Pazar ( Laz and Georgian: ათინა, ''Atina''; ) is a town in Rize Province in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal sea, marginal Mediterranean sea (oceanography), mediterranean sea lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bound ...

region of

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

, 37 km east of the city of Rize. It is the seat of Pazar District.İlçe Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. Its population is 17,946 (2021). The town contains many inhabitants of Laz and Georgian ancestries as well as other

peoples The term "the people" refers to the public or common mass of people of a polity. As such it is a concept of human rights law, international law as well as constitutional law, particularly used for claims of popular sovereignty. In contrast, a ...

. The town consists of the quarters Gazi, Kocaköprü, Ocak, Beyaztaş, Güzelyalı, Zafer, İkiztepe, Kirazlık,

Cumhuriyet ''Cumhuriyet'' (; English: "Republic") is the oldest up-market Turkish daily newspaper. It has been described as "the most important independent public interest newspaper in contemporary Turkey". The newspaper was awarded the ''Freedom of Press ...

, Pazar, Soğuksu and Yukarı Soğuksu.Mahalle
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023.

Etymology

The town was formerly named ''Atina'' (Αθήνα του Πόντου) and was renamed Pazar, meaning 'market', in 1928. According to William Edward David Allen, the word Athenae is a Greek adaptation of the Laz and Georgian word meaning "shadowy".

Geography

The distance between Pazar district and Rize city center is 37 km. The distance can be completed with an average of 40 minutes of vehicle trave

Pazar is a strip of

coast with high mountains running parallel to the coast inland. This coast has a mild climate with warm summers (22 °C in August) and cool winters (7 °C in January, it rarely snows on the coast), but very wet and humid, apart from the early summer (April–May–June) it rains heavily year round, with an average of 50 sunny days per year. The wind off the

is cold in autumn, warm and wet in summer. With all this rainfall the area is very green, and even more water is brought to the area by the many streams bringing rainwater and snowmelt down from the

mountains, including the Pazar River itself. This is a hilly district and the main economic activity is tea growing, plus some fishing, trade and light industry (tea processing) in the town of Pazar. Tea was first planted here in 1944 and there are now three factories in Pazar for processing the crop. 65% of arable land in Pazar is used for growing tea. Before tea was planted, citrus fruits and apples were grown here but this has mostly ceased now, apart from trees in family gardens, where people grow vegetables and keep poultry. There are small areas of tobacco, corn, potatoes and beans. Pazar has plenty of grazing land, including summer grazing in the high mountain pastures ('' yayla'' in Turkish) further up the Fırtına River. At even higher altitudes efforts are being made to plant trees but it is hard to put roads through and manage a forest in these steep, high mountains. Today Pazar is a market town, and the centre of the local tea trade. Fishing was once a major activity and Pazar still has a fleet of small fishing boats although this is in decline as the Black Sea becomes polluted and the traditional anchovies, flathead mullet, red mullet and other species are all in decline. Until tea was planted these districts at the far end of Turkey were all impoverished, losing generation after generation as migrant workers in Europe or Istanbul. Life is still a struggle and people still leave although now many return for the tea harvest in summer. Local handicrafts include basket-weaving and the hand-woven linen '' Rize bezi''. As in much of rural Turkey, women traditionally cover their heads, partly out tradition, partly from practical necessity as they are outside in the wind and rain.

Climate

Pazar has an

humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...

(

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (1951–2014), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author ...

: ''Cfa''). The climate in this area is characterized by mild temperatures and an abundance of precipitation, especially during fall.

History

The first recorded occupation is the trading colony Αθήνα established here by the

Ancient Greeks Ancient Greece () was a northeastern Mediterranean civilization, existing from the Greek Dark Ages of the 12th–9th centuries BC to the end of classical antiquity (), that comprised a loose collection of culturally and linguistically re ...

Miletos Miletus (Ancient Greek: Μίλητος, Mílētos) was an influential ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia, near the mouth of the Maeander River in present day Turkey. Renowned in antiquity for its wealth, maritime power, and e ...

in the 8th century BC. Along with the rest of what is now Rize Province, Athina then became part of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ruled the Mediterranean and much of Europe, Western Asia and North Africa. The Roman people, Romans conquered most of this during the Roman Republic, Republic, and it was ruled by emperors following Octavian's assumption of ...

and its successors the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also known as the Eastern Roman Empire, was the continuation of the Roman Empire centred on Constantinople during late antiquity and the Middle Ages. Having survived History of the Roman Empire, the events that caused the ...

and the Empire of Trebizond until it was brought into the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

by Mehmet II in 1461, although this coast was always vulnerable to pirates and threats of invaders from across the nearby

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

. Indeed, for two years during the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Atina was occupied by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Places of interest

* The watch tower, '' Kız Kulesi'' is on the sea front in Pazar.

References

External links

Pazar town's web site

Kalastas
{{Authority control Populated places in Pazar District, Rize Populated coastal places in Turkey Laz settlements in Turkey District municipalities in Turkey