TREBIZONDE

TREBIZONDE (anc. Trapezus), the capital of the above pachalic, on the coast of the Black Sea, 120 miles N.W. of Erzeroum. It is surrounded by walls, and defended by a citadel on a flat-topped rock to the west of the town. Outside the walls there are many houses scattered among trees and gardens; and it is here that the Christian part of the population live. Here also are the principal bazaars and khans of Trebizonde. The houses in all parts of the town are for the most part only one story high, built of stone, and roofed with tiles. Those of the Greeks are generally surrounded with gardens, which the Turkish houses, though larger and better, have not. Trebizonde has numerous Greek churches and mosques, the latter of which have for the most part been originally Christian churches. One of the finest buildings is a public bath-house built of marble. The trade of Trebizonde is extensive and important. Copper and alum are brought down from the mines of the interior, and the former is made into articles for culinary use. English cottons, printed goods, hardware, glass, firearms, &c., are imported from the west. There is also an extensive commerce with Armenia, Persia, and Georgia; silk, wool, shawls, carpets, tobacco, opium, oil, timber, and other articles being conveyed to Trebizonde from these countries. The port has regular communication by means of steamers with Constantinople, Odessa, and the Danube. The following table exhibits the number and tonnage of the vessels entered and cleared in 1858, with the values of the cargoes:—

The ancient Trapezus was a colony of Sinope, and existed at the time of Xenophon, who on the occasion of his celebrated retreat with the 10,000 halted here, and was hospitably treated by the inhabitants. But it was not till under the Romans that it became a place of any importance; it was made by Trajan the capital of Pontus; and in the reign of Hadrian it was the principal seaport on the Euxine. In the thirteenth century it was for some time the capital of an independent state, but finally fell under the Turkish dominion. Pop. estimated to range from 20,000 to 30,000.