: A Case for the Diffusion of the Armenian Paradigm", ''Revue des Études Arméniennes'' 19, 1985, pp.181–284.</ref>

Following the [[Byzantine]] defeat at the [[Battle of Manzikert]] in 1071, Trebizond came under [[Seljuk Turks|Seljuk]] rule. This rule proved transient when an expert soldier and local aristocrat, [[Theodore Gabras]] took control of 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.<ref>Miller, ''Trebizond'', p. 12</ref> Supporting Comnena's assertion, [[Simon Bendall]] has identified a group of rare coins he believes was minted by Gabras and his successors.<ref>Bendall, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/42666585  "The Mint of Trebizond under Alexius I and the Gabrades"], ''Numismatic Chronicle'', Seventh Series, '''17''' (1977), pp. 126–136</ref> Although he was killed by the Turks in 1098, other members of his family continued his de facto independent rule into the next century.

===Empire of Trebizond===
{{Main|Empire of Trebizond}}

The [[Empire of Trebizond]] was formed after a [[Byzantine–Georgian wars#Georgian expedition to Chaldia and the founding of the Trebizond Empire|Georgian expedition in Chaldia]],<ref>A. A. Vasiliev, [https://www.jstor.org/stable/2846872 "The Foundation of the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1222)"], ''Speculum'', '''11''' (1936), pp. 18f</ref> commanded by [[Alexios I of Trebizond|Alexios]] [[Komnenos]] a few weeks before the [[Fourth Crusade|sack of Constantinople]] in 1204. Located at the far northeastern corner of [[Anatolia]], it was the longest surviving of the [[Byzantine Empire|Byzantine]] successor states. Byzantine authors, such as [[George Pachymeres|Pachymeres]], and to some extent Trapezuntines such as [[John Lazaropoulos|Lazaropoulos]] and [[Basilios Bessarion|Bessarion]], regarded the Trebizond Empire as being no more than a [[Lazica|Lazian]] border state. Thus, from the point of view of the Byzantine writers connected with the [[Laskaris|Lascaris]] and later with the [[Palaiologos]], the rulers of Trebizond were not emperors.<ref name=":0">Finlay, George. The History Of Greece From Its Conquest By The Crusaders To Its Conquest By The Turks And Of The Empire Of Trebizond, 1204–1461, By George Finlay. 1st ed. Edinburgh: W. Blackwood and sons, 1851. Print.</ref><ref name=":1">Vasilev, A. A. The Foundation Of The Empire Of Trebizond 1204–1222. 1st ed. Cambridge, Mass.: Medieval Academy of America, 1936. Print.</ref>

{{multiple image
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 | image1 = Hagia Sophia Trabzon.jpg
 | caption1 = [[Hagia Sophia, Trabzon|Hagia Sophia]]<br />(now Ayasofya mosque & museum)
 | image2 = Hagios Eugenios Trabzon 2.JPG
 | caption2 = Hagios Eugenios<br />(now [[New Friday Mosque|Yeni Cuma Mosque]])
 | footer = The young empire required new buildings to honor its name. Their architectural style differs from previous Byzantine architecture, while still retaining many features. Caucasian and Eastern Anatolian influences are especially evident in Hagia Sophia.
}}

[[File:Fresco of Comneni at Agia Theotokos, Trebizond..jpg|thumb|Fresco of Alexios III between his wife and mother at the [[Panagia Theoskepastos Monastery]], as drawn by [[Charles Texier]]]]
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, 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 (1258)|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 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 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 [[Byzantine]]s in 1261.

[[File:Pisanello - St George and the Princess of Trebizond (detail) - WGA17878.jpg|thumb|right|Fantastical depiction of Trebizond by [[Pisanello]] in a fresco of the [[Sant'Anastasia (Verona)|Sant'Anastasia]] church in [[Verona]], painted between 1436 and 1438]]
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 the Renaissance. [[Miguel de Cervantes]] and [[François Rabelais]] gave their protagonists the desire to possess the city.<ref>'The lure of Trebizond' by [[Antony Eastmond]], in ''Byzantium's Other Empire: Trebizond'', p. 22, 2016, Istanbul</ref> Next to literature, the legendary history of the city – and that of the Pontus in general – also influenced the creation of [[paintings]], [[Play (theatre)|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 the city. Especially [[Alexios II of Trebizond]] and his grandson [[Alexios III of Trebizond|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,<ref>[http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Shams_al-Din_al-Bukhari_BEA.htm "Shams al‐Dīn al‐Bukhārī"]. Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). ''The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers''.  New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 1047–1048. Retrieved 12 January 2018.</ref> [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] and [[Al-Khazini|Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini]] from Tabriz, which he translated into Greek. These works later found their way to western Europe, together with the [[astrolabe]]. The observatory Choniades built would become known for its accurate [[solar eclipse]] predictions, but was probably used mostly for [[astrology|astrological]] purposes for the emperor and/or the church.<ref>[https://www.academia.edu/29570856/Astronomy_in_the_Trebizond_Empire Astronomy in the Trebizond Empire] Ahmet M. Zehiroğlu (trans. by Paula Darwish). from Trabzon İmparatorluğu 2016, Trabzon.</ref> 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 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 (city)|Kaffa]]. At that time 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 [[Qutlugh bin Tur Ali|Kutlu Beg]] son of Tur Ali Beg, and established a kinship with them.<ref name=faruk1>{{TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi|title=AKKOYUNLULAR XV. yüzyılda Doğu Anadolu, Azerbaycan ve Irak’ta hüküm süren Türkmen hânedanı (1340-1514).|url=https://islamansiklopedisi.org.tr/akkoyunlular|author=Faruk Sümer}}</ref>

Constantinople remained the Byzantine capital until it was [[Fall of Constantinople|conquered]] by the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] Sultan [[Mehmed II]] in 1453, who also [[Siege of Trebizond (1461)|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 the area, mostly in the [[Çaykara]]-[[Of, Turkey|Of]] dialectical region to the southeast of Trabzon.<!--Use modern name here!--> Most are Sunni Muslim, while there are some recent converts in the city{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} and possibly a few [[Crypto-Christians]] in the [[Tonya, Turkey|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.

{{wide image|Cassone Conquest of Trebizond Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso.png|900px|The [[Cassone]] with the 'Conquest of Trebizond' by [[Apollonio di Giovanni di Tomaso]], on display at the [[Metropolitan Museum of Art]] in New York. Painted just after the fall of the city, it depicts Trebizond<!--Old name--> as being equal to [[Constantinople]] (at the far left). Even the battle displayed in between the two cities was mostly a fantasy. The city held a legendary place in Western European literature and thought throughout the late medieval period and the renaissance, with a lasting influence that can be felt even to present times.}}

===Ottoman era===
{{Main|Trebizond Eyalet|Trebizond Vilayet}}
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 | image1 =Trebizond map.jpg
 | caption1 = The first known plan of Trebizond<!--Use old name-->, drawn around 1604–1610 by Julien Bordier. Many characteristics of the city can be recognized: the two streams dividing the central core, the separately walled quarters, the Genoese town next to the winter harbour, Haghia Sophia at the bottom right, and [[Boztepe hill, Trabzon|Boztepe hill]] at the top left.
 | image2 = Trebisonde (Relation d un voyage du Levant).jpg
 | caption2 = The first city-view of Trebizond<!--Use old name-->, published by [[Joseph Pitton de Tournefort]] after a drawing by himself or his assistant [[Claude Aubriet]] during a visit in 1701. The view shows the city from Haghia Sophia in the distance all the way to the winter harbour. The drawing was made from Boztepe, which is still the most popular place to view the city. 
}}
The last Emperor of Trebizond, [[David of Trebizond|David]], surrendered the city to Sultan [[Mehmed II]] of the [[Ottoman Empire]] in 1461.<ref name=Prothero23>{{cite book|last=Prothero|first=G.W.|title=Anatolia|year=1920|publisher=H.M. Stationery Office|location=London|url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/11766/view/1/23/}}</ref> Following this takeover, Mehmed II sent many Turkish settlers into the area, but the old ethnic [[Greeks|Greek]], [[Laz people|Laz]] and [[Armenians|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.<ref name="Modern Times page 27/28">''The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times'', Richard G. Hovannisian, page 27/28, 2004</ref> The total population of 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.<ref name="Modern Times page 27/28"/> However, a significant portion of the local Christians were [[Islamization|Islamized]] by the end of the 17th century - especially those outside the city - according to a research by Prof. [[Halil İnalcık]] on 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]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ofhayrat.com/news_print.php?id=4895|title=Haber Yazdır : Trabzon'un fethi araştırmaları ve 15 ağustos 1461 – Of hayrat haberleri|website=www.OfHayrat.com|access-date=14 January 2018}}</ref>

In 1598 it became the capital of its own province - the [[Trebizond Eyalet|Eyalet of Trebizond]] - which in 1867 became the [[Trebizond Vilayet|Vilayet of Trebizond]]. During the reign of Sultan [[Bayezid II]], his son [[Selim I|Prince Selim]] (later Sultan [[Selim I]]) 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 people|Chepni Turks]] and [[Laz people|Laz]] [[bey]]s as the regional [[beylerbey]].{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} It is also recorded that some [[Bosniaks]] were appointed by the [[Sublime Porte]] as the regional beylerbeys in Trabzon.{{citation needed|date=June 2017}} The Eyalet of Trabzon had always sent troops for the [[Ottoman wars in Europe|Ottoman campaigns in Europe]] during the 16th and 17th centuries.

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 | image1 =Meydan Trebizond.jpg
 | caption1 = Trebizond<!--Use old name--> ''Meydan'' around 1868, [[Dmitri Ivanovich Yermakov]]
 | image2 = Public funeral in Trebizond.jpg
 | caption2 =Men and woman gathered for the funeral of an Armenian cleric. Hatchik Tcholakian, 1892.
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Trebizond<!--Use old name--> 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 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 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]]<ref>{{Cite book|first=Howard|last=Sounes|title=Down The Highway: The Life Of Bob Dylan|publisher=Grove Press|year=2001|isbn=978-0-8021-1686-4|url=https://archive.org/details/downhighwaylifeo0000soun}} At pages 12-13.</ref> 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 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 the city, especially after 1864, in what is known as the [[Circassian genocide]].

Next to Constantinople, [[Smyrna]] (now [[İzmir]]) and Salonika<!--In English, it was called 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.<ref>{{cite book|author=Rev. M. P. Parmalee|title=Proceedings of the ABCFM for the year 1892|date=1892|publisher=Samuel Usher|location=Boston|page=229|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z8sWAQAAIAAJ&q=%22P.+O.+Powers%22+%22G.+W.+Wood%22&pg=PA229|access-date=1 May 2017|quote=Trebizond was occupied as a missionary station in 1835... The following is a list of missionaries who have been connected with the station for at least one year:  ... Rev. [[George Warren Wood|G. W. Wood]], 1842 – 1843"}}</ref>  Hundreds of schools were constructed in 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 the 19th century.<ref>[https://openaccess.leidenuniv.nl/bitstream/handle/1887/68645/03.pdf The constitutional revolution of 1908 and its aftermath in Trabzon] Ahmetoglu, S., 2019, p.127-128, Doctoral Thesis, Leiden University</ref> 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 train]]s from Persia.

Between one and two thousand Armenians are believed to have been killed in 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 the massacre.<ref>Rev. Edwin Munsell Blis on the Hamidian Massacres in 'Modern Genocide: The Definitive Resource and Document Collection', 2014, p. 147, Paul R. Bartrop & Steven Leonard Jacobs (eds)</ref> [[Ivan Aivazovsky]] made the painting ''Massacre of the Armenians in Trebizond 1895'' based on the events.<ref>{{cite journal|author=Davidian, Vazken Khatchig|url=https://journals.openedition.org/eac/1815|title=Image of an Atrocity: Ivan (Hovhannes) Aivazovsky's ''Massacre of the Armenians in Trebizond 1895''|journal=[[Études Arméniennes Contemporaines]]|year=2018|issue=11|pages=40–73|doi=10.4000/eac.1815|doi-access=free}}</ref> 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.

{{clear}}
'''Ottoman era paintings and drawings of Trebizond'''
<gallery>
File:Ivan Aivazovsky Trebizond 1865.jpg|Trebizond from the sea by [[Ivan Aivazovsky]]
File:Harbour Trebizond C. Lapante HQ.jpg|Engraving of the port at Çömlekçi by C. Lapante
File:Durand-Brager 3.jpg|Trebizond by [[Jean-Baptiste Henri Durand-Brager]]
File:Port of Trebizond Y.M. Tadevossian.jpg|Trebizond from the sea by [[Yeghishe Tadevosyan]]
File:Trebizond Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1833).jpg|Trebizond from the south by [[Godfrey Vigne]]
File:Quarantine station at Trebizond by Jules Laurens.jpg|The quarantine station by [[Jules Laurens]]
File:Trebizond 'East town' 1922.jpg|Street view by [[Nikolay Lanceray]]
</gallery>
{{wide image|Trebizond lithograph.jpg|900px|Lithograph of Trebizond<!--old name--> from the sea by the [[Lowes Cato Dickinson|Dickinson Brothers]] of London, 1853. It shows the city from 'Khonsi point' at the left to Platana (Akçaabat) at the right. This is the first impression most European travellers got of the city (in good weather) until the second half of the 20th century.}}

===Modern era===
{{multiple image
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| width1            = 240
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| width3            = 240
| image1            = Scene in a theatre in Trebizond.jpg
| caption1          = A theater performance in Trebizond<!--Use old name until circa 1930--> c. 1900
| image2            = Philharmonic orchestra of Trebizond (cropped).jpg
| caption2          = The Philharmonic orchestra of Trebizond
| image3            = Acriteon Hospital Trebizond.jpg
| caption3          = Operating room of the Acriteon Hospital
}}

In 1901 the harbour was equipped with cranes by [[Stothert & Pitt]] of [[Bath, Somerset|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 the winter of 1914–15, while during those same months the Russian navy bombarded the city a total of five times, taking 1300<ref>Daniel Maldonado in 'Historic Cities of the Islamic World', 2007, p. 525, C. Edmund Bosworth (ed)</ref>  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.<ref>''Toronto Globe'', August 26, 1915.</ref><ref>''Takvimi Vekdyi'', No. 3616, August 6, 1919, p. 2.</ref> In some areas of Trebizond province - such as the Karadere river valley in modern-day [[Araklı]], 25 kilometers east of the city - the local Muslim population tried to protect the Christian Armenians.<ref>[https://virtual-genocide-memorial.de/region/the-black-sea-marmara-and-aegean-littorals-eastern-thrace-and-central-anatolia/trabzon-trapezounta-trebizond-vilayet-province/sancak-lazistan-rizounta-%CF%81%CE%B9%CE%B6%CE%BF%CF%8D%CE%BD%CF%84%CE%B1-rize/kaza-hemsin-hamshen/ KAZA HEMŞIN / ՀԱՄՇԷՆ – HAMSHEN] Virtual genocide memorial</ref>

The coastal region between the city and the Russian frontier became the site of key battles between the Ottoman and [[Russian Empire|Russian]] armies during the [[Trebizond Campaign]], as part of the [[Caucasus Campaign]] of World War I. The Russian army landed at [[Pazar, Rize|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&nbsp;km to the east of Trabzon, it took a further 40 days for the Russian army to advance west.<ref>Infographic by the newspaper ''[[The Sphere (newspaper)|The Sphere]]'' showing the advance of the Russian front on Trebizond, The Sphere, April 29, 1916</ref> 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 [[Archbishop Chrysanthus of Athens|Chrysantos Philippidis]]. 

Chrysantos promised to protect the Muslim population of the city. Ottoman forces retreated from Trabzon, and on April 15 the city was taken without a fight by the [[Russian Caucasus Army (World War I)|Russian Caucasus Army]] under command of [[Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolaevich of Russia (1856–1929)|Grand Duke Nicholas]] and [[Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich|Nikolai Yudenich]]. There was also a massacre of Armenians and Greeks in Trabzon just before the Russian takeover of the city.<ref>{{cite news |title=Massacre of Christians before Evacuation of Trebizond |url=https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/124874666 |publisher=The Daily Herald |date=April 21, 1916 |location=Adelaide, Australia |page=5 |quote="Frightful scenes were witnessed in the Christian quarter...hundreds of civilians were killed."}}</ref> 

In early 1917 Chrysantos tried to broker a peace between the Russians and the Ottomans, to no avail. During 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 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 Vilayet|Trebizond province]] [[Cemal Azmi]] – a non-native appointee who had fled to Germany after 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.

{{multiple image
| align             = left
| total_width       = 330
| image1            = Chrysanthos.jpg
| caption1          = Chrysanthos Philippidis, metropolitan and governor of Trabzon during part of the First World War. He protected the local population, regardless of religion or ethnicity.
| image2            = Ali Shukri Bey.jpg
| caption2          = Ali Şükrü Bey, publisher and politician from Trabzon who opposed violence against ethnic minorities and paid the ultimate price for his criticism of Mustafa Kemal
}}

During the [[Turkish War of Independence]] several Christian [[Pontic Greeks|Pontic Greek]] communities in the Trebizond province rebelled against the new army of [[Mustafa Kemal]] (notably in [[Bafra]] and [[Dumanlı|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 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,<ref>[https://www.thenationalherald.com/176214/seattle-city-council-asia-minor Seattle City Council and Asia Minor – The articles of Herbert Adams Gibbons in the Christian Science Monitor] Stavros T. Stavridis in ''[[The National Herald]]'', September 26, 2017</ref> 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 the city by armed Turkish port-workers.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kVZ3sLBEPEcC&q=1921&pg=PA112|title=Twice a Stranger: The Mass Expulsions that Forged Modern Greece and Turkey|pages=112–116|first=Bruce|last=Clark|date=2006|publisher=Harvard University Press|access-date=15 January 2018|via=Google Books|isbn=9780674023680}}</ref> Governor Chrysantos travelled to the [[Paris Peace Conference (1919–1920)|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 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 [[Turkey|Turkish Republic]]. The efforts of the pro-[[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]], anti-nationalist population of Trebizond only postponed the inevitable, because the national governments of Turkey and Greece agreed to a mutual [[Population exchange between Greece and Turkey|forced population exchange]]. This exchange included well over 100,000 [[Pontic Greeks|Greeks]] from Trebizond and the vicinity, who moved to Greece (founding the new towns of [[Nea Trapezounta, Pieria]] and [[Nea Trapezounta, Grevena]] amongst others).<ref>Baum, Wilhelm (2006). ''The Christian minorities in Turkey''. Kitab. p. 162. {{ISBN|978-3-902005-62-5}}. "On October 11, 1922, Turkey concluded an armistice with the allied forces, but not with the Greeks. The Greeks in the other settlement areas of Asia Minor were also expelled at that time, like e.g. the Kappadocian Greeks in the Goreme area and the other Greeks in Pontus, in the Trebizond area and on the west coast."</ref> 

During the war Trebizond parliamentarian [[Ali Şükrü Bey]] had been one of the leading figures of the [[Second Group (Turkey)|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 the population exchange. Şükrü argued that recognition of ethnic diversity was not a threat to the Turkish nation.

{{multiple image
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| width1            = 240
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| image1            = Uzun Sokak at night.JPG
| caption1          = Uzun Sokak, a pedestrianized shopping street
| image2            = Trabzon,AtatürkAlani.jpg
| caption2          = Atatürk Alani at Meydan square in Taksim (central Trabzon)
}}

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 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 Ggenocide – 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 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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2024}}

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 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 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 Muslims#Greek Muslims of Pontus and the Caucasus|Greek-speaking Muslims]], most of whom are originally from the vicinities of [[Tonya, Turkey|Tonya]], [[Sürmene]] and [[Çaykara]]. However, the variety of the [[Pontic Greek|Pontic Greek language]] - known as "''Romeika''" in the local vernacular, ''Pontiaka'' in Greek, and ''Rumca'' in Turkish - is spoken mostly by the older generations.<ref>[[Özhan Öztürk]]: [http://www.yeniansiklopedi.com/pontus-anticag%e2%80%99dan-gunumuze-karadeniz%e2%80%99in-etnik-ve-siyasi-tarihi/ ''Pontus: Antik Çağ’dan Günümüze Karadeniz’in Etnik ve Siyasi Tarihi'', Genesis Yayınları, Ankara, 2011], pp. 417–421, {{ISBN|978-605-54-1017-9}}; Peter Mackridge: ''Greek-Speaking Muslims of North-East Turkey: Prolegomena to a study of the Ophitic sub-dialect of Pontic'', Byzantine and Modern Greek Studies, Oxford University Press, 1987, pp. 115–137; [[Ömer Asan]]: ''Pontus Kültürü'', Belge Yayınları, Istanbul, 1996.</ref>