There is no firm documentary record of Akçakoca's early history. What the excavations and the wider research in the region do give reaches back to 1200 BC, and the first arrivals here around that date are thought to have been Thracians and Phrygians.
The Phrygians, weakened by the Cimmerian and Scythian incursions, were finished off by the Lydians, who founded their own kingdom. In the period that followed, a string of cities was founded along the Black Sea coast around Bolu: Abonouteichos, Sinope, Aiolia, Herakleia — modern Ereğli — Kieros, later called Prusias and now Konuralp, and Dias or Diapolis, which is Akçakoca.
After that the district housed a great many civilisations over the centuries.
The Hellenistic period opens with a familiar sequence. Alexander of Macedon defeated the Persians decisively on the plain at Dörtyol in 333 BC and became master of Anatolia; when he died at Babylon in 323 BC his house broke up and the inheritance was divided among his generals, who founded eight states. The beaches, the hazelnut groves and the coastal castles of the district each have their own page below.
