Anthony Bryer connects the toponym Chanik with the name "Chani" which the Laz people call themselves.

[1][full citation needed] After the battle of Kösedağ in 1243, the Ilkhanid Mongols achieved a hegemony over Anatolia.

However, the middle Black Sea region of Anatolia lacked a dominant leader, and a series of beyliks emerged, ruled by the members of the same family.

They lived in frequent warfare and their history is highly turbulent.

(Nowadays Canik is the name of a mountain system in the Middle Black Sea region as well as one of the second-level municipalities of Greater Samsun) In the following table, the names usually refer to the founder of the beylik, (where the suffix "...oğulları" means "sons of") with the exception of Bafra which is the name of the capital city of the beylik.