In recent years, after the return of the Tatars from deportation, interethnic and interregional relations in the Crimean peninsula have become aggravated. The basis of the conflict is the dispute: whose land is it and who is native in Crimea? To begin with, let's decide who the historical and ethnographic sciences classify as indigenous peoples. The encyclopedia gives this answer:
An indigenous people is an ethnic group that has mastered a territory that was not inhabited by anyone before it.
And now let's trace the changes in the Crimean ethnogenesis (the emergence of various peoples), although this will not be a complete picture, but nevertheless it is impressive. So, they lived in Crimea at different times.
About 300 thousand years ago – primitive people(Early Paleolithic); tools of labor and hunting were found in the places of parking on the South Bank.
About 100 thousand years ago- primitive people (Middle Paleolithic); more than 20 human sites are known: Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Shaitan-Koba, Akkaya, Zaskalnaya, Prolom, Kobazi, Wolf Grotto, etc.; religion is animism.
40-35 thousand years ago- people of the Upper Paleolithic; religion - totemism; 4 sites were found, including Suren I.
12th-10th millennium- people of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age); more than 20 sites were found throughout the Crimea: Shankoba, Fatmakoba, Alimov canopy, Kachinsky canopy, etc.; religion is totemism.
8th millennium- people of the Neolithic (New Stone Age); Kemi-Oba culture (Tashair); religion is totemism.
5th millennium(Bronze Age) - the arrival in the Crimea of the tribes of the "catacomb" and "log" cultures (burials in barrows).
The existence of different cultures did not pass without a trace for them themselves - they undoubtedly influenced each other, changed and enriched, and possibly merged, giving rise to new cultures. Perhaps this was the beginning of the culture of the Cimmerians (alien tribes) and the culture of the Taurians (local tribes):
3rd millennium BC(Iron Age) - Cimmeria, Cimmerians - warlike people, Indo-Aryans - people of the European type; area of their settlement: south modern Russia, Ukraine, North Caucasus, Crimea; religion is polytheism. They lived in the valleys. Most likely they brought to the Crimea the ability to extract and process iron.
X century BC- Tavria, Taurica, Taurida, Tauris (they can only be called a single people with a certain stretch; rather, it is a conglomeration of various tribes: Arihs, Napeevs, Singhs, etc.) They lived in the mountains, were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing; their burial places have been preserved - dolmens and fortifications: Uch-Bash, on Cape Kharaks, on Mount Castel Seraus, Koshka, Karaul-oba, on the rocks of the Kachinsky Gate, Ai-Yori and in the Karalezskaya Valley; religion - the cult of the Virgin and other gods.
These tribes were united by one name by the Greeks, who already visited the Crimean shores in those days. It is definitely not clear why they called them that: either for their ferocious temper, or for their innumerable herds (“tauros” - a bull from Greek), or whether this word meant “highlanders” (taurus-tur-mountain) ...
VII-VI centuries BC- Greeks. Tauric Chersonese, Cimmerian Bosporus on the shores of Pontus Euxinus (Black Sea) and Meotida ( Sea of Azov). The Greeks founded these two states, as well as hundreds of settlements along the coast; religion - polytheism, the Pantheon of the Olympic gods, headed by Zeus (Kronos); from Iv.n.e. - Gradual Christianization; the Greeks were the first in the Crimea to start trading in slaves from the locals “for export” (how, by the way, could the Tauris, and then the Scythians, relate to them, because they didn’t consider them to be people?)
VIII-VII century BC- Scythia, Scythians (cleaved), Sinds, Meots, Saks, Massagets and other Indo-Iranian nomadic tribes, who practically ousted the Cimmerians from the Crimean expanses and gradually became settled in vast territories (the capital of Scythia was near modern Nikopol, and the second - in the Crimea (Simferopol) - Scythian Naples, built in the III century BC) Religion - polytheism. Pantheon of gods led by Popeye.
Eternal and irresistible process mutual influence and the mixing of peoples led to the fact that in the first centuries of our era, the Taurians were no longer separated from the Scythians, but were called Tauro-Scythians, and part of the Scythian settlements mixed with the Greek ones (for example, the Tatars already in the 13th century found a wretched Greek village on the site of Naples, which they called Kermenchuk ). But let's continue the list.
II century BC Sarmatia. The Sarmatians pushed the related-speaking Scythians from the Northern Black Sea and Azov regions to the Crimea; religion is polytheism.
I century BC- Jewish diaspora - Semites. Religion - monotheismo (god Yahweh); tombstones with menorah candles and inscriptions in Hebrew were found on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas.
I century BC - Iv.n.e.- Pontic (Pontic Bosporus); settled on the site of the Bosporan Cimmerian kingdom, headed by Mithridates VI Eupator (Kerch); religion is polytheism. Together with the Pontians, Armenians appear on the peninsula.
Iv.don.e. – III century AD- the Romans and Thracians, after the defeat of the Pontic kingdom, capture the Crimea (now it is the easternmost outskirts of the Roman Empire); religion - polytheism, and from 325g. - Christianity; the Romans introduced local residents to their culture, introduced them to the virtues of Roman law.
Until the 4th century AD- Eastern Slavs: Antes, Tivertsy (Artania) - have been known in the Northern Black Sea region since ancient times; pushed to the north during the Great Migration of Nations, partially preserved in Taman - the future Tmutarakan; religion is polytheism.
3rd century AD- Germanic tribes: Goths and Heruli (Gothia, Captaincy of Gothia); came from the Baltic, destroyed Scythia and created their own state of Gothia on the southern coast of Crimea. Later - they left the Huns to the west, part returned in the 7th century. The Goths were the impetus for the unification of the Slavs; religion - polytheism, and later - Christianity.
3rd century AD- Alans-yases, related to the Sarmatians (distant ancestors of the Ossetians); together with the Sarmatians they settled among the Scythians; best known in the Crimea for their settlement of Kyrk-Ork (until the 14th century, then - Chufut-Kale), when they were pushed into the mountains by the Huns; religion is Christianity.
IV century- Huns, Xiongnu (Hun principality) - the ancestors of the current Tuvans; invaded from the Trans-Altai, dealt a powerful blow to the Goths, drove away a significant part of the population, thereby initiating the Great Migration; religion - paganism, later - Christianity.
IV century- Byzantium (Eastern Roman Empire), Kherson theme; after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Taurica, as it were, “by inheritance” went to Byzantium; strongholds in the Crimea - Kherson, Bosporus (Kerch), Gurzuvits (Gurzuf), Aluston (Alushta), etc. In 325g. accept Christianity.
6th century- the Turks (Turkets-Mongoloids) raided the Crimea from Siberia, setting up their Ashin dynasty in Khazaria (lower reaches of the Volga and Terek), they did not gain a foothold on the peninsula; pagans.
6th century- Avars (obry) - created the Avar Khaganate in Transnistria, also raided the Crimea until they were defeated by the Bulgars; pagans.
7th century- Bulgars (Bulgarians). Some of them settle in the Crimea, becoming sedentary from nomadic, settling in the foothill valleys and engaging in agriculture (in general, the Volga Bulgars-Turks moved to the West; their other wave went north, creating the Kazan Khanate; in the Balkans they assimilated with the southern Slavs, having founded Bulgaria and adopted Christianity ); pagans, and from the IX century. - Orthodox Christians.
7th century- Greekized superethnos (Gothia, Doros) - formed the Greek-speaking basis of the population of the Mangup Principality (Dori); Byzantium is being strengthened, uniting the multilingual peoples who lived in the mountainous Crimea and along the South Coast; religion - Christianity, as well as other religions.
VIII-X centuries.- Khazar Khaganate, Khazars (Turkic-speaking peoples of the Dagestan type); religion - paganism, later part converted to Islam, part - Judaism, and part - Christianity. Power in the Kaganate is first seized by the Ashins, then by the Jews; Jewish Khazaria seizes part of the steppe and coastal Crimea, competes with Byzantium, seeks to subdue Rus' (it was defeated by Prince Svyatoslav in 965).
VIII-X centuries.- Karaites; came to Khazaria from Israel through Persia and the Caucasus; met with the Khazars; driven out by Rohdanite Jews to the outskirts of Khazaria, including the Crimea; language - Kinchak dialect Turkic language, close to Crimean Tatar; religion - Judaism (recognize only the Pentateuch - Torah).
VII-I centuries.- Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) - remained in the Crimea and Taman as fragments of the defeated Khazar Khaganate(known as residents of the Tmutarakan principality and Kievan Rus); the language is close to Karaite; Religion - Orthodox Judaism-Rabbinism.
End of IX - beginning of X centuries.- Pechenegs-Bejans (Turkmen) - Turks from the Baraba steppes; defeated by the Polovtsians and Guzes; who dispersed to the Crimea, who - to the Lower Dnieper (Karakalpaks); were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs; religion is paganism.
X-XI centuries- Guz-Oghuz (Turkmen) - Turks. Leader - Oguz Khan; ousted the Pechenegs from the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region, and then, together with the Pechenegs, opposed the Rus (Rugs), Slavs and Polovtsians; religion is paganism.
X-XIII centuries- Eastern Slavs (Tmutarakan principality as part of Kievan Rus). This is the principality (Taman and Korchev-Kerch), founded by Prince Vladimir in 988, in 1222. together with the Polovtsians fought off the Turks; at the Battle of the Kalka in 1223. Ataman Tmutarakan Plaskinya took the side of the Mongol-Tatars; religion is Christianity.
XI century- Cumans (Kypchaks, Kumans, Komans). They created in the Black Sea region and in the Crimea the state of Odzhaklar with the capital Sarkel (on the Don). They alternately fight with Russia, then make alliances; together with the four Russian princes Mstislavs and Khan Katyan, they were defeated on the Kalka River in 1223; part went to Hungary and Egypt (Mamluks), the rest were assimilated by Tatars, Slavs, Hungarians, Greeks, etc. Religion - paganism.
XI century- perhaps, Armenians settled in Crimea at that time (their homeland was tormented by Persians and Seljuk Turks). Mountainous Taurica to the east of present-day Belogorsk has been called Maritime Armenia for some time now; in a wooded tract, the Armenian monastery of Surb-khach (holy cross) appears, known even outside the Crimea; Belogorsk itself is a large and rich city - Solkhat (it is inhabited by Kipchaks, Alans and Russ, as well as Soldaya, Surozh (Sudak).
Ancient authors have a lot of reports about dews (Ruses) who lived from the first centuries of our era in the Northern Azov region, the Black Sea region and in the Crimea. Byzantine documents slipped: “ Scythians, who are Russian". In the IX century. The Black Sea was called by the Arabs the Russian Sea (previously it was Rumsky - "Byzantine"). In the IX century. Enlightener Cyril saw in Taurica books "written in Russian letters." The word "ros" means "light, white." The Tarkhankut peninsula was designated as the "white coast", and the dews lived there. The Arabs called the Rus Slavs, the Greeks called the Scythians, and the Cimmerian Bosporus was considered their homeland. There is a version that the Novgorod prince Bravlin, who went to the Greek settlements, was the leader of the local, Taurus-Scythian, and "Russian new town"- most likely Scythian Naples. In the XI century. The Kerch Strait is called the Russian River, and on its Crimean coast, opposite Tmutarakan, stands the city of Rosia - the White City (Kerch?). Russian merchant Athanasius Nikitin in 1474, when returning from "Overseas", visited the Crimea, where he saw many Russians and people in general Orthodox faith, and baptized Tatars(which he wrote about in his diaries).
XII-XV centuries.- Venetians, Genoese, Pisans founded trading posts in the Crimea: Kafa, Soldaya, Vosporo, Chembalo. They appeared in the Crimea back in the days of Byzantium, in the army of Mamai they participated in the Battle of Kulikovo. In 1475 Kafa (modern Feodosia) fell under the blows of the Turks and Tatars. Religion - Catholicism.
XII-XV centuries.- in the Crimea, a multi-ethnic Mangup principality of Theodoro arises, which has ties with Constantinople, Europe, Moscow and numbers 200 thousand. population ( most of- Greeks). It stretched from Balaklava to Alushta, located in the mountainous Crimea; defeated by the Turks and Tatars in 1475. After 300 years, only 30 thousand remained in the Crimea. Greeks, of which half are Urums (Tatarized). In 1778 the Greeks left for the Sea of Azov (Mariupol).
Beginning of the 13th century- Crimea is inhabited by Tatars - Ulus of the Golden Horde. Eski-Krym - Stary Krym (former Solkhat) becomes the capital. The Transbaikalian tribes of the Tatars and Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, having captured the Yenisei and Ob Kirghiz, conquered the peoples of Central Asia. At the beginning of the XIII century. Genghis Khan moved west, against the Kipchaks and Kievan Rus. In Crimea - since 1239; pagans, and from the XIV century - Sunni Muslims.
Crimean Khanate(Tatars) - since 1428. the capital moved from Solkhat to Bakhchisarai; formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde. Since 1475 by 1774 this state is a vassal of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire; liquidated in 1783. Religion is Islam.
XIII century- Gypsies - known in the Crimea since the Crimean Khanate. Perhaps they first appeared in Khazar times; religion - paganism, and then partly Christianity, partly - Islam.
XV century - 1475-1774- the Turks, the Ottoman Empire (the first attempt to establish itself in the Crimea was in 1222). The Turks capture Kafa, Sudak, the cave cities of Mangup and Chufut-Kale, and the sultan becomes the religious head of the Crimean Tatars. Religion is Islam.
XVIII - XX centuries.- Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Germans, Czechs, Estonians, Moldavians, Karsk Greeks, Vlachs, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Kazan and Siberian Tatars, Koreans, Hungarians, Italians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, etc.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. the Turks and most of the Tatars leave for Turkey, and the settlement of the Crimea and the Novorossiysk Territory by Slavic and other peoples (including those from abroad) begins. Religion - different religions and denominations.
Afterword
The article uses data from the article “Indigenous and attached” (newspaper “Krymskaya Pravda” dated January 27, 2004), written by Vasily Potekhin, a candidate of historical sciences, an honored educator of Crimea, a member of the writers’ union, who claims:
None of the peoples now living in Crimea is aboriginal - autochthonous, that is, indigenous. The principle of our peaceful multi-ethnic existence today is reflected on the coat of arms of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the form of a motto: "Prosperity in unity." Nationalism inevitably leads to national fascism. Crimea was, is and will be a historical testing ground for the creation of a multinational Eurasian culture.
Culture will save the world.
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Our Motherland - Crimea
... Within Russia there is no other country that would live such a long and intense historical life, involved in the Hellenic Mediterranean culture in all the centuries of its existence ...
M. A. Voloshin
The Crimean peninsula is a "natural pearl of Europe" - due to its
geographic location and unique natural conditions from ancient times
was the crossroads of many maritime transit roads connecting various
states, tribes and peoples. The most famous "Great Silk Road"
passed through the Crimean peninsula and connected the Roman and Chinese empires.
Later, he connected together all the uluses of the Mongol-Tatar empire
and played a significant role in the political and economic life of peoples,
inhabiting Europe, Asia and China.
Science claims that about 250 thousand years ago in the territory Crimean peninsula man first appeared. And since that time, in different historical eras various tribes and peoples lived on our peninsula, replacing each other, there were different types of state formations.
Many of us had to deal with the names "Tavrika", "Tavrida", which were used and continue to be used in relation to the Crimea. The appearance of these geographical names is directly related to the people, which can rightfully be considered a Crimean aborigine, since its entire history from beginning to end is inextricably linked with the peninsula.
The ancient Greek word "tauros" is translated as "bulls". On this basis, it was concluded that the Greeks called the locals so because they had a bull cult. It was suggested that the Crimean highlanders called themselves some unknown word, consonant Greek word"bulls". The Greeks called Taurus the mountain system in Asia Minor. Mastering the Crimea, the Hellenes, by analogy with Asia Minor, called the Taurus and the Crimean mountains. From the mountains, the people living in them (Taurians), as well as the peninsula (Tavrika), on which they were located, got their name.
Antique sources brought to us meager information about the ancient inhabitants of the Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians. The main population of the Crimea, especially the mountainous part, ancient authors call the Taurians. The most ancient people recorded in writing in the Crimea and the Black Sea steppes were the Cimmerians; they lived here at the turn of the II-I millennium BC, and some scientists consider the Taurians to be their direct descendants. Approximately in VII-VI Art. BC. the Cimmerians were ousted by the Scythians, then the Scythians were ousted by the Sarmatians, while the remnants of the first Cimmerian, then the Taurus and Scythian tribes, as researchers think, retreat to the mountains, where they keep their ethno-cultural identity for a long time. About 722 B.C. e. the Scythians were expelled from Asia and founded a new capital, Scythian Naples, in the Crimea on the Salgir River (within modern Simferopol). The "Scythian" period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archeological data show that after that, the basis of the population of the northwestern Crimea was made up of peoples who came from the Dnieper region. In the VI - V centuries BC. e., when the Scythians ruled the steppes, the Greeks founded their trading colonies on the coast of Crimea.
The settlement of the Black Sea region by the Greeks took place gradually. Mostly the sea coast was populated, and in some places the density of small settlements was quite high. Sometimes the settlements were in direct line of sight from one another. Ancient cities and settlements were concentrated in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) with the largest cities of Panticapaeum (Kerch) and Theodosia; in the region of the Western Crimea - with the main center Chersonese (Sevastopol).
In the Middle Ages, a small Turkic people appeared in Taurica - the Karaites. Self-name: Karai (One Karaite) and Karaylar (Karaites). Thus, instead of the ethnonym "Karaim" it is more correct to say "karay". Big interest cause their material and spiritual culture, language, way of life and customs.
Analyzing the available anthropological, linguistic and other data, a significant part of scientists see the Karaites as descendants of the Khazars. This people settled mainly in the foothills and mountains of Taurica. The settlement of Chufut-Kale was a peculiar center.
With the penetration of the Mongol-Tatars into Taurica, a number of changes take place. First of all, this concerned the ethnic composition of the population, which underwent great changes. Along with the Greeks, Russians, Alans, Polovtsians, Tatars appeared on the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, and Turks in the 15th century. In the 13th century, mass migration of Armenians began. At the same time, the Italians are actively rushing to the peninsula.
988 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.
The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. They were merchants and artisans. The mass resettlement of serfs from central Russia began in 1783 after the annexation of Crimea to the empire. Disabled soldiers and Cossacks received land for free settlement. Construction railway V late XIX V. and the development of industry also caused an influx of the Russian population.
Now representatives of more than 125 nations and nationalities live in Crimea, the main part is Russians (more than half), then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and proportion in the population is growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians , Gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. Small in number, but still noticeable in the culture of the small peoples of the Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks.
The age-old experience of nationalities leads to the conclusion:
Let's live in peace!
Anatoly Matyushin
I won't reveal any secrets
There is no ideal society
If only the world consisted of aesthetes,
Maybe there would be an answer.
Why is the world so restless
A lot of anger and all sorts of enmity,
We are neighbors in a huge apartment,
We would not slide into trouble.
Taking up arms is not the point
Grieving for all the oppressed,
Don't try to change others
Maybe just improve yourself?.
To improve something
I would like to convince people
The world would be a little better
We just need to be friends with everyone!
Pontus Euxinus - Scythian Sea
Crimea became known for world history many centuries before our era. In ancient times, the peninsula was called Taurica. This name was recorded by the Byzantine historian of the VI century AD Procopius nz Caesarea. The Old Russian chronicle "The Tale of Bygone Years" gives a slightly modified form of this name - Tavriania. Only in the XII century, the Tatars, who conquered the peninsula, called the Greek city of Solkhat (now Stary Krym) Crimea, which became the center of their possessions. Gradually, during the XIV-XV centuries, this name spread to the entire peninsula. The names of the Greek colonies that arose in the Crimea in the VI century BC. cannot be considered the oldest Crimean toponyms. Before the arrival of the Greeks in the Crimea, numerous tribes lived here, leaving their mark on history, archeology, and toponymy.
Crimea belongs to those few places on earth where people have appeared since time immemorial. Here, archaeologists discovered their sites of the Paleolithic era - the early Stone Age.
Scientists believe that before the beginning of the divergence of peoples - about 3700 BC. throughout the Caspian steppes of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, the common language of communication was, the roots of which lie in.
The roots of the most ancient names of the Crimean places, rivers, mountains, lakes should be sought in the Proto-Indo-European language - Vedic Sanskrit: support, stronghold, tower, tower, pylon. (related word in Dr. Russian: KROM - castle, fortification, secluded, hidden from ...; Kromny - outer edge (edge); KROMA - edge, piece of bread;) At the root of the word Kram - kram - fortress, verb " kR" and "krta" - create, build, make, that is - this is a man-made structure - the Fortress, the Kremlin.
Slavic historian, archaeologist, ethnographer and linguist, author of the 11-volume encyclopedia "Slavic Antiquities" Lubora Niederle claimed that “... among the northern neighbors of the Scythians mentioned by Herodotus, not only the neurons ... but also Scythians called plowmen and farmers ... were undoubtedly Slavs, who were influenced by the Greco-Scythian culture.
The first population of Crimea known to us from ancient Greek sources was the Scythians, Taurus and the Cimmerians, who were related or Thracian.
In the southwestern part of the Crimean peninsula, 15 km from Sevastopol, is the ancient city of Balaklava, which has a rich history of more than 2500 years.
Since ancient times, it has been a powerful military fortress created by nature itself. Balaklava harbor is closed by high rocks on all sides from sea storms, and the narrow entrance to the harbor reliably protects it from enemy invasions from the sea. reports that Tauris lived in the mountains of Taurida, who knew a lot about martial arts.
within the Dnieper Left Bank there are two toponyms ancient Slavic species - Perekop, near Sreznevsky - Perekop, possible calque of relict Indo-Aryan * krta - “made (that is, dug by hand)” , hence the name Crimea. Approximately in the same place, at the base of the Crimean peninsula, there is another Russian. Oleshye , one of the "populated places" by the sea, which from time immemorial - from Herodotus Hylaea ('Y - "forest") up to the present Aleshkovsky (!) Sands - steadfastly conveyed and preserved the image of this "wooded" patch among the surrounding treeless spaces.
The name "Balaklava" comes from the word, strength, power, energy, strength, military force, army, army. The word "Bala" comes from - RV). Perhaps the name of the harbor "Bala + Klava" - comes from "Bala" - military, "Klap, kalpate" - klṛ p, kalpate - "strengthen, strengthen, fortress" (from the root "kḷ p"), that is - Military Fortress.
Ancient Greek geographer and historian Strabo (64 BC - 24 AD) and Roman writer, author " natural history» Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD) associated the name of the harbor and the military fortress with the name of his son (II century BC) Palak - "strong warrior." Names of the god of war ancient greece - Pallas (Pallas), an epithet of a goddess Athena Palada(other Greek Παλλὰς Ἀθηνᾶ) – militant goddess of war strategy and wisdom, and the name of the Scythian prince Palak - "warrior", come from the same root.
In the 5th century, a powerful city arose on both banks of the Kerch Strait, whose inhabitants consisted of representatives of various peoples - Greek colonists, Scythians, Meots. Dominant dynasty The Spartakids were of Thracian origin, and the royal guard also consisted of the Thracians. The roots of the language of the Scythians, Cimmerians, Greeks lie in the Proto-Indo-European language, which is why they found a common language and, allowing for the interpenetration of cultures and language borrowings on the peninsula, for example, from the Germanic tribes - - the Scythians, who were in a single Gothic union of tribes in the Crimea .
The role of the Goths in the life of the Crimea was very significant, since even in the Byzantine medieval sources the Crimea was called Gothia. belongs to the Indo-European group of languages. A few fortified Ostrogothic settlements remained in the Black Sea region in the western mountainous part of the Crimea, inhabited by Greeks and subordinated to Byzantium, and also from the 5th century in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov on the Taman Peninsula, the Ostrogoths at the end of the 4th century were cut off by the invasion of the Huns and other nomads in the Black Sea region. Byzantine Emperor Justinian I built a line of fortifications in the Crimea to protect the settlements of the Ostrogoths (Eastern Goths). In Taurida (Crimea) there was a Gothic the fortress city of Mangup, the cities of Doro (Doros), Theodoro, ready-meal merchants living on the "table mountain" (near Alushta).
In the 6th century, the Crimean Goths adopted Orthodox Christianity and patronage from Byzantium. In the Crimea, the Crimean-Gothic language was preserved for a long time, dating back to the Ostrogothic dialect of the tribes of the Eastern Goths, who came to the Black Sea region and the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov in 150-235, and lived in the neighborhood with Greek settlers and Scythians. The Flemish monk V. Rubruk, who testifies in 1253 that the Goths in the Crimea at that time spoke the “German dialect” (idioma Teutonicum). important place occupies the Crimean peninsula in the history of Ukraine. The population of Crimea and Ukraine was connected by common economic, political and cultural processes.
Distribution of power Kyiv princes Ancient Rus' on a fairly large part of the peninsula closely and for a long time brought the population of Crimea closer to the ancient Russian state. There were gates of sorts through which Kievan Rus went out to communicate with the countries of the East. In the first centuries of our era in the Crimea appeared Slavs. Their migration to the peninsula is most naturally explained by the so-called great migration of peoples in the II-VII centuries.
From time to time, Byzantine sources recall the Slavs in the Crimea. But scientists were able to get a more complete picture of their life on the peninsula only starting from the era of Kievan Rus. Archaeologists have discovered in the Crimea the remains of material culture, the foundations of architectural structures, close to those that were built in the cities of Kievan Rus. Moreover, the fresco paintings and the plaster itself of the Crimean Russian churches are very similar in composition to the fresco paintings of the Kyiv cathedrals of the 11th-12th centuries.
Much about the ancient Russian population of the Crimea becomes known from written sources.
From "The Lives of Stefan of Surozh" know that at the beginning In the 9th century, the Russian prince Bravlin took possession of the Crimean cities of Korsun (or Kherson, so in the Middle Ages Chersonesus began to be called) and Sudak. And in the middle of the same century, the ancient Russians settled for a long time in the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, having mastered the Byzantine city of Tamatarkha later Tmutarakan, the capital of the future Old Russian principality, part of whose lands extended into the Crimea. Gradually, the Kiev government extends its power to the northwestern part of it to the outskirts of Kherson, the entire Kerch Peninsula.
Tmutarakans principality formed in the middle of the 10th century. Remote from other Russian lands, it was under constant pressure from Byzantium, but managed to survive. Successful Vladimir Svyatoslavich's campaign against Kherson in 989 expanded ancient Russian possessions in the Crimea. According to the Russian-Byzantine agreement, Kievan Rus was able to annex the city of Bosporus with its outskirts to the Tmutarakan principality, which received the Russian name Korchev (from the word "korcha" - a forge, the current Kerch).
The Arab geographer Idrisi called Kerch Strait "the mouth of the Russian river". There he even knew a city with the name "Russia". Medieval European and Oriental geographic Maps Crimea recorded a lot of place names, names of cities and settlements, indicating a long and long stay of the Russians in the Crimea: " Cosal di Rosia", "Rossia", "Rosmofar", "Rosso", "Rossika" (the latter near Evpatoria), etc.
IN late XII centuries, the bulk of the nomadic Polovtsy, who took possession of the steppes of the northern Black Sea region, cut off the Crimea from Kievan Rus for a long time. At the same time, the Polovtsians destroyed the Tmutarakan principality, but a significant part of the Russian population remained on the peninsula. One of its strongholds was the city of Sudak (Russian name Surozh). According to the Arab writer Ibn al-Athir. At the end of the 12th and beginning of the 13th centuries, many Russian merchants lived in the Crimea. The Russian population of the peninsula, as well as representatives of other local peoples, was dealt an irreparable blow by the conquest of the peninsula Mongol-Tatars after 1223.
A year ago, the Crimean peninsula was integral part state of Ukraine. But after March 16, 2014, he changed his "place of residence" and became part of Russian Federation. Therefore, we can explain the increased interest in how the Crimea developed. The history of the peninsula is very turbulent and eventful.
The first inhabitants of the ancient land
The history of the peoples of Crimea has several millennia. On the territory of the peninsula, researchers discovered the remains of ancient people who lived in the Paleolithic era. Near the sites of Kiik-Koba and Staroselye, archaeologists found the bones of people who inhabited this area at that time.
In the first millennium BC, Cimmerians, Taurians and Scythians lived here. By the name of one nationality, this territory, or rather its mountainous and coastal parts, is still called Taurica, Tavria or Tauris. Ancient people were engaged in agriculture and cattle breeding on this not very fertile land, as well as hunting and fishing. The world was new, fresh and cloudless.
Greeks, Romans and Goths
But for some ancient states, the sunny Crimea turned out to be very attractive in terms of location. The history of the peninsula also has Greek echoes. Around the 6th-5th centuries, the Greeks began to actively populate this territory. They founded entire colonies here, after which the first states appeared. The Greeks brought with them the benefits of civilization: they actively built temples and theaters, stadiums and baths. At this time, shipbuilding began to develop here. It is with the Greeks that historians associate the development of viticulture. The Greeks also planted olive trees here and collected oil. We can safely say that with the arrival of the Greeks, the history of the development of Crimea received a new impetus.
But a few centuries later, powerful Rome laid eyes on this territory and captured part of the coast. This takeover lasted until the 6th century AD. But the greatest damage to the development of the peninsula was caused by the tribes of the Goths, who invaded in the 3rd-4th centuries and thanks to which the Greek states collapsed. And although the Goths were soon forced out by other nationalities, the development of the Crimea slowed down very much at that time.
Khazaria and Tmutarakan
Crimea is also called ancient Khazaria, and in some Russian chronicles this territory is called Tmutarakan. And these are not at all figurative names of the area on which Crimea was located. The history of the peninsula has left in speech those toponymic names that at one time or another were called this piece of land. Starting from the 5th century, the entire Crimea falls under the harsh Byzantine influence. But already in the 7th century, the entire territory of the peninsula (except for Chersonese) was in a powerful and strong state. That is why in Western Europe in many manuscripts the name "Khazaria" is found. But Rus' and Khazaria compete all the time, and in the year 960 the Russian history of Crimea begins. The Kaganate is defeated, and all Khazar possessions are subject Old Russian state. Now this territory is called Darkness.
By the way, it was here that Prince Vladimir of Kiev, who occupied Kherson (Korsun), was officially baptized in 988.
Tatar-Mongolian trace
Since the 13th century, the history of the annexation of Crimea has again developed according to a military scenario: the Mongol-Tatars invade the peninsula.
Here the Crimean ulus is formed - one of the divisions of the Golden Horde. After the Golden Horde disintegrates, in 1443 it appears on the territory of the peninsula. In 1475, it completely falls under the influence of Turkey. It is from here that numerous raids are made on Polish, Russian and Ukrainian lands. Moreover, already at the end of the 15th century, these invasions become massive and threaten the integrity of both the Muscovite state and Poland. Basically, the Turks hunted for cheap labor force: they captured people and sold them into slavery in the slave markets of Turkey. One of the reasons for the creation of the Zaporizhzhya Sich in 1554 was to resist these seizures.
Russian history
The history of the transfer of Crimea to Russia continues in 1774, when the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty was concluded. After Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774 marked the end of nearly 300 years of Ottoman rule. The Turks abandoned the Crimea. It was at this time that the peninsula appeared Largest cities Sevastopol and Simferopol. Crimea is developing rapidly, money is being invested here, the rapid flourishing of industry and trade begins.
But Turkey did not leave plans to regain this attractive territory and prepared for a new war. We must pay tribute to the Russian army, which did not allow this to be done. After another war in 1791, the Iasi peace treaty was signed.
Volitional decision of Catherine II
So, in fact, the peninsula has now become part of a powerful empire, whose name is Russia. Crimea, whose history included many transitions from hand to hand, needed powerful protection. The acquired southern lands needed to be protected, ensuring the security of the borders. Empress Catherine II instructed Prince Potemkin to study all the advantages and weak sides annexation of Crimea. In 1782, Potemkin wrote a letter to the Empress, in which he insisted on making an important decision. Catherine agrees with his arguments. She understands how important Crimea is both for solving internal state problems and from a foreign policy perspective.
On April 8, 1783, Catherine II issues a manifesto on the annexation of Crimea. It was a fateful document. It was from this moment, from this date that Russia, Crimea, the history of the empire and the peninsula were closely intertwined for many centuries. According to the Manifesto, all Crimean residents were promised the protection of this territory from enemies, the preservation of property and faith.
True, the Turks recognized the fact of the annexation of Crimea to Russia only eight months later. All this time the situation around the peninsula was extremely tense. When the Manifesto was promulgated, then at first the clergy swore allegiance to the Russian Empire, and only then - the entire population. On the peninsula, solemn celebrations, feasts were held, games and races were held, volleys of cannon salute were fired into the air. As contemporaries noted, the entire Crimea with joy and jubilation passed into the Russian Empire.
Since then, Crimea, the history of the peninsula and the way of life of its population have been inextricably linked with all the events that took place in the Russian Empire.
A powerful impetus for development
A brief history of Crimea after joining the Russian Empire can be described in one word - "flourishing". Industry is rapidly developing here and Agriculture, winemaking, viticulture. Fish and salt industries appear in the cities, the people are actively developing trade relations.
Since the Crimea is located in a very warm and favorable climate, many rich people wanted to get land here. Nobles, members of the royal family, industrialists considered it an honor to found family estate on the territory of the peninsula. In the 19th - early 20th century, the rapid flowering of architecture begins here. Industrial magnates, royalty, the elite of Russia are building entire palaces here, setting up beautiful parks that have survived on the territory of Crimea to this day. And after the nobility, people of art, actors, singers, artists, theatergoers reached out to the peninsula. Crimea becomes the cultural Mecca of the Russian Empire.
Do not forget about the healing climate of the peninsula. Since the doctors proved that the air of the Crimea is extremely favorable for the treatment of tuberculosis, a mass pilgrimage began here for those wishing to be cured of this deadly disease. Crimea is becoming attractive not only for bohemian holidays, but also for health tourism.
Together with the whole country
At the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula developed along with the whole country. The October Revolution did not pass him, and the ensuing Civil War. It was from the Crimea (Yalta, Sevastopol, Feodosia) that the last ships and ships left Russia, on which the Russian intelligentsia left Russia. It was in this place that a mass exodus of the White Guards was observed. The country created new system, and the Crimea did not lag behind.
It was in the 20s of the last century that the transformation of the Crimea into an all-Union health resort took place. In 1919, the Bolsheviks adopted the "Decree of the Council of People's Commissars on medical areas of national importance." Crimea is inscribed in it with a red line. A year later, another important document was signed - the decree "On the use of Crimea for the treatment of workers."
Until the war, the territory of the peninsula was used as a resort for tuberculosis patients. In Yalta, in 1922, a specialized Institute of Tuberculosis was even opened. Funding was at the proper level, and soon this research institute becomes the country's main center for pulmonary surgery.
Landmark Crimean Conference
During the years of the Great Patriotic War The peninsula became the scene of massive hostilities. Here they fought on land and at sea, in the air and in the mountains. Two cities - Kerch and Sevastopol - received the title of Hero Cities for their significant contribution to the victory over fascism.
True, not all the peoples inhabiting the multinational Crimea fought on the side Soviet army. Some representatives openly supported the invaders. That is why in 1944 Stalin issued a decree on the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people from the Crimea. Hundreds of trains in one day took the whole people to Central Asia.
Crimea went down in world history due to the fact that in February 1945 the Yalta Conference was held in the Livadia Palace. The leaders of the three superpowers - Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (USA) and Churchill (Great Britain) - signed important international documents in Crimea, which determined the world order for long post-war decades.
Crimea - Ukrainian
In 1954, a new milestone begins. The Soviet leadership decides to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR. The history of the peninsula begins to develop according to a new scenario. The initiative came personally from the then head of the CPSU, Nikita Khrushchev.
This was done for a round date: that year the country celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Rada. To commemorate this historical date and demonstrate that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are united, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. And now it began to be considered as a whole and a part of the whole couple "Ukraine - Crimea". The history of the peninsula begins to be described in modern chronicles from scratch.
Whether this decision was economically justified, whether it was worth taking such a step then - at that time such questions did not even arise. Since the Soviet Union was united, no one attached particular importance to whether Crimea would be part of the RSFSR or the Ukrainian SSR.
Autonomy within Ukraine
When an independent Ukrainian state was formed, Crimea received the status of autonomy. In September 1991, the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Republic was adopted. And on December 1, 1991, a referendum was held, in which 54% of the inhabitants of Crimea supported the independence of Ukraine. In May of the following year, the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was adopted, and in February 1994, the Crimeans elected the first President of the Republic of Crimea. They became Yuri Meshkov.
It was during the years of perestroika that disputes began to arise more and more often that Khrushchev illegally gave Crimea to Ukraine. Pro-Russian sentiments on the peninsula were very strong. Therefore, as soon as the opportunity arose, Crimea returned to Russia again.
Fateful March 2014
While a large-scale state crisis began to grow in Ukraine in late 2013 - early 2014, voices in Crimea were heard more and more strongly that the peninsula should be returned to Russia. On the night of 26 to 27 February unknown people The Russian flag was raised over the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea.
The Supreme Council of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopt a declaration on the independence of Crimea. At the same time, the idea to hold an all-Crimean referendum was voiced. It was originally scheduled for March 31, but then moved two weeks earlier - to March 16. The results of the Crimean referendum were impressive: 96.6% of voters voted in favor. The overall level of support for this decision of the peninsula was 81.3%.
The modern history of Crimea continues to take shape before our eyes. Not all countries have yet recognized the status of Crimea. But Crimeans live with faith in a brighter future.
We bring to the attention of the readers of our site an ethno-historical digression by Igor Dmitrievich Gurov, concerning the issue of the rights of a particular nationality to the Crimean peninsula. The article was published in 1992 in the small monthly "Politics", published by the deputy group "Soyuz". However, it still remains relevant, especially now, when during the period of the most acute political crisis in Ukraine, the issue of broad autonomy for Crimea, which was frozen in the same 1992, is being resolved.
Despite the fact that Kyiv and some Moscow newspapers and television programs today proclaim the Crimean Tatars as the "only indigenous" people of the Crimean peninsula, and the Russian Taurians are portrayed exclusively as invaders and occupiers, Crimea remains Russian.
Let's turn to real historical facts. In ancient times, Crimea was inhabited by Cimmerian tribes, then by Taurians and Scythians. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Greek colonies appear on the coast of Tavria. In the early Middle Ages, the Scythians were replaced by the Germanic-speaking Goths (later mixed with the Greeks in the chronicle "Greeks-Gotfins") and the Iranian-speaking Alans (related to modern Ossetians). Then the Slavs also penetrate here. Already in one of the Bosporan inscriptions of the 5th century, the word "ant" is found, which, as you know, Byzantine authors called the Slavs who lived between the Dnieper and the Dniester. And at the very end of the 8th century, the "Life of Stefan of Surozh" describes in detail the campaign to the Crimea of the Novgorod prince Bravlin, after which the active Slavicization of the Eastern Crimea begins.
Arab sources of the 9th century report one of the centers of Ancient Rus' - Arsania, which, according to most scientists, was located on the territory of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, Eastern Crimea and the North Caucasus. This is the so-called. Azov, or Black Sea (Tmutarakan) Rus', which was the base for the campaigns of Russian squads in the 2nd half of the 9th - early 10th centuries. on the Asian coast of the Black Sea. Moreover, the Byzantine historian Leo Deacon, in his story about the retreat of Prince Igor after his unsuccessful campaign against Byzantium in 941, speaks of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Eastern Crimea) as the "homeland of the Russians."
In the 2nd half of the IX century. (after the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav and the defeat of the Khazar Khaganate in 965) Azov Rus finally entered the sphere political influence Kievan Rus. Later, the Tmutarakan principality was formed here. Under 980 goals in the "Tale of Bygone Years" for the first time mentioned the son of Grand Duke Vladimir the Holy - Mstislav the Brave; it is also reported that his father endowed Mstislav with the Tmutarakan land (which he owned until his death in 1036).
The influence of Rus' is also strengthening in Western Taurida, especially after Prince Vladimir in 988, as a result of a 6-month siege, took the city of Chersonesos, which belonged to the Byzantines, and was baptized there.
The Polovtsian invasion at the end of the 11th century weakened the Russian princes in Tauris. The last time Tmutarakan was mentioned in the annals was in 1094, when Prince Oleg Svyatoslavovich, who ruled here (who bore the official title of "archon of Matrakha, Zikhia and all Khazaria"), in alliance with the Polovtsy, came to Chernigov. And at the beginning of the 13th century, the lands of the former Tmutarakan principality became easy prey for enterprising Genoese.
In 1223, the Mongols made their first raid on Taurica, and by the end of the 13th century, after the defeat of the Kirkel Principality created by the Hellenized Alans, the city of Crimea (now Old Crimea) became the administrative center of the region, which since 1266 became the seat of the Mongol-Tatar Khan .
After the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), which ended with the defeat of Constantinople, first Venice, and then (since 1261) Genoa get the opportunity to establish themselves in the Northern Black Sea region. In 1266, the Genoese bought the city of Kafa (Feodosia) from the Golden Horde and then continued to expand their possessions.
The ethnic composition of the Crimean population during this period was quite diverse. In the XIII-XV centuries. Greeks, Armenians, Russians, Tatars, Hungarians, Circassians ("Zikhs") and Jews lived in the Cafe. The Charter of Kafa in 1316 mentions Russian, Armenian and Greek churches located in the commercial part of the city, along with Catholic churches and a Tatar mosque. In the 2nd half of the XV century. it was one of the largest cities in Europe with a population of up to 70 thousand people. (of which the Genoese made up only about 2 thousand people). In 1365, the Genoese, with the support of the Golden Horde khans (to whom they gave huge loans and supplied mercenaries), captured the largest Crimean city Surozh (Sudak), populated mainly by Greek and Russian merchants and artisans and maintained close ties with the Muscovite state.
From Russian documents of the XV century. It is also known about the close contacts of the Orthodox Principality of Theodoro located in the south-west of Crimea (another name is the Principality of Mangup), which arose on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, with the Muscovite state. For example, the Russian chronicle mentions Prince Stefan Vasilievich Khovr, who emigrated to Moscow with one of his sons in 1403. Here he became a monk under the name of Simon, and his son Grigory founded a monastery named after his father Simonov. His other son - Alexei - at that time ruled the principality of Theodoro. From his grandson - Vladimir Grigoryevich Khovrin - there were famous Russian families - Golovins, Tretyakovs, Dirty and others. The connection between Moscow and Feodoro was so close that Grand Duke Moscow Ivan III was going to marry his son to the daughter of the Theodorite prince Isaac (Isaiko), but this plan was not realized due to the defeat of the principality of Theodoro by the Turks.
In 1447, the first attack of the Turkish fleet on the coast of Crimea took place. Capturing Kafa in 1475, the Turks disarmed its entire population, and then, according to an anonymous Tuscan author, "On June 7 and 8, all the Vlachs, Poles, Russians, Georgians, Zikhs and all other Christian nations, except for the Latins, were captured, deprived garments, and partly sold into slavery, partly chained." "The Turks took Kafa and the guests of Moscow a lot of beating, and some were poimashed, and others, having robbed, for the payback of davash," Russian chronicles report.
Having asserted their power over the Crimea, the Turks included only the former Genoese and Greek confluences in the composition of the Sultan's own lands, which they began to intensively populate with their fellow tribesmen - the Anatolian Ottoman Turks. The remaining regions of the peninsula went to the predominantly steppe Crimean Khanate, which was in vassal dependence on Turkey.
It is from the Anatolian Ottoman Turks that the so-called. "southern coast Crimean Tatars", which determined the ethnic line of modern Crimean Tatars - that is, their culture and literary language. The Crimean Khanate subordinated to Turkey in 1557 was replenished with representatives of the Lesser Nogai Horde, who migrated to the Black Sea region and the Steppe Crimea from the Volga and the Caspian. The Crimean and Nogai Tatars lived exclusively by nomadic cattle breeding and robber raids on neighboring states. The Crimean Tatars themselves spoke in the 17th century. envoys of the Turkish sultan: "But there are more than 100 thousand Tatars who have neither agriculture nor trade. If they do not raid, then what will they live on? This is our service to the padishah." Therefore, twice a year they made raids to capture slaves and robberies. For example, during the 25 years of the Livonian War (1558-1583), the Crimean Tatars made 21 raids on the Great Russian regions. The poorly protected Little Russian lands suffered even more. From 1605 to 1644 Tatars made at least 75 raids on them. In 1620-1621. they managed to ruin even the distant Duchy of Prussia.
All this forced Russia to take retaliatory measures and fight to eliminate this permanent hotbed of aggression in its south. However, this problem was solved only in the second half of the 18th century. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1769-1774. Russian troops captured the Crimea. Fearing retaliatory religious pogroms, most of the indigenous Christian population (Greeks and Armenians), at the suggestion of Catherine II, moved to the region of Mariupol and Nakhichevan, Rostovskaya. In 1783, the Crimea was finally annexed to Russia and in 1784 became part of the newly formed Taurida Governorate. Up to 80 thousand Tatars did not want to stay in Russian Taurida then and emigrated to Turkey. In their place, Russia began to attract foreign colonists: Greeks (from Turkish possessions), Armenians, Corsicans, Germans, Bulgarians, Estonians, Czechs, etc. Great Russians and Little Russians began to move here in large numbers.
Another emigration of Tatars and Nogais from the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region (up to 150 thousand people) occurred during the Crimean War of 1853-1856, when many Tatar Murzas and the beys supported Turkey.
By 1897, there were significant changes in the ethnic composition of the population of Taurida: Tatars made up only about 1/3 of the population of the peninsula, while Russians - over 45 percent. (of which 3/4 are Great Russians and 1/4 are Little Russians), Germans - 5.8 percent, Jews 4.7 percent, Greeks - 3.1 percent, Armenians - 1.5 percent. etc.
After the February Revolution of 1917, the nationalist pro-Turkish party "Milli Firka" ("National Party") emerged among the Crimean Tatars. In turn, the Bolsheviks held a congress of Soviets and in March 1918 proclaimed the creation of the Taurida SSR. Then the peninsula was occupied by the Germans, and the Millifirk Directory received power.
At the end of April 1919, the Crimean soviet republic", but already in June it was liquidated by parts of the Volunteer Army of General Denikin.
Since that time, Russian Taurida has become the main base of the White Movement. Only by November 16, 1920, the Bolsheviks again captured the Crimea, having driven the Russian Army of General Wrangel from the peninsula. At the same time, the Crimean Revolutionary Committee (Krymrevkom) was formed under the leadership of the "internationalists" Bela Kun and Rozalia Zemlyachka. On their instructions, a bloody massacre was organized in the Crimea, during which the "fiery revolutionaries" exterminated, according to some reports, up to 60 thousand Russian officers and soldiers of the White Army.
On October 18, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars published a resolution on the formation of the Crimean ASSR as part of the RSFSR. At that time, 625 thousand people lived in Crimea, of which Russians accounted for 321.6 thousand, or 51.5% (including Great Russians - 274.9 thousand, Little Russians - 45.7 thousand, Belarusians - 1 thousand .), Tatars (including Turks and part of the Gypsies) - 164.2 thousand (25.9%), other nationalities (Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews, Armenians) - St. 22%.
From the beginning of the 1920s, in the spirit of the Bolshevik-Leninist national policy, the organizations of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks began to actively pursue a policy of Turkification of the Crimea. So, in 1922, 355 schools were opened for the Crimean Tatars, and universities were established with teaching in the Crimean Tatar language. The Tatars Veli Ibraimov and Deren-Ayerly were appointed to the posts of chairmen of the Crimean Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean ASSR, who pursued a nationalist policy covered with communist phraseology. Only in 1928 they were removed from their posts, but not for nationalism, but for their connection with the Trotskyists.
By 1929, as a result of the campaign to disaggregate village councils, their number increased from 143 to 427. At the same time, the number of national village councils almost tripled (village councils or districts in which the majority of the national population was 60% were considered such). In total, 145 Tatar village councils were formed, 45 German, 14 Jewish, 7 Greek, 5 Bulgarian, 2 Armenian, 2 Estonian and only 20 Russian (since the Russians in this period were classified as "great-power chauvinists", it was considered normal to give an advantage to others during the administrative delimitation nationalities). A system of special courses for the training of national personnel was also created at government agencies. A campaign was launched to translate office work and village councils into "national" languages. At the same time, the "anti-religious struggle" - including against Orthodoxy and Islam - continued and intensified.
In the prewar years, there was a significant increase in the population (from 714 thousand in 1926 to 1,126,429 people in 1939). By national composition the population was distributed in 1939 as follows: Russians - 558481 people (49.58%), Ukrainians, 154120 (13.68%), Tatars - 218179 (19.7%), Germans 65452 (5.81%), Jews - 52093 (4.62%), Greeks - 20652 (1.83%), Bulgarians - 15353 (1.36%), Armenians - 12873 (1.14%), others - 29276 (2.6%).
The Nazis, having occupied the Crimea in the autumn of 1941, skillfully played on the religious feelings of the Tatars, their dissatisfaction with the militant atheism of the Bolsheviks. The Nazis convened a Muslim congress in Simferopol, at which they formed the Crimean government ("Tatar Committee") headed by Khan Belal Asanov. During 1941-1942. they formed 10 Crimean Tatar SS battalions, which, together with police self-defense units (created in 203 Tatar villages), numbered over 20 thousand people. Although there were also Tatars among the partisans - about 600 people. In punitive operations with the participation of the Crimean Tatar units, 86,000 civilians of Crimea and 47,000 prisoners of war were exterminated, and about 85,000 more people were deported to Germany.
However, retaliation measures for the crimes committed by the Crimean Tatar punishers were extended by the Stalinist leadership to the entire Crimean Tatar ethnic group and a number of other Crimean peoples. On May 11, 1944, the State Committee of Defense of the USSR adopted a resolution according to which 191,088 Tatars, 296 Germans, 32 Romanians and 21 Austrians were resettled from the Crimea to Central Asia during May 18-19. On June 2, 1944, another decree of the State Defense Committee followed, according to which, on June 27 and 28, 15,040 Greeks, 12,422 Bulgarians and 9,621 Armenians were deported from the Crimea. At the same time, foreign nationals living in the Crimea were expelled: 1119 Germans, Italians and Romanians, 3531 Greeks, 105 Turks and 16 Iranians.
In July 1945, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, the Crimean ASSR was transformed into the Crimean region as part of the RSFSR, and on February 19, 1954, N. S. Khrushchev donated the Crimea to Radyanskaya Ukraine, apparently in memory of his many years of secretariat in the CP (b) U .
With the advent of "perestroika", the Moscow and Kyiv mass media began to portray the Tatars as the only "indigenous" inhabitants of the peninsula, its "original" owners. Why? "Organization of the Crimean Tatar national movement"declared as its goal not only the return of up to 350 thousand Tatars - natives of sunny Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics to the Crimea, but also the creation of their own "national state" there. To achieve this goal, they convened a kurultai in July 1991 and elected a "Mejlis" on it "out of 33 people. The actions of the OKND, headed by the ardent Turkophile Mustafa Dzhamilev, were enthusiastically greeted by the Kiev "Rukh" and former communist leadership, acting on the principle of "everyone who is against the damned Muscovites is good." But why did Dzhamilev need to create his "national state" precisely in Crimea?
Of course, the desire for revenge among the Tatar new settlers offended by Stalin is understandable. But still, the gentlemen of the OKND, who so zealously call for the Turkishization of the Crimea, should remember their Anatolian and Nogai origins: after all, their true ancestral home is Turkey, the Southern Altai and the hot steppes of Xinjiang.
And if you create some kind of "national state" in Tauris, you will have to satisfy the aspirations of the Great Russians, Ukrainians, Karaites, Greeks, and all other indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula. The only real prospect for Crimea is the peaceful coexistence of the ethnic groups living here. Dividing the population into "indigenous" and Russian is a historically untenable and politically dangerous task.
Igor Gurov
Newspaper "Politics", 1992, No. 5
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