History of Sochi

The area of the Russian city of Sochi was populated more than 100,000 years by ancient people of Asia Minor migrating through Colchis (olden Georgia). Ancient Greeks sailed to the region via the Black Sea in the 5th–6th centuries BC and encountered the Maeotae, Sindi, Cercetae, Zygii and other local tribes. They were the ancestors of the Abkhaz, Ubykh and Adyghe people who lived here until 1864; many toponyms in Sochi, including the city itself, originate from their languages. The first Russian outpost was set up in central Sochi in 1838 as a part of the Russian expansion along the Black Sea coast. The local resistance to this process became a part of the Russo-Circassian War which ended in a Russian victory and the genocide of the local population. The Russian settlement built in the area was named Sochi in 1896 and received the status of a city (town) in 1917. The first tea plantations were established there in 1901–1905 and resulted in the production of the most prominent brand of Russian tea. From the end of the 19th century, the city has been developed as a dedicated area for sanatoriums and hospitals. It served as a rehabilitation center during World War II and, despite a decline following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, remains the major resort town of Russia. An important recent event was selection of Sochi as the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics and 2014 Winter Paralympics.

Geologically, the area of Sochi is composed of Mesozoic and Cenozoic rocks. They had experienced significant changes due to the volcanic and seismic activity, with the earthquakes measuring up to 9 on the Richter scale. It was populated during the Lower Paleolithic more than 100,000 years ago by early humans migrating from Asia Minor through Colchis. They first formed open-type settlements, but during the Middle Paleolithic (100,000–35,000 years ago) moved to caves due to the global cooling. One evidence of that is known as a 40,000–50,000 old site in the Akhshtyrskaya Cave, 15 km from Adlersky City District. The cave is protected by the UNESCO and contains human remains, early tools and bones of bears, deer and other animals indicating the hunting nature of the inhabitants. In the Upper Paleolithic (35,000–10,000 years ago) they have developed techniques of producing elaborated stone tools.

The Ancient Greeks sailed to the Sochi area in the sixth–fifth centuries BC and kept visiting it till about first century BC. They encountered the Aehi, Zygii and other people who were apparently keen for the luxury goods brought by Greeks and exchanged them for slaves. Slaves were a major commodity of the time, and thus the Caucasian coast became a slave trade center.^{[citation needed]} An ethnic group of a few thousand Greeks still live around Krasnaya Polyana. Between 2,000 and 1,800 BC, the coastal area around Sochi had one cultural entity.^{[clarification needed]} During this period, numerous stone monuments (dolmens) were built around Sochi, and at least fifty remain to the present day. It is still unclear how these tombs weighing tens of tons were built with such an accuracy (some stones match each other within millimetres), and what exactly their purpose was. Numerous bronze tools and trade objects, dated to 800–700 BC, were found near Sochi indicating active exchange with the nearby areas. In the Middle Ages, the region was mostly influenced by the Byzantine Empire and Christianity, as evidenced by the style of nine churches and eighteen fortresses dating from those times. The northern wall of an eleventh-century Byzantinesque basilica still stands in Loo Microdistrict.^{[citation needed]}

During the early 11th century Abkhazian King from Bagrationi dynasty Bagrat II managed to unify Georgian Kingdoms and Sochi remained under control of Bagrat II and his descendants. Sochi was part of Kingdom of Georgia from 10th to 14th century until dissolution of united Georgia under George VIII. Sochi and its inhabitants were later part of the region knows as Zichia after the dissolution of the Georgian kingdom. The native inhabitants of the region, who were the ubykhs, lived a free society ruled by princely clans until the end of the Caucasian war. A detailed description of the coastal area around Sochi originated from the naval expedition of the Frenchman Frédéric Dubois de Montpéreux in 1833. He also compiled former descriptions of the region. Montpéreux however could not land at the site of Sochi as his ship was met with a strong gun fire from the coast. He mentions that in the Middle Ages, a Genoan city of Mamai stood on river Psakhe (modern Mamaika in Sochi), and some 60 north from it a German fortress and a monastery.

Ottoman Turkey had much interest in the Black Sea coast as an outpost for its northern expansions, however, it had lost this area to Russia as a result of the Russo-Turkish War (1828–1829) and the Treaty of Adrianople. To further protect the coast from Turkey, a coastal line of defense was built in 1830–1839 consisting of 17 fortresses. Several of these fortresses were founded in the suburbs of the modern Sochi, such as the fortress of Holy Spirit in Adler (1837), Lazarevskoye (1839) and Golovinskoe (1839). On 23 April 1838, the first stone of the fortress was laid in central Sochi, at the mouth of the Sochi River. This day coincided with the name day of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna, the wife of Tsar Nicholas I, and the fortress was named Alexandria after her. On 18 May 1838 it was renamed into Navaginsky, honoring the bravery of Navaginsky Regimen in the Russian–Circassian War. The construction was completed in July 1838. During the Crimean War of 1853–1856 it was abandoned and partly destroyed; it was rebuilt in 1864 under a new name Dakhovsky.

The locals however did not recognize Russian rule and fiercely opposed what they perceived as genocide. Due to the ongoing Russo-Circassian War, the Russians could not establish full control over the land. This opposition attracted the interest of Britain, which was apparently selling weapons and ammunition to the Circassians. This caused a diplomatic conflict between the Russian Empire and Great Britain in 1836, centered on the Mission of the Vixen. The British ship Vixen loaded with weapons for the Circassians was captured and confiscated by the Russians at the port Sudzhuk-Kale (nowadays Novorossiysk). The British protested, but the position of Tsar Nicholas I was firm and a quick order was given to prepare the army for a war with Britain.

In 1864, the Battle of Qbaada took place in 1864 between the Circassian army of 20,000 a Russian army of 100,000 men, consisting of Cossack and Russian horsemen, infantry and artillery. It resulted in Russian victory, and the Russian army began celebrating victory on the corpses, and a military-religious parade was held, as 100 Circassians were publicly mutilated in a public execution in order to establish authority. The Russian army then continued raiding and burning Circassian villages, destroying fields to prevent return, cutting down trees, and driving the people to the Black Sea coast.

The end of the war was proclaimed on 2 June 1864 at Qbaada (modern Krasnaya Polyana) by the manifesto of Emperor Alexander II read aloud by the Grand Duke Michael Nikolaevich.