Before the capture of Crimea by the Mongol-Tatars and the reign of the Golden Horde, many peoples lived on the peninsula, their history goes back centuries, and only archaeological finds indicate that the indigenous peoples of Crimea settled the peninsula 12,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic. The sites of ancient people have been found in Shankob, in the Kachinsky and Alimov canopy, in Fatmakob and in other places. It is known that the religion of these ancient tribes was totemism, and they buried the dead in log cabins, pouring high mounds on top of them.
Cimmerians (IX-VII centuries BC)
The first people that historians wrote about were the ferocious Cimmerians, who inhabited the plains of the Crimean peninsula. The Cimmerians were Indo-Europeans or Iranians and were engaged in agriculture; the ancient Greek geographer Strabo wrote about the existence of the capital of the Cimmerians - Kimerida, which was located on the Taman Peninsula. It is believed that the Cimmerians brought metalworking and pottery to the Crimea, their fat herds were guarded by huge wolfhounds. The Cimmerians wore leather jackets and trousers, and pointed hats crowned their heads. Information about this people exists even in the archives of the king of Assyria Ashurbanipal: the Cimmerians more than once invaded Asia Minor and Thrace. Homer and Herodotus, the Ephesian poet Callinus and the Milesian historian Hecataeus wrote about them.
The Cimmerians left the Crimea under the onslaught of the Scythians, part of the people joined the Scythian tribes, and part went to Europe.
Taurus (VI century BC - I century AD)
Tauri - so the Greeks who visited the Crimea called the formidable tribes living here. The name may have been connected with the cattle breeding they were engaged in, because “tauros” means “bull” in Greek. It is not known where the Tauri came from, some scientists tried to connect them with the Indo-Aryans, others considered them Goths. It is with the Tauris that the culture of dolmens, ancestral burial places, is associated.
The Taurians cultivated the land and grazed cattle, hunted in the mountains and did not disdain sea robbery. Strabo mentioned that the Taurians gather in the Symbolon Bay (Balaklava), stray into gangs and rob ships. The most vicious tribes were considered arihi, sinhi and napei: their battle cry made the blood of enemies freeze; Tauri opponents were stabbed to death, and their heads were nailed to the walls of their temples. The historian Tacitus wrote how the Taurians killed the Roman legionnaires who had escaped the shipwreck. In the 1st century, the Taurians disappeared from the face of the earth, dissolving among the Scythians.
Scythians (7th century BC - 3rd century AD)
The Scythian tribes came to the Crimea, retreating under the pressure of the Sarmatians, here they switched to settled life and absorbed part of the Taurians and even mixed with the Greeks. In the 3rd century, a Scythian state appeared on the plains of Crimea with the capital Naples (Simferopol), which actively competed with the Bosporus, but in the same century it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians. Those who survived were finished off by the Goths and Huns; the remnants of the Scythians mixed with the autochthonous population and ceased to exist as a separate people.
Sarmatians (IV-III centuries BC)
The Sartmatians, in turn, added to the genetic heterogeneity of the peoples of the Crimea, dissolving into its population. The Roksolans, the Iazygs and the Aorses fought with the Scythians for centuries, penetrating into the Crimea. With them came the warlike Alans, who settled in the south-west of the peninsula and founded the Gotho-Alans community, having adopted Christianity. Strabo in Geography writes about the participation of 50,000 Roxolani in an unsuccessful campaign against the Pontics.
Greeks (VI century BC)
The first Greek colonists settled the Crimean coast during the time of the Taurians; here they built the cities of Kerkinitida, Panticapaeum, Chersonese and Theodosius, which in the 5th century BC. formed two states: Bosporus and Chersonese. The Greeks lived off horticulture and winemaking, fished, traded and minted their own coins. With the onset of a new era, the states fell into submission to Pontus, then to Rome and to Byzantium.
From the 5th to the 9th century AD in the Crimea, a new ethnic group "Crimean Greeks" arose, whose descendants were the Greeks of antiquity, Taurians, Scythians, Gotoalans and Turks. In the 13th century, the center of Crimea was occupied by the Greek principality of Theodoro, which was captured by the Ottomans at the end of the 15th century. Some of the Crimean Greeks who have preserved Christianity still live in Crimea.
Romans (1st century AD - 4th century AD)
The Romans appeared in the Crimea at the end of the 1st century, defeating the king of Panticapaeum (Kerch) Mithridates VI Eupator; soon, Chersonese, suffering from the Scythians, asked for their protection. The Romans enriched Crimea with their culture by building fortresses on Cape Ai-Todor, in Balaklava, on Alma-Kermen and left the peninsula after the collapse of the empire - about this in the work "The population of the mountainous Crimea in late Roman times" writes Igor Khrapunov, a professor at Simferopol University.
Goths (III-XVII centuries)
The Goths lived in Crimea - a Germanic tribe that appeared on the peninsula during the Great Migration of Nations. The Christian saint Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Goths were engaged in agriculture, and their nobility held military posts in the Bosporus, which the Goths took control of. Having become the owners of the Bosporan fleet, in 257 the Germans undertook a campaign against Trebizond, where they seized countless treasures.
The Goths settled in the north-west of the peninsula and in the 4th century formed their own state - Gothia, which stood for nine centuries and only then partially entered the principality of Theodoro, and the Goths themselves were apparently assimilated by the Greeks and the Ottoman Turks. Most of the Goths eventually became Christians, their spiritual center was the fortress of Doros (Mangup).
For a long time, Gothia was a buffer between the hordes of nomads pushing against the Crimea from the north, and Byzantium in the south, survived the invasions of the Huns, Khazars, Tatar-Mongols and ceased to exist after the invasion of the Ottomans.
Catholic priest Stanislav Sestrenevich-Bogush wrote that back in the 18th century, the Goths lived near the Mangup fortress, their language was similar to German, but they were all Islamized.
Genoese and Venetians (XII-XV centuries)
Merchants from Venice and Genoa appeared on the Black Sea coast in the middle of the 12th century; having concluded an agreement with the Golden Horde, they founded trading colonies, which lasted until the capture of the coast by the Ottomans, after which their few inhabitants were assimilated.
In the 4th century, cruel Huns invaded the Crimea, some of which settled in the steppes and mixed with the Goths-Alans. And also Jews, Armenians who fled from the Arabs, moved to Crimea, Khazars, Eastern Slavs, Polovtsy, Pechenegs and Bulgars visited here, and it is not surprising that the peoples of Crimea do not resemble each other, because the blood of various peoples flows in their veins.
We are accustomed to approach the concept of " Crimea» as the name of a place where you can have a great vacation summer days, have a good rest on the seashore, making a couple of trips to attractions located nearby. But if you approach the issue globally, look at the peninsula from a distance of centuries and knowledge, it becomes clear that the Crimea is a unique historical and cultural territory, striking in antiquity and a variety of natural and “man-made” values. Numerous Crimean cultural monuments reflect religion, culture and historical events of different eras and peoples. Story the peninsula is the interweaving of the West and the East, the history of the ancient Greeks and the Golden Horde Mongols, the history of the birth of Christianity, the appearance of the first churches and mosques. For centuries, different peoples lived here, fought with each other, concluded peace and trade agreements, settlements and cities were built and destroyed, civilizations appeared and disappeared. Inhaling the Crimean air, in addition to the notorious phytoncides, you can feel in it the taste of legends about life Amazons, Olympic gods, Taurians, Cimmerians, Greeks…
The natural conditions of the Crimea and the geographical location, favorable for life, contributed to the fact that the peninsula became the cradle of humanity. Primitive Neanderthal people appeared here 150 thousand years ago, attracted by the warm climate and the abundance of animals that were their main food base. In almost every Crimean museum you can find archaeological finds from grottoes and caves serving as natural shelters primitive man. The most famous sites of primitive man:
- Kiik-Koba ( Belogorsky district);
- Staroselye (Bakhchisaray);
- 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 IV - III centuries BC no less aggressive Scythians and lost in the vast expanses of the steppes of Asia. Only ancient names remind of them:
- Cimmerian walls;
- Kimmerik.
Taurus
The mountainous and foothill Crimea in those days was inhabited by tribes taurus, distant descendants of the Kizil-Koba archaeological culture. In the descriptions of ancient authors, the Tauri look bloodthirsty and cruel. Being skilled sailors, they traded in piracy, robbing ships passing along the coast. Captives were thrown into the sea from a high cliff from the temple, sacrificing to the goddess Virgo. Refuting this information, modern scientists have established that the Taurians were engaged in hunting, collecting shellfish, fishing, farming and raising livestock. They lived in huts or caves, but for protection from external enemies they built fortified shelters. Taurus fortifications found on the mountains: Cat, Uch-Bash, Kastel, Ayu-Dag, on Cape Ai-Todor.
Another trace of the Taurus is numerous burials in dolmens - stone boxes, consisting of four flat slabs set on edge and covered with a fifth on top. One of the unsolved mysteries about the Tauris is the location of the cliff with the Temple of the Virgin.
Scythians
In the 7th century BC, Scythian tribes came to the steppe part of Crimea. In the 4th century BC, the Sarmatians pushed back Scythians to the lower Dnieper and Crimea. At the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries BC, a Scythian state was formed on this territory, the capital of which was Naples Scythian(in its place is modern Simferopol).
Greeks
In the 7th century BC, strings of Greek colonists reached the Crimean shores. Choosing convenient places for living and sailing, Greeks based on them city-states - "polises":
- Feodosia;
- Panticapaeum-Bosporus (Kerch);
- (Sevastopol);
- Mirmekiy;
- Nymphaeum;
- Tiritaka.
The emergence and expansion of Greek colonies served as a serious impetus for the development of the Northern Black Sea region: political, cultural and trade ties between the local population and the Greeks intensified. The indigenous inhabitants of the Crimea learned to cultivate the land in more advanced ways, they began to grow olives and grapes. The influence of Greek culture on the spiritual world of the Scythians, Taurians, Sarmatians and other tribes that came into contact with it turned out to be enormous. However, the relationship between the 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 Christian faith. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement appeared in Byzantium: all images of saints were destroyed - on icons, in temple paintings. The monks fled from persecution on the outskirts of the empire, including in the Crimea. In the mountains of the peninsula, they founded cave monasteries and temples: 
- Kachi-Kalyon;
- Chelter;
- Uspensky;
- Shuldan.
At the end of the 6th century, a new wave of invaders poured onto the peninsula - the Khazars, the ancestors of the Karaites. They occupied the entire Crimea, except for Kherson. In 705, Kherson recognized the Khazar protectorate and separated from Byzantium. In response, Byzantium sent a punitive fleet in 710 with a small army on board. Kherson fell, and the Byzantines treated its inhabitants with unprecedented cruelty. But as soon as the imperial troops left the city, it rebelled: uniting with the Khazars and part of the army that had changed the empire, Cherson captured Constantinople and put his emperor at the head of Byzantium.
Slavs, Mongols, Genoese, Theodoro Principality
In the 9th century, a new force actively intervenes in the course of Crimean history - Slavs. Their appearance on the peninsula coincided with the decline of the Khazar state, which was finally defeated in the 10th century by Prince Svyatoslav. In 988 - 989 Kherson was captured by Prince Vladimir of Kyiv. Here he adopted the Christian faith.
In the XIII century, the Tatar-Mongols of the Golden Horde invaded the peninsula several times, thoroughly plundering the cities. From the middle of the XIII century, they began to settle in the territory of Taurica. At this time, they captured Solkhat and turned it into the center of the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde. It received the name Kyrym, subsequently inherited by the peninsula.
In the same years, an Orthodox church appeared in the Crimean mountains. Principality of Theodoro with its capital at Mangup. The Genoese had disputes with the Principality of Theodoro about the ownership of the disputed territories.
Turks
In early 1475, Kafa had a fleet Ottoman Empire. Well-fortified Kafa withstood the siege for only three days, after which it surrendered to the mercy of the winner. By the end of the year Turks captured all the coastal fortresses: the rule of the Genoese in the Crimea ended. Mangup held out for the longest time and surrendered to the Turks only after a six-month siege. The invaders brutally treated the captive Theodorians: the city was devastated, most of the inhabitants were killed, and the survivors were taken into slavery.
Crimean Khan became a vassal Ottoman Empire and a conductor of the aggressive policy of Turkey in relation to Russia. Raids on the southern lands Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Russia have become permanent. Russia sought to protect its southern borders and gain access to the Black Sea. Therefore, she repeatedly fought with Turkey. The war of 1768-1774 was unsuccessful for the Turks. In 1774 between the Ottoman Empire and Russia was concluded Kuchuk-Kainarji Treaty about peace, which brought independence to the Crimean Khanate. Russia received the fortresses of Kin-burn, Azov and the city of Kerch in the Crimea along with the Yeni-Kale fortress. In addition, Russian merchant ships now have free access to navigation in the Black Sea.
Russia
In 1783 Crimea was finally annexed to Russia. Most Muslims left the peninsula and moved to Turkey. The edge has fallen into disrepair. Prince G. Potemkin, the governor of Taurida, began to resettle here retired soldiers and serfs from neighboring regions. So the first villages with Russian names appeared on the peninsula - Izyumovka, Mazanka, Clean... This move of the prince turned out to be correct: the Crimean economy began to develop, agriculture was revived. The city of Sevastopol, the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was founded in an excellent natural harbor. Near the Ak-Mechet, a small town, Simferopol was being built - the future "capital" of the Tauride province.
In 1787 Empress Catherine II visited Crimea with a large retinue of dignitaries of foreign states. She stayed in travel palaces specially built for this occasion.
Eastern war
In 1854-1855, Crimea became the scene of yet another war, called the Eastern War. In the autumn of 1854, Sevastopol was besieged by a united army France, England and Turkey. Under the leadership of Vice Admirals P.S. Nakhimov and V.A. Kornilov's defense of the city lasted 349 days. In the end, the city was destroyed to the ground, but at the same time glorified throughout the world. Russia lost this war: in 1856, an agreement was signed in Paris prohibiting both Turkey and Russia from having navies on the Black Sea.
Health resort of Russia
In the middle of the 19th century, the doctor Botkin recommended that the royal family purchase the Livadia estate, as a place with an exceptionally healthy climate. This was the beginning of a new, resort era in the Crimea. Villas, estates, palaces belonging to the royal family, rich landowners and industrialists, court nobility were built along the entire coast. For several years, the village of Yalta has become a popular aristocratic resort. Railways, which connected the largest cities of the region, further accelerated its transformation into a resort and summer resort of the empire.
At the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula belonged to the Taurida province and was an agrarian region with several industrial cities in economic and economic terms. These were mainly Simferopol and port Kerch, Sevastopol and Theodosius.
Soviet power established itself in the Crimea only in the autumn of 1920, after the German army and Denikin's troops were expelled from the peninsula. A year later, the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Republic was formed. Palaces, dachas and villas were given over to people's sanatoriums, where collective farmers and workers from all over the young state were treated and rested.
The Great Patriotic War
During the Second World War, the peninsula courageously fought the enemy. Sevastopol repeated his feat, surrendering after a 250-day siege. The pages of the heroic chronicle of those years are full of such names as "The Tierra del Fuego of Eltigen", "Kerch-Feodosiya operation", "The feat of partisans and underground fighters"... For the courage and stamina shown, Kerch and Sevastopol were awarded the titles of hero cities.
February 1945 brought together the heads of the allied countries in the Crimea - USA, UK and USSR- at the Crimean (Yalta) conference in the Livadia Palace. During this conference, decisions were made to end the war and establish a post-war world order.
Postwar years
Crimea was liberated from the invaders at the beginning of 1944, and the restoration of the peninsula immediately began - industrial enterprises, rest houses, sanatoriums, agricultural facilities, villages and cities. The black page in the history of the peninsula of that time was the expulsion of Greeks, Tatars and Armenians from its territory. In February 1954, by decree of N.S. Khrushchev, the Crimean region was transferred to Ukraine. Today, many believe that it was a royal gift ...
During the 60-80s of the last century, the growth of Crimean agriculture, industry and tourism reached its peak. Crimea received the semi-official title of an all-Union health resort: 9 million people annually rested in its health resorts.
In 1991, during the putsch in Moscow, the General Secretary of the USSR M.S. was arrested. Gorbachev at the state dacha in Foros. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became Autonomous Republic, which became part of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, after the all-Crimean referendum, the Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and became one of the subjects Russian Federation. started recent history of Crimea.
We know Crimea as a republic of relaxation, sun, sea and fun. Come to the Crimean land - let's write the history of our resort republic together!
Peoples inhabiting Crimea
The ethnic history of Crimea is very complex and dramatic. One thing can be said: the ethnic composition of the peninsula has never been uniform, especially in its mountainous part and coastal areas. Speaking about the population of the Tauride Mountains back in the II century. BC, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder notes that 30 nations live there. Mountains and islands often served as a refuge for relic peoples, once great, and then descended from the historical arena. So it was with the warlike Goths, who conquered almost all of Europe and then dissolved in its expanses 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 (now Golubinka), that is, Blue Eyes.
Today there are more than 30 national-cultural associations in Crimea, 24 of which are officially registered. The national palette is represented by seventy ethnic groups and ethnic groups, many of which have retained their traditional everyday culture.
The most numerous ethnic group in the Crimea, of course, Russians. It should be noted that they appear in the Crimea long before the Tatars, at least since the time of Prince Vladimir's campaign against Chersonese. Even then, along with the Byzantines, Russian merchants also traded here, and some of them settled in Chersonesos for a long time. However, only after the annexation of the Crimea to Russia, there is a numerical superiority of Russians over other peoples inhabiting the peninsula. In a relatively short time, Russians have already made up more than half of the population. These are immigrants, mainly, from the central black earth provinces of Russia: Kursk, Oryol, Tambov and others.
Since ancient times, Crimea has been a multi-ethnic territory. For a long time, a rich, interesting and world-wide historical and cultural heritage has been formed on the peninsula. From the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. due to a number of historical events, representatives of various peoples began to appear on the peninsula, who played a certain role in the economic, socio-political and cultural (architecture, religion, traditional everyday culture, music, fine arts, etc.) life.
Ethnoses and ethnic groups have contributed to the cultural heritage of the Crimea, which together constitute a rich and interesting tourist product, combined into ethnographic and ethnic tourism. Currently, there are more than 30 national-cultural associations in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 24 of which are officially registered. The national palette is represented by seventy ethnic groups and ethnic groups, many of which have preserved their traditional everyday culture and actively popularize their historical and cultural heritage.
Through the mountains to the sea with a light backpack. Route 30 passes through the famous Fisht - this is one of the most grandiose and significant natural monuments in Russia, the highest mountains closest to Moscow. Tourists travel lightly through all the landscape and climatic zones of the country from the foothills to the subtropics, spending the night in shelters.
Alluring, mysterious, warm Crimea is a place where you want to return again and again. Unlike the guests of the peninsula, the locals are already accustomed to the azure sea and majestic mountains that surround them every day. Picturesque landscapes constantly attracted more and more new residents. This led to the fact that the population of the Crimea for ninety years has increased three times. A variety of ethnic groups live here. The local population is represented by Crimean Tatars, Poles, Russians, Jews, Greeks, Krymchaks and others.
Population of Crimea
As of January 1, 2017, the permanent population of Crimea is 2,340,778 people. Of these, 1,912,079 residents live in the Republic of Crimea and 428,699 in Sevastopol. The rather large population of Crimea allowed the republic to take the twenty-seventh place in the rating of subjects of the Russian Federation. According to 1926 data, only 713,823 people lived on the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol.
Ninety years of active migration of people from Ukraine, India, Israel, Uzbekistan and other countries have led to a colossal increase in the population of the republic. The population of Crimea by years shows that it was the most populated in 1989. Then its number was 2,458,655 people.
The population of Crimea over the years had very serious ups and downs. So, in connection with the Great Patriotic War, the number of inhabitants of the republic was halved. In 1939, 1,126,429 people lived here, and already six years later, in 1945, there were only 610,000 inhabitants.
Ethnic composition
Dynamically growing throughout history, the population of Crimea has a continuous connection with the arrival of new ethnic groups in the republic. The ethnic history of Crimea is many times richer than the Soviet or any other. Four thousand years of existence of the peninsula made it a haven for the Cimmerians, Scythians, Greeks, Karaites, Pechenegs, Venetians and others. Initially, the main population of the Republic of Crimea consisted of Crimean Tatars.
At the beginning of the nineteenth century, they were supplanted by the Russians, who took first place, and the Ukrainians, who gained a foothold in second position. During the Second World War, the peninsula was occupied by the Germans for some time, and as a result, this period is characterized by a decrease in the number of Jews. After the Second World War, Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians sharply reached out to the Crimea.
Population of Crimean cities by ethnic composition
- Armenians - Sevastopol, Yalta, Simferopol, Evpatoria, Feodosia.
- Bulgarians - Simferopol, Koktebel.
- Eastern Slavs - Kerch, Evpatoria, Simferopol, Feodosia, Yalta, Alushta.
- Greeks - Simferopol, Kerch, Yalta.
- Jews - Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch, Yalta, Feodosia, Evpatoria.
- Karaites - Old Crimea, Feodosia, Evpatoria.
- Krymchaks - Karasubazar and Simferopol, Feodosia, Sevastopol, Kerch.
In Simferopol (Crimea), the population included almost all nationalities existing in the republic.
Crimean Greeks
Greek settlers settled on the Crimean peninsula twenty-seven centuries ago. The population belonging to this ethnic group was divided into the Crimean Greeks and the Greeks who arrived from the territory of Greece at the end of the eighteenth century.
The first Greek colonies were created in the format of the Bosporan state and the Chersonese Republic. Modern Crimean Greeks come from the Greek battalion, which participated in the Crimean War and remained on the orders of Potemkin to protect the Crimea. The population of this type settled in Balaklava and other villages nearby. Within the framework of the ethnographic history of the republic, the formed nationality is called Arnauts or Balaklava Greeks.
Approximately thirteen thousand Greeks migrated to Crimea during World War II from Turkey through the Caucasus. The reason for their flight was the genocide unleashed by fanatical Muslims. The bulk of the Greeks who came to the Crimea were uneducated and had a social status no higher than that of an artisan or merchant. Having settled in the new territory, the Crimean Greeks began to engage in gardening, fishing, trade, and they also successfully grew grapes and tobacco. The Crimean Greeks are still considered one of the most numerous ethnic groups of the peninsula, as their number is seventy-seven thousand people.
Crimean Armenians
Armenians became full-fledged residents of Crimea a thousand years ago. History repeatedly mentions that the most distinctive and, of course, a very important center of Armenian culture is the Crimea. The population of the Armenian ethnos appeared here together with a certain Vardan. In the seven hundred and eleventh year, this Armenian was declared the emperor of Byzantium, when he was in the territory of the Crimea. The peak of the settlement of the peninsula by Armenians falls on the beginning of the fourteenth century. Crimea during this period is called "maritime Armenia". The spheres of activity of the Crimean Armenians are: trade, construction, financial activities.
A sharp decrease in the number of the Armenian ethnic group in the territory of Crimea dates back to 1475. The reason for the change in the structure of the population was the Turks who came to power. They destroyed the Armenians and took them into slavery. A new wave of growth of the Armenian population falls on the eighteenth century, when they were given official permission to return to the Crimea. The population of Armenian origin has drastically thinned out over the years. civil war. If during the October Revolution there were seventeen thousand Armenians in the Crimea, by the end of the twentieth there were only five thousand of them left.
Karaites
The Karaites are descended from the Turkic people. The only thing that distinguishes them from their progenitor is their religion - Judaism. For the first time in the historical annals, the Karaites are mentioned in 1278. But despite given fact, it is believed that they settled on the peninsula several centuries earlier. Throughout its existence, the Karaite ethnos has never stood out among local residents. The turning point in the life of this nation was the moment of annexation of the Crimea to the Russian Empire. Then the Karaites got the opportunity to buy land, not pay a number of tax duties and enter the army voluntarily. Until 1914, the Karaites were a very prosperous people. Eight thousand people lived in Crimea.
Wars, repressions, famine of the following years led to a sharp reduction in the number and standard of living of this people. Today, about eight hundred Karaites live in Crimea.
Krymchaks
Krymchaks are a people who follow Talmudic Judaism and speak a language close to the Crimean Tatar. On the territory of the Crimea, they appeared before our era. In the eighteenth century, only eight hundred Krymchaks lived on the Crimean peninsula. The population of this ethnic group reached its maximum in 1912 and amounted to seven and a half thousand people. Today, this ethnic group is on the verge of extinction. These people have never been rich and did not know how to express themselves in politics and trade.
Jews
For the Jews, the peninsula was a fairly fertile territory, so they settled it very actively. In 1897, their number was more than twenty-four thousand people. At the time of the revolution, there were already twice as many Jews in Crimea. At the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was even a project to create a Jewish republic on the peninsula. Its implementation began in 1924, but was not crowned with the expected success. A special blow to the Crimean Jews happened during the Great Patriotic War. All non-evacuated Jews were destroyed by the Nazi occupation. At the end of the twentieth century, twenty-five thousand Jews lived on the peninsula. Many of them later emigrated to Israel.
Crimean Tatars
The first invasion of the Mongol-Tatars to the Crimea dates back to 1223. At the end of the fourteenth century, the entire peninsula was inhabited by a people who called themselves Crimeans, while the Russians called them Tatars. The inhabitants of the Crimea themselves came to such a name only when they became part of Russia.
Tatars were a significant people of the Crimea until the annexation of the peninsula to Russia. Since then, the number of the Tatar ethnic group has not greatly decreased, but a lot of Russians have arrived on the territory of Crimea. The Tatar people ceased to be the most numerous on the peninsula. Many Tatars emigrated to Turkey after the Crimean War.
The fate of the Crimean Tatars was especially dramatic during the Great Patriotic War. They bravely fought in the ranks of the Soviet army, many of them died in battle, while some were burned by the Nazis. Some Tatars went over to the side of the enemy and turned out to be traitors. In this regard, in 1944, almost two hundred thousand Tatars were deported from the country. They began to return to Crimea in 1989 and since then make up twelve percent of the population of the peninsula.
Other nationalities
In addition to the nationalities presented above, many representatives of other large ethnic groups live on the territory of Crimea. From the end of the eighteenth century, Bulgarians began to settle in Crimea, who are now no more than two thousand people.
The first Poles settled on the peninsula at the end of the seventeenth century. Their massive migration to the peninsula dates back to the sixties of the nineteenth century. They have never been trusted by local residents, in connection with which they were not provided with benefits and the opportunity to settle separately. Now there are no more than seven thousand of them in Crimea.
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 German-speaking Goths (later mixed with the Greeks in the annalistic "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 Surozhsky" describes in detail the campaign to the Crimea of the Novgorod prince Bravlin, after which the active Slavicization of the Eastern Crimea begins.
Arabic sources of the 9th century report one of the centers Ancient Russia- Arsania, which, according to most scientists, was located on the territory of the Sea of \u200b\u200bAzov, the Eastern Crimea and the North Caucasus. This is the so-called. Azov, or Black Sea (Tmutarakan) Russia, 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 of political influence Kievan Rus. Later, the Tmutarakan principality was formed here. Under the 980 goal in the "Tale of Bygone Years" the son of the Grand Duke Vladimir the Holy - Mstislav the Brave is mentioned for the first time; it is also reported that his father endowed Mstislav with the Tmutarakan land (which he owned until his death in 1036).
The influence of Russia 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 Polovtsians, 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, enlisting the support of the Golden Horde khans (to whom they gave huge loans and supplied mercenaries), captured the largest Crimean city of Surozh (Sudak), inhabited mainly by Greek and Russian merchants and artisans and maintaining 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 Mangup Principality), which arose on the ruins of Byzantine Empire, with the Moscow state. For example, the Russian chronicle mentions Prince Stefan Vasilyevich 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, etc. The connection between Moscow and Theodoro was so close that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III was going to marry his son to the daughter of the Theodorite prince Isaac (Isaiko), but this plan could not be 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 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, a 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" was created here, 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 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 demarcation 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). According to the 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 from the Crimea to Central Asia during May 18-19, 191,088 Tatars, 296 Germans, 32 Romanians and 21 Austrians were resettled. 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 Crimea to Radyanskaya Ukraine, apparently in memory of his many years of secretarial work 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? The "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" of 33 people at it. The actions of the OKND, headed by the ardent Turkophile Mustafa Dzhamilev, were greeted with enthusiasm by the Kyiv "Rukh" and former communist leadership, acting on the principle "everyone who is against the damned Muscovites is good." But why did Dzhamilev need to create his "national state" 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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