Trabzon

A heritage profile of a historical member city of the International Black Sea Club. Independent reference; no political position implied.

Trabzon is the principal city of Turkey's eastern Black Sea coast and the historic harbour of the Pontic region, where the mountains come down almost to the sea. For centuries it was the great southern terminus of trade routes reaching from the Black Sea into Anatolia, Persia and beyond.

Ancient Trapezus

Founded as the Greek colony of Trapezus, the city became a byword for the meeting of sea and mountain — famously the point at which Xenophon's marching Greeks first glimpsed the sea. In the Middle Ages it was the seat of a Byzantine successor state, and its churches, most notably the great Hagia Sophia of Trabzon, remain among the finest survivals of that age.

Mountains and sea

Behind the city rise the green, rain-fed Pontic mountains, famous for their tea and hazelnut cultivation and for the spectacular monasteries clinging to their cliffs. This dramatic setting, where a humid coast meets high country, gives Trabzon a character unlike any other Black Sea port.

A trading crossroads

Trabzon's fortune has always come from being a place where routes meet. Historically it was the Black Sea end of caravan roads reaching toward Persia and the East, and it retains a role as a gateway for trade between Turkey, the Caucasus and beyond. Its harbour, airport and roads over the mountains keep it a hub of the eastern shore, and its markets have long drawn merchants from many lands — a cosmopolitan, commercial character it shared with the other great ports of the Club.

Role in the Club

Representing the southern shore, Trabzon brought the Anatolian Black Sea into the International Black Sea Club, a reminder that the sea's cooperation spanned its full circumference. Further reading is available in the Encyclopaedia Britannica entry on Trabzon.

Return to the full list of member cities, or read about the cooperation that linked them and their shared maritime heritage.