Vezirköprü is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Its area is 1,674 km2, and its population is 90,308 (2022). It is named after the Ottoman Albanian grand vizier Köprülü Mehmed Pasha.

History

At the breakup of Alexander the Great's empire the Vezirköprü region became part of the kingdom of Pontus with its capital at Amaseia (Amasya), later at Sinope (Sinop). When the last king Mithradates VI was defeated by the Romans, Pompey the Great founded a "new city", Neapolis, which later changed its name to Neoklaudioupolis (Νεοκλαυδιούπολις) or Neoclaudiopolis in Latin, the forerunner of modern Vezirköprü. In late antiquity, the town returned to its original name, Andrapa (Ἄνδραπα), and became a bishopric. It also minted coins bearing the dates and effigies of Marcus Aurelius, Septimius Severus, and Caracalla. Its bishop Paralius was at the Council of Ephesus (431) and sent his deacon Eucharius to represent him at the Council of Chalcedon (451). Paulus was one of the signatories of the letter by which the bishops of the Roman province of Helenopontus, to which Andrapa belonged, protested to Byzantine Emperor Leo I the Thracian in 458 about the killing of Proterius of Alexandria. Ioannes was at the Third Council of Constantinople (680), Sergius at the Trullan Council (692). Theodorus was represented at the Second Council of Nicaea (787) by his deacon Marinus. Antonius took part in the Photian Council of Constantinople (879). No longer a residential bishopric, Andrapa is today listed by the Catholic Church as a titular see.

Composition

There are 161 neighbourhoods in Vezirköprü District:

Literature