The Last Greeks of the Black Sea: 2,500 Years of History Erased in a Decade

For 2,500 years, Greek was spoken along the shores of the Black Sea — through the rise of Rome, the fall of Byzantium, and eight centuries of Ottoman rule. Then, in less than a decade, it was almost entirely gone. This is the story of the Pontic Greeks: a Black Sea civilization founded by Ionian colonists in 750 BC, ruled for 250 years by the Empire of Trebizond — the last independent Greek state in the world — and ultimately swept away by genocide and forced population exchange in the early 20th century. 00:00 The last Greek voice on the Black Sea 00:55 A colony becomes a civilization 03:27 The Empire of Trebizond 07:24 The catastrophe 10:06 What survived If you enjoyed this, watch "The Last Romans: The Balkan People Who Still Speak Rome's Language" next — their story and this one are more connected than you'd think. 🔔 Subscribe to Echoes of the Forgotten ☕ Support the channel: buymeacoffee.com/echoesoftheforgotten 📚 Sources & further reading in the pinned comment. #PonticGreeks #BlackSea #ByzantineEmpire #AncientHistory #LostCivilizations #Trebizond