Laz - Sociopolitical Organization

With the collapse of the Laz Kingdom, the Laz appear to have reverted to their tribal condition, the various tribes being only nominally under Trebizondine and, later, Ottoman authority. In the early nineteenth century, the Laz were still living under the rule of some dozen derebeys, each with his own territory (two at Atina, and one each at Bulep, Ardashen, Vitse, Kapiste, Arhave, Kisse, Hopa, Makaria, Gonia, and Batum), not counting the derebey of the Hemshinli Armenians holding sway in the upper valleys of the Kalapotamos and Fortuna rivers.