Sinop

Sinop occupies a narrow isthmus and peninsula projecting into the Black Sea. Its sheltered harbour and strong walls made ancient Sinope one of the principal ports of the southern coast. Greek colonists established a city here, and its merchant ships traded across the sea with settlements on the opposite shores. The peninsula also gave the town a defensible position, with water on either side and a gateway through the fortified neck.

The Seljuk sultan Kaykaus I captured Sinop in 1214, giving the rulers of Anatolia a valuable naval base. The harbour and shipyard continued to serve succeeding Turkish dynasties. In the later Middle Ages the Pervaneoğulları and then the Candarids held the town, connecting its maritime trade with their lands inland around Kastamonu. Sinop remained a fortified centre of the Candarid principality until Sultan Mehmed II incorporated its lands in 1461.

Under Ottoman rule the harbour and arsenal served ships on the Black Sea. Merchants brought goods from Anatolia and more distant eastern lands, including Mesopotamia, Iran and Syria, to the port, while the citadel and walls guarded the narrow approach. Sinop's position at the northern tip of the Anatolian coast preserved its importance as a haven for sailors and a link between the sea and the mountain roads to the south.