Laz

The Laz are a Kartvelian people of the southeastern Black Sea coast, whose homeland runs from Trabzon and Rize to Adjara. Their ancestors were the Colchian tribes: by the third century the Lazi had united most of Colchis into the kingdom of Lazica.

After the Arab conquests Trebizond became their main center, and under the Empire of Trebizond, founded in 1204, Laz villagers made up much of the rural population. The Ottomans took the region in 1547 and organized it as the Lazistan sanjak of Trabzon.

During the seventeenth century most Laz converted from Orthodox Christianity to Sunni Islam while keeping their Kartvelian tongue. Derebey valley lords ruled with little interference from Istanbul until Mahmud II crushed their revolt of 1832 to 1834. Laz society stayed organized around armed clans, famed for the horon dance and for shipbuilding and seamanship.