City Map

About Samsun City

The city of Samsun where Atatürk started the Turkish War of Independence on May 19, 1919; has a special place in the history of Turkish independency. Samsun has been a trade and culture center, and a harbor city since the ancient times. It has stayed as the same until this day. It still has this feature, today. It is a window of Central Anatolia that opens to Black Sea. It has highway, airway, seaway, and railway communications. Samsun which has a special role for the beginning of the National War of Independency and for the establishment of the modern Turkish Republic, has been an important center of the Black Sea Region and our country in the history of our republic. Even though it has natural and economic resources that cannot be evaluated properly, it is still the biggest city of the Black Sea Region in terms of population, industry, trade, natural and cultural wealths. Mountains that lie down as adherent to the coasts along the East Black Sea, draw away towards the midlands and give Samsun two of our country’s big and fertile savannas, and then they go on their way as parallel to the coastal. Fertile ÇarÅŸamba and Bafra savannas; YeÅŸilırmak and Kızılırmak which vitalize these savannas are geographical characteristic features of Samsun. Agricultural products that are cultivated in these savannas are the real factors of our country’s industrial and commercial existence. Samsun’s soil size is 957.888 ha. and 46.87% of this size is agricultural area. Primary products which are cultivated here are tobacco, wheat, rice, sugar beet, corn, hazelnut, sun flower, fruits, and vegetables. By reason of the city’s agricultural situation, the agricultural industry needs to be developed and induced. Industrial zone is nearly completed; and completion works of Kavak and Bafra industrial zones are continuing. By adding new and different departments and faculties every year, Ondokuz Mayıs University has been developed; and it has 30,000 students now. Our university is cultural center and pride resource of Samsun. Samsun is the center of the region because of its geographical position; so it is possible to find almost all district directorates of every firm. History Of Samsun Samsun is a very old residential area for the history of humanity. With the inclusion of today’s city center, people have been living in Kızılırmak valley, Kavak, Tekkeköy, and ÇarÅŸamba savannas. In the middle stone age ( B.C 10000 - 5000) it is known that people were living in the asylums in Tekkeköy and they are the primal residents of the region. Again, in Neolithic and Calcolithic periods, it is known from the excavations that people were living in Dündar Tepe, KalenderoÄŸlu, and Bafra Ä°kiztepe. The primal community that lived in Samsun by establishing a state is Gashkas. Also this community is called as Gasgas ( B.C 5000 – 3500). After this known primal community, Paflagons who were in control of the whole North Anatolian, lived in Kızılırmak Basin ( B.C. 3000 – 1100). Hittites ( B.C. 2000 – 1200), Phrygians ( B.C 1182 – 676), Kimmers ( B.C. 676), Lydia’s ( B.C. 1200- 547, they constructed a site called ENETE in the place which is known as Kara Samsun today). Milletlies (Ionia), (B.C. 2000 – B.C. 400), settled down to ENETE from Aegean by using Black Sea way, and they called ENETE as “Amisus” or “Amisos”. As the result of the beating of Krezus who is the king of the Lidia, against Persians ( B.C. 550-330), the Persian Empire captured the Amisos in B.C. 546. In B.C. 331, Alexander the Great defeated the Persian Empire, Macedonia Empire captured the Amisos. After the death of Alexander the Great, Kont Kingdom whose origins are based on the Persian Empire was established ( B.C. 255-63). Amisos became the capital city of Kont Kingdom. Later that, in the firs century before Christ, Amisos entered the dominance of the Roman Empire. After the Roman Empire was divided into two branches, Amisos stayed inside the borders of Byzantine Empire in A.C. 385. Although in A.C.860, during the Abbacy Period, with the order of Caliph Mutassım, Amisos was captured by the armed forces which were under the command of dreadful Omar; but Byzantine Empire took it back later. After Turks had come to Anatolian, Samsun was beleaguered by DaniÅŸmentliler, but it could not be obtained. During the Anatolian Seljuk Empire, Muslim residential areas of Samsun were captured by Anatolian Seljuk Empire in 1185. For the first time, the name Amisos was changed and it became Samsun. After the Crusade, Trabzon became the capital city. Then, Cenevizliler, had a dominance on the trade in Black Sea; so they lived here approximately 100 years. In this period, Samsun where the Turks lived was called as “Muslim Samsun”, and trade site of the Cenevizliler which is 3 km away from the Muslim Samsun, was called as “non-Muslim Samsun”. In 1071, after Manzikert War, after Seljuks created the Muslim Samsun by constructing a castle at the coast of Samsun; with KösedaÄŸ War in 1243, Trabzon Rum Empire captured Samsun; but then, in 1296, Samsun was captured by Anatolian Turks. In 1389, during Yıldırım Beyazıt period, it became a part of Ottoman Empire. While Anataolian Seljuks Empire was collapsing, it became capital city of Canik Principality.