Mapa

Mapa was the Genoese name for Anapa, a port on the Black Sea coast at the western edge of the Caucasus. The settlement occupied the site of ancient Gorgippia and stood near the lands of the Natkhuay Circassians. Its harbour and coastal position made it a meeting place for merchants and peoples of the northern Black Sea and Caucasus.

Genoese traders established Mapa around the beginning of the fourteenth century. An Ottoman fleet arrived in 1475, ending Genoese control, and Anapa later became an important Ottoman foothold in Circassia. In 1781 the Ottomans began a new fortress there with the help of French engineers. Russian forces attacked it repeatedly during the Russo-Turkish War and captured it in 1791; the Treaty of Jassy returned it to Ottoman hands. The fortress remained a focus of the rivalry for influence among the Circassians and control of the coast.