West Pontic Coast

The western Pontic coast runs eastward from the Bosporus beneath the wooded hills of northern Anatolia. Bays and headlands shelter harbours such as Amasra, built on a peninsula with anchorages on either side. Genoese merchants held Amasra for nearly two centuries, connecting its harbour with their Black Sea trading network. Ottoman forces took the town in 1460, bringing the port into a different maritime empire.