Erzurum

Erzurum rises above a high plain at the meeting of routes from Anatolia, the Caucasus and Iran. Its fortress, mosques and richly ornamented madrasas testify to the many rulers who valued this commanding position. In a land of severe winters, caravans stopped here on the long journey between Iranian markets and the ports and cities of the Ottoman world.

After the collapse of Ilkhanid power, rival dynasties and repeated campaigns left the city badly damaged. The Ottomans secured Erzurum in the early sixteenth century and began rebuilding it after Süleyman's Persian campaign of 1534. It became the seat of a great frontier province and a base for armies marching towards Iran and Georgia. Peace also allowed merchants to carry Iranian goods westward through Erzurum, though renewed wars disrupted the trade. The city was a meeting place for merchants who dealt in goods moving in both directions across the frontier, and its provincial governors oversaw a wide territory.

In the Russo-Ottoman War of 1828–1829, Russian forces advanced across eastern Anatolia and occupied Erzurum. The Treaty of Adrianople returned it to the Ottoman Empire, but the occupation and the departure of Armenian inhabitants for Russian territory altered the city's life. Its fortress and caravan routes remained central to a town repeatedly shaped by the ambitions of neighbouring powers.