The city's name first appears in Xenophon's Anabasis, as Trapezus. It is said to come from the shape of the old centre — the Orta Hisar and Yukarı Hisar quarters — which sits like a table. There is also a view, recorded by the Ministry of Culture, that the city was founded by Turkic peoples of Central Asian origin who came over the Caucasus.
Trabzon held the most important link between Europe and Asia on the Silk Road, and that is why so many civilisations passed through it. Colonists from Miletos, then the Persians, the Romans, the Byzantines and the Komnenoi all ruled here. The Komnenian principality of Trebizond, founded at the beginning of the 13th century, lasted more than 250 years and ended on 26 October 1461 when Mehmed II took the city.
