Why go
Read this before exploring central Sochi or the outlying valleys. The names of rivers and settlements point to peoples who lived here before Russian rule, while the arboretum, bath buildings and sanatoriums tell a later story of deliberate resort making. The 2014 Winter Games added another visible layer in Adler and the mountains.
The full story
People lived in the Sochi region long before the modern city existed. Ancient settlements, dolmens and later Christian remains belong to different periods of life on the Black Sea slopes. The Abkhaz, Ubykh and Adyghe peoples were among those who lived in the region before the nineteenth century; older local languages survive in many place names. Russian fortification of the coast began in the 1830s. An outpost was founded at the mouth of the Sochi River in 1838, during the Caucasian War. Local resistance continued until 1864. Russian victory was followed by the expulsion and forced migration of many Circassian people, a defining rupture in the region's history. The settlement later took the name Sochi and became a town in 1917. From the late nineteenth century, the coast was reshaped as a health resort. Gardens, baths and sanatoriums were built around the mild coastal climate and Matsesta's mineral springs. Sochi served as a hospital city during World War II and expanded further in the Soviet period. The 2014 Winter Olympics brought large new sports and transport works, especially around Adler and the mountain venues.