In the past centuries, it was a trading post where Turks, Greeks, and Genoese people came to buy slaves from Circassia and Abkhazia.

By the end of the 18th century, the fort became a battleground between the Ottomans, Russians, Circassians, Crimeans, and Nogai people due to its location.

The Chechen leader, Sheikh Mansur, who was allied with the Ottomans at the time, took a position to defend Anapa from the Russian army.

[5] In March 1790, Russia dispatched a military expedition to conquer the Ottoman fort of Anapa.

[5][7] The Russian troops did not have scaling ladders, horses, or food, and the hostile Caucasian population began attacking them.