Antiquity: Parthenios and Sesamos
Bartın takes its name from the Bartın River, known in antiquity as Parthenios. According to the Bartın Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the region was dominated by the Kaskians in the 14th century BC and by the Hittites in the 13th century BC. At the beginning of the 12th century BC, Bartın lay within the borders of Bithynia and Amasra within those of Paphlagonia. In Homer's Iliad, the names Kytoros, Sesamos, the Parthenios River and Kromna appear in the list of the homelands of the Paphlagonians.
The old name of present-day Amasra is Sesamos, and that of Kurucaşile is Kromna. Over time, the region came successively under the rule of the Cimmerians, Lydians, Persians, Macedonians, Pontic kings and Romans.
Amastris and the Roman Period
During the reign of Queen Amastris (302-286 BC), Sesamos became the centre of a union of cities together with Kromna, Tios and Kytoros, and came to be called Amastris after the queen. In the Roman period, Amasra was the capital of the Pontus section of the Province of Bithynia-Pontus. Pliny the Younger, the governor of the province, describes Amastris as an elegant and well-kept city in a letter to Emperor Trajan. The Kuşkayası Road Monument on the Amasra-Bartın road was also built during the reign of Emperor Claudius (41-54 AD).
Byzantine, Genoese and Ottoman Periods
When the Roman Empire was divided in two in 395 AD, the region remained with Byzantium. At the end of the 11th century, the Anatolian Seljuk period began; the region passed to the Principality of Candaroğulları in 1326 and to Ottoman rule from 1392. Amasra, meanwhile, was governed as a Genoese colony between 1261 and 1460 and was annexed to Ottoman lands by Mehmed the Conqueror in 1460. The 9th-century Byzantine church inside Amasra Castle was converted into a mosque during the conquest and became today's Fatih Mosque.
In the Ottoman period, Bartın remained attached to the Sanjak of Bolu for a long time. Bartın, which was the market town of its surroundings, became a kaza (district) in 1867, and a municipal organisation was established in 1876.
The Republican Period and Becoming a Province
Administered as a mutasarrıflık in the early years of the Republic, Bartın became a district of Zonguldak in 1924. With Law No. 3760 dated 28 August 1991, it gained provincial status on 7 September 1991. Of today's districts, Ulus became a district in 1944, Kurucaşile in 1957 and Amasra in 1987.
The Historical Importance of Amasra
Amasra, whose history the Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism puts at about 4,000 years, lies at the heart of the province's historical identity. Amasra Castle, parts of which date back to the Roman period and which was repaired and used during the Genoese period, is on the UNESCO World Heritage Tentative List as part of the nomination file covering the castles and trade centres of Türkiye's Genoese trade network extending from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea. Amasra Museum, which has served as a museum since 1982, displays works from the Hellenistic, Roman, Byzantine, Genoese and Ottoman periods.
Sources
Bartın Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism; Culture Portal (Ministry of Culture and Tourism of the Republic of Türkiye); Amasra Municipality; UNESCO World Heritage Centre; Homer, Iliad (Book 2); Pliny the Younger, Letters (X.98).