Borçka () is a town in
Artvin Province
Artvin Province (; Armenian language, Armenian: Արտվինի նահանգ ''Artvini nahang''; ka, , ''Artvinis p'rovintsia''; Laz language, Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artvinish dobadona;'') is a Provinces of Turke ...
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 ...
, on the
border
Borders are generally defined as geography, geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by polity, political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other administrative divisio ...
with
Georgia
Georgia most commonly refers to:
* Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus
* Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States
Georgia may also refer to:
People and fictional characters
* Georgia (name), a list of pe ...
. It is the seat of
Borçka District.
[İlçe Belediyesi]
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. Its population is 11,409 (2021).
Borçka is reached by a winding road up from 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 ...
coast, alongside the
Çoruh River
The Chorokh ( ka, ჭოროხი ''Ch'orokhi'' , , ''Chorokh'', , , ''Akampsis'') is a river that rises in the Mescit Mountains in north-eastern Turkey, flows through the cities of Bayburt, İspir, Yusufeli, and Artvin, along the Kelkit Rive ...
(
Nigali valley
Nigali or the Nigali valley ( ka, ნიგალი, ნიგალის ხევი, ''nigalis khevi''), also known, through a subsequent metathesis, as Ligani (ლიგანი) or Livana (ლივანა; ) Toumanoff, Cyril (1963). ' ...
). There is a medieval stone arched bridge across the river just west of the town.
Borçka Lake is a popular excursion from
Artvin
Artvin (Laz language, Laz and ; ; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is the seat of Artvin Province and Artvin District.[thicket
A thicket is a very dense stand of trees or tall shrubs, often dominated by only one or a few species, to the exclusion of all others. They may be formed by species that shed large numbers of highly viable seeds that are able to germinate in th ...]
” or “small
forest
A forest is an ecosystem characterized by a dense ecological community, community of trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, ...
”. Also, words such as "borchkha" (ბორჩხა) meaning “dry wood” in
Mingrelian and "borchkhalo" (ბორჩხალო) meaning “frost” in the
Gurian dialect
A dialect is a Variety (linguistics), variety of language spoken by a particular group of people. This may include dominant and standard language, standardized varieties as well as Vernacular language, vernacular, unwritten, or non-standardize ...
of Georgian could be related to this name. The name Porchkha has evolved over time into Borchha, Borcha, Borchkha, and the current
Turkish spelling of “Borçka”.
History
Middle ages
The settlement of what is today Borçka may have been mentioned in
Trapezuntine sources as ''“Bourzo”.'' The area remained in Trapezuntine possession until 1364 when it was captured by the
Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdom of Georgia (), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a Middle Ages, medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in Anno Domini, AD. It reached Georgian Golden Age, its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign ...
.
Ottoman rule
Borçka itself was first directly mentioned in 18th century
Georgian geographer and historian
Vakhushti of Kartli’s ''Description of the Kingdom of Georgia'' as Porchkha as a large town west of the Çoruh within the historical Georgian region of
Klarjeti. At the time, the town was located within the
Eyalet of Childir in 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 ...
. The region where the town lies today was a part of
Samtskhe-Saatabago prior to its annexation by the Ottomans in the late 16th century. Despite being first mentioned fairly recently compared to nearby settlements, the presence of a
church
Church may refer to:
Religion
* Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying
* Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination
* Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...
in the Borçka Castle indicates that the structure was likely built before Ottoman conquest, thus it can be said that Borçka was probably already settled before.
The town was recorded again in an 1835 Ottoman ''
defter
A ''defter'' was a type of tax register and land cadastre in the Ottoman Empire.
Etymology
The term is derived from Greek , literally 'processed animal skin, leather, fur', meaning a book, having pages of goat parchment used along with papyrus ...
'' as “Borçha” (). The ''defter'' recorded that the male population of the town was 219, and placed it in the
nahiye
A nāḥiyah ( , plural ''nawāḥī'' ), also nahiyeh, nahiya or nahia, is a regional or local type of administrative division that usually consists of a number of villages or sometimes smaller towns. In Tajikistan, it is a second-level divisi ...
of
Beğlevan in the
sanjak of Lazistan of the Childir eyalet.
Georgian geographer and
Russian army
The Russian Ground Forces (), also known as the Russian Army in English, are the Army, land forces of the Russian Armed Forces.
The primary responsibilities of the Russian Ground Forces are the protection of the state borders, combat on land, ...
general
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Giorgi Kazbegi wrote in 1874 that Borçha did not resemble a typical village as it had around 80 households. He noted that the villagers did not engage in
agricultural
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created f ...
or
animal husbandry
Animal husbandry is the branch of agriculture concerned with animals that are raised for meat, animal fiber, fibre, milk, or other products. It includes day-to-day care, management, production, nutrition, selective breeding, and the raising ...
, therefore the settlement lacked any
cattle
Cattle (''Bos taurus'') are large, domesticated, bovid ungulates widely kept as livestock. They are prominent modern members of the subfamily Bovinae and the most widespread species of the genus '' Bos''. Mature female cattle are calle ...
or
horses
The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 milli ...
. Instead, the residents were engaged in
pottery
Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...
and
boating
Boating is the leisurely activity of travelling by boat, or the recreational use of a boat whether powerboats, sailboats, or man-powered vessels (such as rowing and paddle boats), focused on the travel itself, as well as sports activities, suc ...
, and the boats replaced the use of horses as transportation.
In the 1876 ''
salname'' for the
vilayet of Trebizond
The Vilayet of Trebizond (; ) was a first-level administrative division (''vilayet'') in the north-eastern part of the Ottoman Empire, corresponding to the area along the eastern Black Sea coastline and the interior highland region of the Ponti ...
, the name of the town was recorded as “Borcha” () instead of the previous “Borçha”. The salname placed the locality within the nahiye of
Gönye, sanjak of Lazistan, Trebizond vilayet. The total population counted together with the nearby settlement of Situret/ were a total of 400 people living in 110 households, along with the new presence of taxable
livestock
Livestock are the Domestication, domesticated animals that are raised in an Agriculture, agricultural setting to provide labour and produce diversified products for consumption such as meat, Egg as food, eggs, milk, fur, leather, and wool. The t ...
, specifically 10 goats, 2 horses, 20 cows and 10 oxen.
Russian rule
The
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...
occupied the town during the
Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878)
The Russo-Turkish War (1877–1878) was a conflict between the Ottoman Empire and a coalition led by the Russian Empire which included United Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, Romania, Principality of Serbia, Serbia, and Principality of ...
and was later ceded to Russia in the
Treaty of Berlin (1878)
The Treaty of Berlin (formally the Treaty between Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Great Britain and Ireland, Italy, Russia, and the Ottoman Empire for the Settlement of Affairs in the East) was signed on 13 July 1878. In the aftermath of the R ...
. Russian officials assigned the village to the
Batumi okrug within the
Kutaisi Governorate. An 1886 census recorded the town as “Borchkha” () populated by 147 men and 149 women from 52 households, totaling 296 people. The ethnic makeup of Borchkha was entirely made up of Muslim Georgians, or
Adjarians
The Adjarians ( ka, აჭარლები, tr), also known as Muslim Georgians, are an ethnographic group of Georgians indigenous to Adjara in southwestern Georgia. Adjarian settlements are also found in the Georgian provinces of Guria, Kv ...
.
Georgian historian
Zakaria Chichinadze visited the town in 1893 and wrote that there were 60 households in Borchkha, two mosques and a few shops, a castle on a rock, and that
Ivane Caiani lived in the town. Indeed, Caiani was a Georgian soldier in the Russian army who sent articles to Georgian newspapers while he was on duty there, providing extensive information about Borchkha and its surroundings at that time. In one of these articles, Caiani states that the people living in Borchkha village and some parts of the Chorokh coast earned their living only by boating. He writes that another source of income for the people of Borchkha was pottery. Chichinadze noted that around 40 households had emigrated from Borchkha after Russian annexation,
such was the case with many other towns.
In 1918, amidst the chaos following
World War I
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 ...
and the ongoing
Russian Civil War
The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...
,
Batum oblast came under the control of the newly declared
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა, tr) was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia (country), Georgia, which exist ...
. After local unrest, Ottoman forces entered
Batumi
Batumi (; ka, ბათუმი ), historically Batum or Batoum, is the List of cities and towns in Georgia (country), second-largest city of Georgia (country), Georgia and the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Adjara, located on the coast ...
and imposed the
Treaty of Batum
The Treaty of Batum was signed in Batumi on 4 June 1918, between the Ottoman Empire and the three Transcaucasian states: the First Republic of Armenia, the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and the Democratic Republic of Georgia. It was the first ...
, which returned the area back to the Ottomans. The next year, however, the area was occupied by the
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...
. The British withdrew in 1920 and the province was returned to Georgia. Less than a year after,
Kemalist
Kemalism (, also archaically ''Kamâlizm'') or Atatürkism () is a political ideology based on the ideas of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the founder and first president of the Turkey, Republic of Turkey.Eric J. Zurcher, Turkey: A Modern History. Ne ...
forces under the command of
Kâzım Karabekir
Musa Kâzım Karabekir (also Kazim or Kiazim in English; 1882 – 26 January 1948) was a Turkish people, Turkish general and politician. He was the commander of the Eastern Front (Turkey), Eastern Army of the Ottoman Empire during the Turkish Wa ...
attempted to take Artvin, but were defeated by Georgian forces. In the end, the
Bolshevik
The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...
invaded Georgia to annex and overthrow the
Menshevik
The Mensheviks ('the Minority') were a faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with Vladimir Lenin's Bolshevik faction at the Second Party Congress in 1903. Mensheviks held more moderate and reformist ...
government, and the area where Borchkha is located was given to
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 ...
in the
Treaty of Kars.
After Turkish annexation
Borçka became the center of the district of the same name on July 7, 1921. A census conducted the following year shows the
''livâ'' of Artvin consisted of the
merkez (central) ''
kaza
A kaza (, "judgment" or "jurisdiction") was an administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire, administrative division of the Ottoman Empire. It is also discussed in English under the names district, subdistrict, and juridical district. Kazas co ...
'' and the remaining kazas of Borçka and
Şavşat
Şavşat ( ka, შავშეთი, tr) is a town in Artvin Province in the Black Sea region, between the cities of Artvin and Kars on the border with Georgia at the far eastern end of Turkey. It is the seat of Şavşat District. . Borçka kaza included the nahiyes of Macahel, Maradidi (
Muratlı), and
Murgul, in addition to its own central nahiye. The census showed 130 people living in the town of Borçka and a total of 4,373 people living in the rest of the Borçka district. The population of the central district consisted of a mix of Georgians and Laz people, while the population of Maradidi, Macahel and Murgul districts consisted of Georgians.
Borçka was demoted from a kaza to a nahiye on June 26, 1926. During this time, it was recorded that there were 40 villages within the borders of Borçka district. Borçka was promoted to a kaza again on 28 May 1928.
Borçka kaza was connected to the Çoruh vilayet in the 1940 general census. The vilayet of Çoruh included the kazas of Borçka,
Hopa
Hopa ( Laz and , Hamshen ) is a town in Artvin Province in northeast Turkey. It is located on the eastern Turkish Black Sea coast about from the city of Artvin and 18 kilometres from the border with Georgia. It is the seat of Hopa District. , Şavşat,
Yusufeli
Yusufeli (, Berdagrak; ka, ახალთი, Akhalti) is a town and district of Artvin Province in the Black Sea Region, Turkey, Black Sea region of Turkey. It is located on the bank of Çoruh River 104 km south-west of the city of Artvin, ...
, and its capital kaza of Artvin. Borçka kaza had a population of 17,844.
References
External links
the Municipality
{{DEFAULTSORT:Borcka
Populated places in Artvin Province
Borçka District
District municipalities in Turkey