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Trebizond vilayet

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

The Trebizond Vilayet in 1890
CapitalTrabizond[1]
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

The Vilayet of Trebizond (Ottoman Turkish: ولايت طربزون, romanizedVilâyet-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

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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

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Ethno-religious composition of the districts of the Trabzon vilayet 1914[8]
Sanjak/Kaza Muslims Greek Orthodox Armenian Jewish Others Total
Trabzon 64,726 23,806 14,846 8 127 104,858
Ordu 111,421 18,505 12,349 - 1,211 143,491
Of 75,050 1,819 - - - 76,869
Akçaabat 56,401 6,561 3,517 - - 66,479
Tirebolu 48,999 10,530 868 - - 60,397
Sürmene 57,698 9,762 323 - - 67,783
Giresun 92,301 24,138 2,275 - - 118,714
Görele 42,823 1,648 312 - - 44,783
Vakfıkebir 28.484 13 51 - - 28,548
Maçka 17,950 19,575 258 - - 37,783
Trabzon Sanjak 595,853 116,357 36,149 8 1,338 749,705
Lazistan (Rize) 122,055 1,507 5 - - 123,567
Atina 50,297 171 28 - - 50,496
Hopa 38,156 44 2 - - 38,202
Lazistan sanjak 210,508 1,722 35 - - 212,265
Gümüşhane 29,639 9,179 1,817 - - 40,635
Şiran 29,686 30,547 24 - - 60,257
Torul 22,312 3,155 392 - - 25,859
Kelkit 33,130 614 482 - - 34,226
Gümüşhane sanjak 114,767 43,495 2,715 - - 160,977
Canik (Samsun) 44,992 54,709 4,791 18 533 105,044
Ünye 58,351 5,251 5,861 9 - 69,472
Bafra 48,944 30.838 1,735 - 81,517
Fatsa 35,678 3,026 1,250 - 385 40,339
Çarşamba 54,353 3,948 10,820 - 609 69,730
Terme 23,632 967 2,601 - - 27,200
Canik sanjak 265,950 98,739 27,319 27 1,267 393,302
Total 1,187,078 260,313 66,218 35 2,605 1,516,249
Note: Included in the 66,218 Armenians are 64,607 Apostolics and 1,611 Catholics.

Administrative divisions

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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

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  1. ^ a b 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. ^ a b 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.