Abstract This chapter describes the internal divisions and the orogenic evolution of the Pontides, the northernmost tectonic division of Turkey. The Pontides are an east-west-trending orogenic belt, representing an amalgamated tectonic entity in which three tectonostratigraphically different sectors can be distinguished: the Western Pontides, the Central Pontides, and the Eastern Pontides. The Western Pontides consist of the Istranca Massif, the istanbul-Zonguldak Zone, the Armutlu-Almacik Zone, and the Sakarya continent. The Eastern Pontides are represented by the following east- west-trending tectonic zones: a magmatic belt, a fore-arc basin fill, a belt of metamorphic massif, an ophiolitic suture zone, and a remnant basin fill. The Central Pontides represent a tectonic knot where the eastern Pontide units and the western Pontide units have been tectonically juxtaposed. The Pontides represent segments of the Tethyside system that carry the record of Cimmeride and Alpide orogenic events. The Cimmeride orogeny resulted from the elimination of Paleotethys and her dependencies such as the Karakaya marginal basin, which existed during the Triassic. The Paleotethyan Ocean was located to the north of the Cimmerian continent, parts of which form the basement of the Pontides. During the closure of the Paleotethys, an Andean-type magmatic belt was developed on the Cimmerian continent due to the southward subduction of the Paleotethyan Ocean floor. During this period, the Neotethys began to open, possibly as a back-arc basin, behind the Cimmerian continent. In the Dogger assemblage, while the collision between the Scythian platform of Laurasia and Cimmerian continent took place in the north and eliminated most of the Paleotethys Ocean floor, the Neotethys continued to grow in the south. The late Cretaceous witnessed the elimination of the Neotethys due to its northward subduction under the Pontides. This created a new active conti-nental margin arc. The closure of the Neotethys resulted in the collision between the Pontides arc and the Tauride-Anatolide Platform. Its effects con-tinued until the middle Eocene. The present mountain regions began to elevate as a giant horst block during the late Miocene.