The Anatolian Fortress was built in 1394 during the reign of Sultan Beyazit I and is the first Ottoman castle on the Bosphorus.
It is situated on the banks of the Asian side of Istanbul in the fishing village of “Anadolu Hisarı”, which consists of old wooden houses listed under historical preservation protection and a small harbor on the petite “Göksü deresi”. You can make short boat trips from here and a stop at the restaurants on the shore, all of which offer a beautiful view of the Bosphorus. There is also an important Ottoman cemetery here.
The main purpose of the construction of the Anatolian fortress was to support the first siege attempts of Constantinople towards the end of the 14th century. Furthermore, the fortress was responsible for controlling the brisk trade of the remaining Byzantine garrison on the Black Sea, especially from today’s Trabzon. In addition to the Byzantines and the Ottomans, the Venetians and Genoese also had a strong interest in the control of the strait. After the conquest of Constantinople, the fortress served temporarily as a military prison.
With the Fortress Rumeli Hisarı on the opposite European side, which was built within a very short time before the conquest of 1453 under Sultan Fatih Mehmed II, the two fortresses controlled together the brisk shipping traffic on the Bosphorus and were intended to cut off Constantinople from the outside world.