Tokat

Tokat lies in northern Anatolia, on routes linking the interior to the Black Sea. After the breakup of Ilkhanid authority it came under the Eretna rulers, followed by Kadı Burhaneddin. In 1398 Sultan Bayezid brought Tokat under Ottoman rule. After the battle of Ankara in 1402, Çelebi Mehmed used Tokat and Amasya as bases in his struggle against his brothers.

The city lay at a junction of east–west and north–south trading routes. Its markets and caravan buildings supported merchants moving through Anatolia, while craft production included metalwork and textiles. In 1473 the forces of the Akkoyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan burned Tokat; the city later continued as an Ottoman commercial centre.