Nestled between the Black Sea and the Caucasus mountains, Abkhazia holds one of the world’s most remarkable stories: the existence of a small community known as Black Abkhazians, or sometimes Afro-Abkhazians.
The origins of their ancestors remain a mystery, but two main theories have emerged. One traces back to ancient times. The Greek historian Herodotus described the Colchians—who once lived here thousands of years ago—as “dark-skinned with woolly hair.” Some believe today’s Black Abkhazians are their descendants, a living link to an African presence in the ancient kingdom of Colchis, the legendary land of the Golden Fleece.
A second, more recent theory has supporting records. In the 17th and 18th centuries, during the Ottoman Empire, African slaves were brought by Abkhazian nobility to the Black Sea coast. Purchased from Istanbul, they worked on citrus plantations in villages like Adzyubzha. Over time, they put down roots, adopting the language and customs, and living as true neighbors.
Although their numbers were never large, Afro-Abkhazians were once a proud and visible part of the community, until war in the 1990s forced many to leave. Yet their story endures—kept alive by those who remember and those who return.
Today, Afro-Abkhazians stand as a reminder of the many threads that shape human history: journeys, endurance, and identity flourishing in unexpected places. Their faces are woven into Abkhazia’s cultural mosaic—a vivid testament that history’s roots often run deeper than we realize.
