# Ottomans Seize Tskhumi and Found Suhum-Kale (1570s)

URL: https://allhistories.com/georgia/timeline/1570-ottomans-seize-tskhumi-and-found-suhum-kale
Location: Sukhumi (Tskhumi / Suhum-Kale), Abkhazia
Themes: Ottoman Expansion, Black Sea

In the 1570s the Ottoman navy captured the fortress of Tskhumi, the later Sukhumi or Sokhumi, on the Black Sea coast and renamed it Suhum-Kale. The garrison gave the Ottomans a base on the north-eastern shore of the Black Sea, from which they influenced the princes of Abkhazia, who had been loosely tied to Imereti and Mingrelia. Ottoman interest in the coast rested on strategic control of the sea and a lucrative trade, including slaves, in people from the Caucasus. By the 1570s the Ottomans had also begun the long war with Persia that would lead to their conquest of Tbilisi in 1578, and Black Sea fortresses protected their flank. Ottoman influence brought gradual Islamisation of the local elite; the ruling Sharvashidze family converted in the later eighteenth century. In July 1810 Russian troops stormed Suhum-Kale and installed a new prince. Historians still debate how Georgian, Abkhaz and Ottoman ties should be described, and sources differ on the exact year of the fort's capture. At this point in the timeline (c. 1570), the Kingdom of Imereti was ruled by King George II (1565 – 1585). Meanwhile, Kartli was a kingdom under King David XI (1569 – 1578). Elsewhere in the Georgian lands, King Levan (1518 – 1574) ruled the Kingdom of Kakheti.

## Why it matters
The fortress became the main Ottoman foothold on the north-eastern Black Sea coast and shaped religious and political change in Abkhazia for two centuries.

Ruler at the Time: [George II of Imereti](https://allhistories.com/georgia/rulers/george-ii-of-imereti)

## Sources
- [Wikipedia — Principality of Abkhazia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Principality_of_Abkhazia)
- [Encyclopaedia Britannica — Georgia: Turkish and Persian domination](https://www.britannica.com/place/Georgia/Turkish-and-Persian-domination)