Description : Hemşin (Armenian: Համշէն Hamshen or Համամաշէն Hamamashen, literally "Hamam's Hamlet"; Laz and Georgian: ზუგა Zuga), is a town and district of Rize Province in the Black Sea region of Turkey, 57 km from the city of Rize. Hemşin is a district of green hills 19 km inland from the Black Sea. The area is the ethnic homeland of the Hemshin peoples of Turkey, known for their tradition of tea cultivation, honey, hazelnuts, traditional dress and song. As part of the Rize province, Hemshin had been a refuge for some Cimmerians and was a site of early Greek settlements and once part of the Roman Empire and the succeeding Byzantine Empire. In the 8th century, Armenian Prince Hamam, his father Prince Shapuh Amatuni, and their people migrated north to the Black Sea region in order to escape Arab invasions of Vaspurakan. They settled in the ruined city of Tambur and its surrounding villages. Prince Hamam rebuilt the city and named it Hamamshen ("Hamam's hamlet" in Armenian), this becoming the nucleus of the modern district. This Principality of Hamamshen existed until the 14th century, when it was conquered by the Ottoman Empire.
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