Anhialo

Anhialo lies on the Black Sea at the northern edge of the Bay of Burgas, beside a coastal salt lake. Known to the Greeks as Anchialos, the ancient settlement was a fortified possession of Apollonia and later became a Roman city under Trajan. Its harbour and salt pans sustained a town whose fortunes were closely tied to the sea.

In 1366 Amadeus of Savoy captured Anhialo from the Bulgarians, and the town subsequently remained Byzantine until the Ottoman conquest in 1453. Under its Ottoman name, Ahiolu, it became an important administrative centre and one of the empire's major sources of salt. Many inhabitants worked in salt production and enjoyed a privileged status connected with that occupation. The shallow waters of the lake and the coast thus supported a livelihood that endured through successive changes of rule.