 Yenifoça, taken over by the Genoese in 1275 and initially as a dowry, was the more active of the two Foças during the Middle Ages, due principally to the region's rich alum reserves, the Genoese lease over them having been preserved well into the Ottoman era.On 12 May 1649, at the height of the Cretan War (1645–1669), the harbor was the scene of a naval engagement in which the Ottoman and Venetian navies briefly checked each other.On June 1914 Turkish forces attacked the Greek residents of the city resulting the Massacre of Phocaea.