Anaklia

Anaklia stands where the Inguri River reaches the Black Sea, on the coast of Mingrelia. A small fortified port at the edge of the coastal plain, it attracted the attention of the rulers of Mingrelia and neighboring Abkhazia as well as the Ottomans, who sought a foothold on this shore.

The Ottomans captured Anaklia in 1723 and made it a maritime outpost and a center of the Black Sea slave trade in captives. In 1802 Kelesh Bey Sharvashidze of Abkhazia exploited a dispute within Mingrelia to force Prince Grigol Dadiani to surrender the place; Grigol's son Levan was taken as a hostage. The contest over Anaklia showed how a small harbor could become entangled in the rivalries of the Black Sea coast.