Hemşin ( Armenian: Համշէն ''Hamshen'' or Համամաշէն ''Hamamashen'', literally "Hamam's Hamlet"; Laz and Georgian: ზუგა ''Zuga''), is a town and district of

Rize Province Rize Province ( tr, Rize ili) is a province of northeast Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. The province of Erzurum is to the south. It was formerly known as Lazistan, the designation of the term of Lazistan ...

in the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean 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 bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

region of

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula ...

, 57 km from the city of

Rize Rize ( Greek: ρίζα, Laz: რიზინი, Georgian: რიზე, , Ottoman Turkish: ريزه) is the capital city of Rize Province in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. Rize is a typically Turkish provincial capital wi ...

. Hemşin is a district of green hills 19 km inland from the

. The area is the ethnic homeland of the

Hemshin peoples , , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = Hamshen people by country , population = 150,000 – 200,000 , popplace = , regions = , region1 = , pop1 = 150,000 , ref1 ...

of Turkey, known for their tradition of tea cultivation,

honey Honey is a sweet and viscous substance made by several bees, the best-known of which are honey bees. Honey is made and stored to nourish bee colonies. Bees produce honey by gathering and then refining the sugary secretions of plants (primar ...

hazelnut The hazelnut is the fruit of the hazel tree and therefore includes any of the nuts deriving from species of the genus '' Corylus'', especially the nuts of the species ''Corylus avellana''. They are also known as cobnuts or filberts according ...

s, traditional dress and song.

History

As part of the Rize province, Hemshin had been a refuge for some

Cimmerians The Cimmerians (Akkadian: , romanized: ; Hebrew: , romanized: ; Ancient Greek: , romanized: ; Latin: ) were an ancient Eastern Iranian equestrian nomadic people originating in the Caspian steppe, part of whom subsequently migrated into Wes ...

and was a site of early Greek settlements and once part of the

Roman Empire The Roman Empire ( la, Imperium Romanum ; grc-gre, Βασιλεία τῶν Ῥωμαίων, Basileía tôn Rhōmaíōn) was the post-Roman Republic, Republican period of ancient Rome. As a polity, it included large territorial holdings aro ...

and the succeeding

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

. In the 8th century, Armenian Prince

Hamam A hammam ( ar, حمّام, translit=ḥammām, tr, hamam) or Turkish bath is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited ...

, his father Prince

Shapuh Amatuni Amatuni ( hy, Ամատունի) is an ancient Armenian noble family, known from the 4th century in the canton of Artaz, between lakes Van and Urmia, with its center at Shavarshan (latter-day Maku), and subsequently also at Aragatsotn, west of ...

, and their people migrated north to the

Black Sea region The Black Sea Region ( tr, Karadeniz Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Samsun. Other big cities are Trabzon, Ordu, Tokat, Giresun, Rize, Amasya and Sinop. It is bordered by the Marmara Regio ...

in order to escape

Arab invasions The spread of Islam spans about 1,400 years. Muslim conquests following Muhammad's death led to the creation of the caliphates, occupying a vast geographical area; conversion to Islam was boosted by Arab Muslim forces conquering vast territories ...

Vaspurakan Vaspurakan (, Western Armenian pronunciation: ''Vasbouragan'') was the eighth province of the ancient kingdom of Armenia, which later became an independent kingdom during the Middle Ages, centered on Lake Van. Located in what is now southeast ...

. They settled in the ruined city of Tambur and its surrounding villages. Prince Hamam rebuilt the city and named it Hamamshen ("Hamam's hamlet" in Armenian), this becoming the nucleus of the modern district. This

Principality of Hamamshen The Principality of Hamamshen ( Homshetsi dialect: , ''Eshakhutatun Hamamshen'') was a small principality established in about 790 by Armenians who fled the Arab invasions of Armenia and the creation of the Muslim Arab ruled state of Arminiy ...

existed until the 14th century, when it was conquered by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

Demographics

The

Hemshin peoples , , native_name_lang = , image = , caption = Hamshen people by country , population = 150,000 – 200,000 , popplace = , regions = , region1 = , pop1 = 150,000 , ref1 ...

( hy, Համշէնցիներ, ; tr, Hemşinliler) are a diverse group of peoples who in the past or present have been affiliated with the region.Bert Vaux. ''Hemshinli: The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians''. Cambridge: Harvard University, 2001, pp. 1-2, 4-5.Peter Alford Andrews, ''Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey''. Wiesbaden, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1989, pp. 476-477, 483-485, 491.Hachikian, Hagop. "Notes on the Historical Geography and Present Territorial Distribution of the Hemshinili", in ''The Hemshin'', pp. 146-147.

Climate

Hemşin has an

oceanic climate An oceanic climate, also known as a marine climate, is the humid temperate climate sub-type in Köppen classification ''Cfb'', typical of west coasts in higher middle latitudes of continents, generally featuring cool summers and mild winters ...

(

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

: ''Cfb'').

References

External links

www.Hamshen.org a multi-language discussion forum

Armenian History and Presence in Hemşin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hemsin Populated places in Rize Province Hemshin people Districts of Rize Province

History

Demographics

Climate

See also

References

External links