Northern Anatolia

Northern Anatolia corresponds to the northern shores of present-day Turkey, bordered by the Black Sea, and their hinterland. The annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Russia's invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022 have shown the strategic stakes that the Black Sea still represents, from a political, commercial and security point of view. This book aims to introduce readers to a little-known region. It shows how the southern coast of the Black Sea has been a strategic territory since ancient times, with the question of Greek colonization and the wheat trade through the Bosphorus and Dardanelles straits, the question of Roman, Byzantine and Turkish domination, and the interest of foreign powers such as Venice, Genoa, France and Germany between the 13th and 19th centuries. In the 20th century, this multi-ethnic region was, like other parts of Turkey, the scene of population eradication by collective expulsion or elimination between 1915 and 1923.
. Because of its rich and complex history, but also because of its original geography and very green landscapes, northern Anatolia has a strong cultural identity that fuels literary creation and popular culture: Black Sea jokes are as famous in Turkey as Belgian jokes are in France.