Trabzon

Trabzon exists because Persia needed silk and Europe needed a way in. Founded as Trapezous by Greek colonists from Miletus in 756 BCE, this Black Sea port became what Singapore would become 2,500 years later—the inevitable chokepoint where continental trade routes met maritime networks. When Silk Road caravans carrying goods from Asia needed ships, they ended their journey here.

The city's Byzantine chapter proved most consequential. As the port nearest to Armenia, Trabzon figured in Justinian I's 6th-century eastern campaigns; the emperor rebuilt its walls and constructed aqueducts. When the Fourth Crusade dismembered the Byzantine Empire in 1204, Trabzon became capital of an independent successor state—the Empire of Trebizond—that survived until 1461 by playing Venice and Genoa against each other while taxing Persian silk, silver, iron, alum, and the famous "black wine" of the Pontic mountains.

Today Trabzon metabolizes hazelnuts. Turkey produces 70% of the world's hazelnuts, and Black Sea provinces like Trabzon anchor this global dominance across 550,000-600,000 hectares. The province exported $130 million in seafood in 2024 during a record season; tourist arrivals increased 24% in early 2025 to over 115,000 visitors. Tea processing and cement manufacturing supplement the agricultural base.

By 2026, Trabzon's trajectory traces familiar patterns. The same geographic logic that made it a Byzantine-Persian intermediary now positions it between Europe and Central Asia as infrastructure projects revive ancient corridors. Whether Trabzon becomes a gateway again—or remains a regional hazelnut processor—depends on which trade routes the next decade activates.