Samsun

Samsun, historically known as Sampsounta ( gr, Σαμψούντα) and Amisos ( Ancient Greek: Ἀμισός), is a city on the north coast of Turkey and a major Black Sea port. Over 700,000 people live in the city. The city is the capital of Samsun Province which has a population of over 1,350,000. The city is home to Ondokuz Mayıs University, several hospitals, three large shopping malls, Samsunspor football club, an opera house and a large and modern manufacturing district. A former Greek settlement, the city is best known as the place where Mustafa Kemal Atatürk began the Turkish War of Independence in 1919.

Name

The present name of the city is believed to have come from its former Greek name of () by a reinterpretation of (meaning "to Amisós") and (Greek suffix for place names) to (: ) and then Samsun ().

The early Greek historian Hecataeus wrote that Amisos was formerly called '' Enete'', the place mentioned in Homer's '' Iliad''. In Book II, Homer says that the ''ἐνετοί'' (Enetoi) inhabited Paphlagonia on the southern coast of the Black Sea in the time of the Trojan War (c. 1200 BC). The Paphlagonians are listed among the allies of the Trojans in the war, where their king Pylaemenes and his son Harpalion perished.Homer, ''Iliad''
online version
at classics.mit.edu, accessed on 2009-08-18. Book II: "The Paphlagonians were commanded by stout-hearted Pylaemanes from Enetae, where the mules run wild in herds. These were they that held Cytorus and the country round Sesamus, with the cities by the river Parthenius, Cromna, Aegialus, and lofty Erithini." Strabo mentioned that the inhabitants had disappeared by his time.

Samsun has also been known as ''Peiraieos'' by Athenian settlers and even briefly as ''Pompeiopolis'' by Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus.

The city was called ''Simisso'' by the Genoese. It was during the Ottoman Empire, that its present name was written as ota, صامسون (''Ṣāmsūn''). The city has been known as Samsun since the formation of the Turkey in 1923.

History

Ancient history

Paleolithic artifacts found in the Tekkeköy Caves can be seen in Samsun Archaeology Museum.

The earliest layer excavated of the höyük of Dündartepe revealed a Chalcolithic settlement. Early Bronze Age and Hittite settlements were also found there and at Tekkeköy.

Samsun (then known as Amisos, Greek Αμισός, alternative spelling ''Amisus'') was settled in about 760–750 BC by Ionians from Miletus, who established a flourishing trade relationship with the ancient peoples of Anatolia. The city's ideal combination of fertile ground and shallow waters attracted numerous traders.

Amisus was settled by the Ionian Milesians in the 6th century BC,Wilson, M. W. "Cities of God in Northern Asia Minor: Using Stark's Social Theories to Reconstruct Peter's Communities". Verbum et Ecclesia 32 (1). p. 3. it is believed that there was significant Greek activity along the coast of the Black Sea, although the archaeological evidence for this is very fragmentary. The only archaeological evidence we have as early as the 6th century is a fragment of Wild Goat style Greek pottery, in the Louvre.

Persian Period

The city was captured by the Persians in 550 BC and became part of Cappadocia (satrapy). In the 5th century BC, Amisus became a free state and one of the members of the Delian League led by the Athenians;Wilson, M. W. "Cities of God in Northern Asia Minor: Using Stark's Social Theories to Reconstruct Peter's Communities". Verbum et Ecclesia 32 (1). p. 4. it was then renamed Peiraeus under Pericles. Starting the 3rd century BC the city came under the control of Mithridates I, later founder of the Kingdom of Pontus. The Amisos treasure may have belonged to one of the kings.
Tumuli, containing tombs dated between 300 BC and 30 BC, can be seen at Amisos Hill but unfortunately Toraman Tepe was mostly flattened during construction of the 20th century radar base.

Roman Period

The Romans conquered Amisus in 71 BC during the Third Mithridatic War. and Amisus became part of Bithynia et Pontus province. Around 46 BC, during the reign of Julius Caesar, Amisus became the capital of Roman Pontus. From the period of the Second Triumvirate up to Nero, Pontus was ruled by several client kings, as well as one client queen, Pythodorida of Pontus, a granddaughter of Marcus Antonius. From 62 CE it was directly ruled by Roman governors, most famously by Trajan's appointee Pliny. Pliny the Younger's address to the Emperor Trajan in the 1st century CE "By your indulgence, sir, they have the benefit of their own laws," is interpreted by John Boyle Orrery to indicate that the freedoms won for those in Pontus by the Romans was not pure freedom and depended on the generosity of the Roman emperor.Orrery, J. B. (1752). "The Letters of Pliny the Younger: With Observations on Each Letter; and an Essay on Pliny's Life, Addressed to Charles Lord Boyle". The 3rd ed. London: Printed by James Bettenham, for Paul Vaillant. p. 407.

The estimated population of the city around 150 AD is between 20,000 and 25,000 people, classifying it as a relatively large city for that time. The city functioned as the commercial capital for the province of Pontus; beating its rival Sinope (now Sinop) due to its position at the head of the trans-Anatolia highway.

In Late Antiquity, the city became part of the Dioecesis Pontica within the eastern Roman Empire; later still it was part of the Armeniac Theme.

Samsun Castle was built on the seaside in 1192, it was demolished between 1909 and 1918.

Early Christianity

Though the roots of the city are Hellenistic, it was also one of the centers of an early Christian congregation. Its function as a commercial metropolis in northern Asia Minor was a contributing factor to enable the spread of Christian influence. As a large port city – the commercial capital of Pontus – travel to and from Christian hotbeds like Jerusalem was not uncommon. According to Josephus, there was large Jewish diaspora in Asia Minor.Schalit, A. "Asia Minor." ''Encyclopedia Judaica''. Accessed 11 March 2015. Given that the early evangelist Christians focused on Jewish diaspora communities, and that the Jewish diaspora in Amisus was a geographically accessible group with a mixed heritage group, it is not surprising that Amisus would be an appealing site for evangelist work. The author o
1 Peter 1:1
addresses the Jewish diaspora of the province of Pontus, along with four other provinces: "Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ, To God's elect, exiles scattered throughout the provinces of Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia and Bithynia." (Peter 1:1) As Amisus would have been the largest commercial port-city in the province, it is believed certain that the spread of Christianity in the region would have begun there. In the 1st century Pliny the Younger document
accounts
of Christians in and around the cities of Pontus. His accounts center on his conflicts with the Christians when he served under the Emperor Trajan and describe early Christian communities, his condemnation of their refusal to renounce their religion, but also describes his tolerance for some Christian practices like Christian charitable societies. Many great early Christian figures had connections to Amisus, including Caesarea Mazaca, Gregory the Illuminator (raised as a Christian from 257 CE when he was brought to Amisus) and Basil the Great (Bishop of the city 330–379 CE).

Christian bishops of Amisus include Antonius, who took part in the Council of Chalcedon in 451; Erythraeus, a signatory of the letter that the bishops of Helenopontus wrote to Emperor Leo I the Thracian after the killing of Patriarch Proterius of Alexandria; the late 6th-century bishop Florus, venerated as a saint in the Greek menologion; and Tiberius, who attended the Third Council of Constantinople (680), Leo, the Second Council of Nicaea (787), and Basilius, the Council of Constantinople of 879. The diocese is no longer mentioned in the Greek Notitiae Episcopatuum after the 15th century and thereafter the city was considered part of the see of Amasea. However, some Greek bishops of the 18th and 19th centuries bore the title of Amisus as titular bishops. In the 13th century the Franciscans had a convent at Amisus, which became a Latin bishopric some time before 1345, when its bishop Paulus was transferred to the recently conquered city of Smyrna and was replaced by the Dominican Benedict, who was followed by an Italian Armenian called Thomas. No longer a residential diocese, it is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

Medieval history

Samsun was part of the Seljuk Empire, the Sultanate of Rum, the Empire of Trebizond, and was one of the Genoese colonies. After the breakup of the Seljuk Empire into small principalities (beyliks) in the late 13th century, the city was ruled by one of them, the Isfendiyarids. It was captured from the Isfendiyarids at the end of the 14th century by the rival Ottoman beylik (later the Ottoman Empire) under sultan Bayezid I, but was lost again shortly afterwards.

The Ottomans permanently conquered the town in the weeks following 11 August 1420.

In the later Ottoman period, it became part of the Sanjak of Canik ( tr, Canik Sancağı), which was at first part of the Rûm Eyalet. The land around the town mainly produced tobacco, with its own type being grown in Samsun, the Samsun-Bafra, which the British described as having "small but very aromatic leaves", and commanding a "high price." The town was connected to the railway system in the second half of the 19th century, and tobacco trade boomed. There was a British consulate in the town from 1837 to 1863.

Previously, the last Armenian Zoroastrians, the ''Arewordik'', or children of the sun, lived in Samsun.

Modern history

Mustafa Kemal Atatürk established the Turkish national movement against the Allies in Samsun on May 19, 1919, the date which traditionally marks the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence. Atatürk, appointed by the Ottoman government as Inspector of the Ninth Army Troops Inspectorate of the Empire in eastern Anatolia, left Constantinople aboard the now-famous on May 16 for Samsun. Instead of obeying the orders of the Ottoman government, then under the control of the occupying Allies, he and a number of colleagues declared the beginning of the Turkish national movement. The Allies claimed that the Greek population of Samsun was subject looting by Turkish irregular groups, as noted by representatives of the American Near East Relief, an Allied organization. The Turkish National Movement became alarmed due to the presence of Greek warships in the vicinity of Samsun and undertook the deportation which entailed the deportation of 21,000 local Greeks to the interior of Anatolia. By 1920, Samsun's population totaled about 36,000, though this figure declined due to the impacts of war and deportations.

Later, in early June 1922, the city was bombarded by the Allied navy, consisting of American and Greek warships. The Allied bombardment against the Turks was a strategic failure. Following Turkey's victory, the Greek population left for Greece after the 1923 Population Exchange founding villages including Nea Sampsounda in Preveza, Greece.

After the establishment of the Republic, Samsun was declared a province with five districts Bafra, Çarşamba, Havza, Terme and Vezirköprü. Samsun added additional districts in later years. In 1928, Ladik was established as a district. In 1934, district was Kavak was established followed by Alaçam in 1944 which brought the number of districts in Samsun Province to eight. With the law number 3392 adopted on 19 June 1983 Salıpazarı, Asarcık, Ondokuzmayıs and Tekkeköy districts were established. With the law number 3644 adopted on 9 May 1990, Ayvacık and Yakakent two more districts were established. Samsun entered into a period of economic and population recovery in the years after the establishment of the Republic and quickly restored its status as a vital Black Sea port for Turkey.

Reconstruction of Samsun began quickly after the establishment of the Republic of Turkey. In 1929, the region's first electric power plant began operations. Railway access to the city was established in the early 1950s with service to Sivas and Ankara. Major investments in the regions road network were made beginning in the 1960s. In 1975, per law No. 1873, Ondokuz Mayıs University was established in neighboring Atakum. The construction of the university was a major development to the region, bringing a highly regarded and well-funded educational institution and state hospital to Samsun. The region was connect by air in 1998 with the construction of Samsun-Çarşamba Airport 23 km east of the city center. The airport is primarily serviced by Turkish Airlines with service to Istanbul Airport and Ankara Esenboğa Airport but also has international service to Germany and Iraq. In 2008, the Metropolitan Municipality opened the 36.5 km Samsun Tram network which connects Ondokuz Mayıs University to Samsun 19 Mayıs Stadium.

In 1993, Samsun was established as a metropolitan municipality by decree of the national government in Ankara. The decree further enhanced Samsun's status as one of Turkey's largest and most important cities. As Samsun grew, as did its environs. Neighboring Atakum, a suburb to the west of the city center was established in 2008 with the merger of Atakent, Kurupelit, Altınkum, Çatalçam and Taflan towns into one municipality. Atakum in recent years has become a bedroom community to Samsun and home to much of the region's professional class.

Multiple other large developments have further established Samsun as a major urban center. In 2013, Piazza Samsun a 160 store shopping mall, the largest in the Central Black Sea region, opened in the city center. The opening of the mall was followed by the construction of 115 m tall Sheraton Hotel Samsun. Now the second tallest building in the region, the hotel at the time was the first building in Samsun's history to stand more than 100 m. In 2017, Samsunspor opened a new 30,000 person stadium in Tekkeköy. Gökdelen Towers is now the tallest building in the Samsun region and representative of a recent trend towards high-rise residential housing.

Under the leadership of Metropolitan Mayor Mustafa Demir, the Samsun regional government has undertaken several major transportation and housing development projects in the city center. Projects include the restoration of the Mert River, the construction of the new National Garden, the restoration of Tarihi Şifa Hamamı and the construction of Samsun Saathane Square.

Geography

Samsun is a long city which extends along the coast between two river deltas which jut into the Black Sea. It is located at the end of an ancient route from Cappadocia: the ''Amisos'' of antiquity lay on the headland northwest of the modern city center.

The city is growing fast: land has been reclaimed from the sea and many more apartment blocks and shopping malls are currently being built. Industry is tending to move (or be moved) east, further away from the city center and towards the airport.

Rivers

To Samsun's west, lies the Kızılırmak ("Red River", the ''Halys'' of antiquity), one of the longest rivers in Anatolia and its fertile delta. To the east, lie the Yeşilırmak ("Green River", the ''Iris'' of antiquity) and its delta. The River Mert reaches the sea at the city.

Climate

Samsun has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen: ''Cfa,'' Trewartha'': Cf''), typical for the region, but Samsun is nevertheless drier during summer and milder during winter than most of the southern Black Sea coast.

Summers are warm, the average maximum temperature is around in August. Winters are cool to mild and wet, the lowest average minimum temperature is around in January.

Precipitation is heaviest in late autumn and early winter. Snow sometimes occurs between the months of December and March, but temperatures below the freezing point rarely last more than a couple of days.

The water temperature is generally mild, fluctuating between throughout the year.

Demographics

During the Tanzimat period and the subsequent wars, Ottoman Muslims were exiled from the Balkans and Circassians were expelled from the Caucasus region. Many of the present inhabitants trace their origins from further west or east on the Black Sea coast. The overwhelming majority of people are Muslim. Due to depressed economic conditions, Samsun saw slow but gradual population growth until 1990. Beginning with the economic liberalization Turkey, the city's population began to rapidly increase. In 1990, the city reported a population of 322,982. That figure grew to 388,509 by 2000, 461,640 in 2008, to 511,601 in 2015. In 2020, the city had an estimated population of 710,000.

Government

Samsun holds an important historical role in the political development of the Republic of Turkey. The city is where the first branch of the Free Republican Party and the first provincial branch of the Democrat Party were opened. For that reason, the city occupies an important place in the history of politics in Turkey. Samsun has traditionally voted for right-wing and nationalistic parties both in local and national elections. In this respect, in Samsun, which is described as the "vote depot of the right". Until the 2018, nearly 80% of the populace voted for right-wing parties while the membership rate to political parties is around 20%. The majority of the deputies have been from the right in all general elections since 1950. Only in 1989 and 1994 did a candidate from a left-wing party, Muzaffer Önder was elected mayor.

Today, 6 of the 9 deputies of Samsun's delegation to the Turkish Grand National Assembly are members of right-wing parties with the exception of those from Atakum. The mayor of the Metropolitan Municipality Mustafa Demir is a member of the Justice and Development Party. Of the members of parliament from Samsun, Ahmet Demircan, Yusuf Ziya Yılmaz, Çiğdem Karaaslan, Fuat Köktaş and Orhan Kırcalı are from the Justice and Development Party, while two are from the Republican People's Party, one from Good Party and one from the Nationalist Movement Party.

Pollution

Air pollution is a problem in some parts of the city, especially in winter when free coal is supplied to poor

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