Ordu began to be settled around 15,000 BC. The Halips who came to the Black Sea Region from EasternAnatolia in 2,000 BC, settled in the mountainous regions.

They were dominant in the Black sea Region for a long time and beinggood at metal work made durable weapons from bronze.

Early research suggested that Miletian colonists founded the first settlement at Ordu in 756 BC, calling it Codyora. More recant research, however, attributes the firstsettlement to the Halips. Today, no trace of this tribe's settlement remains, probably because it was built from locally abundant wood.

Interestingly, the town of Bayramh in I skipnznr county used to be called Haliipia in 1398 during the Seljuk period.

Ordu was annexed to the Hittite Empire in 1,000 BC.
Although it has been claimed that ancient Codyora was located in Bozukkale, archaeological evidence doos not support this.

Bozukkale was a smail castlebuilt in the 11 th century AD. For a time, Ordu served as home for tne Medes and Persians. Returning from the Babylonion campaing, the survivors of Xenophon's Ten Thousand left Anatolia from Ordu in their retreat. Before leaving Ordu, Xenophon delivered a historic speech to his army. Laten in history, Ordu came within the region the Roman and ByzantineEmpires. Between 1204 and 1264, Ordu was part of the Comnene Empire which was centred in Trabzon.

Between the 12th and 14 th centuries, Ordu was part of the Seljuk State. It was added to the OrtomanEmpire in the 14 th century after Yildirim Beyazit conquered Samsun and the commanderof Halipia, conqueror of Giresun, Haci Emirzade Suleyman Bey recognized Ortoman sovereignty in the area. Ordu became its own regional centre (sancak) separate from Trabzon on April 17, 1920. In 1923 its status was changed from sancak to province.