We are accustomed to approach the concept of " Crimea» as the name of a place where you can have a great vacation summer days, have a good rest on the seashore, making a couple of trips to attractions located nearby. But if you approach the issue globally, look at the peninsula from a distance of centuries and knowledge, it becomes clear that the Crimea is a unique historical and cultural territory, striking in antiquity and a variety of natural and “man-made” values. Numerous Crimean cultural monuments reflect religion, culture and historical events of different eras and peoples. Story the peninsula is the interweaving of the West and the East, the history of the ancient Greeks and the Golden Horde Mongols, the history of the birth of Christianity, the appearance of the first churches and mosques. For centuries, different peoples lived here, fought with each other, concluded peace and trade agreements, settlements and cities were built and destroyed, civilizations appeared and disappeared. Inhaling the Crimean air, in addition to the notorious phytoncides, you can feel in it the taste of legends about life Amazons, Olympic gods, Taurians, Cimmerians, Greeks…
The natural conditions of the Crimea and the geographical location, favorable for life, contributed to the fact that the peninsula became the cradle of humanity. Primitive Neanderthal people appeared here 150 thousand years ago, attracted by the warm climate and the abundance of animals that were their main food base. In almost every Crimean museum you can find archaeological finds from grottoes and caves, which served as natural shelters for primitive man. The most famous sites of primitive man:
- Kiik-Koba ( Belogorsky district);
- Staroselye (Bakhchisarai);
- Chokurcho (Simferopol);
- Wolf Grotto (Simferopol);
- Ak-Kaya (Belogorsk).
Cimmerians
If before the first millennium BC, historical data only slightly open the veil from different periods of human development, then information about a later time allows us to speak about specific cultures and tribes of the Crimea. In the 5th century BC Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, visited the Crimean shores. In his writings, he described the local lands and the peoples living on them. It is believed that among the first peoples who lived in the steppe part of the peninsula in the XV-VII centuries BC, there were Cimmerians. Their warlike tribes were driven out of the Crimea in the 4th-3rd centuries BC by no less aggressive Scythians and lost in the vast expanses of the steppes of Asia. Only ancient names remind of them:
- Cimmerian walls;
- Kimmerik.
Taurus
The mountainous and foothill Crimea in those days was inhabited by tribes taurus, distant descendants of the Kizil-Koba archaeological culture. In the descriptions of ancient authors, the Tauri look bloodthirsty and cruel. Being skilled sailors, they traded in piracy, robbing ships passing along the coast. Captives were thrown into the sea from a high cliff from the temple, sacrificing to the goddess Virgo. Refuting this information, modern scientists have established that the Taurians were engaged in hunting, collecting shellfish, fishing, farming and raising livestock. They lived in huts or caves, but for protection from external enemies they built fortified shelters. Taurus fortifications found on the mountains: Cat, Uch-Bash, Kastel, Ayu-Dag, on Cape Ai-Todor.
Another trace of the Taurus is numerous burials in dolmens - stone boxes, consisting of four flat slabs set on edge and covered with a fifth on top. One of the unsolved mysteries about the Tauris is the location of the cliff with the Temple of the Virgin.
Scythians
In the 7th century BC, Scythian tribes came to the steppe part of Crimea. In the 4th century BC, the Sarmatians pushed back Scythians to the lower Dnieper and Crimea. At the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries BC, a Scythian state was formed on this territory, the capital of which was Naples Scythian(in its place is modern Simferopol).
Greeks
In the 7th century BC, strings of Greek colonists reached the Crimean shores. Choosing convenient places for living and sailing, Greeks based on them city-states - "polises":
- Feodosia;
- Panticapaeum-Bosporus (Kerch);
- (Sevastopol);
- Mirmekiy;
- Nymphaeum;
- Tiritaka.
The emergence and expansion of Greek colonies served as a serious impetus for the development of the Northern Black Sea region: political, cultural and trade ties between the local population and the Greeks intensified. The indigenous inhabitants of the Crimea learned to cultivate the land in more advanced ways, they began to plant olives and grapes. The influence of Greek culture on the spiritual world of the Scythians, Taurians, Sarmatians and other tribes that came into contact with it turned out to be enormous. However, the relationship between neighboring peoples was not easy: peaceful periods were followed by years of wars. Therefore, all Greek policies were protected by strong stone walls.
4th century BC was the time of foundation of several settlements in the west of the peninsula. The largest of them are Kalos-Limen (Black Sea) and Kerkinitida (Evpatoria). At the end of the 5th century BC, immigrants from the Greek Heraclea founded the policy of Chersonesos (modern Sevastopol). A hundred years later, Chersonesus became a city-state independent of the Greek metropolis and the largest policy of the Northern Black Sea region. In its heyday it was a powerful port city, a cultural, handicraft and trade center of the southwestern part of Crimea surrounded by fortified walls.
Around 480 BC, the independent Greek cities united to form Bosporan kingdom, whose capital was the city of Panticapaeum. A little later, Theodosia joined the kingdom.
In the 4th century BC, the Scythian king Atey united the Scythian tribes into a strong state, which owned the territory from the Dniester and the Southern Bug to the Don. From the end of the 4th century BC and especially in the 3rd century BC Scythians and the Tauri, under their influence, exerted strong military pressure on the policies. In the III century BC, Scythian villages, fortifications and cities appeared on the peninsula, including the capital of the kingdom - Scythian Naples. At the end of the 2nd century BC, Chersonese, besieged by the Scythians, turned for help to the Pontic kingdom (located on the southern coast of the Black Sea). The troops of Ponta lifted the siege, but at the same time captured Theodosia and Panticapaeum, after which both the Bosporus and Chersonesos became part of the Pontic kingdom.
Romans, Huns, Byzantium
From the middle of the 1st century to the beginning of the 4th century AD, the entire Black Sea region (including Crimea-Taurica) was within the sphere of interests of the Roman Empire. The stronghold of the Romans in Taurica became Chersonese. In the 1st century, on Cape Ai-Todor, Roman legionnaires built the fortress of Kharaks and connected it with roads with Chersonese, in which the garrison was located. The Roman squadron was stationed in the harbor of Chersonesos.
In 370, hordes of Huns came to the Crimean lands. They wiped out the Bosporan kingdom and the Scythian state from the face of the earth, destroyed Chersonese, Panticapaeum and Scythian Naples. After the Crimea, the Huns went to Europe, bringing the death of the great Roman Empire. In the IV century, the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern (Byzantine). The southern part of Taurica entered the sphere of interests of the Eastern Empire. Chersonese became the main base of the Byzantines in the Crimea, which became known as Kherson. This period was the time of the penetration of Christianity into the peninsula. According to church tradition, Andrew the First-Called became his first messenger. The third bishop of Rome, Clement, exiled in 94 to Cherson, also actively preached the Christian faith. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement appeared in Byzantium: all images of saints were destroyed - on icons, in temple paintings. The monks fled from persecution on the outskirts of the empire, including in the Crimea. In the mountains of the peninsula, they founded cave monasteries and temples: 
- Kachi-Kalyon;
- Chelter;
- Uspensky;
- Shuldan.
At the end of the 6th century, a new wave of invaders poured onto the peninsula - the Khazars, the ancestors of the Karaites. They occupied the entire Crimea, except for Kherson. In 705, Kherson recognized the Khazar protectorate and separated from Byzantium. In response, Byzantium sent a punitive fleet in 710 with a small army on board. Kherson fell, and the Byzantines treated its inhabitants with unprecedented cruelty. But as soon as the imperial troops left the city, it rebelled: uniting with the Khazars and part of the army that had changed the empire, Cherson captured Constantinople and put his emperor at the head of Byzantium.
Slavs, Mongols, Genoese, Theodoro Principality
In the 9th century, a new force actively intervenes in the course of Crimean history - Slavs. Their appearance on the peninsula coincided with the decline of the Khazar state, which was finally defeated in the 10th century by Prince Svyatoslav. In 988 - 989 Kherson was captured by Prince Vladimir of Kiev. Here he adopted the Christian faith.
In the XIII century, the Tatar-Mongols of the Golden Horde invaded the peninsula several times, thoroughly plundering the cities. From the middle of the XIII century, they began to settle in the territory of Taurica. At this time, they captured Solkhat and turned it into the center of the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde. It received the name Kyrym, subsequently inherited by the peninsula.
In the same years, an Orthodox church appeared in the Crimean mountains. Principality of Theodoro with its capital at Mangup. The Genoese had disputes with the Principality of Theodoro about the ownership of the disputed territories.
Turks
In early 1475, Kafa had a fleet Ottoman Empire. Well-fortified Kafa withstood the siege for only three days, after which it surrendered to the mercy of the winner. By the end of the year Turks captured all the coastal fortresses: the rule of the Genoese in the Crimea ended. Mangup held out for the longest time and surrendered to the Turks only after a six-month siege. The invaders brutally treated the captive Theodorians: the city was devastated, most of the inhabitants were killed, and the survivors were taken into slavery.
Crimean Khan became a vassal Ottoman Empire and a conductor of the aggressive policy of Turkey in relation to Rus'. Raids on the southern lands Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Rus' have become permanent. Rus' sought to protect its southern borders and gain access to the Black Sea. Therefore, she repeatedly fought with Turkey. The war of 1768-1774 was unsuccessful for the Turks. In 1774 between the Ottoman Empire and Russia was concluded Kuchuk-Kainarji Treaty about peace, which brought independence to the Crimean Khanate. Russia received the fortresses of Kin-burn, Azov and the city of Kerch in the Crimea along with the Yeni-Kale fortress. In addition, Russian merchant ships now have free access to navigation in the Black Sea.
Russia
In 1783 Crimea was finally annexed to Russia. Most Muslims left the peninsula and moved to Turkey. The edge has fallen into disrepair. Prince G. Potemkin, the governor of Taurida, began to resettle here retired soldiers and serfs from neighboring regions. So the first villages with Russian names appeared on the peninsula - Izyumovka, Mazanka, Clean... This move of the prince turned out to be correct: the Crimean economy began to develop, agriculture was revived. The city of Sevastopol, the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was founded in an excellent natural harbor. Near the Ak-Mechet, a small town, Simferopol was being built - the future "capital" of the Tauride province.
In 1787 Empress Catherine II visited Crimea with a large retinue of dignitaries of foreign states. She stayed in travel palaces specially built for this occasion.
Eastern War
In 1854-1855, Crimea became the scene of yet another war, called the Eastern War. In the autumn of 1854, Sevastopol was besieged by a united army France, England and Turkey. Under the leadership of Vice Admirals P.S. Nakhimov and V.A. Kornilov's defense of the city lasted 349 days. In the end, the city was destroyed to the ground, but at the same time glorified throughout the world. Russia lost this war: in 1856, an agreement was signed in Paris prohibiting both Turkey and Russia from having navies on the Black Sea.
Health resort of Russia
In the middle of the 19th century, the doctor Botkin recommended that the royal family purchase the Livadia estate, as a place with an exceptionally healthy climate. This was the beginning of a new, resort era in the Crimea. Villas, estates, palaces belonging to the royal family, rich landowners and industrialists, court nobility were built along the entire coast. For several years, the village of Yalta has become a popular aristocratic resort. Railways, which connected the largest cities of the region, further accelerated its transformation into a resort and summer resort of the empire.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula belonged to the Tauride province and was an agrarian region with several industrial cities in economic and economic terms. These were mainly Simferopol and port Kerch, Sevastopol and Theodosius.
Soviet power established itself in the Crimea only in the autumn of 1920, after the German army and Denikin's troops were expelled from the peninsula. A year later, the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Republic was formed. Palaces, dachas and villas were given over to people's sanatoriums, where collective farmers and workers from all over the young state were treated and rested.
The Great Patriotic War
During the Second World War, the peninsula courageously fought the enemy. Sevastopol repeated his feat, surrendering after a 250-day siege. The pages of the heroic chronicle of those years are full of such names as "The Tierra del Fuego of Eltigen", "Kerch-Feodosiya operation", "The feat of partisans and underground fighters"... For the courage and stamina shown, Kerch and Sevastopol were awarded the titles of hero cities.
February 1945 brought together the heads of the allied countries in the Crimea - USA, UK and USSR- at the Crimean (Yalta) conference in the Livadia Palace. During this conference, decisions were made to end the war and establish a post-war world order.
Postwar years
Crimea was liberated from the invaders at the beginning of 1944, and the restoration of the peninsula immediately began - industrial enterprises, rest houses, sanatoriums, agricultural facilities, villages and cities. The black page in the history of the peninsula of that time was the expulsion of Greeks, Tatars and Armenians from its territory. In February 1954, by decree of N.S. Khrushchev, the Crimean region was transferred to Ukraine. Today, many believe that it was a royal gift ...
During the 60-80s of the last century, the growth of Crimean agriculture, industry and tourism reached its peak. Crimea received the semi-official title of an all-Union health resort: 9 million people annually rested in its health resorts.
In 1991, during the putsch in Moscow, the General Secretary of the USSR M.S. was arrested. Gorbachev at the state dacha in Foros. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became Autonomous Republic, which became part of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, after the all-Crimean referendum, the Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and became one of the subjects of the Russian Federation. started recent history of Crimea.
We know Crimea as a republic of relaxation, sun, sea and fun. Come to the Crimean land - let's write the history of our resort republic together!
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Our Motherland - Crimea
... Within Russia there is no other country that would have lived such a long and intense historical life, participating in the Hellenic Mediterranean culture in all the centuries of its existence ...
M. A. Voloshin
The Crimean peninsula is a "natural pearl of Europe" - due to its
geographical location and unique natural conditions since ancient times
was the crossroads of many maritime transit roads connecting various
states, tribes and peoples. The most famous "Great Silk Road"
passed through the Crimean peninsula and connected the Roman and Chinese empires.
Later, he connected together all the uluses of the Mongol-Tatar empire
and played a significant role in the political and economic life of peoples,
inhabiting Europe, Asia and China.
Science claims that about 250 thousand years ago, a man first appeared on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. And since that time, in different historical epochs, various tribes and peoples have lived on our peninsula, replacing each other, there have been various state formations.
Many of us had to deal with the names "Tavrika", "Tavrida", which were used and continue to be used in relation to the Crimea. The appearance of these geographical names is directly related to the people, who can rightfully be considered a Crimean aborigine, since their entire history from beginning to end is inextricably linked with the peninsula.
The ancient Greek word "tauros" is translated as "bulls". On this basis, it was concluded that the Greeks called the locals so because they had a bull cult. It was suggested that the Crimean highlanders called themselves some unknown word, consonant with the Greek word "bulls". The Greeks called Taurus the mountain system in Asia Minor. Mastering the Crimea, the Hellenes, by analogy with Asia Minor, called the Taurus and the Crimean mountains. From the mountains, the people living in them (Taurians), as well as the peninsula (Tavrika), on which they were located, got their name.
Antique sources brought to us meager information about the ancient inhabitants of the Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians. The main population of the Crimea, especially the mountainous part, ancient authors call the Taurians. The most ancient people recorded in writing in the Crimea and the Black Sea steppes were the Cimmerians; they lived here at the turn of the II-I millennium BC, and some scientists consider the Taurians to be their direct descendants. Approximately in VII-VI Art. BC. the Cimmerians were ousted by the Scythians, then the Scythians were ousted by the Sarmatians, while the remnants of the first Cimmerian, then the Taurus and Scythian tribes, as researchers think, retreat to the mountains, where they keep their ethno-cultural identity for a long time. About 722 B.C. e. the Scythians were expelled from Asia and founded a new capital, Scythian Naples, in the Crimea on the Salgir River (within modern Simferopol). The "Scythian" period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archeological data show that after that, the basis of the population of the northwestern Crimea was made up of peoples who came from the Dnieper region. In the VI - V centuries BC. e., when the Scythians ruled the steppes, the Greeks founded their trading colonies on the coast of Crimea.
The settlement of the Black Sea region by the Greeks took place gradually. Mostly the sea coast was populated, and in some places the density of small settlements was quite high. Sometimes the settlements were in direct line of sight from one another. Ancient cities and settlements were concentrated in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) with the largest cities of Panticapaeum (Kerch) and Theodosia; in the region of the Western Crimea - with the main center Chersonese (Sevastopol).
In the Middle Ages, a small Turkic people appeared in Taurica - the Karaites. Self-name: Karai (One Karaite) and Karaylar (Karaites). Thus, instead of the ethnonym "Karaim" it is more correct to say "karay". Their material and spiritual culture, language, way of life and customs are of great interest.
Analyzing the available anthropological, linguistic and other data, a significant part of scientists see the Karaites as descendants of the Khazars. This people settled mainly in the foothills and mountains of Taurica. The settlement of Chufut-Kale was a peculiar center.
With the penetration of the Mongol-Tatars into Taurica, a number of changes take place. First of all, this concerned the ethnic composition of the population, which underwent great changes. Along with the Greeks, Russians, Alans, Polovtsians, Tatars appeared on the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, and Turks in the 15th century. In the 13th century, mass migration of Armenians began. At the same time, the Italians are actively rushing to the peninsula.
988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev and his retinue adopted Christianity in Chersonese. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the prince of Kyiv at the head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in the Crimea ceased, and trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.
The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. They were merchants and artisans. The mass resettlement of serfs from central Russia began in 1783 after the annexation of Crimea to the empire. Disabled soldiers and Cossacks received land for free settlement. Railway construction at the end of the 19th century. and the development of industry also caused an influx of the Russian population.
Now representatives of more than 125 nations and nationalities live in Crimea, the main part is Russians (more than half), then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and proportion in the population is growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians , Gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. Small in number, but still noticeable in the culture of the small peoples of the Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks.
The age-old experience of nationalities leads to the conclusion:
Let's live in peace!
Anatoly Matyushin
I won't reveal any secrets
There is no ideal society
If only the world consisted of aesthetes,
Maybe there would be an answer.
Why is the world so restless
A lot of anger and all sorts of enmity,
We are neighbors in a huge apartment,
We would not slide into trouble.
Taking up arms is not the point
Grieving for all the oppressed,
Don't try to change others
Maybe just improve yourself?.
To improve something
I would like to convince people
The world would be a little better
We just need to be friends with everyone!
Crimea was, as it were, a long-awaited reward for those who, moving from the depths of Russia, managed to overcome the steppes burned by the heat. Steppes, mountains and subtropics of the South Coast - such natural conditions are not found anywhere else in Russia. However, in the world too ...
The ethnic history of Crimea is also unusual and unique. Crimea was inhabited by primitive people thousands of years ago, and throughout its history it has constantly received new settlers. But since on this small peninsula there are mountains that, more or less, could protect the inhabitants of Crimea, and there is also a sea from which new settlers, goods and ideas could sail, and coastal cities could also give protection to the Crimeans, it is not surprising that some historical ethnic groups were able to survive here. There has always been a mixture of peoples, and it is no coincidence that historians speak of the "Tauro-Scythians" and "Gotoalans" living here.
In 1783 Crimea (together with a small territory outside the peninsula) became part of Russia. By this time, there were 1,474 settlements in the Crimea, most of them very small. At the same time, most of the Crimean settlements were multinational. But since 1783, the ethnic history of the Crimea has changed radically.
Crimean Greeks
The first Greek settlers arrived in Crimea 27 centuries ago. And it was in the Crimea that a small Greek ethnos managed to survive, the only one of all Greek ethnic groups outside of Greece. Actually, two Greek ethnic groups lived in the Crimea - the Crimean Greeks and the descendants of the "real" Greeks from Greece, who moved to the Crimea at the end of the 18th and in the 19th centuries.
Of course, the Crimean Greeks, in addition to the descendants of the ancient colonists, absorbed many ethnic elements. Under the influence and charm of Greek culture, many Taurus were Hellenized. So, a tombstone of a certain Tikhon, a brand of brand, dating back to the 5th century BC, has been preserved. Many Scythians were also Hellenized. In particular, some royal dynasties in the Bosporan kingdom were clearly of Scythian origin. The strongest cultural influence of the Greeks was experienced by the Goths and Alans.
Already from the 1st century, Christianity began to spread in Taurida, finding many adherents. Christianity was adopted not only by the Greeks, but also by the descendants of the Scythians, the Goths and Alans. Already in 325, at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, Cadmus, Bishop of the Bosporus, and Theophilus, Bishop of Gothia, were present. In the future, it is Orthodox Christianity that will unite the diverse population of Crimea into a single ethnic group.
The Byzantine Greeks and the Orthodox Greek-speaking population of Crimea called themselves "Romans" (literally Romans), emphasizing their belonging to the official religion of the Byzantine Empire. As you know, the Byzantine Greeks called themselves Romans for several centuries after the fall of Byzantium. Only in the 19th century, under the influence of Western European travelers, did the Greeks in Greece return to the self-name "Greeks". Outside of Greece, the ethnonym "Romans" (or, in the Turkish pronunciation "Urums"), persisted until the twentieth century. In our time, the name "Pontic" (Black Sea) Greeks (or "Ponti") has been established behind all the various Greek ethnic groups in the Crimea and all of New Russia.
The Goths and Alans, who lived in the southwestern part of the Crimea, which was called the "country of Dori", although for many centuries retained their languages in everyday life, but their written language remained Greek. The common religion, similar way of life and culture, the spread of the Greek language led to the fact that over time the Goths and Alans, as well as the Orthodox descendants of the "Tauro-Scythians" joined the Crimean Greeks. Of course, this did not happen immediately. Back in the 13th century, Bishop Theodore and the Western missionary G. Rubruk met the Alans in the Crimea. Apparently, it was not until the 16th century that the Alans finally merged with the Greeks and Tatars.
Around the same time, the Crimean Goths also disappeared. Since the 9th century, the Goths are no longer mentioned in historical documents. However, the Goths still continued to exist as a small Orthodox ethnic group. In 1253, Rubruk, along with the Alans, also met Goths in the Crimea, who lived in fortified castles, and whose language was Germanic. Rubruck himself, who was of Flemish origin, could of course distinguish the Germanic languages from others. The Goths remained faithful to Orthodoxy, as Pope John XXII wrote with regret in 1333.
Interestingly, the first hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Crimea was officially called the Metropolitan of Gotha (in the Church Slavonic sound - Gotfeysky) and Kafaysky (Kafinsky, that is, Feodosiya).
Probably, it was from the Hellenized Goths, Alans and other ethnic groups of the Crimea that the population of the Principality of Theodoro, which existed until 1475, consisted. Probably, Russians of the same faith from the former Tmutarakan principality also joined the Crimean Greeks.
However, from the end of the 15th and especially in the 16th century, after the fall of Theodoro, when the Crimean Tatars began to intensively convert their subjects to Islam, the Goths and Alans completely forgot their languages, switching partly to Greek, which was already familiar to them all, and partly to Tatar , which became the prestigious language of the ruling people.
In the 13th-15th centuries, the "Surozhans" were well known in Rus' - merchants from the city of Surozh (now - Sudak). They brought to Rus' special Surozh goods - silk products. It is interesting that even in the "Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language" by V.I. Dahl there are concepts that have survived until the 19th century, such as "Surovsky" (i.e. Surozh) goods, and "Surovsky row". Most of the Surozh merchants were Greeks, some were Armenians and Italians, who lived under the rule of the Genoese in the cities of the southern coast of Crimea. Many of the Surozhans eventually moved to Moscow. From the descendants of the Surozhans came the famous merchant dynasties of Muscovite Rus' - Khovrins, Salarevs, Troparevs, Shikhovs. Many of the descendants of the Surozhans became rich and influential people in Moscow. The Khovrin family, whose ancestors came from the Mangup principality, even received the boyars. The names of villages near Moscow - Khovrino, Salarevo, Sofrino, Troparevo - are associated with the merchant surnames of the descendants of the Surozhans.
But the Crimean Greeks themselves did not disappear, despite the emigration of the Surozhans to Russia, the conversion of some of them to Islam (which turned the new converts into Tatars), as well as the ever-increasing eastern influence in the cultural and linguistic spheres. In the Crimean Khanate, the majority of farmers, fishermen, and winegrowers consisted of Greeks.
The Greeks were the oppressed part of the population. Gradually, the Tatar language and oriental customs spread more and more among them. The clothes of the Crimean Greeks differed little from the clothes of the Crimeans of any other origin and religion.
Gradually, an ethnic group of "Urums" (that is, "Romans" in Turkic) formed in the Crimea, denoting Turkic-speaking Greeks who retained the Orthodox faith and Greek self-consciousness. The Greeks, who retained the local dialect of the Greek language, retained the name "Romans". They continued to speak 5 dialects of the local Greek language. By the end of the 18th century, the Greeks lived in 80 villages in the mountains and on the southern coast, about 1/4 of the Greeks lived in the cities of the khanate. About half of the Greeks spoke the Rat-Tatar language, the rest - in local dialects that differ both from the language of Ancient Hellas and from the spoken languages of Greece proper.
In 1778, by order of Catherine II, in order to undermine the economy of the Crimean Khanate, the Christians living in Crimea - Greeks and Armenians, were evicted from the peninsula in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. As A. V. Suvorov, who carried out the resettlement, reported, a total of 18,395 Greeks left the Crimea. Settlers founded the city of Mariupol and 18 villages on the shores of the Sea of Azov. Some of the deported Greeks subsequently returned to the Crimea, but the majority remained in their new homeland on the northern coast of the Sea of Azov. Scientists usually called them Mariupol Greeks. Now it is the Donetsk region of Ukraine.
Today there are 77,000 Crimean Greeks (according to the Ukrainian census of 2001), most of whom live in the Sea of Azov. Many outstanding figures of Russian politics, culture and economy came out of their number. Artist A. Kuindzhi, historian F. A. Khartakhai, scientist K. F. Chelpanov, philosopher and psychologist G. I. Chelpanov, art historian D. V. Ainalov, tractor driver P. N. Angelina, test pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi , polar explorer I. D. Papanin, politician, mayor of Moscow in 1991-92. G. Kh. Popov - all these are Mariupol (in the past - Crimean) Greeks. Thus, the history of the most ancient ethnic group in Europe continues.
"New" Crimean Greeks
Although a significant part of the Crimean Greeks left the peninsula, in the Crimea already in 1774-75. there were new, "Greek" Greeks from Greece. We are talking about those natives of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean, who during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-74. helped the Russian fleet. After the end of the war, many of them moved to Russia. Of these, Potemkin formed the Balaklava battalion, which carried the protection of the coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia with a center in Balaklava. Already in 1792, there were 1.8 thousand new Greek settlers. Soon the number of Greeks began to grow rapidly due to the unfolding immigration of Greeks from the Ottoman Empire. Many Greeks settled in the Crimea. At the same time, Greeks from various regions of the Ottoman Empire came, speaking different dialects, having their own characteristics of life and culture, differing from each other, and from the Balaklava Greeks, and from the “old” Crimean Greeks.
The Balaklava Greeks bravely fought in the wars with the Turks and during the years of the Crimean War. Many Greeks served in the Black Sea Fleet.
In particular, such outstanding Russian military and political figures as the Russian admirals of the Black Sea Fleet brothers Alexiano, the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91, came out of the Greek refugees. Admiral F.P. Lally, who fell in 1812 near Smolensk, General A.I. Bella, General Vlastov, one of the main heroes of the victory of Russian troops on the Berezina River, Count A.D. Kuruta, commander of Russian troops in the Polish war of 1830-31.
In general, the Greeks served diligently, and it is no accident that the abundance of Greek surnames in the lists of Russian diplomacy, military and naval activities. Many Greeks were mayors, leaders of the nobility, mayors. The Greeks were engaged in business and were abundantly represented in the business world of the southern provinces.
In 1859, the Balaklava battalion was abolished, and now most of the Greeks began to engage in peaceful activities - viticulture, tobacco growing, and fishing. The Greeks owned shops, hotels, taverns and coffee houses in all corners of the Crimea.
After the establishment of Soviet power in the Crimea, the Greeks experienced many social and cultural changes. In 1921, 23,868 Greeks lived in Crimea (3.3% of the population). At the same time, 65% of Greeks lived in cities. Literate Greeks were 47.2% of the total. There were 5 Greek village councils in Crimea, in which office work was conducted in Greek, there were 25 Greek schools with 1500 students, several Greek newspapers and magazines were published. In the late 1930s, many Greeks became victims of repression.
The language problem of the Greeks was very difficult. As already mentioned, part of the "old" Greeks of the Crimea spoke the Crimean Tatar language (until the end of the 30s, there was even the term "Greek-Tatars" to designate them). The rest of the Greeks spoke various mutually incomprehensible dialects, far from the modern literary Greek language. It is clear that the Greeks, mostly urban residents, by the end of the 30s. switched to Russian, retaining their ethnic identity.
In 1939, 20.6 thousand Greeks (1.8%) lived in Crimea. The decrease in their numbers is mainly due to assimilation.
During the Great Patriotic War, many Greeks died at the hands of the Nazis and their accomplices from among the Crimean Tatars. In particular, Tatar punishers destroyed the entire population of the Greek village of Laki. By the time the Crimea was liberated, about 15,000 Greeks remained there. However, despite the loyalty to the Motherland, which was demonstrated by the vast majority of the Crimean Greeks, in May-June 1944 they were deported along with the Tatars and Armenians. A certain number of persons of Greek origin, who, according to personal data, were considered persons of a different nationality, remained in the Crimea, but it is clear that they tried to get rid of everything Greek.
After the removal of restrictions on the legal status of the Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians and members of their families located in the special settlement, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 27, 1956, the special settlers gained some freedom. But the same decree deprived them of the opportunity to get back the confiscated property and the right to return to the Crimea. All these years, the Greeks were deprived of the opportunity to learn the Greek language. Education took place in schools in Russian, which led to the loss of the native language among young people. Since 1956, the Greeks have been gradually returning to the Crimea. Most of the arrivals found themselves separated from each other in their native land, and lived in separate families throughout the Crimea. In 1989, 2,684 Greeks lived in Crimea. The total number of Greeks from the Crimea and their descendants in the USSR was 20 thousand people.
In the 90s, the return of the Greeks to the Crimea continued. In 1994, there were already about 4 thousand of them. Despite the small number, the Greeks actively participate in the economic, cultural and political life of the Crimea, occupying a number of prominent posts in the administration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, engaging in (with great success) entrepreneurial activities.
Crimean Armenians
Another ethnic group, the Armenians, has been living in Crimea for more than a millennium. One of the brightest and most original centers of Armenian culture has developed here. Armenians appeared on the peninsula a very long time ago. In any case, back in 711, a certain Armenian Vardan was declared the Byzantine emperor in the Crimea. The mass immigration of Armenians to the Crimea began in the 11th century, after the Seljuk Turks defeated the Armenian kingdom, which caused a mass exodus of the population. In the 13th-14th centuries, there were especially many Armenians. Crimea is even referred to in some Genoese documents as "maritime Armenia". In a number of cities, including the largest city of the peninsula at that time, Cafe (Feodosia), Armenians make up the majority of the population. Hundreds of Armenian churches were built on the peninsula, with schools attached to them. At the same time, some Crimean Armenians moved to the southern lands of Rus'. In particular, a very large Armenian community has developed in Lvov. Numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, and outbuildings have survived to this day in Crimea.
Armenians lived throughout the Crimea, but until 1475, most Armenians lived in the Genoese colonies. Under the pressure of the Catholic Church, part of the Armenians went over to the union. Most Armenians, however, remained faithful to the traditional Armenian Gregorian Church. The religious life of the Armenians was very intense. In one Cafe there were 45 Armenian churches. The Armenians were ruled by their community elders. The Armenians were judged according to their own laws, according to their judicial code.
The Armenians were engaged in trade, financial activities, among them there were many skilled craftsmen and builders. In general, the Armenian community flourished in the 13th-15th centuries.
In 1475, the Crimea became dependent on the Ottoman Empire, and the cities of the southern coast, where the main Armenians lived, came under the direct control of the Turks. The conquest of the Crimea by the Turks was accompanied by the death of many Armenians, the withdrawal of part of the population into slavery. The Armenian population has declined sharply. Only in the 17th century did their numbers begin to increase.
During the three centuries of Turkish domination, many Armenians converted to Islam, which led them to be assimilated by the Tatars. Among the Armenians who preserved the Christian faith, the Tatar language and oriental customs became widespread. Nevertheless, the Crimean Armenians did not disappear as an ethnic group. The overwhelming majority of Armenians (up to 90%) lived in cities, being engaged in trade and crafts.
In 1778, the Armenians, together with the Greeks, were evicted to the Azov region, to the lower reaches of the Don. In total, according to the reports of A. V. Suvorov, 12,600 Armenians were deported. They founded the city of Nakhichevan (now part of Rostov-on-Don), as well as 5 villages. Only 300 Armenians remained in Crimea.
However, many Armenians soon returned to the Crimea, and in 1811 they were officially allowed to return to their former place of residence. Approximately one third of the Armenians took advantage of this permission. Temples, lands, city blocks were returned to them; in the Old Crimea and Karasubazar city national self-governing communities were created, until the 1870s a special Armenian court operated.
The result of these government measures, along with the entrepreneurial spirit characteristic of the Armenians, was the prosperity of this Crimean ethnic group. The XIX century in the life of the Crimean Armenians was marked by remarkable achievements, especially in the field of education and culture, associated with the names of the artist I. Aivazovsky, the composer A. Spendiarov, the artist V. Sureniants and others. ), who founded the port city of Novorossiysk in 1838. Among bankers, shipowners, entrepreneurs, Crimean Armenians are also represented quite significantly.
The Crimean Armenian population was constantly replenished due to the influx of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire. By the time of the October Revolution, there were 17,000 Armenians on the peninsula. 70% of them lived in cities.
The years of the civil war took a heavy toll on the Armenians. Although some prominent Bolsheviks came out of the Crimean Armenians (for example, Nikolai Babakhan, Laura Bagaturyants, and others), who played a big role in the victory of their party, but still a significant part of the Armenians of the peninsula belonged, in Bolshevik terminology, to “bourgeois and petty-bourgeois elements” . The war, the repressions of all the Crimean governments, the famine of 1921, the emigration of Armenians, among whom there were indeed representatives of the bourgeoisie, led to the fact that by the beginning of the 20s the number of the Armenian population had decreased by a third. In 1926, there were 11.5 thousand Armenians in Crimea. By 1939, their number reached 12.9 thousand (1.1%).
In 1944 the Armenians were deported. After 1956, the return to the Crimea began. At the end of the 20th century, there were about 5,000 Armenians in Crimea. However, the name of the Crimean city of Armyansk will forever remain a monument to the Crimean Armenians.
Karaites
Crimea is the birthplace of one of the small ethnic groups - the Karaites. They belong to the Turkic peoples, but differ in their religion. The Karaites are Judaists, and they belong to its special branch, the representatives of which are called Karaites (literally, "readers"). The origin of the Karaites is mysterious. The first mention of the Karaites refers only to 1278, but they lived in the Crimea for several centuries earlier. Probably, the Karaites are descendants of the Khazars.
The Turkic origin of the Crimean Karaites has been proven by anthropological studies. The blood groups of the Karaites, their anthropological appearance are more characteristic of the Turkic ethnic groups (for example, for the Chuvash) than for the Semites. According to the anthropologist academician V.P. Alekseev, who studied in detail the craniology (structure of the skulls) of the Karaites, this ethnic group really arose from the mixing of the Khazars with the local population of Crimea.
Recall that the Khazars owned the Crimea in the VIII-X centuries. By religion, the Khazars were Jews, not being ethnic Jews. It is quite possible that some Khazars who settled in the mountainous Crimea preserved the Jewish faith. True, the only problem with the Khazar theory of the origin of the Karaites is the fundamental circumstance that the Khazars adopted orthodox Talmudic Judaism, and the Karaites even have the name of another direction in Judaism. But the Crimean Khazars, after the fall of Khazaria, could well move away from Talmudic Judaism, if only because the Talmudic Jews had not previously recognized the Khazars, like other Jews of non-Jewish origin, as their co-religionists. When the Khazars converted to Judaism, the teachings of the Karaites were still being born among the Jews in Baghdad. It is clear that those Khazars who retained their faith after the fall of Khazaria could take that direction in religion, which emphasized their difference from the Jews. The enmity between the "Talmudists" (that is, the bulk of the Jews) and the "learners" (Karaites) has always been characteristic of the Jews of Crimea. The Crimean Tatars called the Karaites "Jews without sidelocks."
After the defeat of Khazaria by Svyatoslav in 966, the Karaites retained their independence within the boundaries of the historical territory of Kyrk Yera - a district between the rivers Alma and Kacha and gained their own statehood within a small principality with its capital in the fortress city of Kale (now Chufut-Kale). Here was their prince - sar, or biy, in whose hands was the administrative-civil and military power, and the spiritual head - the kagan, or gakhan - of all the Karaites of Crimea (and not just the principality). His competence also included judicial and legal activities. The duality of power, expressed in the presence of both secular and spiritual heads, was inherited by the Karaites from the Khazars.
In 1246, the Crimean Karaites partially moved to Galicia, and in 1397-1398, part of the Karaite warriors (383 families) ended up in Lithuania. Since then, in addition to their historical homeland, the Karaites constantly live in Galicia and Lithuania. In places of residence, the Karaites enjoyed the good attitude of the surrounding authorities, retained their national identity, and had certain benefits and advantages.
At the beginning of the 15th century, Prince Eliazar voluntarily submitted to the Crimean Khan. In gratitude, the khan gave the Karaites autonomy in religious affairs,
The Karaites lived in the Crimea, not particularly standing out among the locals. They made up the majority of the population of the cave city of Chufut-Kale, inhabited quarters in the Old Crimea, Gezlev (Evpatoria), Cafe (Feodosia).
The accession of Crimea to Russia was a high point for this people. The Karaites were exempted from many taxes, they were allowed to acquire land, which turned out to be very profitable when many lands turned out to be empty after the eviction of the Greeks, Armenians and the emigration of many Tatars. The Karaites were exempted from recruitment, although their voluntary entry into military service was welcomed. Many Karaites did choose military professions. Many of them distinguished themselves in battles in defense of the Fatherland. Among them, for example, are the heroes of the Russo-Japanese War, Lieutenant M. Tapsashar, General J. Kefeli. 500 career officers and 200 volunteers of Karaite origin participated in the First World War. Many became Knights of St. George, and a certain Gammal, a brave ordinary soldier, promoted to officer on the battlefield, deserved a full set of soldier's St. George's crosses and at the same time also officer George.
The small Karaite people became one of the most educated and wealthy peoples of the Russian Empire. The Karaites almost monopolized the tobacco trade in the country. By 1913, there were 11 millionaires among the Karaites. The Karaites experienced a population explosion. By 1914, their number reached 16 thousand, of which 8 thousand lived in the Crimea (at the end of the 18th century there were about 2 thousand of them).
Prosperity ended in 1914. Wars and revolution led to the loss of the former economic position of the Karaites. In general, the Karaites in the mass did not accept the revolution. Most of the officers and 18 generals from among the Karaites fought in the white army. Solomon Krym was Minister of Finance in Wrangel's government.
As a result of wars, famines, emigration and repressions, the number has sharply decreased, primarily due to the military and civilian elite. In 1926, 4,213 Karaites remained in the Crimea.
More than 600 Karaites participated in the Great Patriotic War, most of them were awarded military decorations, more than half died and went missing. Artilleryman D. Pasha, naval officer E. Efet and many others became famous among the Karaites in the Soviet army. The most famous of the Soviet military commanders-Karaites was Colonel-General V.Ya. Kolpakchi, participant in the First World and Civil Wars, military adviser in Spain during the war of 1936-39, commander of the armies during the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky (1898-1967), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of the USSR in 1957-67, is often referred to as Karaites, although his Karaite origin has not been proven.
In other areas, the Karaites also produced a large number of prominent people. The famous spy, diplomat and at the same time writer I. R. Grigulevich, composer S. M. Maykapar, actor S. Tongur, and many others are all Karaites.
Mixed marriages, linguistic and cultural assimilation, low birth rates and emigration lead to the fact that the number of Karaites is declining. In the Soviet Union, according to the 1979 and 1989 censuses, 3,341 and 2,803, respectively, lived, including 1,200 and 898 Karaites in Crimea. In the 21st century, about 800 Karaites remained in Crimea.
Krymchaks
Crimea is also the birthplace of another Jewish ethnic group - the Krymchaks. Actually, the Krymchaks, like the Karaites, are not Jews. At the same time, they profess Talmudic Judaism, like most Jews of the world, their language is close to the Crimean Tatar.
Jews appeared in the Crimea even before our era, as evidenced by Jewish burials, the remains of synagogues, and inscriptions in Hebrew. One of these inscriptions dates back to the 1st century BC. In the Middle Ages, Jews lived in the cities of the peninsula, being engaged in trade and crafts. Back in the 7th century, the Byzantine Theophanes the Confessor wrote about the large number of Jews living in Phanagoria (on Taman) and other cities on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In 1309, a synagogue was built in Feodosia, which testified to the large number of Crimean Jews.
It should be noted that the majority of Crimean Jews came from the descendants of local residents converted to Judaism, and not from the Jews of Palestine who emigrated here. Documents dating back to the 1st century have come down to us, on the emancipation of slaves, provided that they were converted to Judaism by their Jewish owners.
Carried out in the 20s. studies of the blood groups of the Krymchaks, conducted by V. Zabolotny, confirmed that the Krymchaks did not belong to the Semitic peoples. However, the Jewish religion contributed to the Jewish self-identification of the Krymchaks, who themselves considered themselves Jews.
Among them, the Turkic language (close to the Crimean Tatar), oriental customs and life, which distinguishes the Crimean Jews from fellow tribesmen in Europe, spread. Their self-name was the word "Krymchak", meaning in Turkic a resident of the Crimea. By the end of the 18th century, about 800 Jews lived in Crimea.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Krymchaks remained a poor and small confessional community. Unlike the Karaites, the Krymchaks did not show themselves in any way in commerce and politics. True, their numbers began to increase rapidly due to high natural growth. By 1912, there were 7.5 thousand people. The civil war, accompanied by numerous anti-Jewish reprisals carried out by all the changing authorities in the Crimea, famine and emigration led to a sharp reduction in the number of Krymchaks. In 1926 there were 6,000 of them.
During the Great Patriotic War, most of the Krymchaks were destroyed by the German invaders. After the war, no more than 1.5 thousand Krymchaks remained in the USSR.
Nowadays, emigration, assimilation (leading to the fact that Krymchaks associate themselves more with Jews), emigration to Israel and the USA, and depopulation finally put an end to the fate of this small Crimean ethnic group.
And yet, let's hope that the small ancient ethnic group, which gave Russia the poet I. Selvinsky, partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union Ya. art, politics and economics will not disappear.
Jews
Jews speaking Yiddish were incomparably more numerous in the Crimea. Since Crimea was part of the "Pale of Settlement", quite a lot of Jews from the right-bank Ukraine began to settle in this fertile land. In 1897, 24.2 thousand Jews lived in Crimea. By the revolution their numbers had doubled. As a result, Jews became one of the largest and most visible ethnic groups on the peninsula.
Despite the reduction in the number of Jews during the years of the civil war, they still remained the third (after the Russians and Tatars) ethnic group of Crimea. In 1926 there were 40 thousand (5.5%). By 1939 their number had increased to 65,000 (6% of the population).
The reason was simple - Crimea in the 20-40s. was considered not only and so much by the Soviet as by the world Zionist leaders as a "national home" for the Jews of the whole world. It is no coincidence that the resettlement of Jews in the Crimea took on significant proportions. It is indicative that while in the whole of Crimea, as well as throughout the country as a whole, urbanization took place, the opposite process took place among the Crimean Jews.
The project on the resettlement of Jews in the Crimea and the creation of Jewish autonomy there was developed back in 1923 by the prominent Bolshevik Yu. Larin (Lurie), and in the spring of the following year was approved by the Bolshevik leaders L.D. Trotsky, L.B. Kamenev, N.I. . It was planned to resettle 96,000 Jewish families (about 500,000 people) in Crimea. However, there were more optimistic figures - 700 thousand by 1936. Larin spoke openly about the need to create a Jewish republic in Crimea.
On December 16, 1924, even a document was signed under such an intriguing title: “On Crimean California” between the “Joint” (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as the American Jewish organization was called, representing the United States in the early years of Soviet power) and Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR. According to this agreement, the "Joint" allocated the USSR 1.5 million dollars a year for the needs of Jewish agricultural communes. The fact that most of the Jews in Crimea were not engaged in agriculture did not matter.
In 1926, the head of the "Joint" James N. Rosenberg came to the USSR, as a result of meetings with the leaders of the country, an agreement was reached on the financing by D. Rosenberg of measures for the resettlement of the Jews of Ukraine and Belarus in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Assistance was also provided by the French Jewish Society, the American Society for the Relief of Jewish Colonization in Soviet Russia, and other organizations of a similar type. On January 31, 1927, a new agreement was signed with Agro-Joint (a subsidiary of the Joint, itself). According to it, the organization allocated 20 million rubles. for the organization of resettlement, the Soviet government allocated 5 million rubles for these purposes.
The planned resettlement of Jews began already in 1924. The reality was not so optimistic.
For 10 years, 22 thousand people settled in the Crimea. They were provided with 21 thousand hectares of land, 4,534 apartments were built. The issues of the resettlement of Jews were dealt with by the Crimean Republican Representation of the Committee on the Land Issue of Working Jews under the Presidium of the Council of Nationalities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (KomZet). Note that for every Jew there was almost 1,000 hectares of land. Almost every Jewish family received an apartment. (This is in the conditions of the housing crisis, which in the resort Crimea was even more acute than in the whole country).
Most of the settlers did not cultivate the land, and mostly dispersed to the cities. By 1933, only 20% of the settlers of 1924 remained on the collective farms of the Freidorf MTS, and 11% on the Larindorf MTS. On individual collective farms, the turnover reached 70%. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, only 17,000 Jews in Crimea lived in the countryside. The project failed. In 1938, the resettlement of Jews was stopped, and KomZet was dissolved. The branch of the "Joint" in the USSR was liquidated by the Decree of the Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of May 4, 1938.
The massive exodus of immigrants led to the fact that the Jewish population did not increase as significantly as might have been expected. By 1941, 70,000 Jews lived in Crimea (excluding Krymchaks).
During the Great Patriotic War, more than 100 thousand Crimeans, including many Jews, were evacuated from the peninsula. Those who remained in the Crimea had to experience all the features of Hitler's "new order" when the occupiers began the final solution of the Jewish question. And already on April 26, 1942, the peninsula was declared "cleared of Jews." Almost everyone who did not have time to evacuate died, including most of the Krymchaks.
However, the idea of Jewish autonomy not only did not disappear, but also acquired a new breath.
The idea of creating a Jewish Autonomous Republic in the Crimea arose again in the late spring of 1943, when the Red Army, having defeated the enemy at Stalingrad and in the North Caucasus, liberated Rostov-on-Don and entered the territory of Ukraine. In 1941, about 5-6 million people fled or evacuated from these territories in a more organized manner. Among them, more than a million were Jews.
In practical terms, the question of creating Jewish Crimean autonomy arose during the preparation of a propaganda and business trip of two prominent Soviet Jews - actor S. Mikhoels and poet I. Fefer to the USA in the summer of 1943. The American Jews were supposed to be enthusiastic about the idea and agree to finance all the costs associated with it. Therefore, a two-person delegation sent to the United States received permission to discuss this project in Zionist organizations.
Among Jewish circles in the United States, the creation of a Jewish republic in the Crimea did seem quite real. Stalin did not seem to mind. Members of the JAC (Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee), created during the war years, during their visits to the United States spoke openly about the creation of a republic in Crimea, as if it were something a foregone conclusion.
Of course, Stalin had no intention of creating Israel in the Crimea. He wanted to make the most of the influential Jewish community in the United States in Soviet interests. As the Soviet intelligence officer P. Sudoplatov, head of the 4th department of the NKVD, responsible for special operations, wrote, “Immediately after the formation of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Soviet intelligence decided to use the connections of the Jewish intelligentsia to find out the possibility of obtaining additional economic assistance through Zionist circles ... From this Mikhoels and Fefer, our trusted agent, were tasked with probing the reaction of influential Zionist organizations to the creation of a Jewish republic in the Crimea. This task of special reconnaissance sounding was successfully completed.
In January 1944, some Jewish leaders of the USSR drafted a memorandum to Stalin, the text of which was approved by Lozovsky and Mikhoels. The “Note”, in particular, stated: “In order to normalize economic growth and the development of Soviet Jewish culture, in order to maximize the mobilization of all the forces of the Jewish population for the benefit of the Soviet Motherland, in order to completely equalize the position of the Jewish masses among the fraternal peoples, we consider it timely and expedient, in order to solve post-war problems, to raise the question of creating a Jewish Soviet socialist republic ... It seems to us that one of the most suitable areas would be the territory of the Crimea, which best meets the requirements both in terms of capacity for resettlement, and due to the existing successful experience in the development of Jewish national regions there ... In the construction of the Jewish Soviet Republic, the Jewish popular masses of all countries of the world, wherever they are, would also provide us with significant assistance.
Even before the liberation of Crimea, the Joint insisted on the transfer of Crimea to the Jews, the eviction of the Crimean Tatars, the withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol, and the formation of an INDEPENDENT Jewish state in Crimea. Moreover, the opening of the 2nd front in 1943. the Jewish lobby linked it to Stalin's fulfillment of his debt obligations to the Joint.
The deportation of Tatars and representatives of other Crimean ethnic groups from Crimea led to the desolation of the peninsula. It seemed that now there would be plenty of room for the arriving Jews.
According to the well-known Yugoslav figure M. Djilas, when asked about the reasons for the deportation of half of the population from Crimea, Stalin referred to the obligations given to Roosevelt to clear the Crimea for the Jews, for which the Americans promised a soft loan of 10 billion.
However, the Crimean project was not implemented. Stalin, having made the most of financial assistance from Jewish organizations, did not begin to create autonomy for the Jews in Crimea. Moreover, even the return to the Crimea of those Jews who were evacuated during the war years turned out to be difficult. Nevertheless, in 1959 there were 26,000 Jews in Crimea. Subsequently, emigration to Israel led to a significant reduction in the number of Crimean Jews.
Crimean Tatars
Since the time of the Huns and the Khazar Khaganate, Turkic peoples began to penetrate into the Crimea, populating so far only the steppe part of the peninsula. In 1223, the Mongols-Tatars attacked the Crimea for the first time. But it was only a run. In 1239 Crimea was conquered by the Mongols and became part of the Golden Horde. The southern coast of the Crimea was under the rule of the Genoese, in the mountainous Crimea there was a small principality of Theodoro and an even smaller principality of the Karaites.
Gradually, from the mixture of many peoples, a new Turkic ethnos began to take shape. At the beginning of the XIV century, the Byzantine historian George Pachimer (1242-1310) wrote: “Over time, having mixed with them (Tatars - ed.) the peoples who lived inside those countries, I mean: Alans, Zikhs (Caucasian Circassians who lived on the coast Taman Peninsula - ed.), Goths, Russians and various peoples with them, learn their customs, along with customs, learn language and clothing and become their allies. The unifying principle for the emerging ethnos was Islam and the Turkic language. Gradually, the Crimean Tatars (who, however, did not call themselves Tatars then) become very numerous and powerful. It is no coincidence that it was the Horde governor in the Crimea, Mamai, who managed to temporarily seize power in the entire Golden Horde. The capital of the Horde governor was the city of Kyrym - "Crimea" (now - the city of Stary Krym), built by the Golden Horde in the valley of the Churuk-Su River in the southeast of the Crimean Peninsula. In the XIV century, the name of the city of Crimea gradually passes to the entire peninsula. The inhabitants of the peninsula began to call themselves "kyrymly" - Crimeans. The Russians called them Tatars, like all the Eastern Muslim peoples. The Crimeans began to call themselves Tatars only when they were already part of Russia. But for convenience, we will still call them Crimean Tatars, even speaking of earlier eras.
In 1441, the Tatars of Crimea created their own khanate under the rule of the Girey dynasty.
Initially, the Tatars were residents of the steppe Crimea, the mountains and the southern coast were still inhabited by various Christian peoples, and they numerically prevailed over the Tatars. However, as Islam spread, new converts from among the indigenous population began to join the ranks of the Tatars. In 1475, the Ottoman Turks defeated the colonies of the Genoese and Theodoro, which led to the subjugation of the entire Crimea to the Muslims.
At the very beginning of the 16th century, Khan Mengli-Girey, having defeated the Great Horde, brought entire uluses of Tatars from the Volga to the Crimea. Their descendants were subsequently called the Yavolgsky (that is, Zavolzhsky) Tatars. Finally, already in the 17th century, many Nogais settled in the steppes near the Crimea. All this led to the strongest Turkization of the Crimea, including part of the Christian population.
A significant part of the population of the mountains, which constituted a special group of Tatars, known as "Tats", was Tatarized. Racially, the Tats belong to the Central European race, that is, outwardly similar to representatives of the peoples of central and eastern Europe. Also gradually joined the number of Tatars and many who converted to Islam, the inhabitants of the southern coast, the descendants of the Greeks, Tauro-Scythians, Italians and other inhabitants of the region. Until the deportation of 1944, the inhabitants of many Tatar villages on the South Shore retained elements of Christian rituals inherited from their Greek ancestors. Racially, the South Coasters belong to the South European (Mediterranean) race and outwardly resemble Turks, Greeks, and Italians. They made up a special group of Crimean Tatars - yalyboylu. Only the steppe Nogai retained elements of the traditional nomadic culture and retained some Mongoloid features in their physical appearance.
The descendants of captives and captives also joined the Crimean Tatars, mainly from the Eastern Slavs who remained on the peninsula. Slaves who became the wives of the Tatars, as well as some men from among the prisoners who converted to Islam and, thanks to the knowledge of some useful crafts, also became Tatars. "Tums", as the children of Russian captives born in the Crimea were called, made up a very large part of the Crimean Tatar population. The following historical fact is indicative: In 1675, the Zaporizhzhya ataman Ivan Sirko, during a successful raid into the Crimea, freed 7 thousand Russian slaves. However, on the way back, about 3,000 of them asked Sirko to let them go back to the Crimea. Most of these slaves were Muslims or Tums. Sirko let them go, but then ordered his Cossacks to catch up and kill them all. This order was carried out. Sirko drove up to the place of the slaughter and said: “Forgive us, brothers, but you yourself sleep here until the Last Judgment of the Lord, instead of multiplying for you in the Crimea, between the infidels on our Christian youthful heads and on your eternal death without forgiveness.”
Of course, despite such ethnic cleansing, the number of Tums and Tatar Slavs in Crimea remained significant.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, part of the Tatars left their homeland, moving to the Ottoman Empire. By the beginning of 1785, 43.5 thousand male souls were taken into account in the Crimea. Crimean Tatars accounted for 84.1% of all inhabitants (39.1 thousand people). Despite the high natural increase, the share of Tatars was constantly decreasing due to the influx of new Russian settlers and foreign colonists to the peninsula. Nevertheless, Tatars made up the vast majority of the Crimean population.
After the Crimean War of 1853-56. under the influence of Turkish agitation, a movement began among the Tatars for emigration to Turkey. The hostilities ravaged the Crimea, the Tatar peasants did not receive any compensation for their material losses, so there were additional reasons for emigration.
Already in 1859, the Nogais of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov began to leave for Turkey. In 1860, a mass exodus of Tatars began from the peninsula itself. By 1864, the number of Tatars in the Crimea decreased by 138.8 thousand people. (from 241.7 to 102.9 thousand people). The scale of emigration frightened the provincial authorities. Already in 1862, the cancellation of previously issued passports began, and refusals to issue new ones. However, the main factor in stopping emigration was the news about what awaits the Tatars in Turkey of the same faith. A mass of Tatars died on the way on overloaded feluccas in the Black Sea. The Turkish authorities simply threw the settlers ashore without providing them with any food. Up to a third of the Tatars died in the first year of life in a country of the same faith. And now the re-emigration to the Crimea has already begun. But neither the Turkish authorities, who understood that the return of Muslims from under the rule of the Caliph again under the rule of the Russian Tsar, would make an extremely unfavorable impression on the Muslims of the world, nor the Russian authorities, who were also afraid of the return of embittered, lost people, were not going to help return to the Crimea.
Less large-scale Tatar exoduses to the Ottoman Empire took place in 1874-75, in the early 1890s, in 1902-03. As a result, most of the Crimean Tatars ended up outside the Crimea.
So the Tatars of their own free will became an ethnic minority in their land. Due to the high natural increase, their number by 1917 reached 216 thousand people, which accounted for 26% of the population of Crimea. In general, during the years of the civil war, the Tatars were politically split, fighting in the ranks of all the fighting forces.
The fact that the Tatars made up a little more than a quarter of the population of the Crimea did not bother the Bolsheviks. Guided by their national policy, they decided to create an autonomous republic. On October 18, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a decree on the formation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the RSFSR. On November 7, the 1st All-Crimean Constituent Congress of Soviets in Simferopol proclaimed the formation of the Crimean ASSR, elected the leadership of the republic and adopted its Constitution.
This republic was not, strictly speaking, purely national. Note that it was not called Tatar. But the “indigenization of personnel” was consistently carried out here as well. Most of the leading cadres were also Tatars. The Tatar language was, along with Russian, the language of office work and schooling. In 1936, there were 386 Tatar schools in the Crimea.
During the Great Patriotic War, the fate of the Crimean Tatars developed dramatically. Part of the Tatars honestly fought in the ranks of the Soviet army. Among them were 4 generals, 85 colonels and several hundred officers. 2 Crimean Tatars became full holders of the Order of Glory, 5 - Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilot Amet-khan Sultan - twice a Hero.
In their native Crimea, some Tatars fought in partisan detachments. So, as of January 15, 1944, there were 3,733 partisans in Crimea, of which 1,944 were Russians, 348 Ukrainians, and 598 Crimean Tatars. of which were predominantly Crimean Tatar.
However, you can’t throw words out of a song. During the occupation of the Crimea, many Tatars were on the side of the Nazis. 20 thousand Tatars (that is, 1/10 of the entire Tatar population) served in the ranks of volunteer units. They were involved in the fight against partisans, and especially actively participated in the massacres of civilians.
In May 1944, literally immediately after the liberation of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars were deported. The total number of deportees was 191 thousand people. Family members of Soviet army fighters, members of the underground and partisan struggle, as well as Tatar women who married representatives of another nationality, were exempted from deportation.
Since 1989, the return of the Tatars to the Crimea began. The repatriation was actively promoted by the Ukrainian authorities, hoping that the Tatars would weaken the Russian movement for the annexation of Crimea to Russia. In part, these expectations of the Ukrainian authorities were confirmed. In the elections to the Ukrainian parliament, the Tatars for the most part voted for Rukh and other independent parties.
In 2001, the Tatars already made up 12% of the population of the peninsula - 243,433 people.
Other ethnic groups of Crimea
Representatives of several small ethnic groups, who also became Crimeans, have been living on the peninsula since joining Russia. We are talking about the Crimean Bulgarians, Poles, Germans, Czechs. Living far from their main ethnic territory, these Crimeans have become ethnic groups in their own right.
Bulgarians in Crimea appeared already at the end of the 18th century, immediately after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia. The first Bulgarian settlement in the Crimea appeared in 1801. The Russian authorities appreciated the industriousness of the Bulgarians, as well as the ability to manage the economy in the subtropics. Therefore, Bulgarian settlers received from the treasury a daily allowance of 10 kopecks per capita, each Bulgarian family was assigned up to 60 acres of state land. Each Bulgarian settler was granted privileges in taxes and other financial obligations for 10 years. After their expiration, they were largely preserved for the next 10 years: the Bulgarians were taxed only with a tax of 15-20 kopecks per tithe. Only after the expiration of twenty years after their arrival in the Crimea, the settlers from Turkey were equalized in tax terms with the Tatars, settlers from Ukraine and Russia.
The second wave of Bulgarians' resettlement in the Crimea came at the time of the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829. About 1000 people arrived. Finally, in the 60s. In the 19th century, the third wave of Bulgarian settlers arrived in Crimea. In 1897, 7,528 Bulgarians lived in the Crimea. It should be noted that the religious and linguistic proximity of the Bulgarians and Russians led to the assimilation of a part of the Crimean Bulgarians.
Wars and revolutions had a heavy impact on the Bulgarians of the Crimea. Their numbers grew rather slowly due to assimilation. In 1939, 17,900 Bulgarians (or 1.4% of the entire population of the peninsula) lived in the Crimea.
In 1944, the Bulgarians were deported from the peninsula, although, unlike the Crimean Tatars, there was no evidence of cooperation between the Bulgarians and the German occupiers. Nevertheless, the entire Crimean-Bulgarian ethnic group was deported. After rehabilitation, the slow process of repatriation of the Bulgarians to the Crimea began. At the beginning of the 21st century, more than 2,000 Bulgarians lived in Crimea.
Czechs appeared in the Crimea a century and a half ago. In the 60s of the XIX century, 4 Czech colonies appeared. The Czechs were distinguished by a high level of education, which paradoxically contributed to their rapid assimilation. In 1930, there were 1,400 Czechs and Slovaks in Crimea. At the beginning of the 21st century, only 1,000 people of Czech origin lived on the peninsula.
Another Slavic ethnic group of Crimea is represented Poles. The first settlers were able to arrive in the Crimea already in 1798, although the mass resettlement of Poles to the Crimea began only in the 60s of the XIX century. It should be noted that since the Poles did not inspire confidence, especially after the 1863 uprising, they were not only not provided with any benefits, like colonists of other nationalities, but were even forbidden to settle in separate settlements. As a result, there were no "purely" Polish villages in the Crimea, and the Poles lived together with the Russians. In all large villages, along with the church, there was also a church. There were also churches in all major cities - Yalta, Feodosia, Simferopol, Sevastopol. As the religion lost its former influence on ordinary Poles, the rapid assimilation of the Polish population of Crimea took place. At the end of the 20th century, about 7 thousand Poles lived in Crimea (0.3% of the population).
Germans appeared in the Crimea already in 1787. Since 1805, German colonies began to appear on the peninsula with their own internal self-government, schools and churches. The Germans arrived from a wide variety of German lands, as well as from Switzerland, Austria and Alsace. In 1865, there were already 45 settlements with a German population in the Crimea.
The benefits granted to the colonists, the fertile natural conditions of the Crimea, the industriousness and organization of the Germans led the colonies to rapid economic prosperity. In turn, news of the economic successes of the colonies contributed to the further influx of Germans into the Crimea. The colonists were characterized by a high birth rate, so the German population of the Crimea grew rapidly. According to the data of the first All-Russian census in 1897, 31,590 Germans lived in Crimea (5.8% of the total population), of which 30,027 were rural residents.
Among the Germans, almost all were literate, the standard of living was significantly above average. These circumstances were reflected in the behavior of the Crimean Germans during the Civil War.
Most of the Germans tried to be "above the fray", not participating in civil strife. But part of the Germans fought for Soviet power. In 1918, the First Yekaterinoslav Communist Cavalry Regiment was formed, which fought against the German invaders in Ukraine and Crimea. In 1919, the First German Cavalry Regiment, as part of Budyonny's army, fought in the south of Ukraine against Wrangel and Makhno. Part of the Germans fought on the side of the whites. So, in the army of Denikin, the Jaeger rifle brigade of the Germans fought. A special regiment of Mennonites fought in Wrangel's army.
In November 1920, Soviet power was finally established in the Crimea. The Germans, who recognized it, continued to live in their colonies and their farms, practically without changing their way of life: the farms were still strong; the children went to their own German-language schools; all issues were resolved jointly within the colonies. Two German regions were officially formed on the peninsula - Biyuk-Onlarsky (now Oktyabrsky) and Telmanovsky (now Krasnogvardeisky). Although many Germans lived in other places of the Crimea. 6% of the German population produced 20% of the gross income from all agricultural products of the Crimean ASSR. Demonstrating complete loyalty to the Soviet government, the Germans tried "not to get involved in politics." It is significant that in the 1920s only 10 Crimean Germans joined the Bolshevik Party.
The standard of living of the German population continued to be much higher than in other national groups, so the burst of collectivization, and after it the mass dispossession of kulaks, affected primarily German households. Despite losses in the Civil War, repressions and emigration, the German population of Crimea continued to grow. In 1921, there were 42,547 Crimean Germans. (5.9% of the total population), in 1926 - 43,631 people. (6.1%), 1939 - 51,299 people. (4.5%), 1941 - 53,000 people. (4.7%).
The Great Patriotic War became the greatest tragedy for the Crimean-German ethnos. In August-September 1941, more than 61,000 people were deported (including approximately 11,000 people of other nationalities who were related to the Germans by family ties). The final rehabilitation of all Soviet Germans, including Crimean ones, followed only in 1972. Since that time, the Germans began to return to the Crimea. In 1989, 2,356 Germans lived in Crimea. Alas, some of the deported Crimean Germans emigrate to Germany, and not to their own peninsula.
East Slavs
Most of the inhabitants of Crimea are Eastern Slavs (we will call them politically correct, given the Ukrainian self-consciousness of some Russians in Crimea).
As already mentioned, the Slavs lived in the Crimea since ancient times. In the X-XIII centuries, the Tmutarakan principality existed in the eastern part of the Crimea. And in the era of the Crimean Khanate, a part of the captives from Great and Little Rus', monks, merchants, diplomats from Russia were constantly on the peninsula. Thus, the Eastern Slavs were part of the permanent indigenous population of Crimea for centuries.
In 1771, when the Crimea was occupied by Russian troops, about 9 thousand Russian freed slaves were freed. Most of them remained in the Crimea, but already as personally free Russian subjects.
With the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783, the settlement of the peninsula by settlers from all over the Russian Empire began. Literally immediately after the manifesto of 1783 on the annexation of Crimea, by order of G. A. Potemkin, the soldiers of the Yekaterinoslav and Phanagoria regiments were left to live in the Crimea. Married soldiers were given leave at public expense so that they could take their families to the Crimea. In addition, girls and widows were summoned from all over Russia to agree to marry soldiers and move to the Crimea.
Many nobles who received estates in the Crimea began to transfer their serfs to the Crimea. State peasants also moved to the state lands of the peninsula.
Already in 1783-84, in the Simferopol district alone, the settlers formed 8 new villages and, in addition, settled together with the Tatars in three villages. In total, by the beginning of 1785, 1,021 males from among the Russian settlers were registered here. The new Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91 somewhat slowed down the influx of immigrants to the Crimea, but did not stop it. During 1785 - 1793, the number of registered Russian settlers reached 12.6 thousand male souls. In general, Russians (together with Little Russians) for several years of Crimea's being part of Russia amounted to approximately 5% of the population of the peninsula. In fact, there were even more Russians, since many runaway serfs, deserters and Old Believers sought to avoid any contact with representatives of official authorities. Freed former slaves were not counted. In addition, tens of thousands of military personnel are constantly stationed in the strategically important Crimea.
The constant migration of Eastern Slavs to the Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. After the Crimean War and the mass emigration of the Tatars to the Ottoman Empire, which led to the emergence of a large amount of "no man's" fertile land, new thousands of Russian settlers arrived in Crimea.
Gradually, the local Russian residents began to form special features of the economy and life, caused both by the peculiarities of the geography of the peninsula and its multinational character. In the statistical report on the population of the Taurida province for 1851, it was noted that Russians (Great Russians and Little Russians) and Tatars walk in clothes and shoes, not much different from each other. The dishes are used equally clay, made at home, and copper, made by Tatar masters. Ordinary Russian carts were soon replaced by Tatar carts upon arrival in the Crimea.
Since the second half of the 19th century, the main wealth of Crimea - its nature - has made the peninsula a center of recreation and tourism. Palaces of the imperial family and influential nobles began to appear on the coast, thousands of tourists began to arrive for rest and treatment. Many Russians began to strive to settle in the fertile Crimea. So the influx of Russians into the Crimea continued. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russians became the predominant ethnic group in Crimea. Given the high degree of Russification of many Crimean ethnic groups, the Russian language and culture (which have largely lost their local characteristics) absolutely prevailed in Crimea.
After the revolution and the Civil War, the Crimea, which turned into an "all-Union health resort", continued to attract Russians as before. However, Little Russians began to arrive, who were considered a special people - Ukrainians. Their share in the population increased from 8% to 14% in the 1920s and 1930s.
In 1954, N.S. Khrushchev annexed the Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic with a voluntaristic gesture. The result was the Ukrainization of Crimean schools and offices. In addition, the number of Crimean Ukrainians has sharply increased. Actually, some of the "real" Ukrainians began to arrive in Crimea as early as 1950, according to the government's "Plans for the settlement and transfer of the population to the collective farms of the Crimean region." After 1954, new settlers from the western Ukrainian regions began to arrive in Crimea. The settlers were given whole wagons for moving, where all the property (furniture, utensils, decorations, clothes, multi-meter canvases of homespun cloth), livestock, poultry, apiaries, etc. could fit. Numerous Ukrainian officials arrived in Crimea, which had the status of an ordinary region within the Ukrainian SSR. . Finally, since it became prestigious to be Ukrainian, some Crimeans also turned into Ukrainians by passport.
In 1989, 2,430,500 people lived in Crimea (67.1% Russians, 25.8% Ukrainians, 1.6% Crimean Tatars, 0.7% Jews, 0.3% Poles, 0.1% Greeks).
The collapse of the USSR and the declaration of independence of Ukraine caused economic and demographic catastrophes in Crimea. In 2001, there were 2,024,056 people in Crimea. But in fact, the demographic catastrophe of Crimea is even worse, since the decline in the population was partially compensated by the Tatars returning to Crimea.
In general, at the beginning of the 21st century, Crimea, despite its centuries-old polyethnicity, remains predominantly Russian in terms of population. During the two decades of being a part of independent Ukraine, Crimea has repeatedly demonstrated its Russianness. Over the years, the number of Ukrainians and returning Crimean Tatars in Crimea has increased, thanks to which official Kyiv was able to get a certain number of its supporters, but, nevertheless, the existence of Crimea within Ukraine seems to be problematic.
Crimean SSR (1921-1945). Questions and answers. Simferopol, "Tavria", 1990, p. 20
Sudoplatov P.A. Intelligence and the Kremlin. M., 1996, pp. 339-340
From the secret archives of the Central Committee of the CPSU. Sweet peninsula. Note about Crimea / Comments by Sergey Kozlov and Gennady Kostyrchenko//Motherland. - 1991.-№11-12. - pp. 16-17
From Cimmerians to Krymchaks. The peoples of Crimea from ancient times to the end of the XVIII century. Simferopol, 2007, p. 232
Shirokorad A. B. Russian-Turkish wars. Minsk, Harvest, 2000, p. 55
Before the capture of Crimea by the Mongol-Tatars and the reign of the Golden Horde, many peoples lived on the peninsula, their history goes back centuries, and only archaeological finds indicate that the indigenous peoples of Crimea settled the peninsula 12,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic. The sites of ancient people have been found in Shankob, in the Kachinsky and Alimov canopy, in Fatmakob and in other places. It is known that the religion of these ancient tribes was totemism, and they buried the dead in log cabins, pouring high mounds on top of them.
Cimmerians (IX-VII centuries BC)
The first people that historians wrote about were the ferocious Cimmerians, who inhabited the plains of the Crimean peninsula. The Cimmerians were Indo-Europeans or Iranians and were engaged in agriculture; the ancient Greek geographer Strabo wrote about the existence of the capital of the Cimmerians - Kimerida, which was located on the Taman Peninsula. It is believed that the Cimmerians brought metalworking and pottery to the Crimea, their fat herds were guarded by huge wolfhounds. The Cimmerians wore leather jackets and trousers, and pointed hats crowned their heads. Information about this people exists even in the archives of the king of Assyria Ashurbanipal: the Cimmerians more than once invaded Asia Minor and Thrace. Homer and Herodotus, the Ephesian poet Callinus and the Milesian historian Hecataeus wrote about them.
The Cimmerians left the Crimea under the onslaught of the Scythians, part of the people joined the Scythian tribes, and part went to Europe.
Taurus (VI century BC - I century AD)
Tauri - so the Greeks who visited the Crimea called the formidable tribes living here. The name may have been connected with the cattle breeding they were engaged in, because “tauros” means “bull” in Greek. It is not known where the Tauri came from, some scientists tried to connect them with the Indo-Aryans, others considered them Goths. It is with the Tauris that the culture of dolmens, ancestral burial places, is associated.
The Taurians cultivated the land and grazed cattle, hunted in the mountains and did not disdain sea robbery. Strabo mentioned that the Taurians gather in the Symbolon Bay (Balaklava), stray into gangs and rob ships. The most vicious tribes were considered arihi, sinhi and napei: their battle cry made the blood of enemies freeze; Tauri opponents were stabbed to death, and their heads were nailed to the walls of their temples. The historian Tacitus wrote how the Taurians killed the Roman legionnaires who had escaped the shipwreck. In the 1st century, the Taurians disappeared from the face of the earth, dissolving among the Scythians.
Scythians (7th century BC - 3rd century AD)
The Scythian tribes came to the Crimea, retreating under the pressure of the Sarmatians, here they switched to settled life and absorbed part of the Taurians and even mixed with the Greeks. In the 3rd century, a Scythian state appeared on the plains of Crimea with the capital Naples (Simferopol), which actively competed with the Bosporus, but in the same century it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians. Those who survived were finished off by the Goths and Huns; the remnants of the Scythians mixed with the autochthonous population and ceased to exist as a separate people.
Sarmatians (IV-III centuries BC)
The Sartmatians, in turn, added to the genetic heterogeneity of the peoples of the Crimea, dissolving into its population. The Roksolans, the Iazygs and the Aorses fought with the Scythians for centuries, penetrating into the Crimea. With them came the warlike Alans, who settled in the south-west of the peninsula and founded the Gotho-Alans community, having adopted Christianity. Strabo in Geography writes about the participation of 50,000 Roxolani in an unsuccessful campaign against the Pontics.
Greeks (VI century BC)
The first Greek colonists settled the Crimean coast during the time of the Taurians; here they built the cities of Kerkinitida, Panticapaeum, Chersonese and Theodosius, which in the 5th century BC. formed two states: Bosporus and Chersonese. The Greeks lived off horticulture and winemaking, fished, traded and minted their own coins. With the onset of a new era, the states fell into submission to Pontus, then to Rome and to Byzantium.
From the 5th to the 9th century AD in the Crimea, a new ethnic group "Crimean Greeks" arose, whose descendants were the Greeks of antiquity, Taurians, Scythians, Gotoalans and Turks. In the 13th century, the center of Crimea was occupied by the Greek principality of Theodoro, which was captured by the Ottomans at the end of the 15th century. Some of the Crimean Greeks who have preserved Christianity still live in Crimea.
Romans (1st century AD - 4th century AD)
The Romans appeared in the Crimea at the end of the 1st century, defeating the king of Panticapaeum (Kerch) Mithridates VI Eupator; soon, Chersonese, suffering from the Scythians, asked for their protection. The Romans enriched the Crimea with their culture by building fortresses on Cape Ai-Todor, in Balaklava, on Alma-Kermen and left the peninsula after the collapse of the empire - about this in the work "Population of the mountainous Crimea in late Roman times" writes Professor of Simferopol University Igor Khrapunov.
Goths (III-XVII centuries)
The Goths lived in Crimea - a Germanic tribe that appeared on the peninsula during the Great Migration of Nations. The Christian saint Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Goths were engaged in agriculture, and their nobility held military posts in the Bosporus, which the Goths took control of. Having become the owners of the Bosporan fleet, in 257 the Germans undertook a campaign against Trebizond, where they seized countless treasures.
The Goths settled in the north-west of the peninsula and in the 4th century formed their own state - Gothia, which stood for nine centuries and only then partially entered the principality of Theodoro, and the Goths themselves were apparently assimilated by the Greeks and the Ottoman Turks. Most of the Goths eventually became Christians, their spiritual center was the fortress of Doros (Mangup).
For a long time, Gothia was a buffer between the hordes of nomads pushing against the Crimea from the north, and Byzantium in the south, survived the invasions of the Huns, Khazars, Tatar-Mongols and ceased to exist after the invasion of the Ottomans.
Catholic priest Stanislav Sestrenevich-Bogush wrote that back in the 18th century, the Goths lived near the Mangup fortress, their language was similar to German, but they were all Islamized.
Genoese and Venetians (XII-XV centuries)
Merchants from Venice and Genoa appeared on the Black Sea coast in the middle of the 12th century; having concluded an agreement with the Golden Horde, they founded trading colonies, which lasted until the capture of the coast by the Ottomans, after which their few inhabitants were assimilated.
In the 4th century, cruel Huns invaded the Crimea, some of which settled in the steppes and mixed with the Goths-Alans. And also Jews, Armenians who fled from the Arabs, moved to Crimea, Khazars, Eastern Slavs, Polovtsy, Pechenegs and Bulgars visited here, and it is not surprising that the peoples of Crimea are not alike, because in their veins the blood of various peoples flows.
Every self-respecting person tries to study the past. With such a wealth of knowledge, we can draw conclusions about the phenomena and processes that took place in a certain area. In addition, they say that a happy future can be built only after realizing the mistakes of the ancestors.
Knowing the life and work of people who lived many years ago is also an incredibly exciting experience. All ever-existing peoples, ethnic groups, countries are interesting in their own way. A special place in science is occupied by the history of the Crimea - a beautiful peninsula that has repeatedly become the cause of disagreements between different tribes and states.
Chronological information about the ancient Crimea:
1) Paleolithic in the history of Crimea:
From 5 million years ago to the middle of the 9th millennium BC.
It includes:
Lower (early) Paleolithic periods:
- Olduvai, from 5-7 million years ago to 700 thousand years ago;
- Ashel, about 700 - 100 thousand years ago.
Middle (Mousterian) Paleolithic: from 100 to 40 thousand years BC
Upper (late) Paleolithic, from 35 thousand years to 9 thousand years BC
2) Mesolithic in the history of Crimea: from the end of 9 to 6 thousand years BC.
3) Neolithic in the history of Crimea: from 5 to the beginning of 4 thousand years BC.
4) Eneolithic in the history of Crimea: from the middle of 4 to 3 thousand years BC.
The history of the appearance of the first people
on the territory of the ancient Crimea, their appearance and range
However, the question of the existence of the peninsula itself remains open. In 1996, American geologists from Columbia University published a scientifically based assumption that the ancient Crimea was part of the landmass until about 5600 BC. e. They claimed that the Flood described in the Bible was the result of a breakthrough in the Mediterranean Sea, after which 155,000 square meters were under water. km. the territory of the planet, the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov and the Crimean Peninsula appeared. This version is either confirmed or refuted. But it seems quite plausible.
Be that as it may, science knows that Neanderthals already lived in the Crimea 300-250 thousand years ago. They chose the caves of the foothills. Unlike the Pithecanthropes, who apparently settled only on the South Coast, these people also occupied the eastern part of the present peninsula. To date, scientists have managed to study about ten sites that belonged to the Acheulian era (early Paleolithic): Chernopolie, Shara I-III, Tsvetochnoye, Bodrak I-III, Alma, Bakla, etc.
Among those Neanderthal sites of the ancient Crimea, which are known to historians, the most popular is Kiik-Koba, located near the river. Zuya. Its age is 150-100 thousand years.
On the way from Feodosia to Simferopol, there is another witness to the early history of the Crimea - the Wolf Grotto site. It arose in the era of the Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) and belonged to a type of person who was not yet Cro-Magnon, but also differed from Pithecanthropus.
Other similar dwellings are also known. For example, at Cape Meganom near Sudak, in Kholodnaya Balka, Chokurcha in the Simferopol region, a cave near Mount Ak-Kaya near Belogorsk, parking lots of the Bakhchisaray region (Staroselye, Shaitan-Koba, Kobazi).
The Middle Paleolithic period of the history of Crimea is characterized by the development of the southern coast of the territory of the modern peninsula, its mountainous part and foothills.
Neanderthals were short and had relatively short legs. When walking, they slightly bent their knees and placed their lower limbs. The brow ridges of the people of the ancient Stone Age hung over the eyes. The presence of a heavy lower jaw, which almost did not protrude, suggests the beginning of the development of speech.
After the Neanderthals in the Late Paleolithic era, 38 thousand years ago, the Cro-Magnons appeared. They were more like us, had a high forehead without an overhanging roller, a protruding chin, which is why they are called people of the modern type. There are Cro-Magnon camps in the river valley. Belbek, on Karabi-yayla and over the river. Kacha. The ancient Crimea of the late Paleolithic era was a fully populated territory.
The end of 9-6 thousand BC. e. in history it is customary to call the Mesolithic era. Then the ancient Crimea acquires more modern features. Scientists know many sites that can be attributed to this time. In the mountainous part of the peninsula, these are Laspi, Murzak-Koba VII, Fatma-Koba, etc.
Cherry I and Kukrek are the most famous historical monuments of the Mesolithic era in the Crimean steppe.
The Neolithic falls on 5500-3200 years. BC e. The New Stone Age in the ancient Crimea was marked by the beginning of the use of clay kitchen utensils. At the very end of the era, the first metal products appeared. To date, about fifty open-type Neolithic sites have been studied. During this period of the history of Crimea, there were much fewer dwellings located in grottoes. The most famous settlements are Dolinka in the steppe part of the peninsula and Tash-Air I in the mountains.
From the middle of 4 thousand BC. e. the ancient inhabitants of the peninsula began to use copper. This period is called the Eneolithic. It was relatively short-lived, smoothly passed into the Bronze Age, but was marked by a number of burial mounds and sites (for example, Gurzuf, Laspi I in the south, Druzhnoye and the last layer of Fatma-Koba in the mountainous Crimea). The so-called "shell heaps", which are located on the coastline from Sudak to the Black Sea, also belong to the copper-stone era. The area of farmers of that time - the Kerch Peninsula, the valley of the river. Salgir, northwestern Crimea
Tools of labor and the first weapon in the ancient Crimea
The people who inhabited the ancient Crimea at first used stone axes. 100-35 thousand years ago they began to make flint and obsidian flakes, made objects from stone and wood, for example, axes. Cro-Magnons guessed that with the help of crushed bones you can sew. Neoanthropes (people of the late Paleolithic era) hunted with spears and points, invented side-scrapers, throwing twigs, harpoons. A spear-thrower appeared.
The greatest achievement of the Mesolithic is the development of the bow and arrows. To date, a large number of microliths have been found, which were used in this era as spearheads, arrows, etc. In connection with the advent of individual hunting, traps for animals were invented.
In the Neolithic, tools made of bones and silicon were improved. Rock art makes it possible to understand that cattle breeding and agriculture prevailed over hunting. The ancient Crimea of this period of history began to live a different life, hoes, plows, sickles with silicon inserts, tiles for grinding grain, yokes appeared.
At the beginning of the Eneolithic, the ancient Crimeans already thoroughly worked the stone. At the dawn of the era, even copper tools repeated the shape of pre-existing stone products.
Life, religion and culture of the inhabitants of ancient Crimea
People of the Paleolithic era initially led a wandering lifestyle, they were like a primitive herd. The consanguineous community appeared in the Mousterian period. Each tribe had 50 to 100 or more members. Active relationships within such a social group gave rise to the development of speech. Battling hunting and gathering were the main activities of the first inhabitants of the Crimea. In the late Paleolithic, the driven method of hunting appeared, neoanthropes began to fish.
Hunting magic was gradually born, in the Middle Paleolithic a rite of burial of the dead arose.
From the cold climate had to hide in caves. In Kiik-Kobe, scientists found the ashes that remained after the fire. In the same place, right inside the primitive house, the burial of a woman and a one-year-old child was discovered. There was a spring nearby.
As the temperature warmed, the usual cold-loving animals disappeared. Mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, steppe bison, musk ox, giant deer, lion, hyena were replaced by previously unknown small representatives of the fauna. The scarcity of food made us think about new ways of obtaining food. As the mental abilities of the inhabitants of the ancient Crimea developed, weapons that were revolutionary for that time appeared.
With the advent of the Cro-Magnon man, the family way of the inhabitants of the ancient Crimea changes - the tribal matriarchal community becomes the basis of interpersonal relations. The descendants of the cave dwellers began to settle on the plains. New houses were built from bones and branches. They looked like huts and semi-dugouts. Therefore, in case of bad weather, it was often necessary to return to the caves, where cult worship was also held. The Cro-Magnons still lived in large clans of about 100 people each. Incest was forbidden in order to marry, men left for another community. As before, the dead were buried in grottoes and caves, next to them were placed things that were used during life. Red and yellow ocher were found in the graves. The dead were tied up. In the late Paleolithic there was a cult of a woman-mother. Art appeared immediately. The rock carvings of animals and the ritual use of their skeletons testify to the origin of animism and totemism.
Mastering the bow and arrows made it possible to go on an individual hunt. The inhabitants of the ancient Crimea of the Mesolithic era began to engage in gathering more actively. In parallel, they began to tame dogs, built pens for young wild goats, horses and wild boars. The art manifested itself in rock art and miniature sculpture. They began to intervene the dead, tying them in a crouched position. Burials were oriented to the East.
In the Neolithic era, in addition to the main dwellings, there were temporary sites. They were built for the season, mainly in the steppe, and with the advent of cold weather they hid in the caves of the foothills. The settlements consisted of wooden houses, still looking like huts. A characteristic feature of this period in the history of the ancient Crimea is the emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding.
This process was called the Neolithic Revolution. Since then, pigs, goats, sheep, horses and cattle have become domestic animals. In addition, the ancestors of modern man gradually learned how to sculpt pottery. It was rough, but allowed to realize the basic economic needs. Already at the end of the Neolithic, thin-walled pots with ornaments appeared. Barter trade was born.
During the excavations, a burial was found, a real cemetery, where from year to year the dead were buried, previously sprinkling them with red ocher, decorating them with beads made of bones, deer teeth. The study of funeral gifts made it possible to conclude that the patriarchal system was born: there were fewer items in women's graves. However, the inhabitants of the Crimea of the Neolithic era still worshiped the female deities of the Virgin-Huntress and the Goddess of Fertility.
With the advent of the Eneolithic, life in the ancient Crimea radically changes - houses with adobe floors and hearths appear. Stone has already been used for their construction. Over time, cities grew, fortifications were erected. Wall painting became more common, and three-color geometric designs were found on the chests of the time in which the ashes were buried. Mysterious vertical stelae - menhirs - is a phenomenon of the Crimean Eneolithic, probably a cult place. In Europe, they worshiped the Sun in this way.
Where are the archaeological finds representing the ancient Crimea stored?
Many archaeological finds of the ancient Crimea are preserved in Simferopol in the form of exhibits of the Crimean Republican Museum of Local Lore.
In the Bakhchisaray Historical and Architectural Museum you can see the world-famous flint products, stucco utensils and tools from the Eneolithic.
To explore the variety of artifacts of the ancient Crimea, it is worth visiting the Evpatoria Museum of Local Lore, the Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum, the museums of Yalta, Feodosia and other settlements of the peninsula.
The history of Crimea from the Paleolithic in the form of numerous tools, various utensils, clothes, weapons, monoliths and other ancient objects is a kind of journey into the world of ancestors.
Be sure to visit the museums of Crimea!
INLIGHT
