[citation needed] According to Pliny the Elder, the Aegean Ancient Greek community of Miletus established a series of trading posts along the Black Sea coast in 670 BC, of which one was Rize.

In the mid-6th century BC, the tribes living in the southern Colchis (Tibareni, Mossynoeci, Macrones, Moschi, and Marres) were incorporated into the nineteenth Satrapy of Persia.

During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Justinian I (c. 527–565), the tribes of the interior, called Sannoi or Tzannoi, the ancestors of modern Laz people, were subdued, Christianized and brought to central rule.

Locals were under nominal Byzantine suzerainty in the theme of Chaldia, with its capital at Trebizond, governed by native semi-autonomous rulers, like the Gabras family.

[10] Following the invasion of the Seljuk Turks, there was a larger influx of Armenians in the area, resulting in partial Armenization of the local Tzan population.

[13] Byzantine authors, such as Pachymeres, and to some extent Trapezuntines such as Lazaropoulos and Bessarion, regarded the Trapezuntian Empire as being merely a Lazian border state.

Through the Battle of Murjakheti (1535), the Principality of Guria finally ensured control over the area until 1547, when it was conquered by resurgent Ottoman forces and reorganized into the Lazistan Sanjak as part of eyalet of Trabzon.

Until tea plantations were established in the 1940s, the province was a poor area at the far end of the country, with only the Soviet Union beyond the Iron Curtain.

Today, the area is wealthier, although there is a marked difference between the lifestyle of the people in the relatively wealthy city of Rize and those in the remote villages where wooden houses perch on the steep mountainside with the rain beating down.

Roads are scarce in some of the more remote regions, so electrical powered cable cars have been installed to transport people and supplies into the mountains.

The new Black Sea coast road has made Rize more accessible, but has drawn criticism for its negative effect on the region's wildlife.

The provincial governor, Enver Salihoglu (as of 2005) has stated his opposition to the expansion of the road network and has advocated a commercial focus on beekeeping, trout farming, and the growing of organic teas.

Lahana çorbası (cabbage soup), muhlama (made of cheese, cornmeal and butter) and pides (pita bread topped with various fillings) are also other local delicacies.

[25] In 2021, the Rize Commerce Exchange started the construction of a seven-floor building in the shape of the traditional tulip-shaped tea glasses called ince belli, in hopes to boost local tourism.

Men wear shirt, vest, jacket, zipka (pants made of wool and gathered at knees) and black boots.

Some of them include: copper works, wicker baskets, butter churns, woven socks, shoulder bags, and spoon made of boxwood.