Trebizond vilayet

First-level administrative division of the Ottoman Empire

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]

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.^[3] The accuracy of the population figures ranges from "approximate" to "merely conjectural" depending on the region from which they were gathered.^[3]

After the Russian-Turkish War of 1877–1878, the sanjak of Lazistan was established.^[4] 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.^[5] The Vilayet also counted with a considerable Greek population.^[6]

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.^[7]

Census of 1914

Administrative divisions

The vilayet included three sanjaks (four after 1889)^[9] and 22 kazas.^[10]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

1. Geographical Dictionary of the World, p. 1854, at Google Books
2. "1914 Census Statistics" (PDF). Turkish General Staff. pp. 605–606. Archived from the original (PDF) on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 29 January 2011.
3. Asia by A. H. Keane, page 459
4. Gündüz Ali, Hemşinliler, Dil-Tarih-Kültür, Ardanuj Kültür Yardımlaşma Derneği, Yayın No: 2, Ankara, 2002, s. 61.
5. Krikorian, Mesrob K. (1 January 1977). Armenians in the Service of the Ottoman Empire, 1860-1908. Routledge and Kegan Paul. p. 48. ISBN 9781138492073.
6. Krikorian, Mesrob K. (1 January 1977), p. 49
7. Lowry, Heath (2009). Islamization and Turkification of City of Trabzon.
8. Karpat, Kemal (1985). Ottoman Population, 1830-1914: Demographic and Social Characteristics. University of Wisconsin Press. pp. 180–184. ISBN 9780299091606.
9. Yurt Ansiklopedisi, Rize, s. 6365.
10. Yüksel A., Doğu Karadeniz Araştırmaları, Kitabevi, İstanbul, 2005, s.