The Milesian Greek colony of Tanais, destined to be the first known major city in the region of southwestern Russia, is founded late in the third century BCE on the left bank of the Don River, four miles (seven kilometers) east of the Sea of Azov.

The site of Tanais had been occupied long before the Milesians found an emporium here.

A necropolis of over three hundred burial mounds near the ancient city show that the site had already been occupied since the Bronze Age, and that mound burials continued through Greek and into even Roman times.

Greek traders seem to have been meeting nomads in the district as early as the seventh century BCE without a formal, permanent settlement.

Greek colonies have two kinds of origins, apoikiai of citizens from the mother city-state, and emporia, which are strictly trading stations.

It is a natural post, first for the trade of the steppes reaching away eastwards in an unbroken grass sea to the Altai, the Scythian Holy Land, second for the trade of the Black Sea, ringed with Greek-dominated ports and entrepôts, and third for trade from the impenetrable north, with furs and slaves brought down the Don.

Strabo mentions Tanais in his Geography (11.2.2).

The multi-ethnic confederacy Sarmatian confederacy of western Scythia, warlike nomadic pastoralists of varied backgrounds mentioned by classical authors from Herodotus onward, have by 150 BCE divided into three nations: the Alans, an Iranian people, to the East, living near the Sea of Azov; …

Timur’s forces invade from Russia, massacring the non-Muslim population of Tenais (Azov) in 1391.

...and Azaq, and ...

Peter orders an assault on the Turkish-held city-fortress of Azov at the Don River delta.

The first Azov campaign begins in the spring of 1695, when Peter orders his army (thirty-one thousand men and one hundred and seventy guns) to advance towards Azov.

The army, comprising crack regiments and the Don Cossacks, is divided into three units under the command of Franz Lefort, Patrick Gordon and Avtonom Golovin.

Supplies are shipped down the Don from Voronezh.

The Russians block Azov from land between June 27 and July 5, but because Russia has no navy they cannot control the river and prevent resupply.

After two unsuccessful attacks on August 5 and September 25 with the Russians suffering heavy casualties, the siege is lifted on October 1.

Peter’s new fleet, sailing down the Don River, blockades Azov in 1696 and captures it in July of this year at a cost of over thirty thousand Russian lives.

...Peter reluctantly gives up Russia’s Black Sea fleet but retains Azov.

Russia returns Azov to the Turks and ...

The Russian Dnieper Army (sixty-two thousand men) under the command of Field Marshal Burkhard Christoph von Munnich on May 20, 1736, takes by storm the Turkish fortifications at Perekop and on June 17 occupies Bakhchisaray.

However, lack of supplies coupled with the outbreak of an epidemic forces Münnich to retreat to Ukraine.

The Russian Don Army (twenty-eight thousand men) under the command of General Peter Lacy with the support from the Don Flotilla under the command of Vice Admiral Peter Bredahl, on June 19 seizes the fortress of Azov.

Russian and Turkish armies in the Turkish Ukraine, fight for possession of Azov, Ochakov, and other cities, capturing, losing, and recapturing them.