Boyabat | |
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Coordinates: 41°27′55″N 34°46′15″E / 41.46528°N 34.77083°ECoordinates: 41°27′55″N 34°46′15″E / 41.46528°N 34.77083°E | |
Country | Turkey |
Province | Sinop |
Government | |
• Mayor | Mehmet Ermiş (AKP) |
• Kaymakam | Bilal BOZDEMİR |
Area | |
• District | 1,475.38 km2 (569.65 sq mi) |
Elevation | 330 m (1,080 ft) |
Population (2012) | |
• Urban | 26,586 |
• District | 43,139 |
• District density | 29/km2 (76/sq mi) |
Post code | 57200 |
Area code(s) | (+90) 368 |
Vehicle registration | 57 |
Climate | Cfb |
Website |
www.boyabat.gov.tr www.boyabat.bel.tr |
Boyabat is a town and district of Sinop Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey. The mayor is Mehmet Ermiş (AKP).
Boyabat has a population of 50,000 in the town itself. The town is in the Gökırmak ("blue river") valley, a river valley parallel to the Black Sea coast, located 100 km south of Sinop over the coastal mountain range, Isfendiyar Mountains.
The town is the trade hub for over a hundred villages around it. Of larger centers nearby, up the Gökırmak valley to the west are Taşköprü, and Kastamonu; down the Gökırmak and later Kızılırmak ("red river") valley to the east you find Durağan, Havza, Vezirköprü, and Samsun.
The name Boyabat is said to consist of "boy" which means border and the Persian suffix "abad" (آباد) which means built/cultivated town/agricultural landscape. It bears witness to the fact that the border between the Byzantine empire and the empire of the Seljuq Turks was once here.
Boyabat town was built below a castle which probably has not been in serious use since around 1300 A.D. but may be as old as 2800 years. The castle overlooks the Gökırmak valley. This valley is long and lies parallel with the Black Sea coast. Together with a similarly placed valley in eastern Anatolia it forms a natural east-west pathway used both in antiquity and later as part of the silk road. The older history of Boyabat may have started from Bronze Age, and it may have been ruled by Kaskians, Hittites, Paphlagonians, Persians, Lydians, Pontus kingdom, and Romans.