Formerly, it was a small fishing village. In the 17th century, a castle was built to check Cossack naval assaults from the Black Sea. In 1877, during the Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878), a part of the immigrants from the Russian occupied provinces settled in Rumelikavağı. Up until the 1960s, most of Rumelikavağı was a restricted zone by military.
There are many places of interest in Rumelikavağı, such as ruins of medieval castles, mosques, churches, fountains, hamams etc.[4] The Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge over the Bosphorus is to the north of the neighborhood.
