Çayeli

Çayeli

The old name of Çayeli is Mapavra or Mapavri. As a matter of fact, it is mentioned as "Mapavra" on the Kiepert map dated 1854. According to Özhan Öztürk, "Mapavri" is a Laz word and means "Masters, priests". The author claimed that it was named so because the Greeks had an ethnic eastern border with the Laz and other Caucasian peoples during the Byzantine period and Christianity spread to the Caucasus via Trebizond. However, in Laz, "pavri" means leaf and Mapavri means "leafy place". This place name may be related to the vegetation of the region. Mapaura, which was located in the Colchis cultural area and the settlement area of the ancient Laz people in ancient times, came under the rule of the Roman Empire in the 1st century AD. As a result of the Lazi Wars in the 6th century, it became the last settlement point of the Roman/Byzantine Empire on the Black Sea coast. During the Trebizond Empire, which was established after the temporary dissolution of the Byzantine Empire in 1204, Mapaura/Mapavri remained the last bastion of Greek sovereignty in the east. In 1461, II. It came under Turkish rule after Mehmed (Fatih) annexed the state of Trabzon to the Ottoman lands. For approximately 50 years, Mapavri was the border point of the Ottoman Empire on the Black Sea coast. In 1622, it was attacked and plundered by Abaza pirates. Şemsettin Sami, in Kamasü'l-Alam, refers to Mapavri as "a township of the Rize district of the Lazistan sanjak of the Trabzon province." The region, which was under Russian occupation for two years during World War I, came under Turkish administration again on March 9, 1918. The coastal road connecting the district to Rize was built during the Russian occupation. Mapavri became a township in 1878 and a district named Çaybaşı in 1944. Later its name was changed to Çayeli. The majority of village names are Greek; However, there are also a small number of Laz and Hemsin place names. No Turkish place names were recorded before the early 20th century. In the 1935 general census, Mapavri was a township in the Rize district of Çoruh province, and the administrative center of this township was Yenipazar village. In the 1940 general census, Mapavri had the same administrative location and Mapavri township consisted of 23 villages. However, the Rize province, which was abolished in 1933, was re-established on this date. The population of Yenipazar, the administrative center of Mapavri township, consisted of 6,138 people, and the total population of the township consisted of 20,105 people.