The Laz of Anaklia

Abstract

Valuable information concerning the history of the Laz of Anaklia can be found in the manuscript collection of the Historical-Architectural Museum of the Dadiani Palaces, preserved as handwritten documents. These sources allow researchers to discuss chronological framework and living conditions under which Laz communities lived in Anaklia.
Anaklia, located in the Zugdidi region of western Georgia, is a historically significant site. Traces of habitation dating to the second millennium BCE are confirmed by artifacts preserved in the Dadiani Palace, widely known as "Dikha Gudzuba". Across western Georgia, Anaklia emerged as one of the most significant strategic locations during the period of Greek expansion along the Black Sea coast in the seventh–eighth centuries. From the eighteenth century onward, foreign travelers and explorers described Anaklia as a powerful episcopal center and trading port. After the construction of a large fortress bearing the same name — the remains of which are still extant along the coastal zone — Anaklia came to be referred to as a trading city.
In Anaklia, as trade intensified — particularly during the spring and autumn seasons — sailing ships regularly arrived from Constantinople, Iran, Trebizond, and Gonio. For merchant ships entering Samegrelo, Anaklia became the most accessible and important harbor in the entire region. From here, goods such as flax thread, linen cloth, flaxseed, oxhide, reeds, boxwood, precious furs, honey, and wax were shipped across the Black Sea to Ottoman territories in the autumn,whereas in the spring merchants brought into Samegrelo luxury tableware, iron goods, weaponry, and salt. The trading port of Anaklia preserved its commercial significance well into the early twentieth century.
In the early twentieth century, trade and fishing remained the primary occupations of the Laz population in Anaklia. When the Bolsheviks closed the borders with Turkey, the Anaklian Laz were given the choice either to remain or to relocate to Turkey; those who chose to stay were prohibited from crossing the border and contact with relatives was severed. Only a few Laz families remained in Anaklia, and today they no longer speak the Laz language. After 1921, approximately fifteen Laz surnames were documented in Anaklia: Abdul-oghli, Odabash-oghli, Ai-oghli, Reiz-oghli, Sokt-oghli, Oksus-oghli, Kvakul-oghli, Kelek-oghli, Sufal-oghli, Fat-oghli, Tikan-oghli, Abdul-oghli, Mola-oghli, Machakhel-oghli, Aghazade. Under the prevailing regime, some Laz were compelled to change their surnames. Those who remained in Georgia continued their lives alongside other Georgian communities.