Tasova
Encyclopedia
Taşova is a town and a district of Amasya Province
Amasya Province
Amasya Province is a province of Turkey, situated on the Yeşil River in the Black Sea Region to the north of the country. Area 5,520 km². Population 334,786....

 of the central Black Sea
Black Sea
The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

 region of Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...

. It covers an area of 1041 km², and the population (2010) is 33,138 of which 10,759 live in the town of Taşova, the majority spread throughout the surrounding countryside. Altitude is 230 m. The mayor is Özgür Özdemir (AKP
Justice and Development Party (Turkey)
The Justice and Development Party , abbreviated JDP in English and AK PARTİ or AKP in Turkish, is a centre-right political party in Turkey. The party is the largest in Turkey, with 327 members of parliament...

).

Taşova stands on a green and fertile plain, on the banks of the River Yeşilırmak.

History

The first of many cultures and civilisations to settle on the plain were the Hittites
Hittites
The Hittites were a Bronze Age people of Anatolia.They established a kingdom centered at Hattusa in north-central Anatolia c. the 18th century BC. The Hittite empire reached its height c...

 who by 1650 BC were spread throughout Anatolia
Anatolia
Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

. Then came the Phrygians (1200 - 700 BC), Cimmerians
Cimmerians
The Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...

, Medes
Medes
The MedesThe Medes...

 and Persians.

The Ancient Macedonians
Ancient Macedonians
The Macedonians originated from inhabitants of the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula, in the alluvial plain around the rivers Haliacmon and lower Axios...

 of Alexander the Great came to Anatolia in 331 BC and upon their dispersal rule of the Amasya
Amasya
- History :Its location in this steep valley makes the city a mountain stronghold, easy to defend, and thus Amasya has had a long and prominent history.-Antiquity:...

 region including Taşova passed to the Kings of Pontus
Pontus
Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...

 (in 291 BC), who remained in control until the arrival of the Romans. The plain was part of the Roman Empire until 395 AD and for centuries more belonged to Byzantium
Byzantium
Byzantium was an ancient Greek city, founded by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzas . The name Byzantium is a Latinization of the original name Byzantion...

. The Arab
Arab
Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 armies of early Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

 came through in 712.

Following the victory of the Seljuk Turks over Byzantium at Malazgirt
Malazgirt
Malazgirt is a town in Muş Province in eastern Turkey, with a population of 23,697 .-Founding:...

 in 1071, Turkish peoples spread into Anatolia taking the Byzantine cities one by one. The plain of Taşova was conquered by Danishmend lords in 1075, who were based in nearby Amasya
Amasya
- History :Its location in this steep valley makes the city a mountain stronghold, easy to defend, and thus Amasya has had a long and prominent history.-Antiquity:...

. The area was taken over by the Seljuk lord Kılıçarslan in 1174, and following much more invasion and warfare was finally brought within the Ottoman Empire
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 in 1425.

Under the Ottomans the plain Taşova remained a rural village with a Turkish population. The village was attacked by Greek bandits at the beginning of the Turkish War of Independence
Turkish War of Independence
The Turkish War of Independence was a war of independence waged by Turkish nationalists against the Allies, after the country was partitioned by the Allies following the Ottoman Empire's defeat in World War I...

 but these were pushed out of the area by the newly formed Turkish army.

Taşova today

Today Taşova is a tidy country town in a pleasant rural area. Nearby Borabay Lake is a popular picnic place for people from Amasya. The local economy depends on agriculture and has suffered recently from the closure of the tobacco factory.

External links

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