Early history in the city center The surroundings of Erzurum at the
Urartian period presumably belonged to
Diauehi. Later, Erzurum existed under the Armenian name of Karin. During the reigns of the
Artaxiad and
Arsacid kings of
Armenia, Karin served as the capital of the eponymous canton of
Karin, in the province Bardzr Hayk' (Upper Armenia). After the
partition of Armenia between the
Eastern Roman Empire and
Sassanid Persia in 387 AD, the city passed into the hands of the Romans who fortified the city and renamed it Theodosiopolis, after Emperor
Theodosius I. As the chief military stronghold along the eastern border of the empire, Theodosiopolis held a highly important strategic location and was fiercely contested in wars between the Byzantines and Persians. Emperors
Anastasius I and
Justinian I both refortified the city and built new defenses during their reigns.
Middle Ages 's 1717 book ''Relation d'un voyage du Levant'' era
Çifte Minareli Medrese (Twin
Minaret Madrasa) is the symbol of the city and appears on its
coat of arms. Theodosiopolis was conquered by the
Umayyad general
Abdallah ibn Abd al-Malik in 700/701. It became the capital of the emirate of Ḳālīḳalā and was used as a base for raids into Byzantine territory. Though only an island of
Arab power within Christian Armenian-populated territory, the native population was generally a reliable client of the Caliph's governors. As the power of the
Caliphate declined, and the resurgence of
Byzantium began, the local
Armenian leaders preferred the city to be under the control of powerless Muslim
emirs rather than powerful
Byzantine emperors. In 931, and again in 949, Byzantine forces led by
Theophilos Kourkouas, grandfather of the future emperor
John I Tzimiskes, captured Theodosiopolis. Its Arab population was expelled and the city was resettled by Greeks and Armenians. Emperor
Basil II rebuilt the city and its defenses in 1018 with the help of the local Armenian population. In 1071, after the decisive battle at
Manzikert, the
Seljuk Turks took possession of Theodosiopolis. The
Saltukids were rulers of an
Anatolian beylik (principality) centered in Erzurum, who ruled from 1071 to 1202.
Melike Mama Hatun, sister of Nâsırüddin Muhammed, was the ruler between 1191 and 1200. Theodosiopolis repelled many attacks and military campaigns by the Seljuks and
Georgians (the latter knew the city as Karnu-Kalaki) until 1201 when the city and the province was conquered by the Seljuk sultan
Süleymanshah II. Erzen-Erzurum fell to the Mongol siege in 1242, and the city was looted and devastated. After the fall of the
Sultanate of Rum in early 14th century, it became an administrative province of the
Ilkhanate, and later on the city was under
Empire of Trebizond occupation for a while around the 1310s. Then became part of the
Timurid Empire, the Çoban beylik,
Black Sheep Turkmen, and
White Sheep Turkmen. It subsequently passed to
Safavid Persia, until the
Ottomans under
Selim I in 1514 conquered it through the
Battle of Chaldiran. During Ottoman imperial rule, the city served as the main base of military power in the region. It served as the capital of the
eyalet of Erzurum. Early in the seventeenth century, the province was threatened by
Safavid Persia and a revolt by the province governor
Abaza Mehmed Pasha. This revolt was combined with
Jelali Revolts (the uprising of the provincial musketeers called the Jelali), backed by Iran and lasted until 1628. In 1733, Iranian ruler
Nader Shah took Erzurum during the
Ottoman–Persian War (1730–35), but the city returned to Ottoman possession following his death in 1747.
Modern history In 1821, during the last major
Ottoman-Persian War, the Ottomans were decisively defeated at Erzurum by the Iranian
Qajars at the Battle of Erzurum (1821). In 1829 the city was
captured by the Russian Empire, but was returned to the
Ottoman Empire under the
Treaty of Adrianople (Edirne), in September of the same year. During the
Crimean War Russian forces approached Erzurum, but did not attack it because of insufficient forces and the continuing Russian siege of
Kars. The city was unsuccessfully attacked (
Battle of Erzurum (1877)) by a Russian army in the
Russo-Ottoman War of 1877–78. However, in February 1878, the Russians took Erzurum without resistance, but it was again returned to the
Ottoman Empire, this time under the
Treaty of San Stefano. There were massacres of the city's Armenian citizens during the
Hamidian massacres (1894–1896).
World War I and Turkish War of independence . The 40,000-strong Armenian population was deported from the city and killed en masse during the 1915
Armenian genocide. Their cultural institutions, including churches, clubs, and schools, were looted, destroyed, or otherwise left derelict. When Russian forces occupied Erzurum in 1916, there were scarcely 200 Armenians left alive. The city was also the location of
one of the key battles in the
Caucasus Campaign of
World War I between the armies of the
Ottoman and
Russian Empires. This resulted in the capture of Erzurum by Russian forces under the command of
Grand Duke Nicholas and
Nikolai Nikolaevich Yudenich on February 16, 1916. Erzurum reverted to Ottoman control after the signing of the
Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in March 1918. In 1919,
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, one of the key founders of the modern
Turkish Republic, resigned from the Ottoman army in Erzurum and was declared an "Honorary Native" and freeman of the city, which issued him his first citizenship registration and certificate (Nüfus Cuzdanı) of the new Turkish Republic. The
Erzurum Congress of 1919 was one of the starting points of the
Turkish War of Independence.
Inspectorate General In September 1935, Erzurum was made the seat of the newly created third
Inspectorate General (
Umumi Müfettişlik, UM). The third UM span over the provinces of
Erzurum,
Artvin,
Rize,
Trabzon,
Kars Gümüşhane,
Erzincan and
Ağrı. The Inspectorate General was dissolved in 1952 during the Government of the
Democrat Party. == Ecclesiastical history ==