Artvin Province
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 Artvin Province |
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| Location of Artvin Province in Turkey | |
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| Overview | |
| Region: | Black Sea Region, Turkey |
| Area: | 7436 (km²) |
| Total Population | 191,934 TUIK 2006 (est) |
| Licence plate code: | 08 |
| Area code: | 0466 |
| Governor Website | http://www.artvin.gov.tr |
| Weather forecast | turkeyforecast.com/weather/artvin |
Artvin is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the north-eastern corner of the country, on the border with Georgia (country).
The provincial capital is the city of Artvin.
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[edit] Etymology
(Georgian: ართვინი; Armenian: Արդվին; Russian: Ардвин, Laz:Art'vini). Artvin < Artavani "fertile town" < Armenian Arta, arda "arable field" + vani "district, village, town, church."[1]
Artvin had been called Coroksi, Corok, Kollhis or Livane and the area of Artvin today was once part of the larger Ottoman Empire district of Livane.
[edit] Geography
Artvin is an attractive area of steep valleys carved by the Çoruh River system, surrounded by high mountains (up to 3900 m) and forest with much national parkland including the Karagöl-Sahara, which contains the Şavşat and Borçka lakes. The weather in Artvin is very wet, and the forest is every shade of green imaginable. This greenery runs from the top all the way down to the Black Sea coast. The rain turns to snow at higher altitudes, and the peaks are very cold in winter.
The forests are home to brown bears.
The Çoruh is now being dammed in 11 places for hydro-electric power, including the 207 m Deriner dam and others at Borçka and Muratlı.
In addition to ethnic Turks, the province is home to communities of Laz people, and Hamsheni Armenians.[2] In particular, there is a prominent community of Chveneburi Georgians many of them descendants of Muslim families from Georgia who migrated during the struggles between the Ottoman Turks and Russia during the 19th century. With such diverse peoples, Artvin has a rich variety of folk song and dance (see Arifana and Kochari for examples of folk culture).
Local industries include bee-keeping.
[edit] History
The area has a rich history but has not been studied extensively by archaeologists in recent decades. Artifacts dating back to the Bronze Age and even earlier have been found. The Hurri settled in the Artvin area in 2000 BC and were succeeded by the Urartu civilisation, based in Lake Van. Later, the area was part of the kingdom of Colchis but was always vulnerable to invasions, first the Scythians from across the Caucasus, then the Arab armies of Islam, who controlled the area from 853 AD to 1023 when it was recovered by the Byzantines.
The Seljuk Turks of Alparslan conquered the area in 1064 AD; it was briefly recaptured by the king of Georgia with the help of the Byzantines, but by 1081 was in Turkish hands again. With the collapse of the Seljuks, the Artvin area came under the control of the Ildeniz tribe of the <a href="/wiki/Anatolian_Turkish_Beyliks" titl