PONTUS LAZISTAN TRABZON

PontusAfter the colonisation of the Anatolian shores by the Ionia n Greeks , Pontus soon became a name which was applied, in ancient times, to extensive tracts of country in the northeast of Asia Minor (modern Turkey ) bordering on the Euxine ( Black Sea ), which was often called simply Pontos (the Main), by the Ancient Greece . The exact signification of this purely territorial name varied greatly at different times. The Greeks used it loosely to denote various parts of the shores of the Euxine, and the term did not get a definite connotation of being a separate state until after the establishment of the kingdom of Pontus, founded beyond the Halys during the troubled period following the death of Alexander the Great , shortly after 302 BC , by Mithridates I of Pontus , son of Mithridates II of Kios ( Mysia ) a Persian Empire n ruler in the service of Antigonus I Monophthalmus , one of Alexander's successors. The kingdom of Pontus was henceforth ruled by a succession of kings, mostly bearing the same name, till 64 BC . As the greater part of this kingdom lay within the immense region of Cappadocia , which in early ages extended from the borders of Cilicia to the Euxine, the kingdom as a whole was at first called "Cappadocia towards the Pontus", but afterwards simply "Pontus," the name Cappadocia being henceforth restricted to the southern half of the region previously included under that title. Under the last king, Mithradates Eupator , commonly called the Great, the realm of Pontus included not only Pontic Cappadocia but also the seaboard from the Bithynia n frontier to Colchis , part of inland Paphlagonia , and Cilicia#Armenian kingdom . With the subjection of this kingdom by Pompey in 64 BC , in which little changed in the structuring of life, neither for the oligarchies that controlled the cities nor for the common people in city or hinterland, the meaning of the name Pontus underwent a change. Part of the kingdom was now annexed to the Roman Empire , being united with Bithynia in a double province called Pontus and Bithynia: this part included only the seaboard between Heraclea Pontica ( Eregli ) and Amisus ( Samsun ), the ora Pontica. Hereafter the simple name Pontus without qualification was regularly employed to denote the half of this dual province, especially by Romans and people speaking from the Roman point of view; it is so used almost always in the New Testament . With the reorganization of the provincial system under Diocletian (about AD 295 ), the Pontic districts were divided up between four provinces of the Dioecesis Pontica: Pontus Polemoniacus, containing Comana, Polemonium, Cerasus and Trapezus with Neocaesarea as capital Diospontus, re-named Helenopontus by Constantine I of the Roman Empire , containing the rest of the province Pontus and the adjoining district, eight cities in all (including Sinope , Samsun and Zela ) with Amasya as capital Paphlagonia, to which was attached most of the old province Pontus Armenia Minor, five cities, with Sebasteia as capital. This rearrangement gave place in turn to the Byzantine Empire system of military districts ( thema ).
Byzantine, Ottoman, and modern history Pontus continued to be an autonomous state under the Imperial rule of Constantinople through most of the history of the Byzantine Empire . With the eclipse and fall of the Empire in the East, the name Pontus was preserved as a state within the Ottoman Empire . In the 20th century, the situation of Christian minorities in Pontus worsened with the increasing influence of the Young Turks , culminating in mass killings and deportations. The Blight of Asia, by G. Horton full E-text available The Hellenic Genocide Quotes from historical documents Home page of Pontus and Asia Minor Genocide The Australian Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Studies The Greek parliament has declared 19th May as a memory date for the Pontus genocide. After the establishment of the Republic of Turkey , Pontus was not recognised as autonomous. In 1921, an independent Pontic state was proposed, but never realized. Under the Treaty of Lausanne , the borders of Turkey were renegotiated and in 1923, the Exchange of populations between Greece and Turkey required approximately 1.5 million Greeks living in Turkey to resettle in Greece , and approximately 500,000 Turks living in Greece to resettle in Turkey. Among the former were the remaining 300,000 Pontian Greeks , of an original population of more than 700,000. Article 1 of the Convention Concerning the Exchange of Greek and Turkish Populations, dated January 30, 1923, between the governments of Greece and Turkey reads as follows: "As from the 1st May, 1923, there shall take place a compulsory exchange of Turkish nationals of the Greek Orthodox religion established in Turkish territory, and of Greek nationals of the Muslim religion established in Greek territory. These persons shall not return to live in Turkey or Greece respectively without the authorization of the Turkish Government or of the Greek Government respectively." A number of Pontic Greeks moved from Turkey to countries in the Caucasus region, mainly Georgia and Russia. The majority of the Greek diaspora in the countries of the former USSR descends from these Pontic Greeks.
See also- Pontic Greek language - Pontian Greeks - Hayastan (Greater Armenia) tr:Pontus - Western Armenia (Ottoman Armenia) - Kurdistan - Lazistan - Cheveneburi - Ajarians - Greek Muslims de:Pontus es:Pontic eo:Ponto (geografio) it:Ponto (geografia) he:פונטוס nl:Pontus (gebied) no:Pontos (oldtidsrike) pl:Pont (Azja) pt:Ponto (província romana) ru:Понт fi:Pontos sv:Pontos - Cilicia (Lesser Armenia)