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Samsun

City in TürkiyeSamsun stretches along Türkiye's northern, Black Sea coast between two river deltas that jut into the sea: the Kızılırmak to the west and the Yeşilırmak to the east.

What it's known for

Samsun is a major Black Sea port, and after the railway arrived in the 19th century it became a busy centre of the tobacco trade. On 19 May 1919 Mustafa Kemal Atatürk arrived here from Istanbul and started the Turkish national movement; that date traditionally marks the beginning of the War of Independence.

Fun facts

  1. Ionian Greeks from Miletus settled the city around 760–750 BC and called it Amisos; the name Samsun grew out of this old Greek name.
  2. A replica of the SS Bandırma, the cargo ship that carried Atatürk from Istanbul in 1919, serves as a museum in the city.
  3. Burial mounds on Amisos Hill hold tombs from between 300 BC and 30 BC, and the city's museum shows the Amisos treasure.

Finding it on the globe

On Türkiye's Black Sea coast, northeast of Ankara, look for two bumps where rivers have pushed deltas into the sea; Samsun lies along the curve between them.

Sources: Wikipedia: Samsun