The economic life of Amasya rests on the narrow but fertile floor of the Yeşilırmak valley and the plains that surround it. The alluvial soils deposited by the river and its tributaries have made the town one of the principal agricultural centers of the Central Black Sea for centuries. Officials of the Amasya Chamber of Commerce and Industry often point out that agriculture is practiced on roughly 45 percent of the province's land today. Yet the town's economic past cannot be told through orchards and fields alone. In the Ottoman period, silk weaving, dye-houses and a mint, together with a position on the roads linking Anatolia to Iran and to the Black Sea, gave Amasya an identity as a place of trade and craft that reached well beyond farming.

A Market on the Roads

Since antiquity Amasya has stood on the trade route running between Tarsus, Kayseri, Zile and Samsun. Under the Ottomans the town became an even more important junction in this network. The road between Azerbaijan and Bursa also passed through Amasya, and the town was regarded as a significant market for the silks arriving from Iran. In the early sixteenth century it had a dye-house, a candle workshop (şem'hâne) and a mint. During the same period the sanjak of Amasya was one of the leading units of the province of Rum and, in the early years, served as the provincial center. This administrative weight helped keep the bazaar and the crafts lively.

Travelers' accounts and official records show a continuity from the seventeenth century to the end of the nineteenth. Evliya Çelebi writes that Amasya had around one thousand and sixty shops and that its bazaars were busy and prosperous. At the end of the nineteenth century Vital Cuinet records nearly 2,500 weavers in the town. More than two centuries separate these two testimonies, yet both show a place that was lively in industry and commerce. In 1863 Amasya was among the pilot regions chosen for growing cotton from seed brought from Egypt, and attempts at cotton production were made. In view of the town's commercial activity and its closeness to the coast, a fair was established in 1864, opening each year on 15 December and lasting to the end of the month. In this period grain and fruit growing held an important place in the local economy.

Nearby Gümüşhacıköy belonged to the same commercial network. The district takes its name from the silver deposits of the area. Because Hacı Ahmed Çelebi, a grandson of Sadreddin Artık, was appointed overseer of the silver deposits and stayed there for a long time, the settlement was called Hacı Nazır, a name that over time turned into Hacıköy. Since the mine was for a period granted to Köprülü Mehmed Pasha as a has arpalık (a crown revenue grant), the locality was also known for a while as Has Arpalık. The covered market (bedesten) of the district was built so that safe, large-volume trade could be carried on along the route linking Anatolia with Rumelia. Halil İnalcık's observation that "as a rule, a town with a bedesten is an international trade center" is often cited to explain the importance of the building.

Silk

Amasya's economic identity in the Ottoman period is tied most closely to silk. In the sixteenth century silk was woven widely in the town, and its looms produced silk fabrics fit to be presented at the palace. Some travelers' notes state that in the eighteenth century Amasya and neighboring Tokat together produced as much cloth as the rest of the country. This account does not rest on detailed production statistics, but it gives the impression that the number of looms and the volume of weaving were relatively large.

The most concrete figure comes from Ottoman records. In 1554 and 1555, within ten months, the quantity of silk goods entering the town through official channels and weighed there reached 10,632 lodra, or about 15 tons. A large part of this amount was connected to silks traveling from Iran toward Bursa by way of Amasya. Thus Amasya was, besides a producer, one of the weighing and tax points of the silk trade. Raising silkworms, obtaining raw silk, spinning and weaving formed the chain of industry that survived in the town for a long time.

This chain weakened in the twentieth century. Hand looms lost ground to industrial production, and silk-making lost its importance. Even so, the handicrafts did not vanish altogether. Sericulture is still carried on today on a small scale. In institutions such as the Amasya Olgunlaşma Institute, traditional crafts such as broadcloth (çuha) weaving, kilim weaving and silk carpet weaving are taught and kept alive. Alongside the looms, the province also has flour, oil, feed and fruit-juice factories that process agricultural products.

The Misket Apple

The first product that comes to mind at the mention of Amasya is the apple. The Amasya apple, known among local people as the misket apple, is a variety eaten in winter. The fruit is medium in size with a thin skin, light red over a green ground; the flesh is sweet, juicy, fragrant and crisp. Its average weight is about 90 grams, and when it is cut across the middle a star-shaped mark appears inside. Officials attribute these qualities of the variety to the geography and climate of the Amasya valley. The same variety does not show the same character in another province, and even within the province it gives different results in different microzones. The microbasin extending along the Yeşilırmak valley is where the variety develops best. Harvest usually begins in mid-September. It is said, on the basis of archaeological finds, that apples have been grown here for more than two thousand years.

The greatest problem of the misket apple for farmers is that it bears fruit one year and fails to the next. From the 1990s this trait discouraged producers from planting new orchards. The figures for the decline vary with the source: in one statement Amasya apple production, said to have stood at 30 thousand tons in the late 1990s, fell to 6-8 thousand tons, while in another it fell from 10 thousand tons to 6-8 thousand tons. Both accounts describe the same trend. Against this decline, the "Amasya Apple Improvement Project" was carried out from 1997 by the Amasya Governorship in cooperation with TÜBİTAK and the Black Sea Agricultural Research Institute. Positive results began to be obtained from 2009; a selection that reduced the alternate-bearing tendency to a minimum was registered and moved into sapling production. From 2011 half of the price of a sapling was covered by the Special Provincial Administration. The numbers of saplings distributed were 600 in 2011, 7,100 in 2012, 10,000 in 2013 and again 10,000 in 2014. A project for enclosed, semi-dwarf orchards was carried out within the same framework.

Production changes from year to year, and seasonal factors such as frost are decisive. In 2010 apple production in Amasya came to 20,055 tons on 13,226 decares; with this amount the province accounted for about 1 percent of national production and ranked twentieth. For the following year total production was estimated at 24,970 tons, with misket apples expected to yield 7,154 tons on 3,796 decares. For the past ten years officials give a range of 20-30 thousand tons annually for total apple production and 5-8 thousand tons for misket apples. An evaluation from 2014 puts total production at 27,970 tons, of which misket apples account for 10,840 tons. Statements in recent years say that a harvest of around 6,500 tons is expected from the geographically indicated misket apple and that, with all varieties together, the province's output may reach 35 thousand tons. The misket apple is a product that has received a geographical indication registration; the application for a European Union geographical indication was made in March 2025.

Flower Okra

Amasya's second emblematic product is flower okra (çiçek bamyası). Among the people it is also known as black okra (kara bamya) or red leg (kızıl bacak), and it is distinguished from varieties such as sultani and kınalı. Its fruit is small, about one centimeter long, of a color between light green and yellow, and it is offered for consumption in dried form. The distinctive feature of the product is that it must be picked as soon as the flower opens. Sultani okra can be harvested every two or three days, whereas flower okra must be picked every day, because the fruit left until the next day has its flower closed, or even fallen, and harvesting becomes difficult. The okra picked is strung on cotton thread with a needle the same day. The strings (each string of okra is called a dizin) are covered with a thin cloth and left overnight, and the next morning the flowers are separated by hand. They are then dried in a warm but dry place out of direct sunlight, usually in an attic. Properly dried okra takes on a green close to yellow and is kept away from moisture until sold. Because of this laborious process it is called "quarter gold" in the region and "gram gold" in Taşova. It is related that producers used to pick this plant, whose hairs prick the hands, with bare hands and wrapped their fingers in cloth, while today gloves are used. Flower okra received a geographical indication registration in 2018, and the Amasya meat-and-flower-okra dish was registered separately in 2021.

That okra grows in this region is explained as much by human labor as by climate and soil. Harvest begins in the second half of June and continues daily until the first frosts, that is, between the end of October and early November. The total vegetation period is 180-200 days and the harvest period about 125-135 days. During the harvest season (June to October) total rainfall in Amasya is 112.7 millimeters, while in Samsun it is 244.8 millimeters over the same period. Because rain-wet buds become slippery and make picking harder, relatively dry weather improves quality. Since the plant roots deeply, deep, permeable, sandy and loamy soils are suitable. Planting areas are concentrated on the alluvial lands along the Yeşilırmak and its tributaries (the Çekerek, Tozanlı and Destek streams), especially around Taşova and Göynücek. Irrigation is needed once a week, or every five to six days when the weather becomes very hot; the Yedikır and Uluköy dams and the irrigation canals matter in this respect. Seed is sown in late April or early May; if the May rains are not enough for germination, irrigation is used, and when the seedlings have three leaves they are hoed.

Okra growing is labor-intensive work, and for that reason it is carried on in small plots and by large families. The picking of the flowers, their stringing, and the separation of the flowers from the fruit take place in different locations, and hiring day laborers for the work is not practical. That a family of four or five can carry on the work on even one or two dönüm of land explains why okra is a preferred crop on fragmented farmland. In October, when temperatures fall and the number of cloudy days rises, the quality of the okra picked declines, and this produce is sold more cheaply under the name "güzlek bamya" (autumn okra).

Looking at the history of production, Cuinet's work of 1893 records that 975 okka (about 1,250 kilograms) of okra were produced in Amasya. Documents from 1901 show two shipments to Istanbul, to the Ottoman palace, of 60 and 172 kıyye (about 77 and 221 kilograms). In the late twentieth century production rose above one thousand tons. Between 1996 and 2008 Amasya's annual okra production in the Black Sea Region varied between 1,130 and 1,572 tons, standing at 1,530 in 1996, 1,572 in 2000, 1,165 in 2007 and 1,249 tons in 2008. According to the same study Amasya was the leading okra-producing province of the region in 16 of 18 years, with an 18-year average calculated at 1,208 tons. Tokat comes second. In the fluctuation between years the previous year's price has been decisive, because farmers turn to okra after a year in which it sold at a good price. A recent statement says that flower okra, at about 2,500 tons of production, contributes 367 million liras a year to the economy. The distribution of production among the districts has also changed: in the early 1990s about half of production came from Taşova and some 40 percent from the central district, while from 1996 Göynücek's share rose markedly.

Although the product keeps its value, because picking and drying are laborious it has gradually begun to give way to varieties that are easier to grow. For this reason flower okra, together with the misket apple, was included in March 2025 in an application for European Union geographical indication registration, and registration has been announced as expected within 2026.

Other Crops and Livestock

Apples and okra are only the visible part of the province's agricultural range. Cherries, peaches, pears, quinces, plums, apricots and grapes diversify fruit growing; Amasya cherries are also among the geographically indicated products. On the plains sugar beet, sunflower, maize, wheat and potatoes cover wide areas. Onions and various vegetables grow on the moist valley floor. According to a statement by an official of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Amasya has production strength in 16 products in which it ranks among the top ten in Turkey; hemp seed, jujube, elite sugar beet seed, dry onions, okra, cherries, Amasya apples, quinces and poppy are counted among them. According to the same statement the province has 25 geographically indicated products, 20 of them food and agricultural products. Greenhouse farming has also developed; tomato, pepper and eggplant production contributes to the economy. The province's area under cover is about 4,537 decares, which places it twelfth in Turkey. Amasya is also one of the 19 provinces in Turkey where hemp cultivation is permitted.

Agriculture in this province has long rested on the plains. Farming is concentrated in fertile plains along watercourses such as Suluova, Gümüşova and Taşova, and constitutes the province's main economic activity. The founding of the Amasya Sugar Factory in 1954 and the construction of facilities of the Meat and Fish Authority (Et ve Balık Kurumu) encouraged sugar beet production and livestock. Livestock remains one of the province's strengths today. In beekeeping the province ranks sixth in Turkey with 13.6 kilograms of honey per hive, and it supplies about 3 percent of red meat production. One of Turkey's first Fattening Organized Industrial Zones is also in Amasya. In poultry and egg production, too, an important firm operates in the province.

The fragility of the agricultural economy has been plainly seen in recent years. The president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry has stated that the frost of 2025 seriously affected Amasya's agriculture and that producers, unable to make up their losses, have faced rising fuel and input costs. Exports were affected as well: from about 180 million dollars in 2024, exports fell to 160 million dollars in 2025, with agricultural products accounting for much of the decline.

Economic Character of the Districts

Besides the central district, the province consists of the districts of Göynücek, Gümüşhacıköy, Hamamözü, Merzifon, Suluova and Taşova. Each district has a different economic character. Taşova is one of the main production centers of flower okra. The Suluova plain stands out for livestock and cattle fattening; two thirds of the district's villages are plain villages and one third are forest and mountain villages. The Merzifon plain is a fertile farming area that sheltered people as early as about seven thousand years ago. Because the roads to the Black Sea coast and to Central Anatolia intersect there, it has been important since antiquity for trade and defense, and Strabo described the region as the "region of a thousand villages." Merzifon's initiatives in industry also form one of the branches of the provincial economy.

Gümüşhacıköy is among the relatively less developed districts of the province in economic terms, but its production is varied. The most important field crops are sugar beet, wheat, barley, pulses, tobacco, onions, sunflower and hemp. Apples above all, along with other fruits and vegetables for local consumption, are grown along the watercourses. The district's pressed tobacco (basma tütün) is used to give flavor and aroma in tobacco blends. Sheep are raised on the highland pastures and cattle on the plains; poultry keeping and beekeeping are also practiced. A large rope factory processing hemp, two flour mills and roasted chickpea making (leblebicilik), a traditional occupation, make up the district's industrial and craft side. The twine and rope produced are sold outside the province. Manganese deposits are also found within the district. At the end of 2003 the district was counted as having 14,122 head of large livestock and about 18,000 head of small livestock.

Industry and Foreign Trade

Amasya today does not wish to be described merely as an agricultural town. The province has five organized industrial zones, one for fattening and four mixed, and about 8,000 people are employed in them. According to information given by the president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Amasya is an important center for natural stone and marble; about 10 percent of the world's marble reserves and about 20 percent of Turkey's lie within the province. Block marble is exported to 45 countries, and Amasya beige marble is geographically indicated. The same statement says that about half of the built-in appliances exported from Turkey are produced in Amasya and shipped to 80 countries. The largest plant in the Middle East and the Balkans of the world's largest yeast producer, and Turkey's first domestic LED screen manufacturer, are also in the province. The furniture sector has in recent years reached a level at which it contributes to exports in both office and home lines. These figures are statements by the province's chamber of industry and reflect the viewpoint of a sector representative.

The town's trade still depends largely on the buying and selling of agricultural products. Through trade with Istanbul, Ankara, Antalya, Mersin and Samsun, apples, okra and field crops are distributed to all corners of Turkey. Transport links have determined the direction of this trade. The railway built in 1930 connected the town to Samsun, with its natural harbor, and made transport easier. The Samsun-Mersin industrial corridor announced at the end of 2025 and the planned Ankara-Samsun high-speed rail line are expected to improve Amasya's accessibility. Tourism, too, is seen as a branch of the economy, and officials have announced a visitor target of three million for the province.

Chronology

1554-1555: Within ten months the quantity of silk goods entering Amasya through official channels and weighed there reaches about 15 tons.

17th century: Evliya Çelebi writes that the town has around one thousand and sixty shops.

1863: Amasya is among the pilot regions chosen for producing cotton from seed brought from Egypt.

1864: A fair opening each year on 15 December is established.

1893: Cuinet records that 975 okka of okra were produced in Amasya.

1901: Amasya okra is shipped to the Ottoman palace.

1930: Amasya is linked to Samsun by railway.

1954: The Amasya Sugar Factory is founded and facilities of the Meat and Fish Authority are built.

1997: The Amasya Apple Improvement Project begins.

2018: Amasya flower okra receives geographical indication registration.

2021: The Amasya meat-and-flower-okra dish receives geographical indication registration.

2025: An application for European Union geographical indication is made for the misket apple and flower okra.

Bibliography

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