Samsun located in the middle part of the Black Sea Region is surrounded by Ordu in the east, Tokat in the south, Amasya in the south, Sinop in the west, and the Black Sea in the north.
The provincial lands descend to the coast of the Black Sea where the lowlands from the mountainous area at the middle height located in the southern part are located. A large part of the land is undeveloped in the North Anatolian Mountains. The Canik Mountains to the east of the Kızılırmak valley and the east of the Küre (Isfendiyar) Mountains to the west. Kunduz Mountain (1,791 m.), Bünyan Mountain, Sıradalı Dağ, Akdağ (2,082 m.) And Yunt Dağı are the highest peaks in the province of Amasya-Corum province. The slopes of these mountains facing the Black Sea are covered with forests.
The plains in the provincial lands are wider than the other ones in the Black Sea coast. Çarşamba Plain and Bafra Plain are the main ones and these plains formed by accumulation of alluvium carried by Yeşilırmak and Kızılırmak are a delta plain. Plains located in the provincial lands are formed with alluviums brought by many rivers such as Mert Stream and Kurdun Stream. The current plateau and plumes are not too high. Yaylalar, Ladik, Basin, Veziköprü and Kavak are located in the districts. Terme Stream, Yeşilırmak, Abdal Stream, Mert Stream, Kurdün Stream and Kızılırmak waters. Its length is 1,182 km. Kızılırmak originates from Kızılhir, waters of Sivas, Kayseri, Nevşehir and Kırşehir lands; Anatolia draws an arc from the highland and enters the lands of Samsun from the north of Corum province and pours into the sea. 468 km. Yeşilırmak is born in Köse Dağ and passes Canik Mountains to Samsun province border and pours into the sea from Civa Burnu. Tozan River, Tokat River, Kelkit and Çekerek Suyu are important branches of Yeşilırmak. There are many natural and artificial lakes within the provincial borders. The natural lakes are Ladik Lake which feeds Tersakan Stream from the branches of Yeşilırmak and the small lagoons in the delta ovals. Karaboğaz, Liman, Cernek and Fish lakes and Uzungöl Kızılırmak deltas are the main lagoons. The lagoons of Yeşilırmak delta are; Dumanlıgöl and Akgöl and Simenlik Lake. There are also Suat Uğurlu Dam for energy purposes, which is established on Yeşilırmak, and artificial lakes, which are built on the Abdal Stream for the purpose of drinking and using, and artificial lakes formed by the accumulation of waters left by the Altınkaya Dam for energy purposes on Kızılırmak. The surface area is 9,579 km2, according to the 2000 Population Census results, the total population is 1,203,681.
There are two large bulges in the delta of Kızılırmak and Yeşilırmak on the coast of the province Black Sea. In accordance with the alluvial formation of these deltas, there are natural beaches and sand in the coastal area. The lagoons behind the shore are reeds, swamps and forests. On the north-west of the Kızılırmak delta, there is the Civa Burnu and on the east is Çalttı nova. The North Anatolian Broken Belt passes through the southern part of Samsun. There have been a lot of earthquakes throughout history. In Samsun, which is rich in natural vegetation, the forest cover is reduced on the inner slopes, on the ovals and on the sloping slopes of the mountains. In places where the height is 1000-1200 meters, the leaves are found in winter (hornbeam, oak, linden, chestnut, beech outer bark). 1200-1800 m. At the height, coniferous trees are found. Beech and spruce trees on the northern slopes of the Black Sea Mountains, forests of hornbeam and oak trees on the southern slopes, and willow and poplar trees as they approach the shore. The richest forest areas of Samsun province are located in Çarşamba, Alaçam, Poplar and Vezirköprü districts. The climate in Samsun varies in coastal and inland areas. Although the coastal strip is under the influence of the Black Sea, the inner parts are under the influence of the Akdağ and Canik Mountains. In terms of temperature and precipitation, Samsun is similar to neither the eastern nor the western Black Sea region. Rainfall is less than in the Black Sea. The temperature is lower when it is open to the north winds. On the coast, the winters are warm, the spring is foggy and cool, and the summer season is usually constricted. The inner parts of the province are more civilized than the coast. The provincial economy is based on agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, tourism, agriculture based industry and trade. At the beginning of the grown agricultural products are wheat, barley, tobacco, corn, sunflower, sugar beet, hazelnut, dry bean. Vegetables and fruits are also grown. In animal husbandry, sheep in mountainous areas, cattle and buffaloes in prairies and poultry farming. Freshwater fisheries are also available in current rivers and lakes. There are also flour, tomato paste, dairy products, paddy, vegetable oil, sugar, aquatic products processing, cigarette, leaf tobacco processing, feed, forest products, fertilizer, cement, metallurgy, plastic, profile pipe and wire mills, The most important industrial enterprise belonging to Etibank is the Black Sea Copper Industries. The important branches of small industry are forest products, food production and weaving.
In Samsun, which is poor in terms of underground resources, there are hot mineral water resources and brick-tile raw materials, lignite in Havza region and marble deposits in Vezirköprü. The city, which is called Amisos in Antiquity, is one of the trade colonies that the Miletos founded in the Black Sea coasts in the 17th century BC. The city, which was occupied by the Athenians in BC century BC, is known for a while by the name of Priraierus. Amisos, an important trade port, was built with the aim of protecting it from attacks. In the Byzantine period, the Danishmendlans, who could not take Amisos, a bishopric center, built a new castle in the immediate vicinity. The old settlement, which is a rich trade center for centuries, is known as Christian Samsun or Gavur Samsun. There was a commercial relationship between the Old Amisos and the New Amisos, which had been ruled by the Genoese in the XI century. Named after Simisso and Samissun, the name of this settlement has turned into Samsun. The place where the old Amisos is located is now called the Kara Samsun by the people. The first settlement in Samsun dates back to prehistoric times. The finds recovered near Tekkeköy indicate that the site was settled in the Paleolithic Age (10.000-5.500 BC). Archaeological excavations and explorations in İkiztepe, Dündar Tepe, Öksürük Tepe and other mounds proved that the settlement continued after the Chalcolithic Age (550-535 BC). It is also understood from the Hittite written sources that the place was chosen by the Gaskas as settlement site before the Hittites and during the Hittites period. B.C. It was a small settlement center called Amisos in the period of 750-760 when Greek colonies were established in Anatolia. It is believed that the city was founded by Miletos (nation) from Ion city states. The Athenians in the BC century BC, the Persians in the last century BC, Macedonians then dominated the region. In 313 BC Alexander the Great declared Amisos an independent city. Later, the area that was under the control of the Seleucids entered under the rule of the Pontus State established in the beginning of the 3rd century BC. The Mossynoics lived here during this period. King of Pontus Mithridates VI. At the time (BC 120 BC-63 BC) the region has the most brilliant period. The Samsun region, which was dominated by the Romans in the mid-century BC, was within the boundaries of Pontus Polemoniacus region. In 395, the Roman Empire was divided into East and West (Eastern) Byzantine territories. In the Byzantine period it became an important center of episcopacy, connected to the Armeniacon Theme. VIII. And I have been attacked Arabs several times in the IX century. After the Battle of Malazgirt (1071), a Turkmen tribe settled here and became under the dominance of the Beylik established by Melik Danisment Gazi. Samsun and its province, which had changed hands several times between Danishmendliler, Byzantines and Anatolian Seljuks, was ruled by the Trabzon Empire founded in the beginning of XIII century. Samsun, which caused controversy between Pontus and Anatolian Seljuks, was attacked by Mongols in the middle of XII century. Pervaneoğullarının for a while, in the middle of the XIV century, Eretna Beyliğin, then the Kadı Burhanettin State has been under the sovereignty. Samsun, which was conquered by the Ottomans in 1398, was shared between the Taveddinoğulları, Kubadoğulları and Candaroğulları during the Timur administration after the Ankara War (1402). By 1428, Çelebi Sultan Mehmet definitely joined the Ottoman lands. In the XIX.th century, a large part of Trabzon province was connected to Canik Sancağın, and the southern part of the province was within the borders of Sivas province. Almost all of Samsun, which had a big fire in 1869, was burnt down.
The city, which suffered a great loss from sea transportation during the First World War in the Black Sea, was bombed four times by the Russian navy in 1915.
At the beginning of XX century some of the people consisted of Greeks and Armenians. The activities of the Greek Cypriot gangs organized with the aim of establishing an independent state to the east of the region continued until the end of the War of Independence. In the meantime, while the activities of the gangs continued, the British took out a military unit in the city after the Mondros Armistice (October 30, 1918). Mustafa Kemal Pasha, who was appointed to the Inspector General of the 9th Army, took the first step of the National Struggle by stepping into Samsun on 19th of 1919 with the Bandırma Vaporetta after the Entente States announced that the confusion of eastern and northern Anatolia would be occupied by these regions. Samsun, who was not invaded by the occupation during the War of Independence and was ruled as a mutasarity affiliated to Trabzon province, became a province in 1925 after the declaration of the Republic, and immigrants from Greece came here.
19 May 1919, the date when Atatiirk was born, was celebrated as “19 May Youth and Sports Festival” every year since 1936, when Gazi Mustafa Kemal Paşa declared and declared it as a feast for Youth and Sports.
The ruins of Amisos town, Dündar Tepe, İkiztepe, Tekkeköy, Kaledoruğu Höyük, Italian Catholic Church (1846), Healing Bath (Late Ottoman Period), Taşham (XVIIth century), Bedesten Castle Mosque (1314 (1894), Yalı Mosque (1894), Hançerli Mosque (1894), Mosque of the Hançer (1894), Mosque of the Han> Kılıç Dede Tomb, Stad Fountain, Atatürk Monument (1932), Ilkadım Monument, Clock Tower and examples of Turkish civil architecture. Besides Çakırlar Korusu, Atakum, Kocadağ Recreation Area, Oak Cultural Park, Kurupelit-İncesu, Çamgöl and Vezirköprü Forest Recreation Facilities, Basin and Ladik Kaplıcaları are also located outside the coast of Black Sea and lake.