Hemşin

Municipality in Rize, Turkey

Hemşin Hamshen • Համշեն
Municipality

41°03′01″N 40°54′06″E / 41.05028°N 40.90167°E / 41.05028; 40.90167
Country	Turkey
Province	Rize
District	Hemşin
Government
• Mayor	Halim Kazım Bekar (AKP)
Population (2021)^[1]	1,472
Time zone	UTC+3 (TRT)
Postal code	53550
Climate	Cfb
Website	www.hemsin.bel.tr

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.^[2] Its population is 1,472 (2021).^[1]

History

As part of the Rize province, Hemshin had been a refuge for some Cimmerians^{[citation needed]} 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 (Armenian: Համշէնցիներ, Hamshentsiner; Turkish: Hemşinliler) are a diverse group of peoples who in the past or present have been affiliated with the region.^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]

Climate

Hemşin has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb).

Climate data for Hemşin
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Daily mean °C (°F)	3.7 (38.7)	4.4 (39.9)	6.4 (43.5)	10.8 (51.4)	14.6 (58.3)	18.4 (65.1)	21.2 (70.2)	21.3 (70.3)	18.5 (65.3)	14.2 (57.6)	9.9 (49.8)	6.0 (42.8)	12.5 (54.5)
Average precipitation mm (inches)	139 (5.5)	107 (4.2)	94 (3.7)	77 (3.0)	78 (3.1)	109 (4.3)	86 (3.4)	106 (4.2)	136 (5.4)	174 (6.9)	156 (6.1)	161 (6.3)	1,423 (56.1)
Source: Climate-Data.org^[7]

References

^ ^a ^b "Address-based population registration system (ADNKS) results dated 31 December 2021" (XLS) (in Turkish). TÜİK. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ İlçe Belediyesi, Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 30 January 2023.
^ 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". Climate-Data.org. Retrieved 14 April 2014.