Bayburt

Bayburt
Municipality
Bayburt
Coordinates: 40°15′35″N 40°13′40″E / 40.25972°N 40.22778°E / 40.25972; 40.22778Coordinates: 40°15′35″N 40°13′40″E / 40.25972°N 40.22778°E / 40.25972; 40.22778
Country Turkey
Province Bayburt
Government
  Mayor Mete Memiş (AKP)
Area[1]
  District 2,655.41 km2 (1,025.26 sq mi)
Population (2012)[2]
  Urban 35,947
  District 61,354
  District density 23/km2 (60/sq mi)
Website www.bayburt-bld.gov.tr

Bayburt is a city in northeast Turkey lying on the Çoruh River and is the provincial capital of Bayburt Province.

Bayburt was once an important center on the ancient Silk Road. It was visited by Marco Polo and Evliya Çelebi. Remains of its medieval castle still exist. There are several historical mosques, Turkish baths, and tombs in the city. There are also ancient historical sites such as the Çatalçeşme Underground Complex and natural wonders like the Sirakayalar Waterfall in the other parts of the province.

Name

The name of the town was formerly written in English as Baiburt.[3][4] It was known as Paipert under the Byzantines. The name derives from the medieval Armenian Baydbert (Բայտբերդ), which derives from its ancient name Ambatavan (Ամբատավան).

History

Bayburt strattles the Çoruh amid an open and fertile plateau on the route between Trabzon and Erzurum.[4] It was originally founded by the Azzi people. It was subsequently settled or conquered by the Cimmerians in the 8th century BC, the Medes in the 7th century BC, then the Persians, Pontus, Rome, the Byzantines, the Bagratid Armenian Kingdom, the Seljuk Turks, the Aq Qoyunlu, Safavid Persia, and then the Ottoman Turks.

The town was the site of an Armenian fortress in the 1st century and may have been the Baiberdon fortified by the emperor Justinian.[3] It was a stronghold of the Genovese in the late Middle Ages[3] and prospered in the late 13th and early 14th century because of the commerce between Trebizond and Persia.[5] It contained a mint under the Seljuks and Ilkhanids.[5]

Under Ottoman rule, the town was the center of the Bayburt Sanjak in Erzurum Eyalet. When Erzurum was devastated in the early 16th century, Bayburt served for a time as the de facto capital of the province.[5] The area was raided by the Safavids in 1553. Bayburt was captured by a Russian army under General Paskevich[4] and its fortifications thoroughly demolished in 1829.[3] It was the furthest westward reach of the Russians during that campaign.[4] The British traveller William John Hamilton commented on the ruins in the 1840s,[6] though the population grew to 6000 by the 1870s.[3] The bazaar, however, remained poor and the town long lacked industry.[4] Prior to the First World War, the population of 10,000 was mostly Turkish with some Armenians.[4]

Climate

Bayburt has a continental climate with freezing cold winters, the majority of the time snowing heavily. Summers are warm with cool nights. The climate is best described as humid continental by the Köppen Climate System Dfb, on the border of Dsb.[7] Most of the precipitation occurs in late spring and early summer.

Climate data for Bayburt (1960-2012)
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Year
Record high °C (°F) 10.3
(50.5)
13.9
(57)
21.2
(70.2)
25.3
(77.5)
29.6
(85.3)
32.4
(90.3)
36.2
(97.2)
37.1
(98.8)
33.3
(91.9)
28.8
(83.8)
20.0
(68)
18.2
(64.8)
37.1
(98.8)
Average high °C (°F) −1.3
(29.7)
0.2
(32.4)
5.4
(41.7)
12.7
(54.9)
18.0
(64.4)
22.4
(72.3)
26.9
(80.4)
27.3
(81.1)
23.3
(73.9)
16.7
(62.1)
8.6
(47.5)
1.7
(35.1)
13.49
(56.29)
Daily mean °C (°F) −6.5
(20.3)
−5.3
(22.5)
0.0
(32)
7.0
(44.6)
11.7
(53.1)
15.4
(59.7)
19.0
(66.2)
18.8
(65.8)
14.7
(58.5)
9.2
(48.6)
2.6
(36.7)
−3.2
(26.2)
6.95
(44.52)
Average low °C (°F) −10.9
(12.4)
−9.8
(14.4)
−4.5
(23.9)
1.7
(35.1)
5.5
(41.9)
8.2
(46.8)
11.0
(51.8)
10.8
(51.4)
7.1
(44.8)
3.4
(38.1)
−1.9
(28.6)
−7.1
(19.2)
1.12
(34.03)
Record low °C (°F) −31.3
(−24.3)
−27.6
(−17.7)
−28.3
(−18.9)
−12.7
(9.1)
−4.4
(24.1)
−1.6
(29.1)
0.2
(32.4)
2.4
(36.3)
−2.1
(28.2)
−10.6
(12.9)
−23.6
(−10.5)
−29.0
(−20.2)
−31.3
(−24.3)
Average precipitation mm (inches) 26.5
(1.043)
28.2
(1.11)
39.7
(1.563)
62.8
(2.472)
68.6
(2.701)
52.0
(2.047)
20.6
(0.811)
14.2
(0.559)
20.7
(0.815)
44.4
(1.748)
34.2
(1.346)
28.8
(1.134)
440.7
(17.349)
Average precipitation days 11.2 10.9 12.4 13.9 15.4 10.5 5.1 4.3 4.7 8.7 9.1 10.7 116.9
Source: Devlet Meteoroloji İşleri Genel Müdürlüğü [8]

Sights

Nature

Bayburt has many delightful parks and open spaces like "Gençlik Parkı" (Youth Park), "Şehit Nusret Bahçesi" (Martyr Nusret Gardens) and "Genç Osman Parkı" (Young Osman Park). The city has 535.780m² of nursery areas, where young plants are raised for the forests of Bayburt. Also there are two caves that visitors can see the interesting natural shapes of the stones. These caves are, "Çimağıl Mağarası" and "Helva Köyü Buz Mağarası".[9]

Castle

Bayburt Fortress.

Bayburt Castle stands on the steep rocks north of Bayburt. It was held by the Bagratuni Dynasty in the 9th, 10th, and 11th centuries. It was completely rebuilt by the Saltuk ruler Mugis-al-Din Tugrul Sah between 1200 and 1230, as attested by an inscription in the walls of the castle. The massive size of its walls and the quality of its masonry place it amongst the finest of all the castles in Anatolia but for its destruction by the Russians[5] during the early nineteenth century.[10] Rebuilding was done during the Ottoman period.[5] The castle was inhabited till the destruction[5] of 1829.[4]

Sports

The city has one football club currently competing in the Turkish Amateur Football Championship, struggling for promotion to the Turkish Third League, called Bayburtspor.Şalcilarspor played in the Second League between 1986-1988.

Education

Bayburt University is located at the center of the city, university has several faculties such as Engineering, Arts and Sciences and Administrative Sciences. There are also several vocational schools.

Transportation

"Bayburt Otobus Terminali", located in the south of the city, is the main port to Bayburt.

Notable people

Twin cities

Bayburt is twinned with:

See also

References

Citations

  1. "Area of regions (including lakes), km²". Regional Statistics Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. 2002. Retrieved 2013-03-05.
  2. "Population of province/district centers and towns/villages by districts - 2012". Address Based Population Registration System (ABPRS) Database. Turkish Statistical Institute. Retrieved 2013-02-27.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 EB (1878).
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 EB (1911).
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Sinclair, T.A. (1989). Eastern Turkey: An Architectural & Archaeological Survey, Volume I. Pindar Press. pp. 284–289. ISBN 9780907132325.
  6. Hamilton, William John (1842). Researches in Asia Minor, Pontus, and Armenia. Murray. pp. 231–233..
  7. Climate Summary for Bayburt
  8. "İl ve İlçelerimize Ait İstatistiki Veriler- Meteoroloji Genel Müdürlüğü". Dmi.gov.tr. 1996-10-25. Archived from the original on 30 April 2011. Retrieved 2011-03-20.
  9. David Winfield, "A Note on the South-Eastern Borders of the Empire of Trebizond in the Thirteenth Century", Anatolian Studies, 12 (1962), p. 166

Bibliography

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