Espiye
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 Espiye |
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| Location in Turkey | |
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| Overview | |
| Region | Black Sea Region, Turkey |
| Province | Giresun Province |
| Population | town: 12,990 - total: 30,567 [] (2000) |
| Area | 230 km² |
| Population density | 133/km² |
| Elevation | 0 - 2850 m |
| Coordinates | 12,990 - total: 30,567) 40°54′ N 38°25′ E |
| Postal code | 28xxx |
| Area code | (+90) 454 |
| Licence plate code | 28 |
| Mayor | Erol Karadere (Justice and Development Party) |
| Website | Espiye Municipality |
Espiye is a town and a district of Giresun Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey.
Contents |
[edit] History
There is very limited information about the ancient history of Espiye. In 626 BC the ancient Andoz Castle existed on the west side of today's town. Andoz was a sister castle of Tripolis (called Tirebolu in Turkish today) and Bedrama (or Bedrum) castles in the Harşit, is a small town in the southeast of Tirebolu, the neighbour town of Espiye on the east. Since it is known from the Naturalis Historia (Natural History) by Plinius who lived in 1st century that Tripolis (today called Tirebolu) was built by Miletoses, so the first people who lived in Espiye were called the Miletoses. In the same source it is written that the Miletoses built nearly 90 cities in the Black Sea region of present-day Turkey.
In his Anabasis, the Greek Xenophon (431–360 BC) wrote that Colchians, Drilaes, Habibs, and Tiberians had been living in the eastern parts of the Black Sea region during the 400s (BC). Among them the Drils have been assumed as a branch of Turkic tribes. In his "Kıpçaklar" (translated as Kipchaks) book, Prof. Fahrettin Kızıloğlu claimed that Drilaes were a branch of the Kipchaks, Turks inherited from the Cimmerians. It is even claimed that the name of Tirebolu originates from "Diribolu" meaning "the city of Drilaes". From the allegations above, since Espiye was a subdistrict area in Tirebolu, the first inhabitants of Espiye were the Drills.
After the Drills and Miletoses, Espiye was dominated by the Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire, and Empire of Trebizond, and finally by the Ottoman Empire. When the Crusaders captured Istanbul (formerly Constantinople) in 1204, Byzantine Emperor Alexios escaped to Trabzon (formerly Trebizond) and established a new empire called the Empire of Trebizond. Then Espiye was in the territory of this empire.
In the 12th and 16th centuries, the Chepni (pronounced chep-nee) people came to Kürtün (a district and town in the Gümüşhane province today) located in the south of Espiye. The Chepni were a branch of Oghuz Turks originating with Günhan, one of three sons of Oghuz Khan. The Chepnis were the relatives of the Bayindir, Pechene, Chavuldur, Salur, Eymur and Alayuntlu, branches of Üçoklar (Uechooks) which originated from Günhan. After a couple of centuries following their migration to the area, the Chepnis established a "beylik" (a kind of principality in old Turkish) named "Haci Emirli" in Mesudiye district, today located in Ordu, a province in the west of Giresun. At that time, while the Greeks were living in the coastal zone of the Black Sea area, the Turks were living in the mountainous area, and were battling against each other time to time. The Chepni principality had a powerful cavalry corps of ten thousand horses, and were generally winning the battles. Therefore, Chepnis captured many districts in the coastal zones too. In the time of Suleyman Bey, was one of the commander presidents of the Haci Emirli Principality attacked to Greek armies of Trebizond in 1397, and after many battles he conquered Giresun city under Greeks' control until this date. With this victory, the Turks got the control of the coastal zone and Suleyman Bey was called as "Giresun Conqueror" among the Chepnis to offer their respects to their Victorian principal. After many hard battles Giresun became an administrative part of Haci Emirli Principality but its subdisrict Espiye was still in the border of Greek Empire of Trebizond.
Sixty-four years later after the Giresun battle between Hacı Emirli and Greek Empire of Trebizond, the Emperor Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Conqueror Mehmed) of the Ottoman Empire decided to capture Trabzon to control the northeast end of the empire, and went on a military expedition against Greek Empire of Trebizond in 1461. After a short-term war, the areas along the Black Sea's south coast has been demonitated by Ottoman Empire. During the Fatih Sultan Mehmet (Mehmed II)'s expedition to Trabzon, since the Chepnis helped the Ottomans by providing logistics services, he gave the control of the lands of Giresun and Ordu encapsulating Espiye to the Chepnis. Moreover, as a gift due to their help during the war he also excepted them from paying taxes to the Ottomans.
According to Ottoman registries dating back to 1515, Espiye was a very small village consisting of sixteen houses plus six houses in the Andoz Castle. From these records it could be estimated that the population of Espiye was 80-100 in the 1500s. If this number can be considered as a nucleus population for a town, Espiye is 480-500 years old. But the Andoz Castle is older than Espiye although it was not used as a civil settlement because it was very narrow to live in; it had a length of 90 feet and a width of 20 feet. So the Andoz Castle next to Espiye town became an inspection point to observe the sea for war ships.
In both the Empire of Trebizond and Ottoman Empire times, Espiye was a subdistrict under Trabzon and Tirebolu in the provincial and district levels of administration. After the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, Espiye was still a subdistrict of Tirebolu in Giresun Province according to the new Turkish administrative system. But in 1957 it became a district administration itself with a legislation issued in 1957.
[edit] Etymology
The people who lived in Espiye district in ancient eras did not know where they were living. In other words, the small plain area between two rivers, named as Yağlıdere and Gelevara was not called with a certain name due to it was a vacant area in the ancient times. The word "Espiye" word was firstly used by the Turks when they come to this area in the 12th century.
In written documents, the word "Espiye" was used as "Esbüyeli" in the Ottoman essays in 1515 for the first time. In the Ottoman Land Registry Book, Espiye has been defined as "Çepni Eli" (means "Chepni Province" or "Chepni's Homeland" in Turkish) and registered as a feudal tenure for "Mustafa Bey", a son of Eshter Bey. According to some historians, Espiye is a derivative name forming from two parts: "Esb" + "Yeli, Yelü" or "Yalı" words. The "esb" as a Persian word means "horse". Turkish "-yeli" and "-yelü" suffixes mean "from" or "of" in order to define the things that are "originated from a certain place". "yalı" as a radix or generic word means "shore" or "waterside" in Turkish. So, Espiye means "the land of horses" or "horse barn". Secondly, it means "the horses raired in waterside".[1]
[edit] Geography
Espiye has typical characteristics of the eastern Black Sea region of Turkey, both in topography and climate. The district topography is a mountainous area covered mainly with dense forests and arable hazelnuts cultivations. Espiye, carrying the same name of the district, is placed on a small plain between Yağlıdere stream and Gelevara stream flows up to Black Sea. Two kilometers from the town center, the altitude sharply begins to increase toward the south border of the district. The highest point of the district is Akılbaba Tepesi (Akılbaba Hill) of Giresun Dağları (Giresun Mountains Chain) adjacent to district of Giresun in the south.
Espiye contains nearly 230 km² of land. The district is adjacent to Tirebolu and Güce in the east, Keşap and Yağlıdere in the west, and Alucra and Şebinkarahisar in the south. The north side of the district is surrounded by the Black Sea. Espiye town is 28 km away from Giresun city, the provincial capital, and reachable via Samsun-Trabzon highway.
Espiye has large forests of pines, firs, spruces, chestnuts, oaks, hornbeams, rhodedendrons, beeches and alders. The arable area, mainly in the coastal zone (20-30 km from Espiye town) is densely planted with hazelnut trees and some hectares of tea trees.
[edit] Climate
The climate is generally rainy almost all the seasons. It is cool and rainy in summer; and warm and rainy in winter in the coastal zones but snowy in the mountainous area in the south.
[edit] Water, streams and lakes
- Yağlıdere stream
- Gelevara stream
[edit] References
[edit] External links
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Districts of Giresun |  |
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Giresun | Alucra | Bulancak | Çamoluk | Çanakçı | Dereli | Doğankent | Espiye | Eynesil | Görele | Güce | Keşap | Piraziz | Şebinkarahisar | Tirebolu | Yağlıdere |
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