History

The earliest naval settlement dates back to the 4th century BC, when the area was inhabited by the Thracian tribe of Tiris and who gave the area its original name of Tirisis.

The ancient geographer Strabo, describing Kaliakra, stated that the capital of King Lisimachus, one of Alexander's generals and ruler of Thrace, was located here. According to rumor, he hid in the caves near the peninsula his innumerable treasure, reputedly captured on the campaigns against Persia. In the Hellenistic era, a second fortress wall was built inland, and in Roman times the Thracian fortress was expanded. In the years 341–342, round towers were completed, and there was already a city built up around the fortress. In the second half of the 4th century, a third fortification with 10 m walls, 2.90 m thick, was erected even farther from the end of the peninsula. During the archeological excavations made in the 20th century, the remains of ancient and early Christian necropolises were discovered on Kaliakra.

In the 5-6th century, according to Hierocele, the fortress (now known as Accra Castellium or simply Accra-cape) gained the importance of a fortified nucleus against the oncoming barbarian tribes and was one of the 15 cities in the province of Scythia. In 513, a battle ensued between Kaliakra and the Byzantine emperor Anastasius I. The settlement and fortress developed in the following centuries, but according to some researchers in the 7th century a decline occurred because the Slavs and Proto-Bulgarians showed no interest in settling this place. In 10th century sources, the area is variously listed as Tetrasida, Tetrasiada, Tetrisias, Trisa, Tirisa, or Tirista.

The earliest dated Western European map that mentions the modern name Kaliakra is that of the Italian Petrus Vesconta, from 1318. In other Italian maps and 14th-century writings, the peninsula is also described as Capo Calacria or Calacria. The German armored bearer Hans Schiltberger describes the peninsula as Kalacerca, derived from the "καλός" – beautiful / good and "τσέρκι" – a hoop, given the three walls of the Kaliakra fortress. The Bulgarian Navy of the First World War included a mine-clearing boat named "Kalatserka".

The heyday of Kaliakra was in the second half of the 14th century when it was the capital of the principality (despotate) of Carvun under the Bulgarian rulers Balik and Dobrotitsa. The despotate covered the northeastern Bulgarian lands, and was detached from the central government. Dobrotica is also called Dobrudzha, which is the Turkish pronunciation of its name. Written records speak of a powerful, medieval town where the ruler cut his own coins and turned the fortress into a church center. Today there are remains of the fortress walls on the tip of the headlands; some of the water supply, baths and the residence of the prince are still preserved. Kaliakra's despots were the first of the native rulers to begin building a navy. Dobrotica's galleys participated in successful combat operations in the Black Sea. In 1393 - 1394 the Carvun principality became one of the last Bulgarian possessions to fall under Ottoman rule.

In 1402, the Vlach voivode Mircea Stari took over the lands around Kaliakra, but later that year the area was again occupied by the Ottoman troops. In 1444, the knights of the Polish and Hungarian King Vladislav III Varnenczyk were stopped near Cape Kaliakra in their campaign against the Ottoman Empire. In the old Turkish lawmen, Kaliakra is mentioned as a port with a Kilagra or Celigra Burun customs.

On July 31, 1791, the largest naval battle in the Black Sea began off the coast of Kaliakra during the Russo-Turkish War of 1787–1792. The Russian squadron, led by Admiral Fyodor Ushakov, repeatedly defeated Hussein Pasha's superior Turkish armada, and helped end the war. A plaque with a bas-relief of the Russian Admiral was erected on the headland's tip. On August 10, 2006, the 215th anniversary of this victory, a monument to him was erected. The monument is a figure in full height and is located on a hill, where it is visible from the sea.