Social, economic and cultural life of the Empire of Trebizond (1204-1461)

This study, which we call "Social, Economic and Cultural Life of the Empire of Trebizond (1204-1461)", consists of introduction, three main sections and results. In the introduction section, the name of the city of Trebizond, which gives the name of the Trebizond Empire, is given information about the physical geography and the sources of the period we used in our thesis are introduced. In the first section, the governing structure of the Trebizond Empire is discussed. In the second part of the first section, the demographic structure in the region and the process of change in this demographic structure are examined. Since the population phenomenon underlying socio-economic history studies is a factor that needs to be examined carefully, the amount of population living in the Trebizond Empire and the changes in the structure of the population have been tried to be put forward within the information provided by the sources of the period. In the second section of our thesis; the economy of the Trebizond Empire and the factors affecting this economy are discussed. From this point of view, the importance of the region in terms of trade, the process of Turkish participation in the Black Sea trade and the relations with the Trebizond Empire were examined. The role of Venetians and Genoese in the Black Sea trade, the role of the Mongols in the Black Sea trade, the travel route from Trebizond to Iran and its commercial dimensions were evaluated. Trebizond Empire's change in the demographic structure especially in the second half of the 13th century and the revival in economic activities with this change are examined. In the third section; As a result of the intense commercial relations in the region, the interactions in the cultural field were evaluated and the effects of cultural interaction in the region on architecture were examined. As a result; in the 13th and 15th centuries the developments in the social, economic and cultural activities of the Trebizond Empire, which reigned in the Eastern Black Sea Region, were examined in the axis of the relations of the empire with the Turks around it and it was tried to be put forward in detail as far as the resources allow.