Poti

Poti lies at the mouth of the Rioni on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, near the site of ancient Phasis. Founded by Greek settlers from Miletus, Phasis was a trading center of Colchis and later a Roman stronghold and bishop's seat. The shifting river and marshes have obscured the ancient town's precise position, but its name survived in the Georgian name Poti. Medieval European travelers knew the port as Fasso, and Genoese merchants briefly maintained a trading post there in the fourteenth century.

The Ottomans fortified Poti as a coastal outpost, making it a target in their wars with Russia. Russian forces and Mingrelian auxiliaries took the fortress in 1809, but the Treaty of Bucharest returned it to the Ottomans in 1812. In 1828, during another war, its garrison surrendered to Russian troops and their Mingrelian allies. The port and the river mouth thus remained prizes in the struggle for the eastern Black Sea coast.