Trebizond

The major Silk Road port of Trebizond (now Trabzon, Turkey) lies in the southeast corner of the Black Sea, between Girisonda and Lovati. In the ancient period its harbor was the main Roman naval base in the Black Sea. From 1204 until its conquest by Mehmed II in 1461 it was the capital of a Byzantine splinter state called the Empire of Trebizond. Trebizond was a major destination for caravan routes from Persia and China through the Caspian Sea region, and both the Genoese and the Venetians considered it a key port in the transshipment of goods between Europe and Central Asia. Campbell #1254; Gordeev 116–17.