Trebizond vilayet

The Vilayet of Trebizond (Ottoman Turkish: ولايت طربزون, romanized: Vilâyet-i Ṭrabzōn; French: Vilayet de Trébizonde) was a first-level administrative division (vilayet) in the north-eastern part of the Ottoman Empire, corresponding to the area along the eastern Black Sea coastline and the interior highland region of the Pontic Alps.[1]

ولايت طربزون
Vilâyet-i Ṭrabzōn
Vilayet of the Ottoman Empire
1867–1922

The Trebizond Vilayet in 1890
CapitalTrabizond[1]
History
History 
1867
• Disestablished
1922
Preceded by		Succeeded by
Trebizond Eyalet
Giresun Province
Gümüşhane Province
Ordu Province
Rize Province
Samsun Province
Trabzon Province
Kutais Governorate
Today part ofTurkey
Georgia

At the beginning of the 20th century it reportedly had an area of 12,082 square miles (31,290 km2), while the preliminary results of the first Ottoman census of 1885 (published in 1908) gave the population as 1,047,700.[2] The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.[2]

After the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the sanjak of Lazistan was established.[3] Rize became the center of the district due to the cession of Batumi, the former centre of the sanjak, to Russia with kaza of Artvin. The salname of the year 1344h/1904-1905 mentioned several Armenian pharmacists.[4] The Vilayet also counted with a considerable Greek population.[5]

During World War I eastern half of vilayet (Kazas of Görele, Vakfıkebir, Akçaabat, Trabzon, Of and Maçka with sanjaks of Lazistan and Gümüşhane) was occupied by Russian troops by summer 1916. It was retaken by Ottomans in 1918.

Demographics
Map of subdivisions of Trebizond Vilayet in 1907

The Sanjak of Trabzon had a Muslim majority since the 16th century. Western estimates given in the 19th century about the City of Trabzon estimate a Turkish majority.[6]

Census of 1914
Ethno-religious composition of the districts of the Trabzon vilayet 1914[7]
Sanjak/KazaMuslimsGreek OrthodoxArmenianJewishOthersTotal
Trabzon64,72623,80614,8468127104,858
Ordu111,42118,50512,349-1,211143,491
Of75,0501,819---76,869
Akçaabat56,4016,5613,517--66,479
Tirebolu48,99910,530868--60,397
Sürmene57,6989,762323--67,783
Giresun92,30124,1382,275--118,714
Görele42,8231,648312--44,783
Vakfıkebir28.4841351--28,548
Maçka17,95019,575258--37,783
Trabzon Sanjak595,853116,35736,14981,338749,705
Lazistan (Rize)122,0551,5075--123,567
Atina50,29717128--50,496
Hopa38,156442--38,202
Lazistan sanjak210,5081,72235--212,265
Gümüşhane29,6399,1791,817--40,635
Şiran29,68630,54724--60,257
Torul22,3123,155392--25,859
Kelkit33,130614482--34,226
Gümüşhane sanjak114,76743,4952,715--160,977
Canik (Samsun)44,99254,7094,79118533105,044
Ünye58,3515,2515,8619-69,472
Bafra48,94430.8381,735-81,517
Fatsa35,6783,0261,250-38540,339
Çarşamba54,3533,94810,820-60969,730
Terme23,6329672,601--27,200
Canik sanjak265,95098,73927,319271,267393,302
Total1,187,078260,31366,218352,6051,516,249
Note: Included in the 66,218 Armenians are 64,607 Apostolics and 1,611 Catholics.

Administrative divisions

The vilayet included three sanjaks (four after 1889)[8] and 22 kazas.[9] Sanjaks of the Vilayet:

  1. Trabzon Sanjak (Trabzon, Ordu, Giresun, Tirebolu, Görele, Vakfıkebir, Sürmene, Of, Akçaabat, Maçka)
  2. Gümüşhane Sanjak (Gümüşhane, Kelkit, Şiran, Torul)
  3. Lazistan Sanjak (Its center was Batumi at first until 1878, later Rize after 1878) (Rize, Atina, Artvin; Sometimes included Of as well)
  4. Canik Sanjak (Its center was Samsun after 1889) (Samsun, Bafra, Ünye, Fatsa, Çarşamba, Terme)

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Vilayet of Trebizond.
  1. Geographical Dictionary of the World, p. 1854, at Google Books
  2. Asia by A. H. Keane, page 459
  3. Gündüz Ali, Hemşinliler, Dil-Tarih-Kültür, Ardanuj Kültür Yardımlaşma Derneği, Yayın No: 2, Ankara, 2002, s. 61.
  4. Krikorian, Mesrob K. (1 January 1977). Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire, 1860-1908. Routledge and Kegan Paul. p. 48. ISBN 9781138492073.
  5. Krikorian, Mesrob K. (1 January 1977), p. 49
  6. Lowry, Heath (2009). Islamization and Turkification of City of Trabzon.
  7. Karpat, Kemal (1985). Ottoman Population, 1830-1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 180–184. ISBN 9780299091606.
  8. Yurt Ansiklopedisi, Rize, s. 6365.
  9. Yüksel A., Doğu Karadeniz Araştırmaları, Kitabevi, İstanbul, 2005, s.


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