A District in the Yeşilırmak Valley

Taşova lies in the northeast of Amasya, in a basin near the inland edge of the Central Black Sea section. It is bordered by Erbaa in Tokat to the east, by Amasya Central and Ladik in Samsun to the west, by Çarşamba in Samsun to the north and by Turhal in Tokat to the south. The district covers roughly 971 square kilometres, and the district centre stands at 241 metres above sea level. Taşova, the fourth largest district of Amasya, has 63 villages and one town. The Yeşilırmak runs through its middle; the river waters the farmland and gives the valley its green, orchard-like look. The district centre is about 55 kilometres from the city of Amasya. The Engüles, Canik and Boğalı mountains are counted as the district's principal ranges, and Taşova is the most heavily forested district of Amasya.

Taşova's recent history explains why this landscape stands apart from Amasya's classic historical itineraries. In the early years of the Republic the settlement was called Yemişenbükü and was a village of the Sonusa subdistrict of Erbaa, in Tokat. When the district was created in 1944, Yemişenbükü became its centre, and in 1953, because of the difficulty of reaching Tokat and the delays in public services, it was attached to Amasya. The district therefore belongs less to the city of Amasya, known for its rock tombs and mosque complexes, than to a world of damp slopes facing the Black Sea and of highland pasturing. Even today most of the population lives from farming and livestock; sheep and cattle are the animals most widely kept, and traditional pasture-based herding survives alongside stall fattening. The difference in living standards between the towns of the plain and the mountain and forest villages is something a walker sees with his own eyes on the way up from the valley to the highlands.

Amasya's Eastern Gorge and Sonusa

In the introduction to his Amasya Tarihi (History of Amasya), Hüseyin Hüsameddin describes the city's surroundings by likening Amasya to a palace with three great gates. The Pontic mountains close off the south of the city, the Canik and Harşena ranges the north, and the Şeyh Cuî and Karaman mountains the west; the open stretches are called the "Amasya Gorge". Of these gorges the northern one looks towards Arguma and Suluova, the southwestern towards Derbend and Çalan, and the northeastern towards Sonusa and Taşova. According to Hüsameddin the northern and southern gorges are narrow, the northern running for about ten kilometres and the southern for about four. The northeastern gorge, by contrast, is quite wide and opens out along the river as far as Taşova. A river flows through each of the three, and the vineyards and gardens on their banks are, in the author's words, "most precious". The road from Amasya to Taşova still follows this broad gorge today, so every trip to Taşova begins by passing through the valley that Hüsameddin regarded as the city's eastern gate.

Sonusa, at the far end of this gate, is today's Uluköy, and in older records it appears as the real centre of the area. Hüsameddin refers to Sonusa as the former centre of the district of Erbaa (formerly called Taşâbâd) as it stood in his day. The same work states that Sânûs Khan, counted among the pre-Islamic rulers of Amasya, may have built the old town and castle at Sonusa; the author passes this on with the qualification "it is supposed", that is, as a conjecture. The name Sonusa also recurs often in the biographies Hüsameddin compiled. The Halveti sheikh Hüsameddin Efendi of Sonusa died in 937 (1530-31) and was buried in Amasya beside the road leading to Okmeydanı, and a branch of the Mes'udîs, one of Amasya's old families, is said to have been living in Sonusa in the author's own time.

The eastern gorge also appears in military history as a passage. According to Hüsameddin, the emir of Niksar, Tâceddin Togan Şah, marched on Amasya early in 741 (1340), defeated the Kürt and Taşan beys in a battle fought at Taşova and entered the city. In the same passage the author traces Togan Şah's lineage to Sheikh Nureddin Alp Arslan, who had a dervish lodge (zaviye), a tomb and an endowment deed dated 655 (1257) near Sonusa; Togan Şah's brother of the same name, Nureddin Alp Arslan Bey, who lived in the Ladik subdistrict of Niksar, was his rival. Local compilations speak of a Seyyid Nurettin Alparslan who came from Khorasan in 1257, settled in the present-day village of Alpaslan and founded a lodge endowment there; he bears the same name and the same date as the sheikh Hüsameddin mentions. Hüsameddin, however, gives the sheikh's name with the epithet "el-Kemâhî" and as the ancestor of a family of beys, whereas the local account presents him as a seyyid who came from Khorasan; this discrepancy between the two accounts has not been resolved. According to the compilations, the endowment continued to function until 1901. The tomb stands today in the village of Alpaslan, and an excavation beside it has been proposed.

Under the Ottomans, too, the eastern gorge remained a road along which large numbers passed. According to Hüsameddin, Süleyman the Magnificent, returning from his Persian campaign, entered Amasya on the third day of Dhu al-Hijjah 961 (autumn 1554) and left the Anatolian army to rest on the plain of Taşâbâd. Because the author equates Taşâbâd with Erbaa, the exact location of this plain is uncertain; it is nevertheless clear that the army encamped on the broad flatlands east of Amasya. In 1015 (1606-07), Yıldızlı İbrahim Bey, dismissed from the governorship of Amasya, withdrew towards Taşâbâd only to find the roads held against him, and was caught and killed "at the end of the eastern gorge" of Amasya. These records show that the valley now used as a walking and touring route served for centuries as the main passage towards Niksar, Erbaa and Tokat.

The compilations also list the region's older layers. They record that the area was ruled in turn by the Hittites, the Phrygians and Cimmerians, the Medes, the Persians, the Macedonians and the Kingdom of Pontus, and then by the Romans; that after 395 it was held by Byzantium, after 1075 by the Danishmendids and then by the Anatolian Seljuks; and that in 1425 Mehmed I (Çelebi Mehmed) ended the Tacettinoğulları principality and added the area to Ottoman territory. Hellenistic, Byzantine, Seljuk and Ottoman finds kept in the Amasya and Alpaslan museums are traces of this continuity; a considerable part of the district's historic remains, however, has been destroyed by illicit digging. The connection of this long history with highland pasturing is not directly documented, but the fact that places now known as highland pastures, such as Tekke, Belevi and Şahinler, are also village names suggests that seasonal movement between mountain and valley was a lasting part of the settlement pattern.

Climate and Vegetation

The main factor shaping Taşova's routes is the climate. Across Amasya a transitional climate prevails between that of the Black Sea and the continental interior; summers are not as dry as in a continental climate, nor are winters as wet as on the Black Sea coast. About 32 per cent of the province is forested, and the forests are concentrated on the northern slopes of the mountains. According to a review of ecotourism in the province, highland pastures make up about 12.5 per cent of its land. Data from the meteorological station at Taşova put figures on this transitional character: at the station, 200 metres above sea level, mean annual rainfall is around 511 millimetres, markedly more than the 448 millimetres of the city of Amasya. On the other hand Amasya has a distinct dry period between June and October, which explains why the high routes are cool in summer but often dry.

A floristic survey carried out on Mount Sakarat in 2004-2005 describes the mountain mass south of the district as a transitional belt in terms of plant geography. According to the researchers, the area lies within the belt that encircles the Central Anatolian steppe from the north and that Zohary named "Xero-Euxine"; because it is influenced at once by the humid climate of the Black Sea and the aridity of Central Anatolia, it holds plants of both regions side by side. From roughly 2,000 specimens collected, 494 species and subspecies belonging to 78 families were identified, and 40 of them, or 8 per cent, were found to be endemic. A quarter of the species are of Euro-Siberian origin; the presence of Irano-Turanian and Mediterranean species as well places Sakarat on a boundary between two great floristic regions. One of the reasons for undertaking the survey was that P. H. Davis, in his work on the flora of Turkey, had listed this area among those that were poorly known floristically.

The same study groups the mountain's vegetation into three belts. Forests take up the most ground: mixed forests dominated by Scots pine, forests dominated by oriental beech, mixed forests accompanied by oriental hornbeam, and oak woods formed by several oak species. Higher up, near the tree line, communities of dwarf juniper form the subalpine belt. On dry, open slopes the steppe cover begins, represented by milk-vetches and spiny cushion plants. Here and there rock vegetation and wet meadows also appear. The mountain's bedrock is largely limestone, a structure that also accounts for the caves and stalactites around the waterfall described in the next section.

Baraklı Waterfall

Baraklı Waterfall is one of the most talked-about natural sites in Taşova, but the sources do not speak with one voice about its name and location. Because the district has two separate settlements called Özbaraklı and Yukarıbaraklı, the waterfall is referred to sometimes as Baraklı, sometimes as Yukarıbaraklı, and in the district development report as Özbaraklı Waterfall. The official conservation records, for their part, list a waterfall named "Kayabaşı Waterfall" at the Alacakesen locality of Yukarıbaraklı village. Since the location, height and cave details coincide, this record very probably refers to the place popularly known as Baraklı Waterfall, but no document explicitly matching the two names has been found. Knowing about this multiplicity of names helps when asking for directions. The waterfall is about fifty kilometres by road from the centre of Amasya, roughly an hour's drive. In the course of a linguistic discussion Hüsameddin notes that a "Baraklı clan" was well known among the Turks; any connection between the village name and this clan, however, is undocumented.

The height of the waterfall is also given differently in different sources. Compilations on Taşova state that the water falls from a height of about eight metres and that there are a few picnic tables and a small facility around it. A travel guide listing Amasya's natural beauties, however, gives thirty-five metres for the same waterfall. The official protected-site records likewise state that Kayabaşı Waterfall drops from a height of about thirty-five metres out of a steep valley. Although the official record supports thirty-five metres, it remains unclear whether the eight-metre figure refers to just one step of a tiered fall or belongs to a different cascade. What every account shares is that the water foams down over the rocks and, together with the wooded slope around it, makes a restful scene.

The caves and stalactites mentioned in tourist guides also find confirmation in the official record. According to the record, the southern slope of the waterfall is very steep and sheer; on this slope, erosion of the limestone rock by water has produced natural caves and stalactites. In the southwestern corner of the high, north-facing slope there is a cave formed by natural erosion and known locally as "Kayabaşı Şelale Evliyası" (the saint of Kayabaşı Waterfall). The record also notes that the waterfall and its surroundings were used as a place of settlement in earlier times. For this reason the area, together with Asarkale, was registered as a first-degree archaeological and natural protected site by decision of the Ankara Regional Board for the Conservation of Cultural and Natural Assets dated 9 November 1993. The claim found in guides that the water has healing properties does not appear in the official record and can only be noted as a belief current among local people. No detailed information was found on the relationship of the "Waterfall Church", listed among historic assets in the district report, to this site.

The waterfall does not flow with the same abundance all year round. The water begins to rush with the spring rains and the melting snow, diminishes as summer goes on and stops altogether in some months. A report in the local press in May 2024 describes the waterfall as a place that "flows at certain times of the year" and writes that it had come back to life with the spring rains and snowmelt. Guides recommend the period from March to the end of September for a visit, while another source suggests the spring and summer months. Taking into account Amasya's dry period from June to October, anyone who wants to see the waterfall in full flow should aim for the weeks of snowmelt, that is April and May; in late summer there is a high chance of finding a dry bed.

Reaching the waterfall by car is not easy. One travel guide does not consider it well suited to picnics and walks because of the poor road, yet still counts it worth seeing for the view. The same May 2024 report shows that this difficulty has not deterred walkers. A forty-strong team from the Amasya Rotasızlar Mountaineering, Search and Rescue Association (ARDAK) set off from the village of Direkli, reached Baraklı Waterfall on foot and ended the route there. The association's president, İsmail Bulut, said that the association walks a different route in Amasya every week and that its aim is to introduce places still waiting to be discovered. Given the difficulty of driving, arriving on foot from the villages is therefore a sensible option.

Another structure bearing the Baraklı name is Baraklı Castle, which rises on a hill south of the town of Özbaraklı, about two kilometres from the district centre. Said to have been built in the Roman period of rubble stone and lime mortar to protect passing caravans, the castle survives as a watchtower and sections of curtain wall. The account that the castle was built to guard the caravan road suggests that the passage described by Hüsameddin was already important in earlier periods. The Baraklı villages also have long ties with the city. Osman Fevzi Olcay, among the people he recalls from Amasya's learned circles in his memoirs, mentions "Molla Mehmet Efendi from the village of Baraklı in Taşova".

Mount Sakarat and the Esençay-Boğalı Highlands

What really carries nature tourism in Taşova are the highland pastures on the upper ground. Some of them lie on Mount Sakarat. Mount Sakarat is the name of the mountain mass that starts at Amasya's Ferhatarası Valley and extends towards Köse Dağı between the Yeşilırmak and the Kelkit, lying between the provinces of Amasya and Tokat. To the east of the mountain are the villages of Fındıcak, Ezebağı, Cibril and Akkoç; to the west Çatalçam, Beldağı and Yuvaköy; to the north Esençay, Kumluca and Tatlıpınar; and to the south Karataş, Erenli, Kargın and Kuytul. Its highest point is Cami Tepesi, given as 1,956 metres in the floristic survey, while other sources give values rising as high as 1,965 metres. The Otulcakuz and Poyrazlık hills, at around 1,560 metres, are its other summits.

The Esençay and Boğalı highlands lie on the slopes of this mountain. Their average elevation is around 1,800 metres, and they stretch out as broad clearings ringed by pine and black pine forest. They are about fifty kilometres from the centre of Amasya and about twenty from Taşova, a distance that makes it possible to leave the district, spend time on the highland and return within a day. Around the highland, at about 1,700 metres, lie meadows bearing the names Çakırsu (Yonnus), Geydoğan, Şahinler (Kuşuf), Esençay, Ballıca, Dereli, Belevi and Tekke. The district report also counts the Kayabaşı and Şahin highlands among the district's natural assets. Most of these names coincide with village names in Taşova; the highland is the summer extension of the villages below, and traditional highland pasturing continues in these settlements to this day.

The points at which the botanists collected their specimens make it possible to follow the roads across the mountain step by step. The road climbing from Esençay Pond to Cami Tepesi runs through beech forest from 860 metres to above 1,500 metres; three and a half kilometres before Esençay, at 1,285 metres, it is still among beeches. Above the village of Çakırsu, mixed forest on the flanks of Cami Tepesi lies between 1,050 and 1,350 metres, while at 1,890 metres the trees give way to high mountain meadow. The mountain-and-highland track linking Çakırsu with Esençay passes at 1,670 metres. On the southern face of the mountain, the road leading over Karataş Yaylası "to the Taşova highlands" passes through Scots pine forest at 1,600 metres and through a clearing ringed by juniper at 1,780 metres. A walker climbing from the valley to the highland thus sees, within a few hours, a complete ladder of vegetation, from beech and hornbeam forest to the Scots pine belt, and from there to juniper clearings and high meadows.

Spring is the season when these steps are most alive. On the highland pastures of the villages of Dereli, Belevi and Ballıca, 35 kilometres from Taşova, crocuses and various yellow flowers come out after the snow melts and the slopes take on a colourful look. The Sakarat plant list contains the scientific counterparts of this flowering as well: the showy autumn crocus, an endemic crocus subspecies and several species of salep orchid have been recorded on the mountain. On a mountain with so many endemic species, a walker who contents himself with photographs rather than picking flowers or bulbs helps to protect both the pastures and these species.

The forest around Boğalı also stands out in academic studies of the area's walking potential. The route through the Boğalı forests and along the Ballıca, Tekke and Kumluca valleys has a mild climate reminiscent of the Black Sea. Besides good-quality hornbeam forest, species such as wild hazel, cornelian cherry and walnut are plentiful here. The same study lists the Boğalı forests and the Derinöz Canyon among places suitable for adventure tourism, and considers the Boğalı forests and highlands, the Kumluca Valley and the highlands around Boraboy suitable for jeep safaris. Among the highlands that could serve highland tourism in Amasya, Boğalı, Tekke, Belevi, Ballıdere, Baldıran and Sarıçiçek are named together. The Esençay, Kumluca, Tatlıpınar and Tekke streams coming down from the mountain are the watercourses that determine the walking lines of the valleys.

The Highland Villages and the City

The ties between the villages that give their names to the highlands and the city of Amasya were formed through education and religious life as much as through pasturing. Hacı Ahmed Efendi, known by the epithet Taşâbâdî in Hüsameddin's biographies, came from the village of Keydoğan, then part of the district of Erbaa; this village is very probably today's Geydoğan. Ahmed Efendi studied in Amasya and Kayseri, served for a time as mufti in Erbaa, then returned to Amasya and in 1263 (1846-47) became professor (müderris) at the Benderli Madrasa. Students coming to the city from Taşova's villages did not dwindle in later generations. Osman Fevzi Olcay writes in his Amasya Hâtıraları (Memories of Amasya) that most of the students of the Benderli Madrasa came from Taşova, Tekke and Tanoba, and that the celebrated champion wrestler Molla Said of Tekke was among them. The fact that the villages which took their flocks up to the highlands in summer were the same villages that sent students to the madrasa in winter shows that the bond between mountain and city was not confined to seasonal migration.

Festivals are held on the Boğalı highland in summer, which shows that the pastures are a social space as well as a natural one. Outside the festival days, the everyday life of the highland is set by highland houses, flocks and shepherds. The walker passes through the midst of this order; the pastures are there for livestock, not tourism, and this priority should be respected when choosing a route. Pasture improvement is still on the agenda in the district; improving the pastures of the villages of Dörtyol, Çaydibi and Yerkozlu is regarded as important for the future of livestock farming. In villages on the higher ground of the district, such as Alçakbel, Karlık, Korubaşı, Kavaloluğu, Şeyhli, Sofualan, Yeşiltepe and Hüsnüoğlu, some hamlets suffer from drinking water shortages in summer and the upkeep of village roads is still seen as a need; anyone heading up the mountain roads would do well to bear this in mind. General assessments of trekking point out that such walks can be made in any season but call for preparation suited to weather and ground conditions, the length of the route and its degree of difficulty.

A comparison with the city centre is useful. The Amasya valley is enclosed by Kırklar Dağı, Lokman Tepesi, Ferhat Dağı and Yanık Tepe, and a walk of two or three kilometres can take you from four hundred metres to a thousand. The highland routes of Taşova, by contrast with these short, steep climbs, are better suited to driving up to high altitude and walking long, gently graded lines there; the same academic review lists the Akdağ, Lake Boraboy and Yanık Tepe line among suitable trekking courses. This difference justifies treating the district as a group of routes separate from Amasya's city walks.

Akdağ and Kocacık Tepesi

Akdağ is one of Amasya's best-known highland areas and is considered together with the network of routes around Taşova. As the highest mountain in Amasya, it reaches 2,062 metres. The average elevation of Akdağ Yaylası is about 1,850 metres; it is surrounded by pine, hornbeam and oak. Kocacık Tepesi, the summit of the area, is likewise given at around 1,850 metres. According to the Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism, the highland draws large numbers of visitors in the summer months and, because of its altitude, stays cool even on hot days. There are tent and picnic areas in the Karakese area, suitable for day use and camping.

Akdağ's history as a summer pasture is better documented than that of the Taşova highlands. Hüsameddin, at the beginning of the twentieth century, describes the Akdağ subdistrict (nahiye) as the first of the four subdistricts of the district of Amasya. The subdistrict encircled the eastern parts of Amasya, its centre was the village of Akviran, and it took its name from lying at the foot of the mountain, stretching from east to west, that had long been called Akdağ. According to the author, the mountain's summer pasture is plentiful, its winter quarters prized, its water abundant and its air very healthy, so that most of the sheep of the sanjak of Amasya graze there in summer. Akdağ's butter, cheese and yoghurt are highly regarded and have won fame across the wide region known as Pontus. The subdistrict's villages also gave figures to the religious and scholarly life of the city: Sheikh Muhyiddin Mehmed Akdâğî of the village of Baş Alan founded a dervish lodge there, and of his sons one became chief judge (kazasker) of Anatolia and the other a Halveti sheikh in Amasya.

One of the distinctive features of Akdağ today is its openness to off-road sports. With its rugged terrain, dirt tracks and broad flats it offers natural courses for off-road driving and motocross, and clubs and associations organise races and events from time to time. In the summer months associations hold highland festivals with concerts and traditional events. In ecotourism studies Akdağ is listed among areas suitable for trekking and jeep safaris; the walking lines around Kocacık Tepesi are described as relatively easy and, with their butterflies and endemic plants in spring, well suited to nature watchers. Most of the forested land in the Amasya Central district is also concentrated around Akdağ.

This assessment of butterfly diversity has been examined in detail in a master's thesis. In the study completed by Turgay Koyuncu at Ondokuz Mayıs University in 2012, 483 adult butterflies were collected in 2010 from 28 localities on and around Akdağ, and 64 species and subspecies belonging to 7 families were identified. Of these, 12 were recorded for the first time from the study area and 11 for the first time both from the area and from Amasya. Three taxa have Amasya as their type locality, the place on which their scientific description is based; one of them is Archon apollinus amasinus, which takes its name directly from the city. The thesis stresses that Akdağ is a refuge for butterflies and ought to be given the status of a nature conservation area. For anyone walking around Kocacık Tepesi in spring, this means a liveliness that is hard to miss alongside the flowering meadows.

As for winter sports, the ecotourism review does not consider Akdağ suitable for skiing because snow lies on the ground only briefly; the only area in the province that could be considered for winter sports is the radar site on Tavşan Dağı in Merzifon. Akdağ and the Sakarat highlands should therefore be planned mainly for the period between spring and autumn.

Ponds and Waterside Areas

Taşova's waterside spots can also be added to the routes. Lake Boraboy is the only natural lake within Amasya's borders and is covered in a separate article on this site. The district also has ponds built for irrigation, the main ones being at Uluköy, Kırkharman and Kızgüldüren. The dam pond at the village of Kırkharman, with the plants and birds around it, is a regular stop for those who want to fish and picnic. There is a landscaped picnic area around the pond at Uluköy, the former Sonusa. The Taşova Destek Dam, by contrast, is less a place to visit than a water structure that serves to irrigate farmland. In the provincial inventory Esençay Pond is also counted among the artificial water bodies, together with the Yedikır Dam (Yedi Kuğular Bird Sanctuary) and the Hasan Uğurlu Dam. Esençay Pond is also the starting point of the road that climbs through beech forest to Cami Tepesi.

The Yeşilırmak itself forms the ground of these routes. The river swells in spring, falls in summer and is used for irrigation along the length of the district. The stretch of some four thousand decares running from the district centre to the river's confluence with the Kelkit is described as a "little Çukurova" because of its low elevation and fertile soil; okra, cherries and tobacco are the well-known products of this plain. The tree-lined strip along its banks offers a flat, easy walking line in contrast to the steep routes on the mountain slopes. It should also be noted that, despite the many brooks and streams, most of the farmland in the district still cannot be irrigated.

Another small area in the valley protected as a natural site is the old cemetery at the Karaçökek locality of the village of Mercimek. Registered in 1993 as a natural site and cemetery area, it consists of two parts, an upper and a lower. Inside it stand large valonia oaks and smaller oak and poplar trees, and it is surrounded by orchards and fields. That village cemeteries should be among the last places where old trees survive on a plain opened up to cultivation is a striking detail for anyone walking in the valley.

Seasons and Access

Taşova's routes do not show the same face all year round. In spring crocuses and mountain flowers bloom on the highlands, the waterfall is at its fullest, humidity in the forest is high and butterflies are at their most active. In summer the highland stays cool and the festivals are held, but the waterfall may dry up in the dry period between June and October. In autumn the beech, hornbeam and oak forests change colour; the beech-lined road climbing from Esençay to Cami Tepesi is particularly worth seeing in this season. In winter the snow lies only briefly, which makes the high routes depend more on vehicles and road conditions than on walking.

The main artery is the E-80 highway, which follows the valley Hüsameddin called the eastern gorge. One heads from central Amasya towards Taşova; Baraklı Waterfall and the Esençay-Boğalı highland are about fifty kilometres from the city centre. The road from Taşova to Esençay starts at around 300 metres in its lower stretches and climbs towards the mountain. The roads up to the highlands are mountainous and rough in places; they should be driven in daylight in a vehicle suited to the terrain. At altitude the air turns markedly cool even on summer evenings, so it is sensible to carry warm clothing.

A two-day plan puts the routes in a sensible order. The first day can go to Baraklı Waterfall, Baraklı Castle and the Yeşilırmak bank in the district centre, the second to Lake Boraboy and the Esençay-Boğalı highland. Those who want to give more time to walking can leave the forest road from Esençay Pond to Cami Tepesi for a separate day. The district centre has hotels and guesthouses and restaurants serving local food. Lake Boraboy and Taşova's historical villages are covered in separate articles on this site.

Chronology

1257 (655): Date of the endowment deed of Sheikh Nureddin Alp Arslan's dervish lodge near Sonusa.

1340 (741): The emir of Niksar, Tâceddin Togan Şah, defeats the Kürt and Taşan beys at Taşova and enters Amasya.

1530-31 (937): Death of the Halveti sheikh Hüsameddin Efendi of Sonusa.

1554 (961): Süleyman the Magnificent returns to Amasya; the Anatolian army rests on the plain of Taşâbâd.

1606-07 (1015): Yıldızlı İbrahim Bey is caught and killed at the end of Amasya's eastern gorge.

1846-47 (1263): Taşâbâdî Hacı Ahmed Efendi of Keydoğan becomes professor at the Benderli Madrasa.

1944: The district of Taşova is established; Yemişenbükü becomes its centre.

1953: Taşova is detached from Tokat and attached to the province of Amasya.

9 November 1993: Kayabaşı Waterfall at Yukarıbaraklı and Asarkale are declared a first-degree archaeological and natural protected site; on the same date the cemetery of Mercimek village is registered as a natural site.

2004-2005: The flora of Mount Sakarat is surveyed; 494 taxa and 40 endemic species are identified.

2010: Fieldwork is carried out for a study of the butterflies of Akdağ and its surroundings.

May 2024: The ARDAK team walks from Direkli village to Baraklı Waterfall.

Sources

Primary sources

Academic studies

  • Cansaran, A., Bingöl, M. Ü., Geven, F., Güney, K., Erdoğan, N. and Kaya, Ö. F. (2010). Sakarat Dağı Florasına Katkılar (Amasya-Türkiye). Biological Diversity and Conservation, 3(1), 103-120.
  • Koyuncu, T. (2012). Amasya Akdağ ve Çevresi Gündüz Kelebekleri (Rhopalocera: Lepidoptera) Faunası Üzerine Araştırma. Master's thesis, Ondokuz Mayıs University, Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences.
  • Kılıç, D. D., Güler, D., Babacan, A. and Kılıç, M. (2019). Amasya'nın Ekoturizm Potansiyelinin Belirlenmesi Üzerine Bir Derleme. Sinop Üniversitesi Sosyal Bilimler Dergisi, 3(2), 77-106.

Official sources

  • Ministry of Environment and Urbanisation of the Republic of Türkiye. Amasya Sit Alanları ve Tabiat Varlıkları.
  • Ministry of Culture and Tourism, Kültür Portalı: Otomobil ve Motor Sporları - Akdağ Yaylası (Amasya Provincial Directorate of Culture and Tourism).

Other sources

  • Central Black Sea Development Agency. Taşova İlçe Raporu (2018).
  • Amasya yaylarında açan dağ çiçeklerinden görsel şölen. Ensonhaber (İhlas News Agency). ensonhaber.com
  • Taşova (district). Wikipedia (Turkish).
  • Amasya'nın Görülmesi Gereken Doğal Güzellikleri. Gezinomi Gezi Rehberi.
  • Amasya'da Gizli Cennet: Baraklı Şelalesi. Objektif Amasya, 21 May 2024. objektifamasya.com
  • Taşova Gezilecek Yerler ve Seyahat Rehberi. Taşova Net.

Online sources