The
Vilayet of Trebizond or
Trabzon was a first-level administrative division (
vilayet) in the north-eastern part of the
Ottoman Empire and corresponding to the area along the eastern
Black Sea coastline and the interior highland region of the
Pontic Alps. The region was populated mainly by ethnic Turks in the western half and
Laz-speaking Muslims in the eastern half, although throughout the period of Ottoman rule there was a history of conversion to Turkish Islam of many of the region's Pontic Greeks - with even
Gulbahar Hatun, the mother of sultan
Selim the Grim said to be of Pontic Greek origin.