What is Samsun

This chapter is about the houses of Alaçam in the province of Samsun in Turkey, which is one of the settlements experiencing the compulsory migration under the “Convention and Protocol Concerning the Exchange of the Turkish and Greek Peoples” signed on 30th January 1923 by the Turkish and Greek delegations. The author describes the layout plan, construction materials, and façade characteristics of the buildings accompanied by the historical background related to the pre- and post-population exchange period of Alaçam. Further, information is provided about how the Orthodox Greeks of Turkish nationality and Moslems of Greek nationality used the houses, the changes depending on their use by both communities, and their present condition. In this chapter, the author tries to establish the association of the traditional house architecture in the Black Sea Region with the “history of exchange” for the first time in literature.