Bafra is a municipality and district of Samsun Province, Turkey. Covering about 1,500 km<sup>2</sup>, and with over 140,000 inhabitants it is a settlement located from the Black Sea, in the fertile Kñzñlñrmak Delta. The Bafra Plain is famous in Turkey for its rich soil and high quality tobacco growing conditions. The city is well known in Turkey for its ice cream, cigarettes, tobacco and agricultural produce. The city is located 52 km northwest of Samsun and is connected by State road D.010.
The name of the municipality is thought to have come from the Phoenician name "bafira" or "bavra". Other beliefs about the etymology of the region come from the name "Ba-Hura" (Great River) given to Kizilirmak which generates the delta upon which the city is located. Historical records of human settlement in Bafra and the Kizilirmak delta date to as early as 5000 BC.
The region came under the rule of the Rome who renamed the area Gadilon and later Helega. After the Fall of the Western Roman Empire, the area became part of the Byzantine Empire. The region was a part of the Byzantine Empire until the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. After that battle, Bafra was captured by the Anatolian Seljuk Ruler Kaykaus I. After being conquered by the Seljuk Empire the region was repopulated by members of various Turkmen tribes. The invasion of the Mongol Empire began in 1243 and led to the collapse of Seljuk Empire and the establishment of scattered Turkish principalities. During this period, the Bafra Principality was briefly established. This political arrangement continued until 1460, when Bafra was again conquered and made part of the Ottoman Empire.
Under the Ottoman Empire, the town of Bafra was incorporated into Trabzon Province under the leadership of Canik Sanjak. The region flourished as an agricultural, fishing and shipping center under the Ottoman Empire. Prior to the Armenian Genocide, Bafra had an Armenian population of 2,200 with a St. Garabed Church and a school for boys and girls that had opened in 1873. The exact date of the establishment of the modern town is not known, though according to historical census records it appears in 1854.
Bafra is located in the western portion of Samsun Province. The city is 52 km northwest of Samsun City Center and neighboring Atakum. The town directly to the east of Bafra is Ondokuzmayñs, the northern edge of the city is bounded by the Black Sea, to the west is Alçam and to the south Kavak, Havza and Vezirköprü.
Bafra sits in the Bafra Plain which is set in the Kñzñlñrmak delta. To the south of the city are the Küre Mountains. The highest of these nearby mountains is Mount Nebiyan with an elevation of 1224 m. The Küre Mountains are the extensions of the Canik Mountains. The Kñzñlñrmak River is Bafra's largest and Turkey's longest river. The river reaches the plain by crossing these mountains through a deep valley. The Bafra Plain was formed entirely by the sediment from the Kñzñlñrmak River. The length of Kñzñlñrmak is 1151 km. It river originates from Kñzñl Mountain in Sivas and draws a wide arc through Central Anatolia before meeting the Black Sea north of Bafra. The rainy season in the region is between April and July during which floods are a common occurrence.
There are 139 neighbourhoods in Bafra District:
Bafra experiences a hot-summer Mediterranean climate (Köppen: Csa), with very warm, moderately dry summers, and cool, rainy, sporadically snowy winters.
Bafra's economy has historically been driven by the growth and export of tobacco. The region's tobacco is known to be very low nicotine, small, red, light red colored, fine-grained, fine-grained, elastic, high-smoked, sweet, and aromatic. Foreign cigarette manufacturers were said to desire the tobacco grown on the Bafra Plain in order to improve the quality of their products. Bafra tobacco was long sought as the highest quality of natural tobacco in the world. Due to a variety of factors including agricultural mismanagement, reduced demand, logistical challenges and innovation in tobacco growth elsewhere in the world has led to a decline in tobacco exports from Bafra. This has had a significant adverse effect on the local population and contributed to persistently high unemployment and out-migration among working age people in the region. This crisis was further exacerbated by the Turkish government's shutdown of TEKEL. Today tobacco production in the region is negligible with most former farms now growing other products.
Regional crafts such as carpet and rug knitting have continued to hold an important place in the life of residents of Bafra. Rug weaving, wicker and zembell knitting and other handicrafts made by residents play a part in the region's economy and touristic appeal.