Hemşin (Armenian: Համշէն Hamshen or Համամաշէն Hamamashen, literally "Hamam's Hamlet"; Laz and Georgian: ზუგა Zuga), is a town in Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 57 km from the city of Rize. It is the seat of Hemşin District.İlçe Belediyesi , Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023. Its population is 1,472 (2021).
History
As part of the Rize province, Hemshin had been a refuge for some Cimmerians and was a site of early Greek settlements and once part of the Roman Empire and the succeeding Byzantine Empire.
In the 8th century, Armenian Prince Hamam, his father Prince Shapuh Amatuni, and their people migrated north to the Black Sea region in order to escape Arab invasions of Vaspurakan. They settled in the ruined city of Tambur and its surrounding villages. Prince Hamam rebuilt the city and named it Hamamshen ("Hamam's hamlet" in Armenian), this becoming the nucleus of the modern district.
This Principality of Hamamshen existed until the 14th century, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.
Demographics
The Hemshin peoples (, ; ) are a diverse group of peoples who in the past or present have been affiliated with the region.Bert Vaux. Hemshinli: The Forgotten Black Sea Armenians. Cambridge: Harvard University, 2001, pp. 1-2, 4-5.Peter Alford Andrews, Ethnic Groups in the Republic of Turkey. Wiesbaden, Dr. Ludwig Reichert Verlag, 1989, pp. 476-477, 483-485, 491.Simonian, Hovann H. "Hemshin from Islamicization to the End of the Nineteenth Century" in The Hemshin: History, society and identity in the Highlands of Northeast Turkey. Hovann H. Simonian (ed.) London: Routledge, 2007, p. 80.Hachikian, Hagop. "Notes on the Historical Geography and Present Territorial Distribution of the Hemshinili", in The Hemshin, pp. 146-147.
Climate Hemşin has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).
See also Hemshin peoples Amatuni Çamlıhemşin Principality of Hamamshen
References
External links www.Hamshen.org a multi-language discussion forum Armenian History and Presence in Hemşin