Top 10 Facts about Trabzon

Trabzon.city-by Ege Kum-Wikimedia Commons

Top 10 Facts about Trabzon

Northeastern Turkey’s Trabzon, formerly known as Trebizond in English, is a city on the back sea coast. The city’s Hagia Sophia was initially constructed as a church and has since been a museum and a hospital.

Today, It is a mosque with restored ceiling frescoes. The famous Silk Road, which for centuries served as a crossroads for different religions, languages, and cultures, passes through Trabzon, the capital of Trabzon Province.

It was also a trade gateway to Persia in the southeast and the Caucasus to the northeast. Trabzon was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond between 1204 and 1461 where it formed the basis of several states in its long history.

Because of the importance of Trabzon’s port, it again became a focal point of trade to Persia and the Caucasus in the modern period. Here are 10 facts about Trabzon.

1. The first recorded name of the city in Greek was Trapezius

Trabzon is historically known in English as Trebizond. It was first recorded Trapezius in Greek referencing the table-like central hill between the Zagnos and Kuzgun streams on which it was founded.

Trapezus is a Latinization of its ancient Greek name. Both Pontic Greek and modern Greeks it is called Trapezounta.In Georgian it is T’rap’izoni and in American it is Trapizon.

Western geographers and writers used many spelling variations of the name throughout the Middle Ages.

2. The area was initially dominated by Colchians and Chaldian tribes

Before the city was founded as a Greek colony the area was dominated by Colchians (Caucasian) and Chaldian (Anatolian) tribes.

The settlement origin of Trabzon goes back to these tribes. Also, the Hayasa is believed to have lived in the area south of Trabzon.

One of the dominant Caucasian groups to the east was the Laz, who was part of the monarchy of the Colchis and other related Georgian peoples.

3. The city was founded as a Greek colony in 756Bc

According to Greek sources, the city was founded in the classical age in 756BC by Milesian traders from Sinope, one of the 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. As a colony, It initially paid tribute to the Sinope.

4. Trabzon is one of the major historical and cultural centers of Turkey

Hagia Sophia Trabzon-by İhsan Deniz Kılıçoğlu-Wikimedia Commons

Trabzon was built as a church in the 13th century which first transformed into a mosque and then into a museum with amazing frescoes.

The city’s cathedral museum Hagia Sophia has also served as a hospital. The city fort Orta Hisar castle in the old town and the upper Citadel are also great places.

In addition, the mountain lake Uzunkel, located to the east of Trabzon, Sumela Monastery, and Gunes Sanat art gallery was built by 73-year-old artist Azmi Aytekin.

5. Historically Trabzon was a center for education

Trabzon Iskenderpasa school 4892-by Dosseman-Wikimedia Commons

Trabzon Karadeniz Technical University is one of the oldest universities in Turkey and the first of those that were opened outside Istanbul and Ankara.

It was a workplace for 1700 highly qualified teachers 600 of them with scientific degrees.

The Phrontisterion of Trapezius, a teacher’s college which operated from 1683-1921 provided a major momentum for the rapid expansion of Greek education throughout the region.

6. Trabzons cuisine is specialized in fish

Homsi L-by Elelicht-Wikimedia Commons

Being a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey, its regional cuisine is traditionally reliant on fish, especially Hamsi.

Which are the main meal in many restaurants in the city. Other regional dishes include spicy lamb meatball, Karadeniz Pidesi, Kuymak, Tonya Tereyagi, Tava misir ekmegi, and Kara lashana corbasi.

The Black Sea region of Turkey is the world’s largest producer of cherry and hazelnut, and a large production of area tea, all of which play an important role in the local cuisine.

7. Football is the most popular sport in Trabzon

Trabzonspor trophy museum-by Aleksasfi-Wikimedia Commons

The city’s top sports club, Trabzonspor was the only Turkish football club outside Instanbul to win the Super Lig(6 times)until 2010.

The Super Lig had previously been won by the “Big Three” clubs of Instanbul namely Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, and Besiktas.

Defined as the most successful football clubs in Turkey, they have modified to the “Big Four” after Trabzonspors success.

Trabzonspor is also one of the most successful Turkish clubs in The Europen Cups.

8. The city was a trading center of  the Trabzon province

Trabzon,harbour-by Bertramz-Wikimedia Commons

As of 1920, the port of Trabzon was considered the most important of the Turkish Black Sea ports by the British which started as far as Tabriz and Mosul.

Trabzon produced linen cloth, silver filagree, tanning, and small amounts of cotton, silk, and wool that year. Tobacco and hazelnuts were also exported although the city was known for producing poor-quality cereals mostly for local use.

The area also produced a white green bean, which was sold in Europe and it was the only vegetable exported out of the province as of 1920.

9. The city is easily accessible

Planes from Ankara, Istanbul, and Izmir arrive in Trabzon every day and besides, there are flights from Adana Bursa and some European cities.

The airport is located 6km from the city and also Trabzon can be reached by bus from any major Turkish city.

10. Trabzon is mostly occupied by the Turkish ethnic

There are descendants of Circassian Muhajiris in the city as well as a smaller number of Laz people, Muslim Greeks, and Armenians.

Local Turks are mostly of Chepni Turkmen origin and the main language of these ethnic groups is Turkish.

Pontic Greek has also been spoken in the region since an early age which developed along its own lines and is today partly understandable to speakers of standard Greek.

Trabzon has many popular attractions, including Ataturk’s Villa, Boztepe, and Trabzon Hagia Sophia Museum, making it an important place and well worth a visit.