Interest in the national culture of the Crimeans, in the history of representatives of various nationalities and peoples of the Crimea is quite natural. We offer you to get acquainted with the peoples living on the peninsula in different eras.
You can find the ethnic characteristics and composition of the Crimean population in the article History of the Peoples of Crimea. Here we will talk about the peoples of Crimea who inhabited it throughout the history of the Crimean peninsula in chronological order.
Taurus. The Greek Hellenes called Taurus the tribes that inhabited the mountainous foothill part of the peninsula and the entire southern coast. Their self-name is unknown, perhaps the Taurians are the descendants of the ancient indigenous population of the peninsula. The most ancient monuments of their material culture on the peninsula date back to about the 10th century. BC e., although their culture can be traced even earlier. The remains of several fortified settlements, sanctuaries, as well as burial grounds, the so-called "Taurian boxes", were found. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, hunting, and occasionally traded in sea piracy. With the beginning of a new era, a gradual merger of the Taurians with the Scythians began, as a result of which a new ethnonym appeared - "Tauro-Scythians".
Cimmerians- the collective name of the militant nomadic tribes that inhabited in the X-UP centuries. BC e. Northern Black Sea region and the flat part of Taurica. There are references to this people in many ancient sources. There are very few monuments of their material culture on the peninsula. In the 7th century BC e. the Cimmerians, pushed back by the Scythians, left the Northern Black Sea region. However, the memory of them was preserved for a long time in geographical names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Kimmerik, etc.)
Scythians. The nomadic tribes of the Scythians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region and the plains of Crimea in the 7th century. BC e., gradually moving to settled way life and absorbing part of the tribes living here. In the III century. BC e. under the onslaught of the Sarmatians, the Scythians lost their possessions on the mainland of the Black Sea and the Sivash region and concentrated in the flat Crimea. Here, a late Scythian state was formed with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol), which fought with the Greek states for influence on the peninsula. In the III century. it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians, and then the Goths and the Huns. The rest of the Scythians mixed with the Taurians, Sarmatians and Goths.
Ancient Greeks (Hellenes). Ancient Greek colonists appeared in Crimea in the 6th century. BC e. Gradually populating the coast, they founded a number of cities and settlements (Pantikapey, Feodosia, Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, etc.). Later, the Greek cities united into the Chersonese state and the Bosporan kingdom. The Greeks founded settlements, minted coins, engaged in crafts, agriculture, winemaking, fishing, and traded with other peoples. For a long time they had a huge cultural and political influence on all the peoples living in the Crimea. In the first centuries of the new era, the Greek states lose their political independence, become dependent on the Pontic kingdom, the Roman Empire, and then - Byzantium. The Greek population gradually merges with other Crimean ethnic groups, passing on their language and culture.
Sarmatians. Nomadic Sarmatian tribes (Roksolans, Yazygs, Aorses, Siraks, etc.) appear in the Northern Black Sea region in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., crowding the Scythians. They penetrate into Taurica from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e., either fighting the Scythians and Bosporites, or entering into military and political alliances with them. Probably, along with the Sarmatians, the Proto-Slavs also came to the Crimea. Sarmatians, gradually settling across the peninsula, mix with the local Greek-Scythian-Taurian population.
Romans (Roman Empire). Roman troops first appeared on the peninsula (in the Bosporan kingdom) in the 1st century BC. before. n. e. after the victory over the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. But the Romans did not stay long in the Bosporus. In the second half of the 1st century A.D. e. Roman troops, at the request of the Chersonesites, helped repel the onslaught of the Scythians. Since that time, Chersonese and the Bosporan kingdom fell into dependence on Rome.
The Roman garrison and squadron were in Chersonese with interruptions for about two centuries, bringing some elements of their culture into the life of the city. The Romans also built fortresses in other parts of the peninsula (Kharaks on Cape Ai-Todor, fortresses in Balaklava, Alma-Kermen, etc.). But in the 4th century, the Roman troops were finally withdrawn from Taurica.
Alans- one of the largest Sarmatian nomadic tribes. They began to penetrate into the Crimea in the II century. At first, the Alans settled in the southeastern Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, because of the Hunnic threat, the Alans moved to the mountainous southwestern Crimea. Here, in contact with the local population, they move to settled life, accept Christianity. In the early Middle Ages, along with the Goths, the Gotoalans formed an ethnic community.
Goths. The Germanic tribes of the Goths invaded the Crimea in III. Under their blows, the Poedne-Scythian kingdom fell, and the Bosporus fell into a dependent position. At first, the Goths settled in the flat Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, because of the Hunnic threat, part of the Goths moved to the southwestern Crimea. The territory of their settlement was subsequently named Gothia, and its inhabitants became federates of the Byzantine Empire. With the support of Byzantium, fortified settlements were built here (Doros, Eski-Kermen). After the adoption of Christianity by the Goths, the Gothic diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is here. In the XIII century, the Principality of Theodoro was formed on the territory of Gothia, which existed until 1475. Neighboring with the Alans and professing a single Christian faith the Goths gradually merge with them, forming the ethnic community "Gotoalans", which subsequently participates in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Greeks, and then the Crimean Tatars.
Huns. During the IV - V centuries. hordes of Huns repeatedly invaded the Crimea. Among them were different tribes - Turkic, Ugric, Bulgarian. The Bosporan kingdom fell under their blows, and the locals hid from their raids in the foothills and mountains of the peninsula. After the collapse of the union of the Hunnic tribes in 453, part of the Huns settled in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. For some time they were a threat to the inhabitants of the mountainous Taurica, but then they quickly disappeared into the environment of the local, more cultured population.
Byzantines (Byzantine Empire). Byzantines are usually called the Greek-speaking Orthodox population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. For many centuries, Byzantium played a leading role in the Crimea, determining politics, economics and culture. local peoples. Actually, there were few Byzantines in the Crimea, they represented the civil, military and church administrations. Although a small number of the inhabitants of the empire periodically moved to live in Taurica, when the metropolis was restless.
Christianity came from Byzantium to Taurica. With the help of the Byzantines, fortresses were built on the coast and in the mountainous Crimea, Chersonese and the Bosporus were being strengthened. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in the XIII century. the influence of Byzantium on the peninsula practically ceases.
Crimean Greeks. In the V-IX centuries. in the southeastern and southwestern Crimea, from the descendants of the ancient Greeks, Taurus-Scythians, Goto-Alans, part of the Turks, a new ethnic group is formed, later called the "Crimean Greeks". combined these different nations Adoption Orthodox Christianity, as well as common territory and way of life. In the VIII-IX centuries, the Greeks, who fled from Byzantine from the persecution of the iconoclasts, poured into it. In the XIII century. in southwestern Taurica, two Christian principalities are formed - Theodoro and Kyrk-Orskoe, the main language in which was Greek. since the 15th century, after the defeat of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro by the Turks, the natural Turkization and Islamization of the Crimean Greeks took place, however, many of them retained the Christian faith (even having lost their native language) until the resettlement from the Crimea in 1778. A small part of the Crimean Greeks later returned to Crimea.
Khazars- the collective name of various nationalities of Turkic (Turkic-Bulgarians, Huns, etc.) and non-Turkic (Magyars, etc.) origin. By the 7th century a state was formed - the Khazar Khaganate, which united several peoples. At the end of the 7th century The Khazars invaded the Crimea, capturing its southern part, except for Chersonese. In Crimea, the interests of the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire constantly clashed. Repeatedly raised uprisings of the local Christian population against the domination of the Khazars. After the adoption of Judaism by the top of the kaganate and the victories of the Kyiv princes over the Khazars, their influence in the Crimea weakened. With the help of Byzantium, the local population managed to overthrow the power of the Khazar rulers. However, for a long time The peninsula was called Khazaria. The Khazars who remained in the Crimea gradually joined the local population.
Slavic-Russians (Kievan Rus). Kievan Rus, asserting itself on the world stage in the period from the 9th to the 10th centuries, was constantly in conflict with the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire. Russian squads periodically invaded their Crimean possessions, capturing considerable booty.
In 988 Kyiv prince Vladimir 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.
Pechenegs, Cumans. Pechenegs - Turkic-speaking nomads - quite often invaded Crimea in the 10th century. They did not have a significant impact on the local population due to the brevity of their stay in Crimea.
Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Komans)- Turkic-speaking nomadic people. Appeared on the peninsula in the XI century. and began to gradually settle in the southeastern Crimea. Subsequently, the Polovtsy practically merged with the newcomer Tatar-Mongols and became the ethnic basis of the future Crimean Tatar ethnos, since they numerically prevailed over the Horde and were a relatively sedentary population of the peninsula.
Armenians moved to the Crimea in the XI-XIII centuries, fleeing the raids of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs. First, the Armenians concentrated in the southeastern Crimea (Solkhat, Kafa, Karasubazar), and then in other cities. They were engaged in trade and various crafts. By the 18th century A significant part of the Armenians renounces, but they do not lose the Christian faith (monophysical Orthodoxy), until the resettlement from Kryia in 1778. Some of the Crimean Armenians subsequently returned to the Crimea.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many Armenians from European countries moved here. At the end of the 19th-beginning of the 20th century, part of the Armenians, fleeing from Turkish genocide in Armenia, also moves to the Crimea. In 1944 the Crimean Armenians were deported from the peninsula. Currently, they are partially returning to the Crimea.
Venetians, Genoese. Venetian merchants appeared in the Crimea in the 12th century, and Genoese merchants in the 13th century. Gradually displacing the Venetians, the Genoese entrenched themselves here. Expanding their Crimean colonies, they, under an agreement with the Golden Horde khans, include in them the entire coastal territory - from Kafa to Chersonese. Actually, there were few Genoese - administration, security, merchants. Their possessions in the Crimea existed until the capture of the Crimea by the Ottoman Turks in 1475. The few Genoese (Crimean Genovezhians) who remained after that in the Crimea gradually disappeared among the local population.
Tatar-Mongols (Tatars, Horde). Tatars are one of the Turkic tribes conquered by the Mongols. Their name eventually passed to the entire multi-tribal array of Asian nomads who set out on a campaign to the west in the 13th century. Horde - its more accurate name. Tatar-Mongols is a late term used by historians since the 19th century.
Horde(among them were the Mongols, Turks and other tribes conquered by the Mongols, and the Turkic peoples prevailed numerically), united under the rule of the Mongol khans, first appeared in the Crimea in the 13th century.
Gradually, they began to settle in the northern and southeastern Crimea. Here the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde was formed with the center in Solkhat. In the XIV century. Horde people accept Islam and gradually settle in the southwestern Crimea. The Horde, in close contact with the Crimean Greeks and Polovtsy (Kipchaks), are gradually moving to settled life, becoming one of the ethnic cores for the Crimean Tatar ethnos.
Crimean Tatars. (Crimean Tatars - this is how this people is called in other countries, the self-name "kyrymly" - Crimeans, residents of Crimea.) The process of formation of the ethnic group, which later became known as the "Crimean Tatars", was long, complex and multifaceted. The Turkic-speaking (descendants of the Turks, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Horde, etc.) and non-Turkic-speaking peoples (descendants of the Goto-Alans, Greeks, Armenians, etc.) took part in its formation. The Crimean Tatars became the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
Among them, there are three sub ethnic groups s. "Mountain Tatars" settled in the mountainous and foothill parts of the peninsula. Their ethnic core was mainly formed by the 16th century. from the descendants of the Horde, Kipchaks and Crimean Greeks who converted to Islam.
The ethnic group of the "South Coast Tatars" was formed later on the lands subject to Turkish sultan. Their ethnic basis was made up of the descendants of the local Christian population (Gotoalans, Greeks, Italians, etc.), who lived on these lands and converted to Islam, as well as the descendants of immigrants from Asia Minor. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Tatars from other regions of Crimea also began to settle on the southern coast.
In the steppe Crimea, the Black Sea region and the Sivash region, the Nogais roamed, who had mainly Turkic (Kipchak) and Mongolian roots. In the XVI century. they accepted the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, and later joined the Crimean Tatar ethnic group. They began to be called "steppe Tatars".
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the process of emigration of Crimean Tatars to Turkey and other countries begins. As a result of several waves of emigration, the number of the Crimean Tatar population decreased significantly, and by the end of the 19th century it accounted for 27% of the Crimean population.
In 1944 the Crimean Tatar people were deported from the Crimea. During the deportation, there was an involuntary mixing of different sub-ethnic groups, which until then had hardly mixed with each other.
At present, most of the Crimean Tatars have returned to the Crimea, the final formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group is taking place.
Turks (Ottoman Empire). Having invaded the Crimea in 1475, the Ottoman Turks took possession, first of all, of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro. On their lands, a sanjak was formed - Turkish possessions in the Crimea with a center in the Cafe. They made up 1/10 of the peninsula, but these were the most strategically important territories and fortresses. As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, Crimea was annexed to Russia and the Turks (mainly military garrisons and administration) left it. The Turks settled in an organized manner on the Crimean coast immigrants from Turkish Anatolia. Over time, fairly mixed with the local population, they all became one of the ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatar people and received the name "South Coast Tatars".
Karaites (karai)- nationality Turkic origin possibly descendants of the Khazars. However, to this day their origin is the subject of sharp scientific disputes. It's outnumbered Turkic-speaking people, formed on the basis of a religiously isolated sect that professed Judaism in a special form - Karaimism. Unlike Orthodox Jews, they did not recognize the Talmud and remained faithful to the Torah (Bible). Karaite communities began to appear in the Crimea after the 10th century, and by the 18th century. they were already in the majority (75%) in the Jewish population of the Crimea.
Russians, Ukrainians. During the XVI-XVII centuries. relations between the Slavs and the Tatars were not easy. Crimean Tatars periodically raided the outlying lands of Poland, Russia and Ukraine, capturing slaves and booty. In turn, the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, and then the Russian troops, made military campaigns on the territory of the Crimean Khanate.
In 1783 Crimea was conquered and annexed to Russia. Active settlement of the peninsula by Russians and Ukrainians began, which by the end of the 19th century. have become the predominant population here and continue to be so.
Greeks and Bulgarians from the lands subject to Turkey, under the threat of repression, with the support of Russian state moved to the Crimea at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th century. Bulgarians settled mainly in countryside southeastern Crimea, and the Greeks (they are usually called Novogreks) - in coastal cities and villages. In 1944 they were deported from the Crimea. Currently, some of them have returned to the Crimea, and many have emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria.
Jews. Ancient Jews in the Crimea appear since the beginning of our era, quickly adapting to the environment of the local population. Their numbers here increased significantly in the 5th-9th centuries, when they were persecuted in Byzantium. They lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade,
By the 18th century some of them are heavily Turkishized, becoming the basis for the Krymchaks, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group professing Judaism. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Jews always made up a significant proportion of the population of the peninsula (it was up to 8% by the beginning of the 20th century), since Crimea was part of the so-called "Pale of Settlement", where Jews were allowed to settle.
Krymchaks- a small Turkic-speaking people, formed by the 18th century. from the descendants of Jews who moved to the Crimea at different times and from different places and thoroughly Turkic, as well as Turks who converted to Judaism. They professed the Jewish religion of the Talmudic persuasion, which served to unite them in united people. A few representatives of this people live in the Crimea today.
Germans. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in early XIX V. German settlers, using significant benefits, began to settle mainly in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. They were mainly engaged in agriculture. Almost until the Great Patriotic War, they lived in separate German villages and farms. By the beginning of the XX century. Germans made up to 6% of the population of the peninsula. Their descendants were deported from the Crimea in 1941. Currently, only a few of the Crimean Germans have returned to the Crimea. Most emigrated to Germany.
Poles, Czechs, Estonians. Settlers of these nationalities appeared in the Crimea in the middle of the 19th century, they were mainly engaged in agriculture. By the middle of the XX century. they practically disappeared into the environment of the predominant local Slavic population.
Population. Ethnic history of Crimea
The population of Crimea, including Sevastopol, is about 2 million 500 thousand people. This is quite a lot, its density exceeds the average, for example, for the Baltic republics by 1.5 - 2 times. But if we take into account that in August up to 2 million visitors are simultaneously on the peninsula, that is, the population as a whole doubles and in some areas of the coast reaches the density of the most populated areas of Japan - over 1 thousand people per square kilometer.
Now the main part of the population is Russians, then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and share in the population are 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 language of international communication continues to be Russian.
ethnic history Crimea is very complex and dramatic. One thing can be said with certainty: the ethnic composition of the peninsula has never been monotonous, especially in its mountainous part and coastal areas.
Speaking about the population of the Tauride Mountains, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder, back in the 2nd century BC, notes that 30 peoples live there. Mountains and islands often serve as a refuge for relic peoples, once great, and then descended from the historical arena for a peaceful and measured life. So it was with the warlike Goths, who conquered almost all of Europe and then dissolved in its vastness already at the beginning of the Middle Ages. And in the Crimea, the settlements of the Goths survived until the 15th century. The last reminder of them is the village of Kok-Kozy, that is Blue eyes(now the village of Sokolinoye).
The Karaites live in Crimea - a small people with a distinctive and colorful history. You can get acquainted with it in the "cave city" Chufut-kale (which means the Jewish fortress, Karaimism is one of the branches of Judaism). The Karaite language belongs to the Kypchak subgroup of the Turkic languages, but the way of life of the Karaites is close to the Jewish one. In addition to our region, the Karaites live in Lithuania, they are the descendants of the personal guards of the Lithuanian Grand Dukes, as well as in the west of Ukraine. Krymchaks belong to the historical peoples of Crimea. This people was subjected to genocide during the years of occupation.
Jewish merchants appeared in Crimea as early as the 1st century AD. e., their burials in Panticapaeum (present-day Kerch) date back to this time. The Jewish population of the region endured severe trials during the war years and suffered huge losses. Now in the Crimea, mainly in the cities and most of all in Simferopol, about 20 thousand Jews live.
The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. They were merchants and artisans. Earlier (in the 9th and 10th centuries) the appearance of the squads of the Novgorod prince Bravlin and the Kyiv prince Vladimir was associated with military campaigns.
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.
In Soviet times, retired officers and people who had worked in the North had the right to settle in Crimea, so Crimean cities, as already noted, there are a lot of pensioners (of course, not only Russians).
After the collapse of the USSR, the Russians in Crimea not only did not lose interest in their original culture, but, like other peoples inhabiting the peninsula, they created their own society - the Russian Cultural Community, in every possible way maintain contact with their primordial historical homeland - Russia, including . and through the established "Moscow-Crimea" Foundation. The Fund is located in Simferopol on the street. Frunze, 8. Exhibitions, meetings with compatriots, celebrations of dates uniting peoples - this is not a complete list of events held within the walls of a well-equipped building. The Fund's cell - the Russian Cultural Center contributes to the strengthening of cultural ties between Crimea and Russia. Widely celebrated in the Crimea "pancake week" - Maslenitsa. Truly a holiday of Slavic cuisine - here are Russian and Belarusian pancakes, and Ukrainian mlintsi - with sour cream, honey, jam and even ... with caviar. Interest in Orthodoxy has revived, and the churches are now both elegant and crowded. The only pity is that there are no Russian restaurants where the style would be sustained in everything, and you simply cannot find a Russian oven.
Ukrainians in pre-war censuses are combined with Russians. But in the censuses late XIX V. they are in 3rd or 4th place. Ukraine has had close ties with the peninsula since the time of the Crimean Khanate, Chumat carts with salt, mutual trade in peacetime and equally mutual raids in wartime - all this served to move and mix people, although, of course, the main flow of Ukrainian settlers went to Crimea only at the end of the 18th century, and reached its maximum in the 50s of our century (after Khrushchev annexed the Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic).
The Germans, including immigrants from Switzerland, settled in the Crimea under Catherine II and were engaged, for the most part, in agriculture. The building of the Lutheran church and the school attached to it in Simferopol (Karl Liebknecht St., 16), built on private donations, has been preserved. IN Soviet time the German colonists formed several collective farms, which were famous for the high culture of agriculture and especially animal husbandry; German sausages in the Crimean markets had no equal. In August 1941, the Germans were deported to Northern Kazakhstan, and their villages in the Crimea were no longer restored.
The Bulgarians settled on the peninsula, like the Greeks, from the islands of the Aegean Sea, fleeing the Turkish yoke during the years of the wars of the latter quarter XVIII c.. It was the Bulgarians who brought the Kazanlak rose to the peninsula, and now our Crimea is the world's leading producer of rose oil.
Poles and Lithuanians ended up in the Crimea after the defeat of the national liberation uprisings of the 18th - 19th centuries. like exiles. Now the Poles, including descendants and later settlers, are about 7 thousand people.
A huge role in the history of the Crimea was played by the Greeks, who appeared here in ancient times and founded colonies on the Kerch Peninsula, in the South-Western Crimea, in the region of Evpatoria. The number of the Greek population on the peninsula varied in different eras. In 1897 there were 17 thousand of them, and in 1939 - 20.6 thousand.
Armenians have a long history in Crimea. In the Middle Ages, together with the Greeks of Asia Minor, who also left their homeland under the onslaught of the Turks, they constituted the main population of the South-Western Crimea, as well as cities in the Eastern Crimea. However, their descendants are now settled in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov. In 1771, 31,000 Christians (Greeks, Armenians, and others), accompanied by Russian troops, left the Crimean Khanate and founded new cities and villages on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov. This is the city of Mariupol, the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don (part of Rostov). The monuments of Armenian architecture - Surb-Khach monastery in the Old Crimea region, the church in Yalta and others can be visited with a tour or on your own. Armenian stone-cutting art had a noticeable influence on mosque architecture, mausoleums, palaces of the Crimean Khanate.
Already after the annexation of our region to Russia, the Armenians lived for the most part in the Eastern Crimea; the region of Feodosia and Stary Krym is called Crimean Armenia. By the way, the famous artist I.K. Aivazovsky, the best of marine painters, as well as composer A.A. Spendiarov - Crimean Armenians.
It is curious that the Crimean Armenians adopted Christianity from the Italians and therefore were Catholics, and their colloquial differed little from the Crimean Tatar. Naturally, mixed marriages have never been a rarity, and most native Crimeans are related to half the world.
In the same place in the Eastern Crimea, in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch, even before the revolution, curious fragments of the Middle Ages were preserved - communities of Crimean "zhenoveztsy" (Genoese), descendants of those same navigators, merchants and soldiers of Italian Genoa who once dominated the Mediterranean, Black and Seas of Azov and left the towers in Feodosia. You can also see these ruins, it's all so romantic, picturesque, impregnable, and most importantly - authentic, that there are no words. You just need to go and climb around, feel this fortress with your hands and feet.
You can often see Koreans in the Crimean markets. They are good farmers, industrious and lucky. Most recently they have been in the Crimea, literally for the last 30 years, but the Crimean land responds to their work with rich gifts.
More and more in the markets and fruits grown by the Crimean Tatars, reviving the glory of gardeners, gardeners and shepherds of the peninsula.
Crimean Tatars as ethnic community formed on the basis of the gradual merger of a number of ancient tribes of Taurica and several waves of steppe nomadic peoples(Khazars, Pechenegs, priests-Kipchaks and others). This process, in fact, has not even ended yet: there are differences in the language, appearance and lifestyle of the southern coast, mountain and steppe Tatars.
The cordiality and simplicity of the Crimean Tatars were noted even by the first Russian researchers, for example, P.I. Sumarokov. Their hard work and ingenuity in agriculture is respected by a peasant of any nationality. And modern Crimean Tatar music, in its melodiousness and incendiary rhythm, successfully competes with Jewish and gypsy music.
Unfortunately, among the part of the modern representatives of the Crimean Tatars, there are more and more adherents of aggressive Vakhabi movements. The events in present-day Chechnya and Kosovo have shown what this can lead to if the situation gets out of control. I would not like to witness the development of events according to such a scenario. I would like to hope for the prudence of both the local authorities and the Tatars themselves ...
The Crimean gypsies, who called themselves "Urmachel", lived for many centuries settled among the indigenous population of Crimea and even converted to Islam. Some of their caste groups were engaged in jewelry craft, wove baskets and were garden workers (according to L.P. Simirenko, they were not inferior to the best Tatar ones). Not quite settled group of gypsies - ayuvdzhilar (bear cubs) were engaged in fortune-telling, bear training and petty trade. But for a long time only gypsies were engaged in music in the Islamic Crimea, although they adapted it to local tastes. It was from the music of the Crimean gypsies in the 30s of our century that the modern Crimean Tatar music "came".
In 1944, the indigenous Gypsies were deported from Crimea along with other peoples. It is believed that in a foreign land they became ethnically close to the Crimean Tatars and are now inseparable from them. However, at train stations and bazaars, gypsies are conspicuous (almost in the literal sense of the word). But this is already a modern, post-war wave of settlement. The city of Dzhankoy is even shown in many atlases of the world as the center of gypsies: a large railway junction, gullible holidaymakers going south, and finally, the gentle Crimean sun make it possible to preserve the traditional values of camp life. In addition to fortune-telling "will there be an earthquake?" and “whom do you love at the resort?”, petty trade with “fat” and currency exchange with elements of transforming banknotes into colored paper, the gypsies are also engaged in ordinary work: they build houses, work at the enterprises of Dzhankoy and other cities.
Ancient peoples of Crimea
The most ancient people who inhabited the Black Sea steppes and Crimea and whose name has come down to us are the Cimmerians: they lived here at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e. Herodotus, who visited the Northern Black Sea region in the 5th century. BC e., the Cimmerians, of course, did not find, and transmitted information that remained in the memory of the local population, referring to the surviving geographical names - the Cimmerian Bosporus, on the banks of which there were settlements of Cimmeric and Cimmerius, Cimmerian walls, etc. 1 According to the story of "father history", the Cimmerians, forced out by the Scythians, retired to Asia Minor. However, the rest mixed up with the winners: in the light of archeology, anthropology, linguistics, the Cimmerians and Scythians - kindred peoples, representatives of the northern Iranian ethnos, so it is obviously not by chance that Greek authors sometimes confused or identified them.2 The question of the archaeological culture corresponding to the historical Cimmerians is considered one of the most difficult. Some researchers considered the Taurians to be direct descendants of the Cimmerians. In the meantime, the accumulating archaeological material led to the identification of a special culture, called Kizilkoba after the place of the first finds in the area of the Red Caves - Kizil-koba. Its carriers lived in the same place as the Taurians - in the foothills, at the same time - from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. according to III-II centuries. BC e., were engaged in agriculture and distant pastoralism. However, there were significant differences in culture - for example, among the Kizilkobins, ceramics are decorated with geometric ornaments, among the Taurians it is usually absent; the funeral rite was also different - the first buried the dead in small mounds, in catacomb-type graves, in an extended position on their backs, usually with their heads to the west; the second - in stone boxes, sprinkled with earth, in a crouched position on its side, with its head usually to the east. Today, the Kizilkobians and the Taurians are regarded as two different peoples who lived during the 1st millennium BC. e. in the mountainous part of the Crimea.
Whose descendants are they? Obviously, the roots of both cultures go back to the Bronze Age. Comparison of ceramics and funeral rite suggests that most likely the Kizilkoba culture goes back to the so-called late Catacomb culture, the carriers of which many researchers consider the Cimmerians.3
As for the Taurians, their most likely predecessors can be considered the carriers of the Kemioba culture (named after the Kemi-Oba barrow near Belogorsk, excavated by A.A. Shchepinsky, from which its study began), common in the foothill and mountainous Crimea in the second half of III - the first half of II millennium BC. e. It was the Khimiobins who erected the first mounds in the Crimean steppes and foothills, surrounded by stone fences at the base and crowned with once anthropomorphic steles. These are large stone slabs, hewn in the form of a human figure, where the head, shoulders, belt are highlighted, they were the first attempt to create the image of a person in the monumental art of the Black Sea region at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. e. A true masterpiece among them is a one and a half meter diorite stele from Kazanki, found near Bakhchisarai.4
The problem of the origin of anthropomorphic steles, found not only in the Black Sea region, but also in the south of France, is directly related to the spread of megalithic structures - stone fences, stone boxes, pillar-like menhirs. Noting their great similarity with the monuments of the northwestern Caucasus, researchers prefer to talk not about the influence of the latter, but about a single culture common in bronze age from Abkhazia in the east to the Crimean mountains in the west. Much brings the Kemioba culture closer to the later Taurus. The Taurians, the true heirs of the megalithic tradition, reproduced its structures, albeit on a somewhat reduced scale.5
Notes
1. Herodotus. History in 6 books / Per. and comment. G.A. Stratanovsky. - L .: Science, 1972. - Book. IV, 12.
2. Leskov A.M. Kurgans: finds, problems. - M ... 1981. - p. 105.
3. Shchetsinsky A.A. Red caves. - Simferopol, 1983. - p. 50.
4. Leskov A.M. Decree. op. - With. 25.
5. Shchepinsky A.A. Decree. op. - With. 51.
This historical reconstruction of cultures along the lines of "Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins" and "Kemiobins - Taurians", according to its author, should not be presented in a straightforward manner; there is still a lot of obscure and unexplored.
T.M. Fadeeva
Photos of beautiful places in Crimea
The sites of primitive people discovered by archaeologists on the Crimean peninsula (Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Volchiy Grotto) testify to the settlement of the region by humans already in the Stone Age.
The most ancient population of the Black Sea region and the Crimea consisted of those who lived here at the turn of the II-I millennium BC. e. semi-sedentary and nomadic tribes, collectively known as the Cimmerians. The memory of them is preserved in local toponyms mentioned in ancient Greek sources: Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric, Cimmerius. The Cimmerians apparently inhabited all the Black Sea steppes, but in the Eastern Crimea, as well as on the Taman Peninsula, they lived longer.
In the 7th century BC e. Cimmerians acted in alliance with the Scythians. There is information about the defeat in 652 BC. the Lydian capital Sardis by the Cimmerians and Scythians. The culture of the Cimmerians revealed by archaeologists is close to the Scythian and belongs to the end of the Bronze Age. This is evidenced by excavations on the Kerch and Taman Peninsulas, where burials of the 8th-7th centuries were found. BC e., associated with the Cimmerians. According to the story of Herodotus, the Cimmerians were forced out of the Northern Black Sea region by the Scythians, who dominated here already in the 7th century. BC e.
The descendants of the Cimmerians are the Taurians, who lived already in the Scythian time in the mountains of Crimea. The mountain range on the south coast of the peninsula was also called Taurus. This name is associated with the Greek name of the Crimean peninsula - Taurica, which was preserved both in the era of antiquity and in the Middle Ages.
The bulk of the Scythians were tribes that came in the VIII century. BC e. from Central Asia. Several Scythian tribes of the Northern Black Sea region are known: the royal Scythians, who also lived in the Crimea, Scythian nomads, Scythian plowmen, Scythian farmers, Scythian wonnes. social order Scythians in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. characterized by the gradual disintegration of tribal and the emergence of class relations. The Scythians already knew patriarchal slavery. The change of the Cimmerian culture of the Scythian in the VIII-VII centuries. BC e. coincided with the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. By the 4th century BC e. The Scythian kingdom, which united individual tribes, turned into a strong military power that successfully repelled the Persian invasion. Remarkable monuments of the famous Scythian "animal" style were discovered by archaeologists in the burial mounds and mountains of Crimea - in the Kurgans of Kulakovsky (near Simferopol, Ak-mosque), unique gold items depicting human figures, animals and plants were found in the famous Scythian kurgans Kul-Oba, Ak- Burun, Golden Mound.
In the VIII-VI centuries. BC e. there is an intensive process of Greek colonization of the North Pontic coast, due to economic and social development Ancient Hellas. In the 7th century BC e. colonized the western, and in the VI century. BC e. - northern coast of the Black Sea.
The earliest in Taurica, probably as early as the first half of the 6th century. BC e., on the site of modern Kerch on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus, the city of Panticapaeum was founded by the Milesians. The city itself was called by the Greeks and simply Bosporus. Around the middle of the VI century. BC e. Tiritaka, Nymphaeum, Kimmerik arose in the Eastern Crimea. In the VI century. BC e. Theodosius was founded by the Milesian Greeks, as well as Mirmekiy, located near Panticapaeum.
Around 480 BC e. in the Eastern Crimea, the previously independent Greek city-states (polises) are united into a single Bosporan State under the rule of the Archaeanactids, immigrants from Miletus. In 438 BC. e. power in the Bosporus passes to the Spartocids - a dynasty, possibly of Thracian origin.
Craft, agriculture, trade, monetary circulation Panticapaeum, where from the middle of the VI century. minted their own silver coin, were at a relatively high level of development. There was an expansion of the external expansion of the Bosporan state. However, in the III-II centuries. BC e. the onslaught of the Scythians intensifies from the west, and the Sarmatians penetrate from the Kuban region.
The creation of the Scythian state in the Crimea and the aggravation of social contradictions in the Bosporan kingdom contributed to the weakening of the latter.
In the western part of Crimea important role played Chersonese, founded in the 5th century. BC e. immigrants from the southern coast of the Black Sea (from Heraclea Pontica). Initially, it was a trading post, which later became the center of agricultural and handicraft production. Trade also grew, with the development of which the issue of its own coin made of silver and copper was associated. The remains of ancient Chersonesos have been preserved on the western outskirts of modern Sevastopol.
Chersonesos probably pursued a hostile policy towards the Bosporus. However, by the end of the II century. BC e. the onslaught of the Scythians on Chersonese intensifies. Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator provided military assistance to Chersonesos. Eastern Crimea and Chersonesos then pass under the authority of the Pontic king. Perisades, the last king of the Bosporus from the Spartokid dynasty, renounced the throne in favor of Mithridates VI. But this only exacerbated the urgent social contradictions in the slave-owning Bosporus. In 107 BC. e. there was an uprising led by the Scythian Savmak, but it was suppressed by the troops of the Pontic king.
The Pontic kingdom became the main obstacle to the further expansion of the Romans to the East. This led to the wars of Mithridates with Rome, which lasted from 89 BC. e. until the death of the Pontic king in 63 BC. e. The death of Mithridates meant the actual loss of political independence by this part of the Black Sea region. By the end of the 1st century BC e. a portrait of the Roman emperor and members of his family appears on Bosporan coins. True, in 25 BC. e. Rome confirms the independence of Chersonesus, but this independence was largely nominal.
The City-States of Taurica in the First Centuries A.D. were developed policies of the slave type. This opinion is supported by their administrative structure, as well as the monuments of material culture discovered by archaeologists.
The dominant force in the steppe zone during this period were the Sarmatians, at the head of which was the tribal nobility, surrounded by warriors. Several unions of Sarmatian tribes are known - Roxolans, Aorses, Siraks. Obviously, from the II century. And. e. Sarmatians receive the common name of the Alans, probably from the name of one of their tribes. However, in the Crimea, the Sarmatians, apparently, were inferior in number to the mass of the Scythians who survived here, as well as the descendants of the ancient Taurians. In contrast to the Sarmatians, this old population is referred to in ancient sources as Tauro-Scythians, which, perhaps, indicates the erasure of the differences between them.
The center of the Scythian tribes in the Crimea was Scythian Naples, located on the site of present-day Simferopol. Scythian Naples was founded at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. and lasted until the 4th century. n. e.
In the I-II centuries. The Bosporan kingdom is experiencing a new rise, it occupies approximately the same territory as under the Spartokids. Moreover, the Bosporus actually exercises a protectorate over Chersonese. Simultaneously, Sarmatization of the population of the Bosporan cities takes place. In foreign policy the Bosporan kings showed a certain independence, including in relations with Rome.
In the III century. spreading in Crimea christian religion, which probably came here from Asia Minor. In the IV century. in the Bosporus there was already an independent Christian bishopric.
Chersonese at that time continued to develop as a slave-owning republic, but the former, democratic system (within the framework, of course, of the slave-owning formation) was now replaced by an aristocratic one. At the same time, the romanization of the ruling urban elite took place. Chersonese becomes the main stronghold of the Romans in the Northern Black Sea region. There was a Roman garrison in it, food was supplied to the center of the empire from here.
In the middle of the III century. n. e. The Bosporus state is experiencing an economic and political decline, reflecting the general crisis of the ancient slave system. Starting from the 50-70s. in the Crimea, the onslaught of the Borani, Ostrogoths, Heruls and other tribes that were part of
to the Gothic alliance. The Goths defeated the Scythians and destroyed their settlements in the Crimea. Capturing almost the entire peninsula, with the exception of Chersonesus, they established their dominance over the Bosporus. The Gothic invasion led to the decline of the Bosporus kingdom, but it received a mortal blow in the 70s. 4th century Hun tribes that appeared in the Eastern Crimea. The Bosporus they defeated lost its former significance and gradually left the historical arena.
From the collection "Crimea: Past and Present"”, Institute of History of the USSR, Academy of Sciences of the USSR, 1988
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 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 serving as natural shelters 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-Kobinsky 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.
Emergence and expansion 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 spiritual world Scythians, Taurians, Sarmatians and other tribes that came into contact with it. 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, new wave invaders - 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 in the course Crimean history intervene actively new strength – 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 with the Principality of Theodoro contentious issues 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 ruined, most 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 the world that brought independence 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 royal family to acquire 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 with each other, 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 « Tierra del Fuego Eltigen", "Kerch-Feodosiya operation", "The feat of partisans and underground workers"... 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, facilities Agriculture, 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 Russian Federation. started recent history 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!
