Rize (; ; ; ka, რიზე}; ) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of

Rize Province Rize Province () is a province of northeast Turkey, on the eastern Black Sea coast between Trabzon and Artvin. The province of Erzurum is to the south. Its area is 3,835 km2, and its population is 344,016 (2022). The capital is the city of R ...

and Rize District.İl Belediyesi
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. Its population is 119,828 (2021). Rize is a typical Turkish provincial capital with little in the way of nightlife or entertainment. Since the border with Georgia was opened in the early 1990s, the Black Sea coast road has been widened and the town is much wealthier than it used to be. Current Turkish President

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (born 26 February 1954) is a Turkish politician who is the 12th and current president of Turkey since 2014. He previously served as the 25th prime minister of Turkey, prime minister from 2003 to 2014 as part of the Jus ...

's family has its roots in Rize and the

local university Local colleges and universities (LCUs) are higher educational institutions that are being run by Administrative divisions of the Philippines, local government units in the Philippines. A local government unit (LGU) maybe a barangay, a municipalit ...

is named after him. The city is linked by road with

Trabzon Trabzon, historically known as Trebizond, is a city on the Black Sea coast of northeastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. The city was founded in 756 BC as "Trapezous" by colonists from Miletus. It was added into the Achaemenid E ...

(41 miles 6 kmwest),

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.

(55 miles 8 kmeast on the Georgian border, and

Erzurum Erzurum (; ) is a List of cities in Turkey, city in eastern Anatolia, Turkey. It is the largest city and capital of Erzurum Province and is 1,900 meters (6,233 feet) above sea level. Erzurum had a population of 367,250 in 2010. It is the site of an ...

(south). The Rize–Artvin Airport started operating in 2022.

Name

The name comes from

Greek Greek may refer to: Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor of all kno ...

(riza) or Ριζαίον (Rizaion), meaning "mountain slopes" ( in Greek means root). In modern times, its Greek name was usually Ριζούντα (Rizunda). Its Latin forms are Rhizus and Rhizaeum, the latter of which is used in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

's list of

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbi ...

s as the name of

bishopric In church governance, a diocese or bishopric is the ecclesiastical district under the jurisdiction of a bishop. History In the later organization of the Roman Empire, the increasingly subdivided provinces were administratively associate ...

of the town, which was once part of the late

Roman province The Roman provinces (, pl. ) were the administrative regions of Ancient Rome outside Roman Italy that were controlled by the Romans under the Roman Republic and later the Roman Empire. Each province was ruled by a Roman appointed as Roman g ...

Pontus Polemoniacus Pontus or Pontos (; ,) is a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in the modern-day eastern Black Sea region of Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region and its mountainous hinterland (rising to the Pontic Alps in th ...

). Other names (17th – 19th c.): Rizeh, Riseh, Rhizium, Irizeh, Irissa; used in trade or by merchants.

History

Arrian Arrian of Nicomedia (; Greek: ''Arrianos''; ; ) was a Greek historian, public servant, military commander, and philosopher of the Roman period. '' The Anabasis of Alexander'' by Arrian is considered the best source on the campaigns of ...

was the first writer to mention Rize. In his

Periplus of the Euxine Sea The ''Periplus of the Euxine Sea'' (Koine Greek: Περίπλους τοῦ Εὐξείνου Πόντου, ', ) is a periplus or guidebook detailing the destinations visitors would encounter when traveling about the shore of the Black Sea (kn ...

, he described it as a city founded at the mouth of the river of the same name, the

ancient Ancient history is a time period from the beginning of writing and recorded human history through late antiquity. The span of recorded history is roughly 5,000 years, beginning with the development of Sumerian cuneiform script. Ancient h ...

and

Byzantine 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 the events that caused the fall of the Western Roman E ...

῾Ρίζιος ποταμός. Dated to 130–131AD and written as a letter to Roman Emperor

Hadrian Hadrian ( ; ; 24 January 76 – 10 July 138) was Roman emperor from 117 to 138. Hadrian was born in Italica, close to modern Seville in Spain, an Italic peoples, Italic settlement in Hispania Baetica; his branch of the Aelia gens, Aelia '' ...

, the work records how its author, the governor of

Cappadocia Cappadocia (; , from ) is a historical region in Central Anatolia region, Turkey. It is largely in the provinces of Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. Today, the touristic Cappadocia Region is located in Nevşehir ...

, made a tour of the Eastern

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 ...

territories that formed part of his jurisdiction, first visiting the Roman Empire's Eastern

Anatolia Anatolia (), also known as Asia Minor, is a peninsula in West Asia that makes up the majority of the land area of Turkey. It is the westernmost protrusion of Asia and is geographically bounded by the Mediterranean Sea to the south, the Aegean ...

n frontier garrisons before pushing on to the Black Sea coast in the

(Trebizond) region. The city of Rize formed part of the historic Georgian province of Chaneti ( ka, ჭანეთი). From 1547, Chaneti province was incorporated 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 ...

and became a part of the '' sancak'' of

Lazistan Lazistan or Lazeti (; ka, ლაზეთი, Lazeti, or ჭანეთი ''Ç'aneti''; ) is a historical and cultural region of the Caucasus and Anatolia; the term was primarily used during Ottoman rule in the region. Traditionally inhabited b ...

. The city was claimed by the short-lived

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 ...

between 1918 and 1920. On the basis of the 1921

Treaty of Kars The Treaty of Kars, , was a treaty that established the borders between Turkey and the three Transcaucasian Soviet republics, which are now the independent republics of Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan. The treaty was signed in the city of Ka ...

, Soviet Russia granted Rize to Turkey along with the other territories of

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.Ardahan Ardahan ( ka, არტაანი, tr; ; Russian: Ардаган) is a city in northeastern Turkey, near the Georgian border. It is the seat of Ardahan Province and Ardahan District.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.

( ka, ხუფათი). File:Rizunda.jpg, Rize in 1890s File:Rize-postakarti-osmanli.jpg, Rize, 1910s, Ottoman-era postcard

Geography

The city is built around a small bay on the

coast, on a narrow strip of flat land between the sea and the mountains behind. The coastal strip is being expanded with landfill and the city is expanding up the steep hillsides away from the coast. Rize is probably best known for its

black tea Black tea (also literally translated as red tea from various East Asian languages) is a type of tea that is more tea processing, oxidized than oolong, yellow tea, yellow, white tea, white, and green tea, green teas. Black tea is generally st ...

which was introduced to the region in the 1940s and 1950s, changing the destiny of a region which was until then desperately poor. The local tea research institute was founded in 1958 and other tea gardens can be seen all around the town.

Tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

is even planted in local gardens. Rize is a centre for processing and shipping locally grown

Rize Tea Rize tea () is the black tea used for Turkish tea. Produced in Rize Province of Turkey which has a mild climate with high precipitation and fertile soil, when brewed it is mahogany in color. In addition to being consumed at home, it is served i ...

. More recently

kiwifruit Kiwifruit (often shortened to kiwi), or Chinese gooseberry, is the edible berry (botany), berry of several species of woody vines in the genus ''Actinidia''. The most common cultivar group of kiwifruit (Actinidia chinensis var. deliciosa, ...

plants have also been grown in Rize. Fishing remains another important local source of income. Tourism to destinations in and around Rize is growing in importance. File:Aşağı Ceymakçur 01.jpg, Kaçkar Mountains National Park File:Pokut Yaylası Rize.JPG, Pokut Yayla is a popular tourism destination File:Tar Creek Waterfall View.jpg, Tar Creek Waterfall File:Entrance of the Castle of Rize, Rize, Turkey.JPG, Entrance to Rize Castle

Climate

Rize has a

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'', Trewartha: ''Cf''). However, as any mountainous region of Turkey, it is rich in climatic variety. The climate turns

oceanic Oceanic may refer to: *Of or relating to the ocean *Of or relating to Oceania **Oceanic climate **Oceanic languages **Oceanic person or people, also called "Pacific Islander(s)" Places * Oceanic, British Columbia, a settlement on Smith Island, ...

(''Cfb'') on the hillsides,

continental Continental may refer to: Places * Continental, Arizona, a small community in Pima County, Arizona, US * Continental, Ohio, a small town in Putnam County, US Arts and entertainment * ''Continental'' (album), an album by Saint Etienne * Continen ...

(''Dfb/Dc'') and

subarctic The subarctic zone is a region in the Northern Hemisphere immediately south of the true Arctic, north of hemiboreal regions and covering much of Alaska, Canada, Iceland, the north of Fennoscandia, Northwestern Russia, Siberia, and the Cair ...

(''Dfc/Eo'') on the mountain slopes and in the yaylas, the highlands and highland plateaus. When the

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification divides Earth climates into five main climate groups, with each group being divided based on patterns of seasonal precipitation and temperature. The five main groups are ''A'' (tropical), ''B'' (arid), ''C'' (te ...

was being created, the city centre had a borderline oceanic-humid subtropical climate, falling just under the threshold for the hottest month of the year, yet

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and

global warming Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes ...

have contributed to the city being classified as humid subtropical in recent decades. The city's climate is defined by mild temperate conditions, with warm summers, cool winters and heavy rainfall year-round with a maximum in late autumn (October to December). The city has relatively few sunshine hours, lower than many stereotypically cloudy locations in Western Europe. Snowfall is occasional, but can be very heavy once it starts. The water temperature, typical for the Black Sea coast, is never too warm or cold, fluctuating between throughout the year.

Economy and produce

Historically, Rize grew

orange Orange most often refers to: *Orange (fruit), the fruit of the tree species '' Citrus'' × ''sinensis'' ** Orange blossom, its fragrant flower ** Orange juice *Orange (colour), the color of an orange fruit, occurs between red and yellow in the vi ...

s. However, weather destroyed the crops in the early 20th century, and the industry declined. The area also produced small amounts of

manganese Manganese is a chemical element; it has Symbol (chemistry), symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese was first isolated in the 1770s. It is a transition m ...

. Rize's economic structure is primarily based on its geographic location since it is in a very mountainous location, making industrial development impractical. Given the lack of rail transit, most goods have to travel by truck or ship, which makes exporting and importing difficult. Rize's primary trading partner is

, the most developed city of the northeast Black Sea region. Rize's main exports are agriculturally based;

tea Tea is an aromatic beverage prepared by pouring hot or boiling water over cured or fresh leaves of '' Camellia sinensis'', an evergreen shrub native to East Asia which probably originated in the borderlands of south-western China and nor ...

and kiwifruit are among its most popular commodities. In particular the state-owned tea company

Çaykur Çaykur is a Turkish state-owned tea-producing company. Their portfolio includes ice tea, green tea, organic and black tea. Çaykur has 45 tea processing factories, and one packaging factory. The general manager of Çaykur is Yusuf Ziya Alim. ...

is based in Rize.

Education

Rize University was founded in 2006. Its name was changed to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan University in 2011.

Culture

Rize Castle is a partly ruined medieval castle to the southwest of the city centre. Rize Ziraat Botanical Garden, founded in 1924, is two kilometers to the southwest.

Sports

Rize's sports venues include Rize Atatürk Stadium, Yeni Rize Şehir Stadı and Rize Sports Complex consisting of

Rize Sports Hall Rize Sports Hall () is a multi-sport indoor arena in Rize Rize (; ; ; ka, რიზე}; ) is a coastal city in the eastern part of the Black Sea Region of Turkey. It is the seat of Rize Province and Rize District.Çaykur Rizespor Çaykur Rizespor Kulübü is a Turkish professional Association football, football club based in Rize, a city on the eastern Black Sea region, Black Sea coast. The team competes in the Süper Lig, the top tier of Football in Turkey, Turkish footba ...

play in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

Pazarspor Pazarspor is a Turkish sports club located in the town of Pazar in Rize Province. The football club plays in the TFF Second League The TFF 2. Lig (), currently referred to as Nesine 2. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the third level in the Tu ...

football team compete in the

TFF Third League The TFF 3. Lig (), currently referred to as Nesine 3. Lig for sponsorship reasons, is the fourth level in the Turkish football league system. It was founded in the 2001–02 season as a continuation of then third level division Turkish Third Foot ...

Rize
Municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...
s

* Ethem Şevki Kepenek (1950-1954) DP * Ekrem Orhon (1965-1981) AP * Şevki Yılmaz (1994-1995) RP * Hızır Hop (1995-2004) ANAP * Halil Bakirci (2004-2014) AKP * Reşat Kasap (2014-2019) AKP * Rahmi Metin (2019-present) AKP

Population

Notes

References

* ncyclopedic Dictionary of Black Sea 2 Cilt. Heyamola Yayıncılık. Istanbul.

External links

* {{Authority control Populated places in Rize District Roman towns and cities in Turkey Black Sea port cities and towns in Turkey Fishing communities in Turkey Populated coastal places in Turkey Provincial municipalities in Turkey