Sinop

Ancient Black Sea port on the north coast of Asia Minor, founded as a Greek colony by Ionian settlers, probably in the late 7th century BC. It remained an important trading centre under successive Greek, Roman, and Byzantine rule.

In 183 BC it was captured by Pharnaces I, king of Pontus, who made it his capital. The Romans took Sinop following the Third Mithridatic War (74–63 BC), but lost it to Pharnaces II. It was retaken by the Romans and restored by Julius Caesar. Under the Byzantine empire the city soon became a Christian bishopric. With the fall of the Byzantine empire in the 13th century, Sinop was captured by the Seljuk Turks and later became part of the Ottoman empire.

A Russian naval victory over Turkish forces here November 1853 was one of the factors that sparked the Crimean War.