East Pontic Coast

The eastern Black Sea lies against the Caucasian coast, a maritime edge that ancient Greeks associated with Colchis and the limit of the known world. Greek colonies appeared along the Black Sea's southern coast by at least the 9th century BC, drawn by grain from the hinterland. By 500 BC permanent Greek communities existed around the sea, and the Pontic Greek culture of its coastal towns remained a lasting feature of the region.

Control of these waters shifted over the centuries. The Black Sea was sailed by many peoples, from Greeks and Romans to Byzantines, Genoese and Ottomans. After the Republic of Genoa lost the Crimean Peninsula in 1479, the Black Sea became a virtual Ottoman Navy lake within five years, and Ottoman power shaped the sea's trade and navigation in the early modern period.

Imperial Russia became a significant Black Sea power in the late 18th century. It occupied the littoral of Novorossiya in 1764 and Crimea in 1783, challenging Ottoman restrictions on navigation. These changes made the eastern Pontic coast part of a wider contest between Ottoman and Russian power, with consequences for the Caucasian and Anatolian shores.