[1] Located on an important crossing of the Kızılırmak River on the ancient Silk Road to the Orient, Osmancık has long had strategic value and is still today a popular stopping place on the road from Istanbul to the Black Sea city of Samsun and further east.

The North Anatolian Fault zone runs through the valley, making Osmancık highly vulnerable to earthquakes.

The town consists of 18 quarters: Gemici, Güney, Kızılırmak, Ulucami, Yazı, Yeni, Yeşilçatma, Şenyurt, Gürleyik, Temençe, Karapınar, Çiftlikler, Cumhuriyet, Çay, Esentepe, Eymir, Hıdırlık, and Koyunbaba.

[3] The area was settled by the Kayı clan of the Oghuz Turks as they migrated westward into Anatolia from their heartland of Central Asia.

Being on the path of the Kızılırmak River made the city an important settlement point since early history.