The Crimean Khanate is a state entity that existed from 1441 to 1783.
The Crimean Khanate was formed as a result of the fragmentation of the Golden Horde. As a state completely independent from anyone, the Crimean Khanate did not last long.
Already in 1478, the Khanate’s large neighbor, the Ottoman Empire, made a military campaign into the territory of Crimea. Its result was the establishment of vassal dependence of the Crimean Khan on the Ottoman emperor.
Crimean Khanate on the map
History of the formation of the Crimean Khanate
In the 15th century, the Golden Horde was on the verge of collapse and the Crimean Khanate had already settled quite firmly on the territory of the peninsula. In 1420, the Khanate was practically separated from the Golden Horde and became an almost independent state.
After the death of the Khan of the Golden Horde in 1420, a struggle for power began in the Khanate and was won by the future founder of the dynasty, Hadji I Giray. Already in 1427, Giray declared himself the ruler of the Khanate. And only in 1441 the people declared him khan, after which Hadji Giray sat on the throne.
The Golden Horde was so weakened that it was no longer able to field troops against the rebel Crimean Khanate. The year 1441 is considered the beginning of the existence of a new state, when the full-fledged Crimean Khan began to rule.
The rise of the Crimean Khanate
In 1480, the Tatars captured Kyiv, severely destroyed the city and plundered it, earning the satisfaction of the Moscow prince Ivan III. Diplomatic and trade relations are established between the Moscow kingdom and the khanate. At the end of the 70s, the Tatars attacked the Byzantine principality of Theodoro, the last stronghold of the empire. Under their onslaught, the principality was destroyed, and the lands were included in the Khanate.
In the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate reached the peak of its power. The khans pursued an active foreign policy, oriented towards wars of conquest and numerous predatory raids, mainly against Poland and the Russian kingdom. The main goal of the raids was not just booty, but living people who were turned into slaves. The khans took slaves to the slave city of Kafa, from where they were sold in most cases to the Ottoman Empire.
warriors of the Crimean Khanate photo
The production of slaves was an important economic activity for any Tatar warrior. In the Crimean Khanate itself, slavery was greatly limited; they were released after six years according to customs.
In 1571, the Khanate gained military power and, despite the agreement with Muscovy, made a daring campaign, the reward being the capital of the state - Moscow. The Tatars captured Moscow, after which they plundered and burned it. In addition, the Tatars killed about a hundred thousand inhabitants and took fifty thousand prisoners. This was a serious blow for Moscow. A year later, the kingdom took revenge, but still paid a large tribute to the Tatars every year, until the accession of the young Peter I to the throne.
In the middle of the 17th century, the Tatars helped Bogdan Khmelnitsky in the war against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. During their campaigns they capture large amounts of booty and prisoners. However, at the decisive moment, the Tatars betray the Cossacks and return home, which became the reason for the defeat of the national liberation war of Bohdan Khmelnitsky. Until the end of the century, the Tatars, together with the Ottomans, participated in a series of wars against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth (successfully) and the Muscovite kingdom (less successfully).
Crimean Khanate and Russia
During the Northern War between Moscow and Sweden, the Tatars take the side of Sweden and the Cossacks, who were allies of the Swedish king. During the Battle of Poltava, the Tatars were forbidden to go to war against Moscow, but already in 1711 they set out with a large army to plunder Russian cities.
The young Tsar Peter I tried to defeat the Tatar army, but they surrounded the Tsar, and Peter was almost captured. The Moscow Tsar was forced to pay a large ransom and conclude a peace with the Tatars that was unfavorable for his state. This was the last rise of the Crimean Khanate - in subsequent years, Peter I would prepare a new type of army and create a powerful dynasty that would destroy the Khanate.
Undermining the power of the Khanate
In 1735-1738, the Crimean Khan was absent with his army, and the Russian army took advantage of this situation - Crimea was completely plundered, and the Khan returned to the ashes. In 1736, the Russian army attacks Bakhchisarai and burns it, and kills all the inhabitants who did not manage to escape. After the first campaign, hunger and disease reigned in Crimea, and only they became the reasons that the Russian army refused to go on another campaign.
In the period from 1736 to 1738, the economy of the Khanate was almost completely destroyed - a huge part of the population was exterminated, and the rest was under threat of death from cholera. The most important cities for the state also lay in ruins.
Crimean Khanate. captured photos
In 1768, the Crimean Khanate, together with the Ottoman Porte, waged war against the Russian Empire, which at that moment was already ruled by the ambitious Catherine II. During the fighting, the Tatars suffer a crushing defeat, which calls into question the existence of the state at all. However, Catherine, for a number of reasons, did not want to completely liquidate the Khanate, but only demanded that the Ottoman Empire renounce vassalage over the Crimean Khan.
During the war, the territory of the Khanate was once again plundered and the cities burned. In addition, the southern part of the peninsula came under the control of the Ottoman Empire, which was no longer an ally of the Khanate.
Rulers
The most famous khans were:
- Haji I Giray, the founder of the Crimean Khanate and the ancestor of the dynasty, managed to create a strong state;
- Mengli I Giray - during his reign, the Khanate established close relations with the Ottoman Empire, was the grandfather of Suleiman the Magnificent;
- Sahib I Giray - during his reign he built the future capital of the state - Bakhchisarai;
- Islyam III Giray - participated in the national liberation war of Bohdan Khmelnitsky and the independence of the Zaporozhye liberties against the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Culture
From the very beginning of their existence, the Crimean Tatars were believers of Islam. However, in most of the Nogai tribes, which were also part of the Khanate, old pagan traditions still remained, including shamanism. Despite the fact that the Tatars were considered an exclusively nomadic people, they still built cities and defensive fortresses.
Crimean Khanate. embroidered belts photo
Although the Tatars loved to live in the middle of an open field where they raised cattle, many still preferred to live in cities where they were protected by walls. The Tatars were actively engaged in winemaking, smelting iron and making high-quality sabers. Women weaved, embroidered, sewed.
Being deeply religious, the khans built a huge number of mosques. More than one and a half thousand mosques were built in Crimea alone before the 18th century.
Wars
In the Crimean Khanate, war was a way of survival, so absolutely all male representatives were liable for military service: from small to large feudal lords. For a long period of time, the Crimean Khanate did not create regular troops. During the hostilities, the Crimean Khan called up the entire male population of the khanate and went to war with a huge militia army.
Every boy had to learn military craft from an early age. The most important point of his training was horse riding, because the Tatars fought on horseback. The Crimean Tatars rarely attacked regular armies first, but only raided neighboring territories and only if they were sure that the raid would end successfully.
Poor people willingly wanted to go on a campaign, because the loot that they got during the fighting went to them, with the exception of a fifth of the loot, which was taken by the khan. The Tatars loved to fight in light armor and weapons. A light saddle or just a skin was put on the horse. They protected themselves either by ordinary clothing or wore light armor.
The favorite weapon of the Tatars is the saber. Also, every Tatar warrior had a bow and arrows. Ropes were indispensable during the campaign; the Tatars used them to tie up prisoners. Noble Tatar warriors could afford chain mail. On military campaigns, the Tatars did not even take tents with them. Sources say that they slept right in the open air.
The Tatars could only fight in the open field, where they could use their advantage in cavalry and numerical superiority. If the horde did not have a numerical advantage, they tried to avoid battle. The Tatars did not like to besiege fortresses, because they did not have siege weapons for this.
Joining Russia
The last Crimean Khan, Shahin Giray, tried to save his state and completely reform it, making the Khanate a European-style state. The reforms did not gain popularity among ordinary people, and the khan was expelled from his own country. Ordinary Tatars began to raid Russian territories again, regardless of the agreements.
At the beginning of the 1780s, the Khanate no longer had any financial means for existence, no economy, no army that could, if necessary, protect the few Crimean people. In April 1783, Catherine II issued a decree stating that the Crimean Khanate would be liquidated as a state unit and become part of the Russian Empire. In 1784, Catherine proclaimed herself empress of these lands. And in 1791, the Ottoman Empire officially recognized that Crimea was a Russian possession.
- There is information that the ancestors of the Tatars reached the shores of Japan in the 7th century AD and there taught the local population the art of forging swords from first-class steel. Later, the Japanese improved the technology somewhat and began to forge the legendary swords - “katanas”. It is likely that it was the Tatars who contributed to this process;
- The population of the Crimean Khanate was extremely educated - almost all Tatars could speak and write fluently in the Tatar language.
In the middle of the 15th century, when the Golden Horde, weakened by civil strife, began to disintegrate, the Crimean yurt turned into an independent khanate. It was formed after a long struggle with the Golden Horde by Hadji Giray, the first Crimean Khan, founder of the famous Giray dynasty, which ruled Crimea for more than three hundred years. The Crimean Khanate, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, included the Dnieper and Azov regions.
Under the second Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey (1466-1515), the city of Bakhchisarai, the capital of the Crimean Khanate, was founded. Khan Adil-Sahib-Girey in the middle of the 16th century finally moved the khan’s residence to Bakhchisarai, where the khan’s palace was built. The name of the city Bakhchisarai translates as “palace in the garden”. In total, in the entire history of the Crimean Khanate there were 44 khans.
Having freed itself from the Golden Horde, the Khanate already in 1478 fell into vassal dependence on Ottoman Turkey.
Taking advantage of the internecine struggle for power between the sons of Hadji Giray, the Turkish Sultan invaded Crimea in 1475. The Turks captured Kafa, Sogdaya (Sudak), all Genoese settlements and fortifications of the southeastern and southern coasts.
The peninsula was surrounded by a chain of Turkish fortresses: Inkerman (formerly Kalamita), Gezlev (Evpatoria), Perekop, Arabat, Yeni-Kale. The cafe, renamed Keffe, became the residence of the Sultan's governor in Crimea.
Since 1478, the Crimean Khanate officially became a vassal of the Ottoman Porte and remained in this capacity until the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774. Turkish sultans confirmed or appointed and removed Crimean khans.
And yet the Khanate did not lose its statehood, and the khans sometimes pursued a policy independent of the Porte and actively participated in the events taking place in Eastern Europe.
After the Turks captured Constantinople and the Genoese possessions in the Crimea, the peninsula lost its former importance in the trade of Western Europe with the countries of the East. The position of a vassal of Turkey aggravated the economic and political backwardness of the Crimean Khanate.
The Crimean feudal lords preferred to look for a way out of the difficult economic situation in beshbash - predatory raids on neighboring countries to seize booty and wealth. The slave trade in the Khanate, which began with Mengli Giray, turned into a trade, and Crimea became the largest international slave market. True, starting from the fifteenth century, the Zaporozhye Sich became a serious obstacle to raids not only on Ukrainian, but also on Moscow and Polish lands.
The heyday of the Crimean Khanate occurred at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. At this time, culture and art noticeably developed in the Khanate. Architecture has reached a high level. Beautiful mosques, fountains, and water pipelines were built, for which many European, especially Italian, architects were involved.
The main fortress at the entrance to the peninsula was Perekopskaya, which was the gateway to Crimea. The functions of protecting Crimea were performed by the fortress cities of Arabat and Kerch. The trading ports were Gezlev and Kafa. Military garrisons (mostly Turkish, partly local Greeks) were also maintained in Balaklava, Sudak, Kerch, and Cafe.
The state religion on the territory of Crimea was Islam, and shamanism dominated among the Nogai tribes. According to Sharia, every Muslim must participate in wars with infidels. Military activity was mandatory for both large and small feudal lords.
The entire period of the 15th - 18th centuries was a time of almost continuous border conflicts and wars. Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and other countries were constantly in a state of great tension, since not only the border lands, but also the deep territories of the states were threatened by the possibility of a Tatar invasion. The Turkish government often sent janissary troops and artillery to strengthen the military power of the Tatar army.
The devastating Tatar-Turkish attacks increased from year to year. So, for example, if from 1450 to 1586 there were 84 Tatar attacks on Ukrainian lands, then from 1600 to 1647 - over 70. The objects of Turkish-Tatar attacks were, first of all, cities and towns on the territory of Ukraine.
In the summer of 1571, all Crimean forces led by Khan Davlet-Girey marched on Moscow. Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his corps of guardsmen barely escaped capture. Khan positioned himself near the walls of Moscow and set fire to settlements. Within a few hours, a huge fire destroyed the city. Losses among residents were enormous. On the way back, the Tatars plundered 30 cities and districts, and more than 60 thousand Russian captives were taken into slavery.
Relations with Crimea were extremely difficult for European countries, since in addition to military methods - raids, wars, the rulers of Crimea often resorted to the Golden Horde practice of collecting tribute from nearby territories. (In the first half of the 17th century, the Russian state alone spent up to 1 million rubles for these purposes. (With this money, four cities could be built annually.)
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia (1783), the entire Muslim population of the peninsula began to be called “Tatars.” By the 80s of the 18th century, there were about 500 thousand Crimean Tatars.
Crimean Khanate, Crimean Khanate 1783
vassal of the Ottoman Empire
(from 1478 to 1774)
| ← |
1441 - 1783 | |
| Coat of arms of the Girey dynasty |
Crimean Khanate in 1600
Salachik (1490s - 1532)
Bakhchisaray (1532-1783)
Ottoman (in the XVII-XVIII centuries)
Crimean Khanate(Crimea: Qırım Hanlığı, قريم خانلغى) - the state of the Crimean Tatars, which existed from 1441 to 1783. Self-name - Crimean yurt (Crimea: Qırım Yurtu, قريم يورتى). In addition to the steppe and foothill parts of the Crimea proper, it occupied the lands between the Danube and the Dnieper, the Azov region and most of the modern Krasnodar region of Russia. In 1478, after the Ottoman military expedition to Crimea, the Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. After the Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774, under the terms of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774, Crimea became an independent state under the protectorate of the Russian Empire, while the spiritual authority of the Sultan as the head of the Muslims (caliph) over the Crimean Tatars was recognized. In 1783, the Crimean Khanate was annexed by the Russian Empire. The annexation was recognized by the Ottoman Empire after the Russo-Turkish War of 1787-1791.
- 1 Capitals of the Khanate
- 2 History
- 2.1 Background
- 2.2 Gaining independence
- 2.3 Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire
- 2.4 Wars with the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early period
- 2.5 XVII - early XVIII centuries
- 2.6 Attempted alliance with Charles XII and Mazepa
- 2.7 Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39 and the complete devastation of Crimea
- 2.8 Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace
- 2.9 The last khans and the conquest of Crimea by the Russian Empire
- 3 Maps of lands in history
- 4 Geography
- 5 Army
- 6 State structure
- 7 Social life
- 8 Links
- 9 See also
- 10 Notes
- 11 Literature
Capitals of the Khanate
Khan's Palace (Bakhchisarai) Main article: Names of Old CrimeaThe main city of the Crimean Yurt was the city of Kyrym, also known as Solkhat (modern Old Crimea), which became the capital of Khan Oran-Timur in 1266. According to the most common version, the name Kyrym comes from the Chagatai qırım - pit, trench; there is also an opinion that it comes from the Western Kipchak qırım - “my hill” (qır - hill, hill, -ım - affix of the first person singular).
When a state independent from the Horde was formed in Crimea, the capital was moved to the fortified mountain fortress of Kyrk-Era, then to Salachik, located in the valley at the foot of Kyrk-Era, and finally, in 1532, to the newly built city of Bakhchisarai.
Story
Background
The first appearance of the Mongols in Crimea dates back to 1223, when the commanders Jebe and Subetey invaded the peninsula and captured Sudak, defeating the Russian-Polovtsian coalition (according to Ibn al-Asir): “many of the noble merchants and rich Russians” fled overseas to Muslim countries , saving your property and goods. In 1237, the Mongols defeated and subjugated the Polovtsians. Soon after these campaigns, the entire steppe and foothill Crimea became the possession of the Ulus of Jochi, known as the Golden Horde. However, virtually independent Genoese trading posts arose on the coast, with which the Tatars maintained trade relations.
During the Horde period, the supreme rulers of Crimea were the khans of the Golden Horde, but direct control was exercised by their governors - the emirs. The first formally recognized ruler in Crimea is considered to be Aran-Timur, Batu’s nephew, who received this region from Mengu-Timur. This name then gradually spread to the entire peninsula. The second center of Crimea was the valley adjacent to Kyrk-Eru and Bakhchisarai.
The multinational population of Crimea then consisted mainly of Kypchaks (Cumans), Greeks, Goths, Alans, and Armenians living mainly in cities and mountain villages who lived in the steppe and foothills of the peninsula. The Crimean nobility was mainly of mixed Kipchak-Mongol origin.
Horde rule, although it had positive aspects, was generally burdensome for the Crimean population. The rulers of the Golden Horde repeatedly organized punitive campaigns in Crimea when the local population refused to pay tribute. Nogai’s campaign in 1299 is known, as a result of which a number of Crimean cities suffered. As in other regions of the Horde, separatist tendencies soon began to appear in Crimea.
There are legends, unconfirmed by Crimean sources, that in the 14th century Crimea was allegedly repeatedly ravaged by the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd defeated the Tatar army in 1363 near the mouth of the Dnieper, and then allegedly invaded Crimea, devastated Chersonesus and captured all valuable church objects there. A similar legend exists about his successor named Vytautas, who in 1397 allegedly reached Kaffa itself in the Crimean campaign and again destroyed Chersonesus. Vytautas is also known in Crimean history for the fact that during the Horde unrest at the end of the 14th century, he provided refuge in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to a significant number of Tatars and Karaites, whose descendants now live in Lithuania and the Grodno region of Belarus. In 1399, Vitovt, who came to the aid of the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, was defeated on the banks of the Vorskla by Tokhtamysh’s rival Timur-Kutluk, on whose behalf the Horde was ruled by Emir Edigei, and made peace.
Gaining independence
By the beginning of the 15th century, the Crimean Yurt had already become very isolated from the Golden Horde and had noticeably strengthened. its composition included, in addition to the steppe and foothill Crimea, part of the mountainous part of the peninsula and vast territories on the continent. After the death of Edigei in 1420, the Horde effectively lost control over Crimea. After this, a fierce struggle for power began in Crimea, from which the first khan of independent Crimea and the founder of the Giray dynasty, Hadji I Giray, emerged victorious. In 1427 he declared himself ruler of the Crimean Khanate. In 1441, with the support of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the local Crimean nobility, he was elected khan and enthroned. By the middle of the 15th century, the Golden Horde period in the history of Crimea was finally completed. The long-term desire of the Crimeans for independence was crowned with success, and the Golden Horde, shaken by unrest, could no longer offer serious resistance. Soon after the fall of Crimea, the Bulgar (Kazan Khanate) also separated from it, and then, one after another, Astrakhan and the Nogai Horde became independent.
Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire
Taking the throne in 1441, Haji I Giray reigned until his death in 1466.
In the fall of 1480, the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III turned through his ambassador in Crimea to the Crimean Khan Mengli I Giray with a request to organize a campaign in the Polish lands “to the Kyiv places.” Mengli Giray took Kyiv by storm, plundered and greatly destroyed the city. From the rich booty, the khan sent Ivan III a golden chalice and paten from the Kyiv St. Sophia Cathedral in gratitude. In 1480, Ivan III entered into an alliance with this khan, which lasted until his death. Ivan III patronized trade, and for this purpose he especially maintained relations with Kafa and Azov.
In 1475, the Ottoman Empire conquered the Genoese colonies and the last bastion of the Byzantine Empire - the Principality of Theodoro, inhabited by Orthodox Christians (Greeks, Alans, Goths, etc.), numbering up to 200 thousand people, who over the next three centuries for the most part (especially in south coast) converted to Islam. These territories, which covered most of the Mountainous Crimea, as well as a number of large cities and fortresses of the Black Sea region, the Azov region and the Kuban, became part of the Turkish possessions, were controlled by the Sultan’s administration and were not subordinate to the khans. The Ottomans maintained their garrisons and bureaucrats in them and strictly collected taxes from the lands under their control. Since 1478, the Crimean Khanate officially became a vassal of the Ottoman Porte and remained in this capacity until the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774. In Ottoman terminology, vassal countries like the Crimean Khanate were called “states under protection” (Turkish: himaye altındaki devletler). The appointment, confirmation and removal of khans were usually carried out at the will of Istanbul since 1584.
Wars with the Russian Empire and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early period
Main articles: Crimean-Nogai raids on Rus', Russian-Crimean WarsSince the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Crimean Tatars and Nogais were fluent in raid tactics, choosing a path along watersheds. Their main route to Moscow was the Muravsky Way, which ran from Perekop to Tula between the upper reaches of the rivers of two basins, the Dnieper and the Seversky Donets. Having gone 100-200 kilometers into the border region, the Tatars turned back and, spreading wide wings from the main detachment, engaged in robbery and the capture of slaves. The capture of captives - yasyr - and the trade in slaves were an important part of the economy of the Khanate. Captives were sold to Turkey, the Middle East and even European countries. The Crimean city of Kafa was the main slave market. According to some researchers, more than three million people, mainly Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, were sold in the Crimean slave markets over two centuries. Every year, Moscow gathered up to 65 thousand warriors in the spring to carry out border service on the banks of the Oka until late autumn. To protect the country, fortified defensive lines were used, consisting of a chain of forts and cities, ambushes and rubble. In the southeast, the oldest of these lines ran along the Oka from Nizhny Novgorod to Serpukhov, from here it turned south to Tula and continued to Kozelsk. The second line, built under Ivan the Terrible, ran from the city of Alatyr through Shatsk to Orel, continued to Novgorod-Seversky and turned to Putivl. Under Tsar Fedor, a third line arose, passing through the cities of Livny, Yelets, Kursk, Voronezh, and Belgorod. The initial population of these cities consisted of Cossacks, archers and other service people. A large number of Cossacks and service people were part of the guard and village services, which monitored the movement of the Crimeans and Nogais in the steppe.
In Crimea itself, the Tatars left little yasyr. According to the ancient Crimean custom, slaves were released as freedmen after 5-6 years of captivity - there is a number of evidence from Russian and Polish documents about returnees from Perekop who “worked out”. Some of those released preferred to remain in Crimea. There is a well-known case, described by the Ukrainian historian Dmitry Yavornitsky, when the ataman of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, Ivan Sirko, who attacked Crimea in 1675, captured huge booty, including about seven thousand Christian captives and freedmen. The ataman asked them whether they wanted to go with the Cossacks to their homeland or return to Crimea. Three thousand expressed a desire to stay, and Sirko ordered them to be killed. Those who changed their faith while in slavery were released immediately. According to Russian historian Valery Vozgrin, slavery in Crimea itself almost completely disappeared already in the 16th-17th centuries. Most of the prisoners captured during attacks on their northern neighbors (their peak intensity occurred in the 16th century) were sold to Turkey, where slave labor was widely used, mainly in galleys and in construction work.
Khan Devlet I Giray waged constant wars with Ivan IV the Terrible, vainly seeking to restore the independence of Kazan and Astrakhan. However, when Turkey tried to organize a military campaign in the Volga region to take Astrakhan and implement the project of connecting the Volga and Don with a canal, the khan sabotaged this initiative as interference of the Ottomans in the traditional sphere of influence of the Crimean Khanate.
In May 1571, at the head of an army of 40 thousand horsemen, the khan burned Moscow, for which he received the nickname Takht Algan (“who took the throne”). During the raid on the Moscow state, as many historians believe, several hundred thousand people died and 50,000 were captured. Ivan IV undertook, following the example of Poland, to pay an annual tribute to the Crimea - according to a list sent in advance from the family of the khan and his nobles. However, due to the devastating defeat of the khan in the Battle of Molodi, a year later, the Crimean Khanate lost a significant part of its power and was forced to renounce its claims to the Volga region. The payment of “wake” to Crimea continued until the end of the 17th century and finally stopped only during the reign of Peter I.
XVII - early XVIII centuries
Islam III Giray (1644 − 1654) provided military assistance to the Ukrainian hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky in the War of Liberation with Poland.
As the Turkish traveler Evliya Celebi pointed out in 1660, the Crimean Tatars had their northern border at the Or (Perekop) castle, the steppe also belonged to the khan, but the Nogais roamed there: Adil, Shaidak, Ormit. They paid taxes for grazing herds and delivered butter, honey, cattle, sheep, lambs and yasir to the Crimea. He also reports that “the Tatars have 12 languages and speak through translators.” Crimea at that time consisted of 24 kalyks; The qadi was appointed by the khan, except for four in the Kaffen eyalet, which was under the authority of the sultan. There were also “40 beyliks”, where bey meant “chief of the clan”, and the murzas were subject to him. The khan's army numbered 80,000 soldiers, of which 3,000 were “kapykulu” (plural: “kapykullary”), that is, the khan’s guard, paid by the Sultan with 12,000 gold “for boots,” and were armed with muskets.
One of the greatest and most beloved rulers of the Crimeans was Selim I Giray (Hadji Selim Giray). He occupied the throne four times (1671-1678, 1684-1691, 1692-1699, 1702-1704). in alliance with the Ottomans, he waged a successful war with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and alone an unsuccessful one with Moscow; for recent failures he lost power and ended up on the island of Rhodes. During his second reign, he successfully repelled the troops of Prince Golitsyn, sent by Princess Sophia (in 1687 and in 1688-1689 (Both Russian campaigns were unsuccessful, but distracted the Crimean troops from helping the Turks in Hungary). During his third reign, Russian Tsar Peter The Great tried to establish himself in the Sea of Azov: he made a campaign against Azov (1695), but this attempt was unsuccessful for him, since he did not have a fleet to take the seaside fortress; in the spring of 1696, he took Azov with a fleet built in the winter (in 1711 Azov was temporarily lost to him for 25 years. In 1699, Selim I Giray renounced the throne in favor of his son. In 1702, he again took the throne at the numerous requests of the Crimeans and ruled until his death in 1704. In 1713, Peter I formed a land militia, settled troops , to protect against attacks by the Crimean Tatars.
Murad Geray (1678-1683), participating in a campaign with the Turks against the Germans, was defeated near Vienna (1683), was accused of treason against the Turkish Sultan and was deprived of the Khanate.
Haji II Giray (1683-1684) fled from Crimea from indignant dignitaries.
Saadet III Giray (1691) ruled during the 9-month renunciation of Selim I's rule.
Devlet II Giray (1699-1702 and 1709-1713) failures in actions against the Russians led to the deposition of Devlet and the election of his father for the fourth time. For the second time he was removed from power on a formal occasion (accused of improper treatment of the Swedish king Charles XII, who sought asylum in Turkey).
Gazy III Giray (1704-1707) was dismissed as a result of intrigues of court groups in Istanbul, the reason was complaints from Russian ambassadors about unauthorized raids by the Kuban Nogais.
Kaplan I Giray (1707-1708, 1713-1716, 1730-1736) was removed from power for the first time after the crushing defeat of the campaign he led against Kabarda.
Attempted alliance with Charles XII and Mazepa
Main article: North WarAt the beginning of the 18th century, Crimea found itself in a rather ambiguous position. The international order established after the Treaty of Constantinople in 1700 prohibited the Crimeans from making military campaigns on the lands of Russia and Ukraine. The Sultan's divan, interested in preserving peace, was forced to limit the incursions of Crimean troops into foreign states, which caused serious objections in Crimea, expressed during the rebellion of Devlet II Giray in 1702-1703. Charles XII in the spring of 1709, on the eve of Poltava, repeatedly appealed to Devlet II with a proposal for a military-political alliance. Only thanks to the position of Turkey, which had no serious intention of fighting with Russia, and the streams of money filling the bottomless pockets of Turkish officials, Crimea maintained neutrality during the Battle of Poltava.
Finding himself after Poltava in Turkey, in Bendery, Charles XII established close contacts with Istanbul and Bakhchisarai. If the Turkish administration of Ahmed III showed serious hesitation on the issue of war, then Devlet II Giray was ready to rush into any adventure. Without waiting for the start of the war, in May 1710 he concluded a military alliance with Mazepa’s successor, Philip Orlik, who was under Charles XII, and the Cossacks. The terms of the agreement were as follows:
- the khan pledged to be an ally of the Cossacks, but at the same time not to take them under his protection and subordination;
- Devlet II promised to achieve the liberation of Ukraine from Moscow rule, but he did not have the right to take prisoners and destroy Orthodox churches;
- Khan promised to do his best to promote the separation of Left Bank Ukraine from Moscow and its reunification with the Right Bank into a single independent state.
On January 6-12, 1711, the Crimean army advanced beyond Perekop. Mehmed Giray with 40 thousand Crimeans, accompanied by 7-8 thousand Orlik and Cossacks, 3-5 thousand Poles, 400 Janissaries and 700 Swedes of Colonel Zulich, headed to Kiev.
During the first half of February 1711, the Crimeans easily captured Bratslav, Boguslav, Nemirov, the few garrisons of which offered virtually no resistance.
In the summer of 1711, when Peter I set off on the Prut campaign with an army of 80 thousand, the Crimean cavalry numbering 70 thousand sabers, together with the Turkish army, surrounded Peter’s troops, which found themselves in a hopeless situation. Peter I himself was almost captured and was forced to sign a peace treaty on conditions that were extremely unfavorable for Russia. Under the terms of the Prut Peace, Russia lost access to the Sea of Azov and its fleet in the Azov-Black Sea waters. As a result of the Prut victory of the united Turkish-Crimean troops, Russian expansion in the Black Sea region was stopped for a quarter of a century.
The Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39 and the complete devastation of Crimea
Main article: Russo-Turkish War (1735-1739)Kaplan I Giray (1707-1708, 1713-1715, 1730-1736) - the last of the great khans of Crimea. During his second reign, he was forced to take part in the war between Turkey and Persia. Promoting the installation of Augustus of Saxony on the Polish throne, the Russians took advantage of the situation and attacked Crimea under the command of H. A. Minich and P. P. Lassi (1735-1738), which led to the defeat and devastation of the entire Crimea with its capital Bakhchisarai.
In 1736, the army of H. A. Minich completely destroyed Kezlev and Bakhchisarai, the cities were burned, and all the residents who did not have time to escape were killed. After this, the army moved to the eastern part of Crimea. However, a cholera epidemic that began due to the decomposition of numerous corpses led to the death of part of the Russian army, and Minich led the army beyond Perekop. Eastern Crimea was devastated during the Lassi campaign the following year. The Russian army burned Karasubazar, also killing the population of the city. In 1738, a new campaign was planned, but it was canceled because the army could no longer feed itself - in a completely devastated country there was simply no food and hunger reigned.
The war of 1736-38 became a national catastrophe for the Crimean Khanate. All significant cities were in ruins, the economy suffered enormous damage, there was famine in the country and a cholera epidemic was raging. A significant part of the population died.
The Russian-Turkish War of 1768-1774 and the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace
Main article: Russo-Turkish War (1768-1774)Khan Kyrim Giray, during his second reign, dragged Turkey into a war with Russia, which ultimately led to the fall of the Crimean Khanate. It was very successful for Russia. The victories of Rumyantsev at Larga and Kagul, and A. Orlov at Chesma glorified Catherine throughout Europe. Russia received reason to bring to the fore the question of the existence of the Crimean Khanate, which Rumyantsev, an astute man who understood the state of affairs better than others, insisted on, but, at the request of Catherine, the fate of Crimea was so far expressed in the form of its rejection of direct dependence on the Porte.
Prince V.M. Dolgorukov, who commanded the second Russian army, entered Crimea, defeated Khan Selim III in two battles and within a month captured the entire Crimea, and captured a Turkish seraskir in Kef. Bakhchisarai lay in ruins. Dolgorukov's army devastated Crimea. A number of villages were burned and civilians were killed. Khan Selim III fled to Istanbul. The Crimeans laid down their arms, bowed to the side of Russia and presented Dolgorukov with a letter of oath with the signatures of the Crimean nobility and notification of the election of Sahib II Giray to the khans, and his brother Shahin Giray to the kalgi.
On July 10, 1774, the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty was concluded, very beneficial for Russia, but also saving for Turkey. Crimea was not annexed to Russia and was recognized as independent from any outside power. In addition, the Sultan was recognized as the Supreme Caliph, and this circumstance caused difficulties and bickering between Russia and Turkey, since among Muslims, religious-ceremonial and civil-legal life are interconnected, therefore the Sultan had the right to interfere in the internal affairs of Crimea, for example, by appointing qadis (judges). Turkey, according to the agreement, recognized Kinburn, Kerch and Yenikale as Russian possessions, as well as its freedom of navigation in the Black Sea.
The South Coast passed from the Ottoman Empire to the Crimean Khanate.
The last khans and the conquest of Crimea by the Russian Empire
See also: Annexation of Crimea to Russia (1783)After the withdrawal of Russian troops, a widespread uprising occurred in Crimea. Turkish troops landed in Alushta; the Russian resident in Crimea, Veselitsky, was captured by Khan Shahin and handed over to the Turkish commander-in-chief. There were attacks on Russian troops in Alushta, Yalta and other places. The Crimeans elected Devlet IV as khan. At this time, the text of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty was received from Constantinople. But the Crimeans even now did not want to accept independence and cede the indicated cities in Crimea to the Russians, and the Porte considered it necessary to enter into new negotiations with Russia. Dolgorukov's successor, Prince Prozorovsky, negotiated with the khan in the most conciliatory tone, but the Murzas and ordinary Crimeans did not hide their sympathies for the Ottoman Empire. Shahin Geray had few supporters. The Russian party in Crimea was small. But in Kuban he was proclaimed khan, and in 1776 he finally became khan of Crimea and entered Bakhchisarai. The people swore allegiance to him. The economic well-being of Crimea was undermined by the resettlement of most of the Crimean Christians (about 30,000 people) to the Azov region in 1778 by Prozorovsky’s successor as commander of the Russian troops in Crimea, A.V. Suvorov: Greeks to Mariupol, Armenians to Nor-Nakhichevan .
In 1776, Russia created the Dnieper Line - a series of border fortresses to protect its southern borders from the Crimean Tatars. There were only 7 fortresses - they stretched from the Dnieper to the Sea of Azov.
Shahin Geray became the last Khan of Crimea. He tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize governance according to the European model, to equalize the rights of the Muslim and non-Muslim population of Crimea. The reforms were extremely unpopular and in 1781 led to an uprising that began in the Kuban and quickly spread to the Crimea.
By July 1782, the uprising had completely engulfed the entire peninsula, the khan was forced to flee, the officials of his administration who did not have time to escape were killed, and the khan's palace was plundered. The Crimeans everywhere attacked Russian troops (up to 900 Russians died) and the non-Crimean Tatar population of the Khanate. At the center of the uprising were Shahin's brothers, princes Bahadir Giray and Arslan Giray. Bahadir Geray. The leader of the rebels, Bahadir II Giray, was proclaimed khan. The new Crimean government asked the Ottoman and Russian empires for recognition. The first refused to recognize the new khan, and the second sent troops to suppress the uprising. Shahin Giray, who returned with the Russians, mercilessly punished his opponents.
By February 1783, the situation of Shahin Geray again became critical, the mass executions of political opponents, the hatred of the Tatars for the ongoing reforms and policies of Shahin Geray, the actual financial bankruptcy of the state, mutual distrust and misunderstanding with the Russian authorities led to the fact that Shahin Geray abdicated the throne. He was asked to choose a city in Russia to live in and was given a sum for his relocation with a small retinue and maintenance. He lived first in Voronezh, and then in Kaluga, from where, at his request and with the consent of the Porte, he was released to Turkey and settled on the island of Rhodes, where he was deprived of his life.
On April 8, 1783, the Russian Empress Catherine II issued a manifesto according to which Crimea, Taman and Kuban became Russian possessions. Thus, Crimea became part of the Russian Empire.
In 1791, according to the Treaty of Jassy, the Ottoman state recognized Crimea as possession of Russia.
Maps of lands in history
Polovtsy XI-XII centuries
Golden Horde 1243-1438
Crimean Khanate 1441-1783
Geography
The Crimean Khanate included lands on the continent: the territories between the Dniester and the Dnieper, the Azov region and part of the Kuban. This territory was significantly larger in area than the khanate's possessions on the peninsula. The borders of the Khanate, including the northern ones, are recorded in many Crimean, Russian and Ukrainian sources, but no special research on this issue has yet been undertaken.
The Crimean khans were interested in developing trade, which provided significant profits to the treasury. Among the goods exported from Crimea are raw leather, sheep's wool, morocco, sheep's fur coats, gray and black smushkas.
The main fortress at the entrance to the peninsula was the Or fortress (known to the Russians as Perekop), which was the gateway to Crimea. The functions of protecting Crimea were performed by the cities - Fortresses of Arabat and Kerch. The main trading ports were Gezlev and Kefe. Military garrisons (mostly Turkish, partly local Greeks) were also maintained in Balaklava, Sudak, Kerch, and Kef.
Bakhchisarai has been the capital of the Khanate since 1428, Akmescit (Ak-Mosque) was the residence of the Kalgi Sultan, Karasubazar was the center of the Shirinsky beys, Kefe was the residence of the governor of the Ottoman Sultan (it did not belong to the Khanate).
Army
Military activity was mandatory for both large and small feudal lords. The specifics of the military organization of the Crimean Tatars, which fundamentally distinguished it from the military affairs of other European peoples, aroused special interest among the latter. Carrying out the tasks of their governments, diplomats, merchants, and travelers sought not only to establish contacts with the khans, but also tried to familiarize themselves in detail with the organization of military affairs, and often their missions had the main goal of studying the military potential of the Crimean Khanate.
For a long time, there was no regular army in the Crimean Khanate, and all the men of the steppe and foothills of the peninsula who were able to bear arms actually took part in military campaigns. From an early age, Crimeans became accustomed to all the hardships and hardships of military life, learned to wield weapons, ride horses, and endure cold, hunger, and fatigue. The Khan, his sons, and individual beys carried out raids and got involved in hostilities with their neighbors mainly only when they were confident of a successful outcome. Intelligence played a major role in the military operations of the Crimean Tatars. Special scouts went ahead in advance, found out the situation, and then became guides for the advancing army. Using the factor of surprise, when it was possible to take the enemy by surprise, they often obtained relatively easy prey. But the Crimeans almost never acted independently against regular, numerically superior troops.
The Khan's Council established a norm in accordance with which the khan's vassals had to supply warriors. Some of the residents remained to look after the property of those who went on a campaign. These same people were supposed to arm and support the soldiers, for which they received part of the military spoils. In addition to military service, sauga was paid in favor of the khan - a fifth, and sometimes most of the booty that the Murzas brought with them after the raids. The poor people who took part in these campaigns hoped that going for loot would allow them to get rid of everyday difficulties and make their existence easier, so they relatively willingly followed their feudal lord.
In military affairs, the Crimean Tatars can distinguish two types of marching organization - a military campaign, when the Crimean army led by a khan or kalga takes part in the hostilities of the warring parties, and a predatory raid - besh-bash (five heads - a small Tatar detachment), which was carried out often by individual murzas and beys with relatively small military detachments in order to obtain booty and capture prisoners.
According to the descriptions of Guillaume de Beauplan and de Marsilly, the Crimeans were equipped quite simply - they used a light saddle, a blanket, and sometimes even covered the horse with sheep skin, and did not put on a bridle, using a rawhide belt. A whip with a short handle was also indispensable for the rider. The Crimeans were armed with a saber, a bow and a quiver with 18 or 20 arrows, a knife, a flint for making fire, an awl and 5 or 6 fathoms of belt ropes for tying captives. The favorite weapons of the Crimean Tatars were sabers made in Bakhchisarai; scimitars and daggers were taken in reserve.
Clothing on the campaign was also unpretentious: only the nobles wore chain mail, the rest went to war in sheepskin coats and fur hats, which were worn in winter with the wool inward, and in summer and during rain - with the wool outward or Yamurlakha cloaks; They wore red and sky blue shirts. At the camp they took off their shirts and slept naked, putting the saddle under their heads. We didn’t take tents with us.
There were certain tactics usually used by the Crimeans. At the beginning of the attack, they always tried to go around the enemy’s left wing in order to more conveniently release arrows. One can highlight the high skill of archery with two or even three arrows at once. Often, already put to flight, they stopped, closed ranks again, trying to envelop as closely as possible the enemy who was pursuing them and scattered in pursuit, and thus, almost defeated, snatched victory from the hands of the victors. They entered into open hostilities with the enemy only in case of their obvious numerical superiority. Battles were recognized only in the open field; they avoided sieging fortresses, since they did not have siege equipment.
It should be noted that almost exclusively residents of the steppe and partly foothill regions of Crimea and Nogais took part in military campaigns. The inhabitants of the Crimean Mountains, whose main occupation was viticulture and gardening, did not serve in the army and paid a special tax to the treasury for exemption from service.
State structure
Throughout the history of the Crimean Khanate, it was ruled by the Geraev (Gireev) dynasty. Russian-language literature dedicated to the Crimean Khanate traditionally (sometimes in parallel) uses two forms of this name: Giray and Giray. The first of these options is one of the forms of transcription of the Ottoman (and, accordingly, Crimean Tatar) spelling of this name - كراى. The author of the reading in the form of “Gerai”, apparently, was the Russian orientalist V. Grigoriev (mid-19th century). Initially, this form was used both by Russian orientalists (A. Negri, V. Grigoriev, V. D. Smirnov, etc.) and their Western European colleagues (J. von Hammer-Purgstall). In modern Western European science, through the Turkish language, the Ottoman form of pronunciation and spelling of the family name of the Crimean khans - Giray - became widespread. The second, presumably Kipchak (pre-Ottoman Crimean Tatar), variant is recorded in L. Budagov’s dictionary. It has been widely used in the works of Russian researchers since the first half of the 19th century. (A. Kazembek, F. Hartakhay, A. N. Samoilovich, etc.).
Khan, being the supreme landowner, owned salt lakes and villages near them, forests along the Alma, Kachi and Salgir rivers and wastelands, on which settlements of new inhabitants arose, gradually turning into a dependent population and paying tithes to him. Having the right to inherit the land of a deceased vassal, if he had no close relatives, the khan could become the heir to the beys and murzas. The same rules applied to Bey and Murza land ownership, when the lands of poor farmers and cattle breeders passed to the Bey or Murza. From the land holdings of the khan, lands were allocated to the Kalga Sultan. The khan's possessions also included several cities - Kyrym (modern Old Crimea), Kyrk-Er (modern Chufut-Kale), Bakhchisarai.
There were “small” and “large” sofas, which played a very serious role in the life of the state.
A council was called a “small divan” if a narrow circle of nobility took part in it, resolving issues that required urgent and specific decisions.
The “Big Divan” is a meeting of “the whole earth”, when all the Murzas and representatives of the “best” black people took part in it. By tradition, the Karaches retained the right to sanction the appointment of khans from the Geray clan as sultan, which was expressed in the ritual of placing them on the throne in Bakhchisarai.
The state structure of the Crimean Khanate largely used the Golden Horde and Ottoman structures of state power. Most often, the highest government positions were occupied by the sons, brothers of the khan or other persons of noble origin.
The first official after the khan was the Kalga Sultan. The khan's younger brother or another relative was appointed to this position. Kalga ruled the eastern part of the peninsula, the left wing of the khan's army and administered the state in the event of the death of the khan until a new one was appointed to the throne. He was also the commander-in-chief if the khan did not personally go to war. The second position - nureddin - was also occupied by a member of the khan's family. He was the governor of the western part of the peninsula, chairman of small and local courts, and commanded smaller corps of the right wing on campaigns.
The mufti is the head of the Muslim clergy of the Crimean Khanate, an interpreter of laws, who has the right to remove judges - qadis, if they judged incorrectly.
Kaymakans - in the late period (end of the 18th century) governing the regions of the Khanate. Or-bey is the head of the Or-Kapy (Perekop) fortress. Most often, this position was occupied by members of the khan family, or a member of the Shirin family. He guarded the borders and watched over the Nogai hordes outside the Crimea. The positions of qadi, vizier and other ministers are similar to the same positions in the Ottoman state.
In addition to the above, there were two important female positions: ana-beim (analogous to the Ottoman post of valide), which was held by the mother or sister of the khan, and ulu-beim (ulu-sultani), the senior wife of the ruling khan. In terms of importance and role in the state, they had the rank next to nureddin.
An important phenomenon in the state life of the Crimean Khanate was the very strong independence of the noble bey families, which in some way brought the Crimean Khanate closer to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The beys governed their possessions (beyliks) as semi-independent states, administered court themselves and had their own militia. The beys regularly took part in riots and conspiracies, both against the khan and among themselves, and often wrote denunciations against the khans they did not please the Ottoman government in Istanbul.
Public life
The state religion of the Crimean Khanate was Islam, and in the customs of the Nogai tribes there were some vestiges of shamanism. Along with the Crimean Tatars and Nogais, Islam was also practiced by the Turks and Circassians living in Crimea.
The permanent non-Muslim population of the Crimean Khanate was represented by Christians of various denominations: Orthodox (Hellenic-speaking and Turkic-speaking Greeks), Gregorians (Armenians), Armenian Catholics, Roman Catholics (descendants of the Genoese), as well as Jews and Karaites.
Links
- Gusterin P. On the appointment of the first Russian consul in Crimea.
see also
- List of Crimean khans
- History of the Crimean Tatars' raids on Rus'
Notes
- Budagov. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T. 2, p. 51
- O. Gaivoronsky. Lords of two continents. vol. 1. Kyiv-Bakhchisarai. Oranta. 2007
- I. Thunmann. Crimean Khanate
- Sigismund Herberstein, Notes on Muscovy, Moscow 1988, p. 175
- Yavornitsky D.I. History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Kyiv, 1990.
- V. E. Syroechkovsky, Muhammad-Gerai and his vassals, “Scientific Notes of Moscow State University,” vol. 61, 1940, p. 16.
- Vozgrin V. E. Historical destinies of the Crimean Tatars. Moscow, 1992.
- Faizov S. F. Funeral “tysh” in the context of the relationship between Rus' and Russia with the Golden Horde and the Crimean yurt
- Evliya Celebi. Travel Book, pp. 46-47.
- Evliya Celebi. Travel Book, page 104.
- Sanin O. G. Crimean Khanate in the Russian-Turkish War of 1710-11.
- The news of the Christians' exit spread throughout Crimea... Christians opposed the exit no less than the Tatars. This is what the Evpatoria Greeks said when asked to leave Crimea: “We are pleased with his Lordship Khan and our homeland; We pay tribute to our sovereign from our ancestors, and even if they cut us down with sabers, we still won’t go anywhere.” Armenian Christians, in a petition to the khan, said: “We are your servants... and subjects three hundred years ago, we lived in your Majesty’s state in pleasure and never saw any worries from you. Now they want to take us out of here. For the sake of God, the Prophet and your ancestors, we, your poor servants, ask to be delivered from such a misfortune, for which we will continually pray to God for you.” Of course, these petitions cannot be taken at face value, but they show that Christians did not come out of desire or fear. Meanwhile, Ignatius ... continued his tireless efforts in the matter of exit: he wrote letters of exhortation, sent priests and people devoted to exit to the villages, and generally tried to form a party of those who wanted to exit. The Russian government assisted him in this.
F. Hartakhai Christianity in Crimea. / Memorable book of the Tauride province. - Simferopol, 1867. - Ss. 54-55. - Grigoriev V. Coins of the Dzhuchids, Genoese and Gireys, battles on the Tauride Peninsula and belonging to the society // ZOOID, 1844, vol. 1, p. 301, 307-314; Grigoriev V. Labels of Tokhtamysh and Seadet-Gerai // ZOOID, 1844, vol. 1, p. 337, 342.
- V. D. Smirnov “The Crimean Khanate under the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte until the beginning of the 18th century” St. Petersburg. 1887-89
- Samoilovich A. N. Several amendments to the Timur-Kutlug label // Selected works on Crimea, 2000, p. 145-155.
- Compare: Grigoriev V. Labels of Tokhtamysh and Seadet-Gerai // ZOOID, 1844, vol. 1, p. 337, 342 and Sami Ş. Kâmûs-ı Türkî, p. 1155.
- See note. 13
- von Hammer-Purgstall. Geschichte der Chan der Krim unter Osmanischer herrschaft. Wien, 1856.
- Budagov L. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T. 2, p. 120.
- Sayyid Mohammed Riza. Asseb o-sseyyar or Seven planets, containing the history of the Crimean khans..., Kazan, 1832; Hartakhai F. Historical fate of the Crimean Tatars // Bulletin of Europe, 1866, vol. 2, dep. 1, p. 182-236.
Literature
- Palace of the Crimean Khans in Bakhchisarai
- Dubrovin N. F. Annexation of Crimea to Russia, St. Petersburg: 1885
- Vozgrin V. E. Historical destinies of the Crimean Tatars. - M., 1992.
- Gaivoronsky O. “Constellation of Herays. Brief biographies of the Crimean khans"
- Bazilevich V.M. From the history of Moscow-Crimean relations in the first half of the 17th century. Kyiv, 1914. 23 p.
- Bantysh-Kamensky N. N. Register of affairs of the Crimean court from 1474 to 1779 Simferopol: Tauride Printing House. gubernsk board, 1893.
- Smirnov V.D. The Crimean Khanate under the supremacy of the Ottoman Porte in the 18th century. before its annexation to Russia Odessa: 1889.
- Smirnov V.D. Crimean Khanate in the 18th century. Moscow: “Lomonosov”, 2014
- Smirnov V. D. Collection of some important news and official documents regarding Turkey, Russia and Crimea St. Petersburg: 1881.
- Schwab M. M. Russian-Crimean relations of the mid-16th - early years of the 17th centuries in domestic historiography of the 1940s - 2000s. - Surgut, 2011.
- Nekrasov A. M. The emergence and evolution of the Crimean state in the 15th-16th centuries // Domestic history. - 1999. - No. 2. - P. 48-58.
| States formed during the collapse of the Mongol Empire | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mongol Empire |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chagatai khanate (Chagatai ulus) |
conquered by the Timurid State | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| West Chagatai ulus |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Hulaguidov
(Ulus Hulagu)
| Fragments of the Golden Horde | ||
|---|---|---|
|
White Horde :
Great Horde Kazan Khanate Kasimov Khanate Astrakhan Khanate
Fragments of the Mongol Empire Genghisids Tatar Khanates | Expansion of Russia History of Kazakhstan Tatarstan Bashkiria Central Asia |
||
| Administrative divisions of the Ottoman Empire | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
|||||||||||
Crimean Khanate, Crimean Khanate 1783, Crimean Khanate map, Crimean Khanate yu
Crimean Khanate Information About
Crimean Khanate: history, territory, political structure
The Crimean Khanate arose in 1441. This event was preceded by unrest in the Golden Horde. In fact, a separatist then ascended the throne in Crimea - Hadji Giray, a distant relative of Janike Khanum, the wife of the Golden Horde khan Edigei. Khansha did not want to take the reins of government of the once powerful state into her own hands and went to Kyrk-Or, assisting in the promotion of Hadji Giray. Soon this city became the first capital of the Crimean Khanate, which occupied the territory from the Dnieper to the Danube, the Azov region, and almost the entire modern Krasnodar region.
The further history of the new political entity is a tireless struggle with representatives of other Golden Horde families who tried to conquer the possessions of the Gireys. As a result of a long confrontation, the Crimean Khanate managed to win a final victory, when in 1502 the last Horde ruler, Sheikh Ahmed, passed away. Mengli-Girey then stood at the head of the Crimean yurt. Having removed his political enemy, the khan appropriated his regalia, title and status, but all this did not save him from the constant raids of the steppe people, who continually infiltrated the Crimea. Modern historians are inclined to believe that the Crimean Khanate never intended to seize foreign territories. It is likely that all the actions taken by the Crimean khans were aimed at preserving and consolidating their power, and at fighting the influential Horde clan of the Namagans.
All this can be traced even in individual historical episodes. So, after the death of Khan Akhmat, the Crimean Khanate decided to improve relations with his sons and hospitably sheltered them. But the heirs to the Horde throne decided to leave the khan’s capital, for which Mengli-Girey took one of them prisoner. The second - Sheikh Ahmed - fled. The third son, Seid-Ahmed II, who at that time became the Horde khan, organized a campaign against the Crimea. Having freed Murtaza, Seyid-Ahmed II took Eski-Kyrym, and then went to Kefa.
At that time, Turkish heavy artillery was already stationed in the Cafe, which forced the Horde to flee without looking back. This is how the friendly gesture of the Crimean Khan served as a pretext for the next devastation of the peninsula, and the Turks showed that they could defend the territories that were under their influence. Then Mengli-Girey caught up with the offenders and took away the property and captives looted from the Khanate.
The relations between the Khanate and the Ottoman Empire occupy a special place in the history of Crimea. In the second half of the 15th century, Turkish troops occupied the Genoese possessions of the peninsula and the territory of the Principality of Theodoro. The Crimean Khanate also found itself in Turkish dependence, but from 1478 the khan became a vassal of the padishah and continued to rule the internal regions of the peninsula. At first, the Sultan did not interfere in issues of succession to the throne in the Crimean Khanate, but a century later everything changed: Crimean rulers were appointed directly in Istanbul.
It is interesting that a political regime specific to that time operated in the yurt. Something like democracy. On the peninsula there were elections for the khan, during which the votes of the local nobility were taken into account. However, there was one limitation - the future ruler of the Khanate could only belong to the Girey family. The second political figure after the khan was the kalga. Kalga, most often, was appointed as the brother of the ruler of the khanate. Representative power in the Khanate belonged to the Greater and Lesser Divans. The first included the Murzas and respected people of the area, the second included officials close to the khan. Legislative power was in the hands of the mufti, who ensured that all the laws of the khanate were in accordance with Sharia. The role of modern ministers in the Crimean Khanate was played by viziers; they were appointed by the khan.
Few people know that the Crimean Khanate contributed to the liberation of Rus' from the Golden Horde yoke. This happened under Sheikh-Ahmed's father. Then the Horde Khan Akhmat withdrew his troops without engaging in battle with the Russians, because he did not wait for Polish-Lithuanian reinforcements, which were held back by the Crimean Tatar warriors. Contrary to popular belief, relations between the Khan's Crimea and Moscow were friendly for a long time. Under Ivan III they had a common enemy - Sarai. The Crimean Khan helped Moscow get rid of the Horde yoke, and then began to call the tsar “his brother,” thereby recognizing him as an equal, instead of imposing tribute on the kingdom.
The rapprochement with Moscow shook the friendly relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Lithuanian-Polish principality. Casimir found a common language with the Horde khans, having quarreled with Crimea for a long time. Over time, Moscow began to move away from the Crimean Khanate: the struggle for the lands of the Caspian and Volga regions led to the fact that the king sought support among those very Namagans with whom the Gireys could not share power for a long time. Under Ivan IV the Terrible, Devlet I Giray wanted to restore the independence of Kazan and the Caspian Sea, the Turks volunteered to help the khan, but he did not allow him to interfere in the sphere of influence of the Crimean Khanate. At the end of the spring of 1571, the Tatars burned Moscow, after which the Moscow sovereigns until the end of the 17th century. were forced to pay the Crimean Khan regular “wake” payments.
After the formation of the Ukrainian Hetman State, the Crimean Khanate collaborated with the rulers of the Cossack state. It is known that Khan Islam III Giray helped Bogdan Khmelnitsky during the liberation war with Poland, and after the battle of Poltava, Crimean troops went to Kiev along with the people of Pylyp Orlik, Mazepa’s successor. In 1711, Peter I lost the battle with the Turkish-Tatar troops, after which the Russian Empire was forced to forget about the Black Sea region for several decades.
Between 1736 and 1738 The Crimean Khanate was swallowed up by the Russian-Turkish war. As a result of the fighting, many people died, some of whom were killed by a cholera epidemic. The Crimean Khanate sought revenge, and therefore contributed to the outbreak of a new war between Russia and Turkey, which began in 1768 and lasted until 1774. However, Russian troops again won and forced the Crimeans to submit, electing Sahib II Giray as khan. Soon, uprisings began on the peninsula; the local population did not want to come to terms with the new authorities. The last khan on the peninsula was Shahin Giray, but after he abdicated the throne, in 1783 Catherine II finally annexed the lands of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire.
Development of agriculture, crafts, trade in the Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Tatars, like their ancestors, greatly valued animal husbandry, which was a way of earning money and obtaining food. Among their domestic animals, horses were in first place. Some sources claim that the Tatars have preserved two different breeds that have long lived in the Northern Black Sea region, preventing their mixing. Others say that it was in the Crimean Khanate that a new type of horse was formed, which was distinguished by unprecedented endurance at that time. Horses, as a rule, grazed in the steppe, but they were always looked after by a herdmaster, who was also a veterinarian and breeder. A professional approach was also evident in the breeding of sheep, which were a source of dairy products and rare Crimean smushkas. In addition to horses and sheep, the Crimean Tatars raised cattle, goats and camels.
The Crimean Tatars did not know settled agriculture even in the first half of the 16th century. For a long time, the inhabitants of the Crimean Khanate plowed the land in the steppe in order to leave there in the spring and return only in the fall, when it was time to harvest. In the process of transition to a sedentary lifestyle, a class of Crimean Tatar feudal lords emerged. Over time, territories began to be distributed for military merit. At the same time, the khan was the owner of all the lands of the Crimean Khanate.
The crafts of the Crimean Khanate were initially of a domestic nature, but closer to the beginning of the 18th century, the cities of the peninsula began to acquire the status of large craft centers. Among such settlements were Bakhchisaray, Karasubazar, Gezlev. In the last century of the Khanate's existence, craft workshops began to appear there. The specialists working in them united into 32 corporations, which were headed by the Usta-Bashi and his assistants. The latter monitored production and regulated prices.
Crimean artisans of that time made shoes and clothes, jewelry, copper dishes, felt, kilims (carpets) and much more. Among the craftsmen there were those who knew how to process wood. Thanks to their work, ships, beautiful houses, inlaid chests that can be called works of art, cradles, tables and other household items appeared in the Crimean Khanate. Among other things, the Crimean Tatars knew a lot about stone cutting. This is evidenced by the Durbe tombs and mosques that have partially survived to this day.
The basis of the economy of the Crimean Khanate was trading activity. It is difficult to imagine this Muslim state without Kafa. The Kafin port received merchants from almost all over the world. People from Asia, Persia, Constantinople and other cities and powers regularly visited there. Traders came to Kef to buy slaves, bread, fish, caviar, wool, handicrafts and much more. They were attracted to Crimea, first of all, by cheap goods. It is known that wholesale markets were located in Eski-Kyrym and in the city of Karasubazar. The Khanate's internal trade also flourished. In Bakhchisarai alone there was a grain, vegetable and salt market. In the capital of the Crimean Khanate there were entire blocks reserved for trading shops.
Life, culture and religion of the Crimean Khanate
The Crimean Khanate is a state with a well-developed culture, represented mainly by examples of architecture and traditions. The largest city of the Crimean Khanate was Kafa. About 80,000 people lived there. Bakhchisarai was the capital and second largest settlement of the Khanate, where only 6,000 people lived. The capital differed from other cities in the presence of the Khan's palace, however, all Crimean Tatar settlements were built with soul. The architecture of the Crimean Khanate includes amazing mosques, fountains, tombs... The houses of ordinary citizens, as a rule, were two-story, built of wood, clay and rubble.
Crimean Tatars wore clothes made of wool, leather, homespun and purchased overseas materials. The girls braided their hair, decorated their heads with a velvet cap with rich embroidery and coins, and put a marama (white scarf) on top of it. An equally common headdress was a scarf, which could be woolen, thin, or colored patterned. As for clothing, the Crimean Tatars had long dresses, shirts below the knees, trousers and warm kaftans. Women of the Crimean Khanate were very fond of jewelry, especially rings and bracelets. The men wore black lambskin hats, fez or skullcaps on their heads. They tucked their shirts into trousers, wore sleeveless vest-like vests, jackets and caftans.
The main religion of the Crimean Khanate was Islam. Important government positions in Crimea belonged to Sunnis. However, Shiites and even Christians lived quite peacefully on the peninsula. Among the population of the Khanate there were people who were brought to the peninsula as Christian slaves and then converted to Islam. After a certain period of time - 5-6 years - they became free citizens, after which they could go to their native territories. But not everyone left the beautiful peninsula: often former slaves remained to live in Crimea. Boys kidnapped in Russian lands also became Muslims. Such youths were brought up in a special military school and within a few years they joined the ranks of the Khan's guard. Muslims prayed in mosques, near which there were cemeteries and mausoleums.
So, the Crimean Khanate was formed as a result of the split of the Golden Horde. This happened around the 40th year of the 15th century, possibly in 1441. Its first khan was Hadji Giray, he became the founder of the ruling dynasty. The end of the existence of the Crimean Khanate is associated with the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire in 1783.
The Khanate included lands that previously belonged to the Mongol-Tatars, including the principality of Kyrk-Or, conquered in the second half of the 14th century. Kyrk-Or was the first capital of the Gireys; later the khans lived in Bakhchisarai. Relations between the Crimean Khanate and the Genoese territories of the peninsula (then Turkish) can be described as friendly.
The khan either allied or fought with Moscow. The Russian-Crimean confrontation escalated after the arrival of the Ottomans. Since 1475, the Crimean Khan became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan. Since then, Istanbul has decided who will sit on the Crimean throne. According to the terms of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty of 1774, all Turkish possessions in Crimea, except for Kerch and Yeni-Kale, became part of the Crimean Khanate. The main religion of political education is Islam.
