Trabzon Turkey

My research on Turkey has led me to the city of Trabzon, where commerce and trade was flourishing around 756 BC along the shores of the Black Sea.

Trabzon is located on the Black Sea coast of north-eastern Turkey and the capital of Trabzon Province. "Trabzon was a melting pot of religions, languages and culture for centuries and a trade gateway to Iran in the southeast, Russia and the Caucasus to the northeast.^"


The Venetian and Genoese merchants paid visits to the city and sold silk, linen and woolen fabric. During the Ottoman period, Trabzon, because of the importance of its port, became a focal point of trade to Iran, India and the Caucasus. Trabzon formed the basis of several states in its long history, and was the capital city of the Empire of Trebizond.

Like most Greek colonies, the city was a small commune of Greek life, and not an empire unto its own, in the later European sense of the word. Early banking (money-changing) activity is suggested occurring in the city according to a silver drachm coin from Trapezus in the British Museum, London.