What nationalities founded the first colonies in the Crimea. Peoples inhabiting Crimea

The fertile climate, the picturesque and generous nature of Taurida create almost ideal conditions for human existence. People have long inhabited these lands, so the eventful history of Crimea, which goes back centuries, is extremely interesting. To whom and when did the peninsula belong? Let's find out!

History of Crimea since ancient times

Numerous historical artifacts found by archaeologists here suggest that the ancestors of modern man began to settle in fertile lands almost 100 thousand years ago. This is evidenced by the remains of Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures found in the site and Murzak-Koba.

At the beginning of the XII century BC. e. tribes of Indo-European nomadic Cimmerians appeared on the peninsula, whom ancient historians considered the first people who tried to create in the beginnings of some kind of statehood.

At the dawn of the Bronze Age, they were forced out of the steppe regions by warlike Scythians, moving closer to the sea coast. The foothill areas and the southern coast were then inhabited by Taurians, according to some sources, who came from the Caucasus, and in the north-west of the unique region Slavic tribes who migrated from modern Transnistria.

Ancient heyday in history

As the history of the Crimea testifies, at the end of the 7th century. BC e. it began to be actively mastered by the Hellenes. Natives of the Greek cities created colonies, which eventually began to flourish. Fertile land gave excellent harvests of barley and wheat, and the presence of convenient harbors contributed to the development of maritime trade. Crafts actively developed, shipping improved.

Port policies grew and grew richer, uniting over time into an alliance, which became the basis for creating a powerful Bosporus kingdom with a capital in, or present-day Kerch. The heyday of an economically developed state with a strong army and an excellent navy dates back to the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. Then an important alliance was concluded with Athens, half of whose needs for bread were provided by the Bosporans, their kingdom includes the lands of the Black Sea coast beyond the Kerch Strait, Theodosius, Chersonesus flourish. But the period of prosperity did not last long. The unreasonable policy of a number of kings led to the depletion of the treasury, the reduction of military personnel.

The nomads took advantage of the situation and began to ravage the country. at first he was forced to enter the Pontic kingdom, then he became a protectorate of Rome, and then of Byzantium. The subsequent invasions of the barbarians, among which it is worth highlighting the Sarmatians and Goths, further weakened him. Of the once magnificent settlements, only the Roman fortresses in Sudak and Gurzuf remained undestroyed.

Who owned the peninsula in the Middle Ages?

From the history of the Crimea it can be seen that from the 4th to the 12th centuries. Bulgarians and Turks, Hungarians, Pechenegs and Khazars marked their presence here. The Russian prince Vladimir, having taken Chersonese by storm, was baptized here in 988. The formidable ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vytautas, invaded Taurida in 1397, completing the campaign in. Part of the land is part of the state of Theodoro, founded by the Goths. By the middle of the 13th century, the steppe regions were controlled by the Golden Horde. In the next century, some territories are redeemed by the Genoese, and the rest are submitted to the troops of Khan Mamai.

The collapse of the Golden Horde marked the creation here in 1441 of the Crimean Khanate,
self-existing for 36 years. In 1475, the Ottomans invaded here, to whom the khan swore allegiance. They expelled the Genoese from the colonies, took by storm the capital of the state of Theodoro - the city, having exterminated almost all the Goths. The khanate with its administrative center in was called Kafa eyalet in the Ottoman Empire. Then the ethnic composition of the population is finally formed. Tatars are moving from a nomadic lifestyle to a settled one. Not only cattle breeding began to develop, but also agriculture, horticulture, small tobacco plantations appeared.

The Ottomans, at the height of their power, complete their expansion. They move from direct conquest to a policy of covert expansion, also described in history. The Khanate becomes an outpost for raids on the border territories of Russia and the Commonwealth. The looted jewels regularly replenish the treasury, and the captured Slavs are sold into slavery. From the 14th to the 17th centuries Russian tsars undertake several trips to the Crimea through the Wild Field. However, none of them leads to the pacification of a restless neighbor.

When did the Russian Empire come to Crimean power?

An important stage in the history of Crimea -. TO early XVIII V. it becomes one of its main strategic goals. Possession of it will allow not only to secure the land border from the south and make it internal. The peninsula is destined to become the cradle of the Black Sea Fleet, which will provide access to the Mediterranean trade routes.

However, significant progress in achieving this goal was achieved only in the last third of the century - during the reign of Catherine the Great. In 1771, the army led by General-General Dolgorukov captured Tauris. The Crimean Khanate was declared independent, and Khan Girey, who was a protege of the Russian crown, was elevated to his throne. Russian-Turkish war 1768-1774 undermined the power of Turkey. Combining military force with cunning diplomacy, Catherine II ensured that in 1783 the Crimean nobility swore allegiance to her.

After that, the infrastructure and economy of the region began to develop at an impressive pace. Here settle retired Russian soldiers.
Greeks, Germans and Bulgarians come here en masse. In 1784, a military fortress was laid, which was destined to play bright role in the history of Crimea and Russia in general. Roads are being built everywhere. Active cultivation of grapes contributes to the development of winemaking. The southern coast is becoming more and more popular among the nobility. turns into a resort town. For a hundred years the population Crimean peninsula increases by almost 10 times, it changes ethnic type. In 1874, 45% of the Crimeans were Great Russians and Little Russians, about 35% were Crimean Tatars.

The dominance of the Russians in the Black Sea seriously disturbed a number of European countries. A coalition of decrepit Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, Austria, Sardinia and France unleashed. The mistakes of the command, which caused the defeat in the battle on, the lag in the technical equipment of the army, led to the fact that despite the unparalleled heroism of the defenders shown during the year-long siege, Sevastopol was taken by the allies. After the end of the conflict, the city was returned to Russia in exchange for a number of concessions.

During the Civil War in the Crimea, there were many tragic events that were reflected in history. Since the spring of 1918, German and French expeditionary corps have been operating here, supported by the Tatars. The puppet government of Solomon Samoilovich of Crimea was replaced by the military power of Denikin and Wrangel. Only the troops of the Red Army managed to take control of the peninsular perimeter. After that, the so-called Red Terror began, as a result of which from 20 to 120 thousand people died.

In October 1921, the creation of the Autonomous Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic in the RSFSR was announced from the regions of the former Taurida province, renamed in 1946 into the Crimean region. The new government paid great attention to her. The policy of industrialization led to the emergence of the Kamysh-Burun shipyard and, in the same place, a mining and processing plant was built, and in a metallurgical plant.

The Great Patriotic War prevented further equipment.
Already in August 1941, about 60 thousand ethnic Germans who lived on a permanent basis were deported from here, and in November the Crimea was left by the forces of the Red Army. Only two centers of resistance to the Nazis remained on the peninsula - the Sevastopol fortified area and, but they also fell by the autumn of 1942. After the retreat of the Soviet troops, partisan detachments began to actively operate here. The occupying authorities pursued a policy of genocide against "inferior" races. As a result, by the time of liberation from the Nazis, the population of Taurida had almost tripled.

The invaders were expelled from here. After that, the facts of mass cooperation with the Nazis were revealed. Crimean Tatars and representatives of some other national minorities. By decision of the government of the USSR, more than 183 thousand people of Crimean Tatar origin, a significant number of Bulgarians, Greeks and Armenians were forcibly deported to remote regions of the country. In 1954, the region was included in the Ukrainian SSR at the suggestion of N.S. Khrushchev.

The latest history of Crimea and our days

After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Crimea remained in Ukraine, having received autonomy with the right to have its own constitution and president. After long negotiations, the basic law of the republic was approved by the Verkhovna Rada. Yuri Meshkov became the first president of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1992. Subsequently, relations between official Kiev escalated. The Ukrainian parliament adopted in 1995 a decision to abolish the presidency on the peninsula, and in 1998
President Kuchma signed a Decree approving the new Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, with the provisions of which far from all the inhabitants of the republic agreed.

Internal contradictions, coinciding in time with serious political exacerbations between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, split the society in 2013. One part of the inhabitants of Crimea was in favor of returning to the Russian Federation, the other part was in favor of staying in Ukraine. On this occasion, on March 16, 2014, a referendum was held. Most of the Crimeans who took part in the plebiscite voted for reunification with Russia.

Back in the days of the USSR, many were built on Taurida, which was considered an all-Union health resort. had no analogues in the world at all. The development of the region as a resort continued both in the Ukrainian period of the history of Crimea and in the Russian one. Despite all the interstate contradictions, it still remains a favorite vacation spot for both Russians and Ukrainians. This land is infinitely beautiful and ready to welcome guests from any country in the world! We offer in conclusion documentary, Enjoy watching!

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 of political influence of 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 (from 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 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 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 Grigorievich 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 Feodorite 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 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 February Revolution In 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" 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 organizations of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks began to actively pursue a course towards the Turkization 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 prewar years there is 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 others. Crimean peoples. May 11, 1944 State Committee 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 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? 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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Interest in national culture Crimeans, to the history of representatives various nationalities and the peoples of the Crimea is quite natural. We offer you to get acquainted with the peoples living on the peninsula in different eras.

WITH ethnic characteristics and the composition of the population of Crimea you can find in the article History of the peoples of Crimea. Here we will talk about the peoples of Crimea who inhabited it throughout the history of the Crimean peninsula in chronological order.

Taurus. The Greek Hellenes called Taurus the tribes that inhabited the mountainous foothill part of the peninsula and the entire southern coast. Their self-name is unknown, perhaps the Taurians are the descendants of the ancient indigenous population of the peninsula. The most ancient monuments of their material culture on the peninsula date back to about the 10th century. BC e., although their culture can be traced even earlier. The remains of several fortified settlements, sanctuaries, as well as burial grounds, the so-called "Taurian boxes", were found. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, hunting, and occasionally traded in sea piracy. With the beginning of a new era, a gradual merger of the Taurians with the Scythians began, as a result of which a new ethnonym appeared - "Tauro-Scythians".

Cimmerians- the collective name of the militant nomadic tribes that inhabited in the X-UP centuries. BC e. Northern Black Sea region and the flat part of Taurica. There are references to this people in many ancient sources. There are very few monuments of their material culture on the peninsula. In the 7th century BC e. the Cimmerians, pushed back by the Scythians, left the Northern Black Sea region. However, the memory of them was preserved for a long time in geographical names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Kimmerik, etc.)

Scythians. nomadic tribes Scythians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region and the flat Crimea in the 7th century. BC e., gradually moving to a settled way of life and absorbing part of the tribes living here. In the III century. BC e. under the onslaught of the Sarmatians, the Scythians lost their possessions on the mainland of the Black Sea and the Sivash region and concentrated in the flat Crimea. Here, a late Scythian state was formed with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol), which fought with the Greek states for influence on the peninsula. In the III century. it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians, and then the Goths and the Huns. The rest of the Scythians mixed with the Taurians, Sarmatians and Goths.

Ancient Greeks (Hellenes). Ancient Greek colonists appeared in Crimea in the 6th century. BC e. Gradually populating the coast, they founded a number of cities and settlements (Pantikapey, Feodosia, Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, etc.). Later, the Greek cities united into the Chersonese state and the Bosporan kingdom. The Greeks founded settlements, minted coins, engaged in crafts, agriculture, winemaking, fishing, and traded with other peoples. For a long time they had a huge cultural and political influence on all the peoples living in the Crimea. In the first centuries of the new era, the Greek states lose their political independence, become dependent on the Pontic kingdom, the Roman Empire, and then - Byzantium. The Greek population gradually merges with other Crimean ethnic groups, passing on their language and culture.

Sarmatians. Nomadic Sarmatian tribes (Roksolans, Yazygs, Aorses, Siraks, etc.) appear in the Northern Black Sea region in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., crowding the Scythians. They penetrate into Taurica from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e., either fighting the Scythians and Bosporites, or entering into military and political alliances with them. Probably, along with the Sarmatians, the Proto-Slavs also came to the Crimea. Sarmatians, gradually settling across the peninsula, mix with the local Greek-Scythian-Taurian population.

Romans (Roman Empire). Roman troops first appeared on the peninsula (in the Bosporan kingdom) in the 1st century BC. before. n. e. after the victory over the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. But the Romans did not stay long in the Bosporus. In the second half of the 1st century A.D. e. Roman troops, at the request of the Chersonesites, helped repel the onslaught of the Scythians. Since that time, Chersonese and the Bosporan kingdom fell into dependence on Rome.

The Roman garrison and squadron were in Chersonese with interruptions for about two centuries, bringing some elements of their culture into the life of the city. The Romans also built fortresses in other parts of the peninsula (Kharaks on Cape Ai-Todor, fortresses in Balaklava, Alma-Kermen, etc.). But in the 4th century, the Roman troops were finally withdrawn from Taurica.

Alans- one of the largest Sarmatian nomadic tribes. They began to penetrate into the Crimea in the II century. At first, the Alans settled in the southeastern Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, because of the Hunnic threat, the Alans moved to the mountainous southwestern Crimea. Here, in contact with the local population, they move to settled life, accept Christianity. In the early Middle Ages, along with the Goths, the Gotoalans formed an ethnic community.

Goths. Germanic tribes Goths invaded the Crimea in III. Under their blows, the Poedne-Scythian kingdom fell, and the Bosporus fell into a dependent position. At first, the Goths settled in the flat Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, because of the Hunnic threat, part of the Goths moved to the southwestern Crimea. The territory of their settlement was subsequently named Gothia, and its inhabitants became federates of the Byzantine Empire. With the support of Byzantium, fortified settlements were built here (Doros, Eski-Kermen). After the adoption of Christianity by the Goths, the Gothic diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is here. In the XIII century, the Principality of Theodoro was formed on the territory of Gothia, which existed until 1475. Neighboring with the Alans and professing a single Christian faith the Goths gradually merge with them, forming the ethnic community "Gotoalans", which subsequently participates in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Greeks, and then the Crimean Tatars.

Huns. During the IV - V centuries. hordes of Huns repeatedly invaded the Crimea. Among them were different tribes - Turkic, Ugric, Bulgarian. The Bosporan kingdom fell under their blows, and the locals hid from their raids in the foothills and mountains of the peninsula. After the collapse of the union of the Hunnic tribes in 453, part of the Huns settled in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. For some time they were a threat to the inhabitants of the mountainous Taurica, but then they quickly disappeared into the environment of the local, more cultured population.

Byzantines (Byzantine Empire). Byzantines are usually called the Greek-speaking Orthodox population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. For many centuries, Byzantium played a leading role in the Crimea, determining the politics, economy and culture of the local peoples. Actually, there were few Byzantines in the Crimea, they represented the civil, military and church administrations. Although a small number of the inhabitants of the empire periodically moved to live in Taurica, when the metropolis was restless.

Christianity came from Byzantium to Taurica. With the help of the Byzantines, fortresses were built on the coast and in the mountainous Crimea, Chersonese and the Bosporus were being strengthened. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in the XIII century. the influence of Byzantium on the peninsula practically ceases.

Crimean Greeks. In the V-IX centuries. in the southeastern and southwestern Crimea, from the descendants of the ancient Greeks, Taurus-Scythians, Goto-Alans, part of the Turks, a new ethnic group is formed, later called the "Crimean Greeks". The adoption of Orthodox Christianity, as well as the common territory and way of life, united these different peoples. In the VIII-IX centuries, the Greeks, who fled from Byzantine from the persecution of the iconoclasts, poured into it. In the XIII century. in southwestern Taurica, two Christian principalities are formed - Theodoro and Kyrk-Orskoe, the main language in which was Greek. since the 15th century, after the defeat of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro by the Turks, the natural Turkization and Islamization of the Crimean Greeks took place, however, many of them retained the Christian faith (even having lost their native language) until the resettlement from the Crimea in 1778. A small part of the Crimean Greeks later returned to Crimea.

Khazars- the collective name of various nationalities of Turkic (Turkic-Bulgarians, Huns, etc.) and non-Turkic (Magyars, etc.) origin. By the 7th century a state was formed - the Khazar Khaganate, which united several peoples. At the end of the 7th century The Khazars invaded the Crimea, capturing its southern part, except for Chersonese. In Crimea, the interests of the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire constantly clashed. Repeatedly raised uprisings of the local Christian population against the rule of the Khazars. After the adoption of Judaism by the top of the kaganate and the victories of the Kyiv princes over the Khazars, their influence in the Crimea weakened. With the help of Byzantium, the local population managed to overthrow the power of the Khazar rulers. However, for a long time the peninsula was called Khazaria. The Khazars who remained in the Crimea gradually joined the local population.

Slavic-Russians (Kievan Rus). Kievan Rus, asserting itself on the world stage in the period from the 9th to the 10th centuries, was constantly in conflict with the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire. Russian squads periodically invaded their Crimean possessions, capturing considerable booty.

In 988 Kyiv prince Vladimir and his retinue adopted Christianity in Chersonese. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the prince of Kyiv at the head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Khaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in the Crimea stopped, and trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.

Pechenegs, Cumans. Pechenegs - Turkic-speaking nomads - quite often invaded Crimea in the 10th century. They did not have a significant impact on the local population due to the brevity of their stay in Crimea.

Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Komans)- Turkic-speaking nomadic people. Appeared on the peninsula in the XI century. and began to gradually settle in the southeastern Crimea. Subsequently, the Polovtsy practically merged with the newcomer Tatar-Mongols and became the ethnic basis of the future Crimean Tatar ethnos, since they numerically prevailed over the Horde and were a relatively sedentary population of the peninsula.

Armenians moved to the Crimea in the XI-XIII centuries, fleeing the raids of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs. First, the Armenians concentrated in the southeastern Crimea (Solkhat, Kafa, Karasubazar), and then in other cities. They were engaged in trade and various crafts. By the 18th century A significant part of the Armenians renounces, but they do not lose the Christian faith (monophysical Orthodoxy), until the resettlement from Kryia in 1778. Some of the Crimean Armenians subsequently returned to the Crimea.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many Armenians from European countries moved here. At the end of the 19th-beginning of the 20th century, part of the Armenians, fleeing the Turkish genocide in Armenia, also moved to the Crimea. In 1944 the Crimean Armenians were deported from the peninsula. Currently, they are partially returning to the Crimea.

Venetians, Genoese. Venetian merchants appeared in the Crimea in the 12th century, and Genoese merchants in the 13th century. Gradually displacing the Venetians, the Genoese entrenched themselves here. Expanding their Crimean colonies, they, under an agreement with the Golden Horde khans, include in them the entire coastal territory - from Kafa to Chersonese. Actually, there were few Genoese - administration, security, merchants. Their possessions in the Crimea existed until the capture of the Crimea by the Ottoman Turks in 1475. The few Genoese (Crimean Genovezhians) who remained after that in the Crimea gradually disappeared among the local population.

Tatar-Mongols (Tatars, Horde). Tatars are one of the Turkic tribes conquered by the Mongols. Their name eventually passed to the entire multi-tribal array of Asian nomads who set out on a campaign to the west in the 13th century. Horde - its more accurate name. Tatar-Mongols is a late term used by historians since the 19th century.

Horde(among them were the Mongols, the Turks and other tribes conquered by the Mongols, and the Turkic peoples prevailed numerically), united under the rule of the Mongol khans, first appeared in the Crimea in the 13th century.

Gradually, they began to settle in the northern and southeastern Crimea. Here the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde was formed with the center in Solkhat. In the XIV century. Horde people accept Islam and gradually settle in the southwestern Crimea. The Horde, in close contact with the Crimean Greeks and Polovtsy (Kipchaks), are gradually moving to settled life, becoming one of the ethnic cores for the Crimean Tatar ethnos.

Crimean Tatars. (Crimean Tatars - this is how these people are called in other countries, self-name "kyrymly" - Crimeans, residents of Crimea.) The process of formation of the ethnic group, which later became known as the "Crimean Tatars", was long, complex and multifaceted. The Turkic-speaking (descendants of the Turks, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Horde, etc.) and non-Turkic-speaking peoples (descendants of the Goto-Alans, Greeks, Armenians, etc.) took part in its formation. The Crimean Tatars became the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

Among them, there are three sub ethnic groups s. "Mountain Tatars" settled in the mountainous and foothill parts of the peninsula. Their ethnic core was mainly formed by the 16th century. from the descendants of the Horde, Kipchaks and Crimean Greeks who converted to Islam.

The ethnic group of the "South Coast Tatars" was formed later on the lands subject to the Turkish Sultan. Their ethnic basis was made up of the descendants of the local Christian population (Gotoalans, Greeks, Italians, etc.), who lived on these lands and converted to Islam, as well as the descendants of immigrants from Asia Minor. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Tatars from other regions of Crimea also began to settle on the southern coast.

In the steppe Crimea, the Black Sea region and the Sivash region, the Nogais roamed, who had mainly Turkic (Kipchak) and Mongolian roots. In the XVI century. they accepted the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, and later joined the Crimean Tatar ethnic group. They began to be called "steppe Tatars".

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the process of emigration of Crimean Tatars to Turkey and other countries begins. As a result of several waves of emigration, the number of the Crimean Tatar population decreased significantly, and by the end of the 19th century it accounted for 27% of the Crimean population.

In 1944 the Crimean Tatar people were deported from the Crimea. During the deportation, there was an involuntary mixing of different sub-ethnic groups, which until then had hardly mixed with each other.

At present, most of the Crimean Tatars have returned to the Crimea, the final formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group is taking place.

Turks (Ottoman Empire). Having invaded the Crimea in 1475, the Ottoman Turks took possession, first of all, of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro. On their lands, a sanjak was formed - Turkish possessions in the Crimea with a center in the Cafe. They made up 1/10 of the peninsula, but these were the most strategically important territories and fortresses. As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, Crimea was annexed to Russia and the Turks (mainly military garrisons and administration) left it. The Turks settled in an organized manner on the Crimean coast immigrants from Turkish Anatolia. Over time, fairly mixed with the local population, they all became one of the ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatar people and received the name "South Coast Tatars".

Karaites (karai)- nationality Turkic origin possibly descendants of the Khazars. However, to this day their origin is the subject of sharp scientific disputes. It's outnumbered Turkic-speaking people, formed on the basis of a religiously isolated sect that professed Judaism in a special form - Karaimism. Unlike Orthodox Jews, they did not recognize the Talmud and remained faithful to the Torah (Bible). Karaite communities began to appear in the Crimea after the 10th century, and by the 18th century. they were already in the majority (75%) in the Jewish population of the Crimea.

Russians, Ukrainians. During the XVI-XVII centuries. relations between the Slavs and the Tatars were not easy. Crimean Tatars periodically raided the outlying lands of Poland, Russia and Ukraine, capturing slaves and booty. In turn, the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks, and then the Russian troops, made military campaigns on the territory of the Crimean Khanate.

In 1783 Crimea was conquered and annexed to Russia. Active settlement of the peninsula by Russians and Ukrainians began, which by the end of the 19th century. have become the predominant population here and continue to be so.

Greeks and Bulgarians from the lands subject to Turkey, under the threat of repression, with the support of the Russian state, they moved to the Crimea at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th century. The Bulgarians settled mainly in the rural areas of the southeastern Crimea, and the Greeks (they are usually called Novogreks) - in coastal cities and villages. In 1944 they were deported from the Crimea. Currently, some of them have returned to the Crimea, and many have emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria.

Jews. Ancient Jews in the Crimea appear since the beginning of our era, quickly adapting to the environment of the local population. Their numbers here increased significantly in the 5th-9th centuries, when they were persecuted in Byzantium. They lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade,

By the 18th century some of them are heavily Turkishized, becoming the basis for the Krymchaks, a Turkic-speaking ethnic group professing Judaism. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Jews always made up a significant proportion of the population of the peninsula (it was up to 8% by the beginning of the 20th century), since Crimea was part of the so-called "Pale of Settlement", where Jews were allowed to settle.

Krymchaks- a small Turkic-speaking people, formed by the 18th century. from the descendants of Jews who moved to the Crimea at different times and from different places and thoroughly Turkic, as well as Turks who converted to Judaism. They professed the Jewish religion of the Talmudic persuasion, which served to unite them in united people. A few representatives of this people live in the Crimea today.

Germans. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in early XIX V. German settlers, using significant benefits, began to settle mainly in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. They were mainly engaged in agriculture. Almost until the Great Patriotic War, they lived in separate German villages and farms. By the beginning of the XX century. Germans made up to 6% of the population of the peninsula. Their descendants were deported from the Crimea in 1941. Currently, only a few of the Crimean Germans have returned to the Crimea. Most emigrated to Germany.

Poles, Czechs, Estonians. Settlers of these nationalities appeared in the Crimea in the middle of the 19th century, they were mainly engaged in agriculture. By the middle of the XX century. they practically disappeared into the environment of the predominant local Slavic population.

Crimea was, as it were, a long-awaited reward for those who, moving from the depths of Russia, managed to overcome the steppes burned by the heat. Steppes, mountains and subtropics of the South Coast - such natural conditions are not found anywhere else in Russia. However, in the world too ...

ethnic history Crimea is also unusual and unique. Crimea was settled primitive people thousands of years ago, and throughout its history has constantly received new settlers. But since on this small peninsula there are mountains that, more or less, could protect the inhabitants of Crimea, and there is also a sea from which new settlers, goods and ideas could sail, and coastal cities could also give protection to the Crimeans, it is not surprising that some historical ethnic groups were able to survive here. There has always been a mixture of peoples, and it is no coincidence that historians speak of the "Tauro-Scythians" and "Gotoalans" living here.

In 1783 Crimea (together with a small territory outside the peninsula) became part of Russia. By this time, there were 1,474 settlements in the Crimea, most of them very small. At the same time, most of the Crimean settlements were multinational. But since 1783, the ethnic history of the Crimea has changed radically.

Crimean Greeks

The first Greek settlers arrived in Crimea 27 centuries ago. And it was in the Crimea that a small Greek ethnos managed to survive, the only one of all Greek ethnic groups outside of Greece. Actually, two Greek ethnic groups lived in Crimea - the Crimean Greeks and the descendants of the "real" Greeks from Greece, who moved to the Crimea at the end of the 18th and in the 19th centuries.

Of course, the Crimean Greeks, in addition to the descendants of the ancient colonists, absorbed many ethnic elements. Under the influence and charm Greek culture many Tauri were Hellenized. So, a tombstone of a certain Tikhon, a brand of brand, dating back to the 5th century BC, has been preserved. Many Scythians were also Hellenized. In particular, some royal dynasties in the Bosporan kingdom were clearly of Scythian origin. The strongest cultural influence of the Greeks was experienced by the Goths and Alans.

Already from the 1st century, Christianity began to spread in Taurida, finding many adherents. Christianity was adopted not only by the Greeks, but also by the descendants of the Scythians, the Goths and Alans. Already in 325, at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, Cadmus, Bishop of the Bosporus, and Theophilus, Bishop of Gothia, were present. In the future, it is Orthodox Christianity that will unite the diverse population of Crimea into a single ethnic group.

The Byzantine Greeks and the Orthodox Greek-speaking population of Crimea called themselves "Romans" (literally Romans), emphasizing their belonging to the official religion of the Byzantine Empire. As you know, the Byzantine Greeks called themselves Romans for several centuries after the fall of Byzantium. Only in the 19th century, under the influence of Western European travelers, did the Greeks in Greece return to the self-name "Greeks". Outside of Greece, the ethnonym "Romans" (or, in the Turkish pronunciation "Urums"), persisted until the twentieth century. In our time, the name "Pontic" (Black Sea) Greeks (or "Ponti") has been established behind all the various Greek ethnic groups in the Crimea and all of New Russia.

The Goths and Alans, who lived in the southwestern part of the Crimea, which was called the "country of Dori", although for many centuries retained their languages ​​in everyday life, but their written language remained Greek. Common religion, similar way of life and culture, distribution Greek led to the fact that over time the Goths and Alans, as well as the Orthodox descendants of the "Tauro-Scythians" joined the Crimean Greeks. Of course, this did not happen immediately. Back in the 13th century, Bishop Theodore and the Western missionary G. Rubruk met the Alans in the Crimea. Apparently only for XVI century Alans finally merged with the Greeks and Tatars.

Around the same time, the Crimean Goths also disappeared. Since the 9th century, the Goths are no longer mentioned in historical documents. However, the Goths still continued to exist as a small Orthodox ethnic group. In 1253, Rubruk, along with the Alans, also met Goths in the Crimea, who lived in fortified castles, and whose language was Germanic. Rubruck himself, who was of Flemish origin, could of course distinguish the Germanic languages ​​from others. The Goths remained faithful to Orthodoxy, as Pope John XXII wrote with regret in 1333.

It is interesting that the first hierarch of the Orthodox Church of Crimea was officially called the Metropolitan of Gotha (in Church Slavonic sound - Gotfeysky) and Kafaysky (Kafinsky, that is, Feodosiya).

Probably, it was from the Hellenized Goths, Alans and other ethnic groups of the Crimea that the population of the Principality of Theodoro, which existed until 1475, consisted. Probably, Russians of the same faith from the former Tmutarakan principality also joined the Crimean Greeks.

However, from the end of the 15th and especially in the 16th century, after the fall of Theodoro, when the Crimean Tatars began to intensively convert their subjects to Islam, the Goths and Alans completely forgot their languages, switching partly to Greek, which was already familiar to them all, and partly to Tatar , which became the prestigious language of the ruling people.

In the 13th-15th centuries, the "Surozhans" were well known in Rus' - merchants from the city of Surozh (now - Sudak). They brought to Rus' special Surozh goods - silk products. Interestingly, even in explanatory dictionary of the living Great Russian language” by V. I. Dahl, there are concepts that survived until the 19th century, such as “Surovsky” (i.e. Surozh) goods, and “Surovsky series”. Most of the Surozh merchants were Greeks, some were Armenians and Italians, who lived under the rule of the Genoese in the cities of the southern coast of Crimea. Many of the Surozhans eventually moved to Moscow. From the descendants of the Surozhans came the famous merchant dynasties of Muscovite Rus' - Khovrins, Salarevs, Troparevs, Shikhovs. Many of the descendants of the Surozhans became rich and influential people in Moscow. The Khovrin family, whose ancestors came from the Mangup principality, even received the boyars. WITH merchant names Surozhan descendants are connected with the names of villages near Moscow - Khovrino, Salarevo, Sofrino, Troparevo.

But the Crimean Greeks themselves did not disappear, despite the emigration of the Surozhans to Russia, the conversion of some of them to Islam (which turned the new converts into Tatars), as well as the ever-increasing eastern influence in the cultural and linguistic spheres. In the Crimean Khanate, the majority of farmers, fishermen, and winegrowers consisted of Greeks.

The Greeks were the oppressed part of the population. Gradually, the Tatar language and oriental customs spread more and more among them. The clothes of the Crimean Greeks differed little from the clothes of the Crimeans of any other origin and religion.

Gradually, an ethnic group of “Urums” (that is, “Romans” in Turkic) developed in the Crimea, denoting Turkic-speaking Greeks who preserved Orthodox faith and Greek identity. The Greeks, who retained the local dialect of the Greek language, retained the name "Romans". They continued to speak 5 dialects of the local Greek language. By the end of the 18th century, the Greeks lived in 80 villages in the mountains and on the southern coast, about 1/4 of the Greeks lived in the cities of the khanate. About half of the Greeks spoke the Rat-Tatar language, the rest - in local dialects that differ both from the language Ancient Hellas, and from the spoken languages ​​of Greece proper.

In 1778, by order of Catherine II, in order to undermine the economy of the Crimean Khanate, the Christians living in Crimea - Greeks and Armenians, were evicted from the peninsula in the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. As A. V. Suvorov, who carried out the resettlement, reported, a total of 18,395 Greeks left the Crimea. Settlers founded the city of Mariupol and 18 villages on the shores of the Sea of ​​Azov. Some of the deported Greeks subsequently returned to the Crimea, but the majority remained in their new homeland on the northern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov. Scientists usually called them Mariupol Greeks. Now it is the Donetsk region of Ukraine.

Today there are 77,000 Crimean Greeks (according to the Ukrainian census of 2001), most of whom live in the Sea of ​​Azov. Among them came many eminent figures Russian politics, culture and economy. Artist A. Kuindzhi, historian F. A. Khartakhai, scientist K. F. Chelpanov, philosopher and psychologist G. I. Chelpanov, art historian D. V. Ainalov, tractor driver P. N. Angelina, test pilot G. Ya. Bakhchivandzhi , polar explorer I. D. Papanin, politician, mayor of Moscow in 1991-92. G. Kh. Popov - all these are Mariupol (in the past - Crimean) Greeks. Thus, the history of the most ancient ethnic group in Europe continues.

"New" Crimean Greeks

Although a significant part of the Crimean Greeks left the peninsula, in the Crimea already in 1774-75. there were new, "Greek" Greeks from Greece. We are talking about those natives of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean, who during the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-74. helped the Russian fleet. After the end of the war, many of them moved to Russia. Of these, Potemkin formed the Balaklava battalion, which carried the protection of the coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia with a center in Balaklava. Already in 1792, there were 1.8 thousand new Greek settlers. Soon the number of Greeks began to grow rapidly due to the unfolding immigration of Greeks from the Ottoman Empire. Many Greeks settled in the Crimea. At the same time, Greeks from various regions of the Ottoman Empire came, speaking different dialects, having their own characteristics of life and culture, differing from each other, and from the Balaklava Greeks, and from the “old” Crimean Greeks.

The Balaklava Greeks bravely fought in the wars with the Turks and during the years of the Crimean War. Many Greeks served in the Black Sea Fleet.

In particular, such outstanding Russian military and political figures as the Russian admirals of the Black Sea Fleet brothers Alexiano, the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91, came out of the Greek refugees. Admiral F.P. Lally, who fell in 1812 near Smolensk, General A.I. Bella, General Vlastov, one of the main heroes of the victory of Russian troops on the Berezina River, Count A.D. Kuruta, commander of Russian troops in the Polish war of 1830-31.

In general, the Greeks served diligently, and it is no accident that the abundance of Greek surnames in the lists of Russian diplomacy, military and naval activities. Many Greeks were mayors, leaders of the nobility, mayors. The Greeks were engaged in business and were abundantly represented in the business world of the southern provinces.

In 1859, the Balaklava battalion was abolished, and now most of the Greeks began to engage in peaceful activities - viticulture, tobacco growing, and fishing. The Greeks owned shops, hotels, taverns and coffee houses in all corners of the Crimea.

After the establishment of Soviet power in the Crimea, the Greeks experienced many social and cultural changes. In 1921, 23,868 Greeks lived in Crimea (3.3% of the population). At the same time, 65% of Greeks lived in cities. Literate Greeks were 47.2% of the total. There were 5 Greek village councils in Crimea, in which office work was conducted in Greek, there were 25 Greek schools with 1500 students, several Greek newspapers and magazines were published. In the late 1930s, many Greeks became victims of repression.

The language problem of the Greeks was very difficult. As already mentioned, part of the "old" Greeks of the Crimea spoke the Crimean Tatar language (until the end of the 30s, there was even the term "Greek-Tatars" to designate them). The rest of the Greeks spoke various mutually incomprehensible dialects, far from the modern literary Greek language. It is clear that the Greeks, mostly urban residents, by the end of the 30s. switched to Russian, retaining their ethnic identity.

In 1939, 20.6 thousand Greeks (1.8%) lived in Crimea. The decrease in their numbers is mainly due to assimilation.

During the Great Patriotic War, many Greeks died at the hands of the Nazis and their accomplices from among the Crimean Tatars. In particular, Tatar punishers destroyed the entire population of the Greek village of Laki. By the time the Crimea was liberated, about 15,000 Greeks remained there. However, despite the loyalty to the Motherland, which was demonstrated by the vast majority of the Crimean Greeks, in May-June 1944 they were deported along with the Tatars and Armenians. A certain number of persons of Greek origin, who, according to personal data, were considered persons of a different nationality, remained in the Crimea, but it is clear that they tried to get rid of everything Greek.

After the removal of restrictions on the legal status of the Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians and members of their families located in the special settlement, by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of March 27, 1956, the special settlers gained some freedom. But the same decree deprived them of the opportunity to get back the confiscated property and the right to return to the Crimea. All these years, the Greeks were deprived of the opportunity to learn the Greek language. Education took place in schools in Russian, which led to the loss mother tongue at the youth. Beginning in 1956, the Greeks gradually returned to the Crimea. Most of the arrivals ended up in native land separated from each other, and lived individual families throughout the Crimea. In 1989, 2,684 Greeks lived in Crimea. Total population Greeks from the Crimea and their descendants in the USSR amounted to 20 thousand people.

In the 90s, the return of the Greeks to the Crimea continued. In 1994, there were already about 4 thousand of them. Despite the small number, the Greeks actively participate in the economic, cultural and political life of the Crimea, occupying a number of prominent posts in the administration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, engaging in (with great success) entrepreneurial activities.

Crimean Armenians

Another ethnic group, the Armenians, has been living in Crimea for more than a millennium. One of the brightest and most original centers of Armenian culture has developed here. Armenians appeared on the peninsula a very long time ago. In any case, back in 711, a certain Armenian Vardan was declared the Byzantine emperor in the Crimea. The mass immigration of Armenians to the Crimea began in the 11th century, after the Seljuk Turks defeated the Armenian kingdom, which caused a mass exodus of the population. In the 13th-14th centuries, there were especially many Armenians. Crimea is even referred to in some Genoese documents as "maritime Armenia". In a number of cities, including the largest city of the peninsula at that time, Cafe (Feodosia), Armenians make up the majority of the population. Hundreds of Armenian churches were built on the peninsula, with schools attached to them. At the same time, some Crimean Armenians moved to southern lands Rus'. In particular, a very large Armenian community has developed in Lvov. Numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, and outbuildings have survived to this day in Crimea.

Armenians lived throughout the Crimea, but until 1475, most Armenians lived in the Genoese colonies. Under the pressure of the Catholic Church, part of the Armenians went over to the union. Most Armenians, however, remained faithful to the traditional Armenian Gregorian Church. The religious life of the Armenians was very intense. In one Cafe there were 45 Armenian churches. The Armenians were ruled by their community elders. The Armenians were judged according to their own laws, according to their judicial code.

The Armenians were engaged in trade, financial activities, among them there were many skilled craftsmen and builders. In general, the Armenian community flourished in the 13th-15th centuries.

In 1475, the Crimea became dependent on the Ottoman Empire, and the cities of the southern coast, where the main Armenians lived, came under the direct control of the Turks. The conquest of the Crimea by the Turks was accompanied by the death of many Armenians, the withdrawal of part of the population into slavery. The Armenian population has drastically decreased. Only in the 17th century did their numbers begin to increase.

During the three centuries of Turkish domination, many Armenians converted to Islam, which led them to be assimilated by the Tatars. Among the Armenians who preserved the Christian faith, the Tatar language and oriental customs became widespread. Nevertheless, the Crimean Armenians did not disappear as an ethnic group. The overwhelming majority of Armenians (up to 90%) lived in cities, being engaged in trade and crafts.

In 1778, the Armenians, together with the Greeks, were evicted to the Azov region, to the lower reaches of the Don. In total, according to the reports of A. V. Suvorov, 12,600 Armenians were deported. They founded the city of Nakhichevan (now part of Rostov-on-Don), as well as 5 villages. Only 300 Armenians remained in Crimea.

However, many Armenians soon returned to the Crimea, and in 1811 they were officially allowed to return to their former place of residence. Approximately one third of the Armenians took advantage of this permission. Temples, lands, city blocks were returned to them; in the Old Crimea and Karasubazar city national self-governing communities were created, until the 1870s a special Armenian court operated.

The result of these government measures, along with the entrepreneurial spirit characteristic of the Armenians, was the prosperity of this Crimean ethnic group. The XIX century in the life of the Crimean Armenians was marked by remarkable achievements, especially in the field of education and culture, associated with the names of the artist I. Aivazovsky, the composer A. Spendiarov, the artist V. Sureniants and others. ), who founded the port city of Novorossiysk in 1838. Among bankers, shipowners, entrepreneurs, Crimean Armenians are also represented quite significantly.

The Crimean Armenian population was constantly replenished due to the influx of Armenians from the Ottoman Empire. By the time of the October Revolution, there were 17,000 Armenians on the peninsula. 70% of them lived in cities.

The years of the civil war took a heavy toll on the Armenians. Although some prominent Bolsheviks came out of the Crimean Armenians (for example, Nikolai Babakhan, Laura Bagaturyants, and others), who played a big role in the victory of their party, but still a significant part of the Armenians of the peninsula belonged, in Bolshevik terminology, to “bourgeois and petty-bourgeois elements” . The war, the repressions of all the Crimean governments, the famine of 1921, the emigration of Armenians, among whom there were indeed representatives of the bourgeoisie, led to the fact that by the beginning of the 20s the number of the Armenian population had decreased by a third. In 1926, there were 11.5 thousand Armenians in Crimea. By 1939, their number reached 12.9 thousand (1.1%).

In 1944 the Armenians were deported. After 1956, the return to the Crimea began. At the end of the 20th century, there were about 5,000 Armenians in Crimea. However, the name of the Crimean city of Armyansk will forever remain a monument to the Crimean Armenians.

Karaites

Crimea is the birthplace of one of the small ethnic groups - the Karaites. They belong to the Turkic peoples, but differ in their religion. The Karaites are Judaists, and they belong to its special branch, the representatives of which are called Karaites (literally, "readers"). The origin of the Karaites is mysterious. The first mention of the Karaites refers only to 1278, but they lived in the Crimea for several centuries earlier. Probably, the Karaites are descendants of the Khazars.

The Turkic origin of the Crimean Karaites has been proven by anthropological studies. The blood groups of the Karaites, their anthropological appearance are more characteristic of the Turkic ethnic groups (for example, for the Chuvash) than for the Semites. According to the anthropologist academician V.P. Alekseev, who studied in detail the craniology (structure of the skulls) of the Karaites, this ethnic group really arose from the mixing of the Khazars with the local population of Crimea.

Recall that the Khazars owned the Crimea in VIII-X centuries. By religion, the Khazars were Jews, not being ethnic Jews. It is quite possible that some Khazars who settled in the mountainous Crimea preserved the Jewish faith. True, the only problem with the Khazar theory of the origin of the Karaites is the fundamental circumstance that the Khazars adopted orthodox Talmudic Judaism, and the Karaites even have the name of another direction in Judaism. But the Crimean Khazars, after the fall of Khazaria, could well move away from Talmudic Judaism, if only because the Talmudic Jews had not previously recognized the Khazars, like other Jews of non-Jewish origin, as their co-religionists. When the Khazars converted to Judaism, the teachings of the Karaites were still being born among the Jews in Baghdad. It is clear that those Khazars who retained their faith after the fall of Khazaria could take that direction in religion, which emphasized their difference from the Jews. The enmity between the "Talmudists" (that is, the bulk of the Jews) and the "learners" (Karaites) has always been characteristic of the Jews of Crimea. The Crimean Tatars called the Karaites "Jews without sidelocks."

After the defeat of Khazaria by Svyatoslav in 966, the Karaites retained their independence within the boundaries of the historical territory of Kyrk Yera - a district between the rivers Alma and Kacha and gained their own statehood within a small principality with its capital in the fortress city of Kale (now Chufut-Kale). Here was their prince - sar, or biy, in whose hands was the administrative-civil and military power, and the spiritual head - the kagan, or gakhan - of all the Karaites of Crimea (and not just the principality). His competence also included judicial and legal activities. The duality of power, expressed in the presence of both secular and spiritual heads, was inherited by the Karaites from the Khazars.

In 1246, the Crimean Karaites partially moved to Galicia, and in 1397-1398, part of the Karaite warriors (383 families) ended up in Lithuania. Since then, in addition to their historical homeland, the Karaites constantly live in Galicia and Lithuania. In places of residence, the Karaites enjoyed the good attitude of the surrounding authorities, retained their national identity, and had certain benefits and advantages.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Prince Eliazar voluntarily submitted to the Crimean Khan. In gratitude, the khan gave the Karaites autonomy in religious affairs,

The Karaites lived in the Crimea, not particularly standing out among local residents. They were most population of the cave city of Chufut-Kale, inhabited quarters in the Old Crimea, Gezlev (Evpatoria), Cafe (Feodosia).

The accession of Crimea to Russia was a high point for this people. The Karaites were exempted from many taxes, they were allowed to acquire land, which turned out to be very profitable when many lands turned out to be empty after the eviction of the Greeks, Armenians and the emigration of many Tatars. The Karaites were exempted from recruitment, although their voluntary entry into military service was welcomed. Many Karaites did choose military professions. Many of them distinguished themselves in battles in defense of the Fatherland. Among them, for example, are the heroes of the Russo-Japanese War, Lieutenant M. Tapsashar, General J. Kefeli. 500 career officers and 200 volunteers of Karaite origin participated in the First World War. Many became Knights of St. George, and a certain Gammal, a brave ordinary soldier, promoted to officer on the battlefield, deserved a full set of soldier's St. George's crosses and at the same time also officer George.

The small Karaite people became one of the most educated and wealthy peoples of the Russian Empire. The Karaites almost monopolized the tobacco trade in the country. By 1913, there were 11 millionaires among the Karaites. The Karaites experienced a population explosion. By 1914, their number reached 16 thousand, of which 8 thousand lived in the Crimea (at the end of the 18th century there were about 2 thousand of them).

Prosperity ended in 1914. Wars and revolution led to the loss of the former economic position of the Karaites. In general, the Karaites in the mass did not accept the revolution. Most of the officers and 18 generals from among the Karaites fought in the white army. Solomon Krym was Minister of Finance in Wrangel's government.

As a result of wars, famines, emigration and repressions, the number has sharply decreased, primarily due to the military and civilian elite. In 1926, 4,213 Karaites remained in the Crimea.

More than 600 Karaites participated in the Great Patriotic War, most of them were awarded military decorations, more than half died and went missing. Artilleryman D. Pasha became famous among the Karaites in the Soviet army, Marine officer E. Efet and many others. The most famous of the Soviet military commanders-Karaites was Colonel-General V.Ya. Kolpakchi, participant in the First World and Civil Wars, military adviser in Spain during the war of 1936-39, commander of the armies during the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky (1898-1967), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of the USSR in 1957-67, is often referred to as Karaites, although his Karaite origin has not been proven.

In other areas, the Karaites also produced a large number of prominent people. The famous intelligence agent, diplomat and at the same time writer I. R. Grigulevich, composer S. M. Maykapar, actor S. Tongur, and many others are all Karaites.

Mixed marriages, linguistic and cultural assimilation, low birth rates and emigration lead to the fact that the number of Karaites is declining. In the Soviet Union, according to the 1979 and 1989 censuses, 3,341 and 2,803, respectively, lived, including 1,200 and 898 Karaites in Crimea. In the 21st century, about 800 Karaites remained in Crimea.

Krymchaks

Crimea is also the birthplace of another Jewish ethnic group - the Krymchaks. Actually, the Krymchaks, like the Karaites, are not Jews. At the same time, they profess Talmudic Judaism, like most Jews of the world, their language is close to the Crimean Tatar.

Jews appeared in the Crimea even before our era, as evidenced by Jewish burials, the remains of synagogues, and inscriptions in Hebrew. One of these inscriptions dates back to the 1st century BC. In the Middle Ages, Jews lived in the cities of the peninsula, being engaged in trade and crafts. Back in the 7th century, the Byzantine Theophanes the Confessor wrote about the large number of Jews living in Phanagoria (on Taman) and other cities on the northern coast of the Black Sea. In 1309, a synagogue was built in Feodosia, which testified to the large number of Crimean Jews.

It should be noted that the majority of Crimean Jews came from the descendants of local residents converted to Judaism, and not from the Jews of Palestine who emigrated here. Documents dating back to the 1st century have come down to us, on the emancipation of slaves, provided that they were converted to Judaism by their Jewish owners.

Carried out in the 20s. studies of the blood groups of the Krymchaks, conducted by V. Zabolotny, confirmed that the Krymchaks did not belong to the Semitic peoples. Nevertheless, the Jewish religion contributed to the Jewish self-identification of the Krymchaks, who considered themselves Jews.

Among them, the Turkic language (close to the Crimean Tatar), oriental customs and life, which distinguishes the Crimean Jews from fellow tribesmen in Europe, spread. Their self-name was the word "Krymchak", meaning in Turkic a resident of the Crimea. By the end of the 18th century, about 800 Jews lived in Crimea.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the Krymchaks remained a poor and small confessional community. Unlike the Karaites, the Krymchaks did not show themselves in any way in commerce and politics. True, their numbers began to increase rapidly due to high natural growth. By 1912, there were 7.5 thousand people. The civil war, accompanied by numerous anti-Jewish reprisals carried out by all the changing authorities in the Crimea, famine and emigration led to a sharp reduction in the number of Krymchaks. In 1926 there were 6,000 of them.

During the Great Patriotic War, most of the Krymchaks were destroyed by the German invaders. After the war, no more than 1.5 thousand Krymchaks remained in the USSR.

Nowadays, emigration, assimilation (leading to the fact that Krymchaks associate themselves more with Jews), emigration to Israel and the USA, and depopulation finally put an end to the fate of this small Crimean ethnic group.

And yet, let's hope that the small ancient ethnic group, which gave Russia the poet I. Selvinsky, partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union Ya. art, politics and economics will not disappear.

Jews

Jews speaking Yiddish were incomparably more numerous in the Crimea. Since Crimea was part of the "Pale of Settlement", quite a lot of Jews from the right-bank Ukraine began to settle in this fertile land. In 1897, 24.2 thousand Jews lived in Crimea. By the revolution their numbers had doubled. As a result, Jews became one of the largest and most visible ethnic groups on the peninsula.

Despite the reduction in the number of Jews during the years of the civil war, they still remained the third (after the Russians and Tatars) ethnic group of Crimea. In 1926 there were 40 thousand (5.5%). By 1939 their number had increased to 65,000 (6% of the population).

The reason was simple - Crimea in the 20-40s. was considered not only and so much by the Soviet as by the world Zionist leaders as a "national home" for the Jews of the whole world. It is no coincidence that the resettlement of Jews in the Crimea took on significant proportions. It is indicative that while in the whole of Crimea, as well as throughout the country as a whole, urbanization took place, the opposite process took place among the Crimean Jews.

The project on the resettlement of Jews in the Crimea and the creation of Jewish autonomy there was developed back in 1923 by the prominent Bolshevik Yu. Larin (Lurie), and in the spring of the following year was approved by the Bolshevik leaders L.D. Trotsky, L.B. Kamenev, N.I. . It was planned to resettle 96,000 Jewish families (about 500,000 people) in Crimea. However, there were more optimistic figures - 700 thousand by 1936. Larin spoke openly about the need to create a Jewish republic in Crimea.

On December 16, 1924, even a document was signed under such an intriguing title: “On Crimean California” between the “Joint” (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee was called, which in the early years Soviet power USA) and the Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR. According to this agreement, the "Joint" allocated the USSR 1.5 million dollars a year for the needs of Jewish agricultural communes. The fact that most of the Jews in Crimea were not engaged in agriculture did not matter.

In 1926, the head of the "Joint" James N. Rosenberg came to the USSR, as a result of meetings with the leaders of the country, an agreement was reached on the financing by D. Rosenberg of measures for the resettlement of the Jews of Ukraine and Belarus in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Assistance was also provided by the French Jewish Society, the American Society for the Relief of Jewish Colonization in Soviet Russia, and other organizations of a similar type. On January 31, 1927, a new agreement was signed with Agro-Joint (a subsidiary of the Joint, itself). According to it, the organization allocated 20 million rubles. for the organization of resettlement, the Soviet government allocated 5 million rubles for these purposes.

The planned resettlement of Jews began already in 1924. The reality was not so optimistic.

For 10 years, 22 thousand people settled in the Crimea. They were provided with 21 thousand hectares of land, 4,534 apartments were built. The issues of the resettlement of Jews were dealt with by the Crimean Republican Representation of the Committee on the Land Issue of Working Jews under the Presidium of the Council of Nationalities of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (KomZet). Note that for every Jew there was almost 1,000 hectares of land. Almost every Jewish family received an apartment. (This is in the context of the housing crisis, which in resort Crimea was even more acute than in the whole country).

Most of the settlers did not cultivate the land, and mostly dispersed to the cities. By 1933, only 20% of the settlers of 1924 remained on the collective farms of the Freidorf MTS, and 11% on the Larindorf MTS. On individual collective farms, the turnover reached 70%. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, only 17,000 Jews in Crimea lived in the countryside. The project failed. In 1938, the resettlement of Jews was stopped, and KomZet was dissolved. The branch of the "Joint" in the USSR was liquidated by the Decree of the Politburo of the All-Union Communist Party of Bolsheviks of May 4, 1938.

The massive exodus of immigrants led to the fact that the Jewish population did not increase as significantly as might have been expected. By 1941, 70,000 Jews lived in Crimea (excluding Krymchaks).

During the Great Patriotic War, more than 100 thousand Crimeans, including many Jews, were evacuated from the peninsula. Those who remained in the Crimea had to experience all the features of Hitler's "new order" when the occupiers began the final solution of the Jewish question. And already on April 26, 1942, the peninsula was declared "cleared of Jews." Almost everyone who did not have time to evacuate died, including most of the Krymchaks.

However, the idea of ​​Jewish autonomy not only did not disappear, but also acquired a new breath.

The idea of ​​creating a Jewish Autonomous Republic in the Crimea arose again in the late spring of 1943, when the Red Army, having defeated the enemy at Stalingrad and in the North Caucasus, liberated Rostov-on-Don and entered the territory of Ukraine. In 1941, about 5-6 million people fled or evacuated from these territories in a more organized manner. Among them, more than a million were Jews.

In practical terms, the question of creating Jewish Crimean autonomy arose during the preparation of a propaganda and business trip of two prominent Soviet Jews - actor S. Mikhoels and poet I. Fefer to the USA in the summer of 1943. The American Jews were supposed to be enthusiastic about the idea and agree to finance all the costs associated with it. Therefore, a two-person delegation sent to the United States received permission to discuss this project in Zionist organizations.

Among Jewish circles in the United States, the creation of a Jewish republic in the Crimea did seem quite real. Stalin did not seem to mind. Members of the JAC (Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee), created during the war years, during their visits to the United States spoke openly about the creation of a republic in Crimea, as if it were something a foregone conclusion.

Of course, Stalin had no intention of creating Israel in the Crimea. He wanted to make the most of the influential Jewish community in the United States in Soviet interests. As the Soviet intelligence officer P. Sudoplatov, head of the 4th department of the NKVD, responsible for special operations, wrote, “Immediately after the formation of the Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee, Soviet intelligence decided to use the connections of the Jewish intelligentsia to find out the possibility of obtaining additional economic assistance through Zionist circles ... From this Mikhoels and Fefer, our trusted agent, were tasked with probing the reaction of influential Zionist organizations to the creation of a Jewish republic in the Crimea. This task of special reconnaissance sounding was successfully completed.

In January 1944, some Jewish leaders of the USSR drafted a memorandum to Stalin, the text of which was approved by Lozovsky and Mikhoels. The “Note”, in particular, stated: “In order to normalize economic growth and develop Soviet Jewish culture, in order to maximize the mobilization of all the forces of the Jewish population for the benefit of the Soviet Motherland, with the aim of complete equation position of the Jewish masses among the fraternal peoples, we consider it timely and expedient, in order to solve post-war problems, to raise the question of creating a Jewish Soviet socialist republic ... It seems to us that one of the most suitable areas would be the territory of the Crimea, which best meets the requirements both in terms of capacity for resettlement, and as a result of the successful experience in the development of Jewish national regions there ... In the construction of the Jewish Soviet Republic, the Jewish masses of all countries of the world, wherever they are, would have provided us with significant assistance.

Even before the liberation of Crimea, the Joint insisted on the transfer of Crimea to the Jews, the eviction of the Crimean Tatars, the withdrawal of the Black Sea Fleet from Sevastopol, and the formation of an INDEPENDENT Jewish state in Crimea. Moreover, the opening of the 2nd front in 1943. the Jewish lobby linked it to Stalin's fulfillment of his debt obligations to the Joint.

The deportation of Tatars and representatives of other Crimean ethnic groups from Crimea led to the desolation of the peninsula. It seemed that now there would be plenty of room for the arriving Jews.

According to the well-known Yugoslav figure M. Djilas, when asked about the reasons for the deportation of half of the population from Crimea, Stalin referred to the obligations given to Roosevelt to clear the Crimea for the Jews, for which the Americans promised a soft loan of 10 billion.

However, the Crimean project was not implemented. Stalin, having made the most of financial assistance from Jewish organizations, did not begin to create autonomy for the Jews in Crimea. Moreover, even the return to the Crimea of ​​those Jews who were evacuated during the war years turned out to be difficult. Nevertheless, in 1959 there were 26,000 Jews in Crimea. Subsequently, emigration to Israel led to a significant reduction in the number of Crimean Jews.

Crimean Tatars

Since the time of the Huns and the Khazar Khaganate, Turkic peoples began to penetrate into the Crimea, populating so far only the steppe part of the peninsula. In 1223, the Mongols-Tatars attacked the Crimea for the first time. But it was only a run. In 1239 Crimea was conquered by the Mongols and became part of the Golden Horde. The southern coast of the Crimea was under the rule of the Genoese, in the mountainous Crimea there was a small principality of Theodoro and an even smaller principality of the Karaites.

Gradually, from the mixture of many peoples, a new Turkic ethnos began to take shape. At the beginning of the XIV century, the Byzantine historian George Pachimer (1242-1310) wrote: “Over time, having mixed with them (Tatars - ed.) the peoples who lived inside those countries, I mean: Alans, Zikhs (Caucasian Circassians who lived on the coast Taman Peninsula - ed.), Goths, Russians and various peoples with them, learn their customs, along with customs, learn language and clothing and become their allies. The unifying principle for the emerging ethnos was Islam and the Turkic language. Gradually, the Crimean Tatars (who, however, did not call themselves Tatars then) become very numerous and powerful. It is no coincidence that it was the Horde governor in the Crimea, Mamai, who managed to temporarily seize power in the entire Golden Horde. The capital of the Horde governor was the city of Kyrym - "Crimea" (now - the city of Stary Krym), built by the Golden Horde in the valley of the Churuk-Su River in the southeast of the Crimean Peninsula. In the XIV century, the name of the city of Crimea gradually passes to the entire peninsula. The inhabitants of the peninsula began to call themselves "kyrymly" - Crimeans. The Russians called them Tatars, like all the Eastern Muslim peoples. The Crimeans began to call themselves Tatars only when they were already part of Russia. But for convenience, we will still call them Crimean Tatars, even speaking of earlier eras.

In 1441, the Tatars of Crimea created their own khanate under the rule of the Girey dynasty.

Initially, the Tatars were residents of the steppe Crimea, the mountains and the southern coast were still inhabited by various Christian peoples, and they numerically prevailed over the Tatars. However, as Islam spread, new converts from among the indigenous population began to join the ranks of the Tatars. In 1475, the Ottoman Turks defeated the colonies of the Genoese and Theodoro, which led to the subjugation of the entire Crimea to the Muslims.

At the very beginning of the 16th century, Khan Mengli-Girey, having defeated the Great Horde, brought entire uluses of Tatars from the Volga to the Crimea. Their descendants were subsequently called the Yavolgsky (that is, Zavolzhsky) Tatars. Finally, already in the 17th century, many Nogais settled in the steppes near the Crimea. All this led to the strongest Turkization of the Crimea, including part of the Christian population.

A significant part of the population of the mountains, which amounted to special group Tatars, known as "Tats". Racially, the Tats belong to the Central European race, that is, outwardly similar to representatives of the peoples of the central and of Eastern Europe. Also gradually joined the number of Tatars and many who converted to Islam, the inhabitants of the southern coast, the descendants of the Greeks, Tauro-Scythians, Italians and other inhabitants of the region. Until the deportation of 1944, the inhabitants of many Tatar villages on the South Shore retained elements of Christian rituals inherited from their Greek ancestors. Racially, the South Coasters belong to the South European (Mediterranean) race and outwardly resemble Turks, Greeks, and Italians. They made up a special group of Crimean Tatars - yalyboylu. Only the steppe Nogai retained elements of the traditional nomadic culture and retained some Mongoloid features in their physical appearance.

The descendants of captives and captives also joined the Crimean Tatars, mainly from the Eastern Slavs who remained on the peninsula. Slaves who became the wives of the Tatars, as well as some men from among the prisoners who converted to Islam and, thanks to the knowledge of some useful crafts, also became Tatars. "Tums", as the children of Russian captives born in the Crimea were called, made up a very large part of the Crimean Tatar population. The following historical fact is indicative: In 1675, the Zaporizhzhya ataman Ivan Sirko, during a successful raid into the Crimea, freed 7 thousand Russian slaves. However, on the way back, about 3,000 of them asked Sirko to let them go back to the Crimea. Most of these slaves were Muslims or Tums. Sirko let them go, but then ordered his Cossacks to catch up and kill them all. This order was carried out. Sirko drove up to the place of the slaughter and said: “Forgive us, brothers, but you yourself sleep here until doomsday Lord, instead of you multiplying in the Crimea, between the infidels on our Christian valiant heads and on your eternal death without forgiveness.

Of course, despite such ethnic cleansing, the number of Tums and Tatar Slavs in Crimea remained significant.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, part of the Tatars left their homeland, moving to the Ottoman Empire. By the beginning of 1785, 43.5 thousand male souls were taken into account in the Crimea. Crimean Tatars accounted for 84.1% of all inhabitants (39.1 thousand people). Despite the high natural increase, the share of Tatars was constantly decreasing due to the influx of new Russian settlers and foreign colonists to the peninsula. Nevertheless, Tatars made up the vast majority of the Crimean population.

After the Crimean War of 1853-56. under the influence of Turkish agitation, a movement began among the Tatars for emigration to Turkey. The hostilities ravaged the Crimea, the Tatar peasants did not receive any compensation for their material losses, so there were additional reasons for emigration.

Already in 1859, the Nogais of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov began to leave for Turkey. In 1860, a mass exodus of Tatars began from the peninsula itself. By 1864, the number of Tatars in the Crimea decreased by 138.8 thousand people. (from 241.7 to 102.9 thousand people). The scale of emigration frightened the provincial authorities. Already in 1862, the cancellation of previously issued passports began, and refusals to issue new ones. However, the main factor in stopping emigration was the news about what awaits the Tatars in Turkey of the same faith. A mass of Tatars died on the way on overloaded feluccas in the Black Sea. The Turkish authorities simply threw the settlers ashore without providing them with any food. Up to a third of the Tatars died in the first year of life in a country of the same faith. And now the re-emigration to the Crimea has already begun. But neither the Turkish authorities, who understood that the return of Muslims from under the rule of the Caliph again under the rule of the Russian Tsar, would make an extremely unfavorable impression on the Muslims of the world, nor the Russian authorities, who were also afraid of the return of embittered, lost people, were not going to help return to the Crimea.

Less large-scale Tatar exoduses to the Ottoman Empire took place in 1874-75, in the early 1890s, in 1902-03. As a result, most of the Crimean Tatars ended up outside the Crimea.

So the Tatars of their own free will became an ethnic minority in their land. Due to the high natural increase, their number by 1917 reached 216 thousand people, which accounted for 26% of the population of Crimea. In general, during the years of the civil war, the Tatars were politically split, fighting in the ranks of all the fighting forces.

The fact that the Tatars made up a little more than a quarter of the population of the Crimea did not bother the Bolsheviks. Guided by their national policy, they decided to create an autonomous republic. On October 18, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the RSFSR issued a decree on the formation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the RSFSR. On November 7, the 1st All-Crimean Constituent Congress of Soviets in Simferopol proclaimed the formation of the Crimean ASSR, elected the leadership of the republic and adopted its Constitution.

This republic was not, strictly speaking, purely national. Note that it was not called Tatar. But the “indigenization of personnel” was consistently carried out here as well. Most of the leading cadres were also Tatars. Tatar language was, along with Russian, the language of office work and schooling. In 1936, there were 386 Tatar schools in the Crimea.

During the Great Patriotic War, the fate of the Crimean Tatars developed dramatically. Part of the Tatars honestly fought in the ranks Soviet army. Among them were 4 generals, 85 colonels and several hundred officers. 2 Crimean Tatars became full holders of the Order of Glory, 5 - Heroes of the Soviet Union, pilot Amet-khan Sultan - twice a Hero.

In their native Crimea, some Tatars fought in partisan detachments. So, as of January 15, 1944, there were 3,733 partisans in Crimea, of which 1,944 were Russians, 348 were Ukrainians, and 598 were Crimean Tatars. of which were predominantly Crimean Tatar.

However, you can’t throw words out of a song. During the occupation of the Crimea, many Tatars were on the side of the Nazis. 20 thousand Tatars (that is, 1/10 of the entire Tatar population) served in the ranks of volunteer units. They were involved in the fight against partisans, and especially actively participated in the massacres of civilians.

In May 1944, literally immediately after the liberation of Crimea, the Crimean Tatars were deported. The total number of deportees was 191 thousand people. Family members of Soviet army fighters, members of the underground and partisan struggle, as well as Tatar women who married representatives of a different nationality, were exempted from deportation.

Since 1989, the return of the Tatars to the Crimea began. The repatriation was actively promoted by the Ukrainian authorities, hoping that the Tatars would weaken the Russian movement for the annexation of Crimea to Russia. In part, these expectations of the Ukrainian authorities were confirmed. In the elections to the Ukrainian parliament, the Tatars for the most part voted for Rukh and other independent parties.

In 2001, the Tatars already made up 12% of the population of the peninsula - 243,433 people.

Other ethnic groups of Crimea

Representatives of several small ethnic groups, who also became Crimeans, have been living on the peninsula since joining Russia. We are talking about the Crimean Bulgarians, Poles, Germans, Czechs. Living far from their main ethnic territory, these Crimeans have become ethnic groups in their own right.

Bulgarians in Crimea appeared already at the end of the 18th century, immediately after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia. The first Bulgarian settlement in the Crimea appeared in 1801. The Russian authorities appreciated the industriousness of the Bulgarians, as well as the ability to manage the economy in the subtropics. Therefore, Bulgarian settlers received from the treasury a daily allowance of 10 kopecks per capita, each Bulgarian family was assigned up to 60 acres of state land. Each Bulgarian settler was granted privileges in taxes and other financial obligations for 10 years. After their expiration, they were largely preserved for the next 10 years: the Bulgarians were taxed only with a tax of 15-20 kopecks per tithe. Only after the expiration of twenty years after their arrival in the Crimea, the settlers from Turkey were equalized in tax terms with the Tatars, settlers from Ukraine and Russia.

The second wave of resettlement of the Bulgarians in the Crimea came at the time of the Russo-Turkish war of 1828-1829. About 1000 people arrived. Finally, in the 60s. In the 19th century, the third wave of Bulgarian settlers arrived in Crimea. In 1897, 7,528 Bulgarians lived in the Crimea. It should be noted that the religious and linguistic proximity of the Bulgarians and Russians led to the assimilation of a part of the Crimean Bulgarians.

Wars and revolutions had a heavy impact on the Bulgarians of the Crimea. Their numbers grew rather slowly due to assimilation. In 1939, 17,900 Bulgarians (or 1.4% of the entire population of the peninsula) lived in the Crimea.

In 1944, the Bulgarians were deported from the peninsula, although, unlike the Crimean Tatars, there was no evidence of cooperation between the Bulgarians and the German occupiers. Nevertheless, the entire Crimean-Bulgarian ethnic group was deported. After rehabilitation, the slow process of repatriation of the Bulgarians to the Crimea began. At the beginning of the 21st century, more than 2,000 Bulgarians lived in Crimea.

Czechs appeared in the Crimea a century and a half ago. In the 60s of the XIX century, 4 Czech colonies appeared. The Czechs were distinguished by a high level of education, which paradoxically contributed to their rapid assimilation. In 1930, there were 1,400 Czechs and Slovaks in Crimea. On beginning of XXI century, only 1,000 people of Czech origin lived on the peninsula.

Another Slavic ethnic group of Crimea is represented Poles. The first settlers were able to arrive in the Crimea already in 1798, although the mass resettlement of Poles to the Crimea began only in the 60s of the XIX century. It should be noted that since the Poles did not inspire confidence, especially after the 1863 uprising, they were not only not provided with any benefits, like colonists of other nationalities, but were even forbidden to settle in separate settlements. As a result, there were no "purely" Polish villages in the Crimea, and the Poles lived together with the Russians. In all large villages, along with the church, there was also a church. There were also churches in all major cities - Yalta, Feodosia, Simferopol, Sevastopol. As the religion lost its former influence on ordinary Poles, the rapid assimilation of the Polish population of Crimea took place. At the end of the 20th century, about 7 thousand Poles lived in Crimea (0.3% of the population).

Germans appeared in the Crimea already in 1787. Since 1805, German colonies began to appear on the peninsula with their own internal self-government, schools and churches. The Germans arrived from a wide variety of German lands, as well as from Switzerland, Austria and Alsace. In 1865, there were already 45 settlements with the German population.

The benefits granted to the colonists, the fertile natural conditions of the Crimea, the industriousness and organization of the Germans led the colonies to rapid economic prosperity. In turn, news of the economic successes of the colonies contributed to the further influx of Germans into the Crimea. The colonists were characterized by a high birth rate, so the German population of the Crimea grew rapidly. According to the data of the first All-Russian census in 1897, 31,590 Germans lived in Crimea (5.8% of the total population), of which 30,027 were rural residents.

Among the Germans, almost all were literate, the standard of living was significantly above average. These circumstances were reflected in the behavior of the Crimean Germans during the Civil War.

Most of the Germans tried to be "above the fray", not participating in civil strife. But part of the Germans fought for Soviet power. In 1918, the First Yekaterinoslav Communist Cavalry Regiment was formed, which fought against the German invaders in Ukraine and Crimea. In 1919, the First German Cavalry Regiment, as part of Budyonny's army, fought in the south of Ukraine against Wrangel and Makhno. Part of the Germans fought on the side of the whites. So, in the army of Denikin, the Jaeger rifle brigade of the Germans fought. A special regiment of Mennonites fought in Wrangel's army.

In November 1920, Soviet power was finally established in the Crimea. The Germans, who recognized it, continued to live in their colonies and their farms, practically without changing their way of life: the farms were still strong; children went to their schools with teaching in German; all issues were resolved jointly within the colonies. Two German regions were officially formed on the peninsula - Biyuk-Onlarsky (now Oktyabrsky) and Telmanovsky (now Krasnogvardeysky). Although many Germans lived in other places of the Crimea. 6% of the German population produced 20% of the gross income from all agricultural products of the Crimean ASSR. Demonstrating complete loyalty to the Soviet government, the Germans tried "not to get involved in politics." It is significant that in the 1920s only 10 Crimean Germans joined the Bolshevik Party.

The standard of living of the German population continued to be much higher than in other national groups, so the burst of collectivization, and after it the mass dispossession of kulaks, affected primarily German households. Despite losses in the Civil War, repressions and emigration, the German population of Crimea continued to grow. In 1921, there were 42,547 Crimean Germans. (5.9% of the total population), in 1926 - 43,631 people. (6.1%), 1939 - 51,299 people. (4.5%), 1941 - 53,000 people. (4.7%).

The Great Patriotic War became the greatest tragedy for the Crimean-German ethnos. In August-September 1941, more than 61,000 people were deported (including approximately 11,000 people of other nationalities who were related to the Germans by family ties). The final rehabilitation of all Soviet Germans, including Crimean ones, followed only in 1972. Since that time, the Germans began to return to the Crimea. In 1989, 2,356 Germans lived in Crimea. Alas, some of the deported Crimean Germans emigrate to Germany, and not to their own peninsula.

East Slavs

Most of the inhabitants of Crimea are Eastern Slavs (we will call them politically correct, given the Ukrainian self-consciousness of some Russians in Crimea).

As already mentioned, the Slavs lived in the Crimea since ancient times. IN X-XIII centuries in the eastern part of the Crimea there was the Tmutarakan principality. And in the era of the Crimean Khanate, a part of the captives from Great and Little Rus', monks, merchants, diplomats from Russia were constantly on the peninsula. Thus, the Eastern Slavs were part of the permanent indigenous population of Crimea for centuries.

In 1771, when the Crimea was occupied by Russian troops, about 9 thousand Russian freed slaves were freed. Most of them remained in the Crimea, but already as personally free Russian subjects.

With the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783, the settlement of the peninsula by settlers from all over the Russian Empire began. Literally immediately after the manifesto of 1783 on the annexation of Crimea, by order of G. A. Potemkin, the soldiers of the Yekaterinoslav and Phanagoria regiments were left to live in the Crimea. Married soldiers were given leave at public expense so that they could take their families to the Crimea. In addition, girls and widows were summoned from all over Russia to agree to marry soldiers and move to the Crimea.

Many nobles who received estates in the Crimea began to transfer their serfs to the Crimea. State peasants also moved to the state lands of the peninsula.

Already in 1783-84, in the Simferopol district alone, the settlers formed 8 new villages and, in addition, settled together with the Tatars in three villages. In total, by the beginning of 1785, 1,021 males from among the Russian settlers were registered here. The new Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91 somewhat slowed down the influx of immigrants to the Crimea, but did not stop it. During 1785 - 1793, the number of registered Russian settlers reached 12.6 thousand male souls. In general, Russians (together with Little Russians) for several years of Crimea's being part of Russia amounted to approximately 5% of the population of the peninsula. In fact, there were even more Russians, since many runaway serfs, deserters and Old Believers sought to avoid any contact with representatives of official authorities. Freed former slaves were not counted. In addition, tens of thousands of military personnel are constantly stationed in the strategically important Crimea.

The constant migration of Eastern Slavs to the Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. After the Crimean War and the mass emigration of the Tatars to the Ottoman Empire, which led to the emergence of a large amount of "no man's" fertile land, new thousands of Russian settlers arrived in Crimea.

Gradually, the local Russian residents began to form special features of the economy and life, caused both by the peculiarities of the geography of the peninsula and its multinational character. In the statistical report on the population of the Taurida province for 1851, it was noted that Russians (Great Russians and Little Russians) and Tatars walk in clothes and shoes, not much different from each other. The dishes are used equally clay, made at home, and copper, made by Tatar masters. Ordinary Russian carts were soon replaced by Tatar carts upon arrival in the Crimea.

From the second half of XIX century, the main wealth of the Crimea - its nature, made the peninsula a center of recreation and tourism. Palaces of the imperial family and influential nobles began to appear on the coast, thousands of tourists began to arrive for rest and treatment. Many Russians began to strive to settle in the fertile Crimea. So the influx of Russians into the Crimea continued. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russians became the predominant ethnic group in Crimea. Given the high degree of Russification of many Crimean ethnic groups, the Russian language and culture (which have largely lost their local characteristics) absolutely prevailed in Crimea.

After the revolution and the Civil War, the Crimea, which turned into an "all-Union health resort", continued to attract Russians as before. However, Little Russians began to arrive, who were considered a special people - Ukrainians. Their share in the population increased from 8% to 14% in the 1920s and 1930s.

In 1954, N.S. Khrushchev annexed the Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic with a voluntaristic gesture. The result was the Ukrainization of Crimean schools and offices. In addition, the number of Crimean Ukrainians has sharply increased. Actually, some of the "real" Ukrainians began to arrive in Crimea as early as 1950, according to the government's "Plans for the settlement and transfer of the population to the collective farms of the Crimean region." After 1954, new settlers from the western Ukrainian regions began to arrive in Crimea. The settlers were given whole wagons for moving, where all the property (furniture, utensils, decorations, clothes, multi-meter canvases of homespun cloth), livestock, poultry, apiaries, etc. could fit. Numerous Ukrainian officials arrived in Crimea, which had the status of an ordinary region within the Ukrainian SSR. . Finally, since it became prestigious to be Ukrainian, some Crimeans also turned into Ukrainians by passport.

In 1989, 2,430,500 people lived in Crimea (67.1% Russians, 25.8% Ukrainians, 1.6% Crimean Tatars, 0.7% Jews, 0.3% Poles, 0.1% Greeks).

The collapse of the USSR and the declaration of independence of Ukraine caused economic and demographic catastrophes in Crimea. In 2001, there were 2,024,056 people in Crimea. But in fact, the demographic catastrophe of Crimea is even worse, since the decline in the population was partially compensated by the Tatars returning to Crimea.

In general, at the beginning of the 21st century, Crimea, despite its centuries-old polyethnicity, remains predominantly Russian in terms of population. During the two decades of being a part of independent Ukraine, Crimea has repeatedly demonstrated its Russianness. Over the years, the number of Ukrainians and returning Crimean Tatars in Crimea has increased, thanks to which official Kyiv was able to get a certain number of its supporters, but, nevertheless, the existence of Crimea within Ukraine seems to be problematic.

Crimean SSR (1921-1945). Questions and answers. Simferopol, "Tavria", 1990, p. 20

Sudoplatov P.A. Intelligence and the Kremlin. M., 1996, pp. 339-340

From secret archives Central Committee of the CPSU. Sweet peninsula. Note about Crimea / Comments by Sergey Kozlov and Gennady Kostyrchenko//Motherland. - 1991.-№11-12. - pp. 16-17

From Cimmerians to Krymchaks. The peoples of Crimea from ancient times to the end of the XVIII century. Simferopol, 2007, p. 232

Shirokorad A. B. Russian-Turkish wars. Minsk, Harvest, 2000, p. 55

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 mankind. 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. Almost every Crimean museum can be found 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).

About 50 thousand years ago, an ancestor of modern people appeared on the Crimean peninsula - a man of the Cro-Magnon type. Three sites from this era have been discovered: Syuren (near the village of Tankovoye), Aji-Koba (slope of Karabi-Yaila) and Kachinsky canopy (near the village of Predushchelnoye, Bakhchisaray district).

Cimmerians

If before the first millennium BC, historical data only slightly open the veil from different periods of human development, then information about a later time allows us to speak about specific cultures and tribes of the Crimea. In the 5th century BC Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, visited the Crimean shores. In his writings, he described the local lands and the peoples living on them. It is believed that among the first peoples who lived in the steppe part of the peninsula in the XV-VII centuries BC, there were Cimmerians. Their warlike tribes were driven out of the Crimea in the 4th-3rd centuries BC by no less aggressive Scythians and lost in the vast expanses of the steppes of Asia. Only ancient names remind of them:

• Cimmerian walls;
• Kimmerik.

Taurus

The mountainous and foothill Crimea in those days was inhabited by tribes taurus, distant descendants of the Kizil-Koba archaeological culture. In the descriptions of ancient authors, the Tauri look bloodthirsty and cruel. Being skilled sailors, they traded in piracy, robbing ships passing along the coast. Captives were thrown into the sea from a high cliff from the temple, sacrificing to the goddess Virgo. Refuting this information, modern scientists have established that the Taurians were engaged in hunting, collecting shellfish, fishing, farming and raising livestock. They lived in huts or caves, but for protection from external enemies they built fortified shelters. Taurus fortifications found on the mountains: Cat, Uch-Bash, Kastel, Ayu-Dag, on Cape Ai-Todor.

Another trace of the Taurus is numerous burials in dolmens - stone boxes, consisting of four flat slabs set on edge and covered with a fifth on top. One of the unsolved mysteries about the Tauris is the location of the cliff with the Temple of the Virgin.

Scythians

In the 7th century BC, Scythian tribes came to the steppe part of Crimea. In the 4th century BC, the Sarmatians pushed back Scythians to the lower Dnieper and Crimea. At the turn of the 4th-3rd centuries BC, a Scythian state was formed on this territory, the capital of which was Naples Scythian(in its place is modern Simferopol).

Greeks

In the 7th century BC, strings of Greek colonists reached the Crimean shores. Choosing convenient places for living and sailing, Greeks based on them city-states - "polises":

• Feodosia;
• Panticapaeum-Bosporus (Kerch);
• (Sevastopol);
• Mirmekiy;
• Nymphaeum;
• Tiritaka.

The emergence and expansion of Greek colonies served as a serious impetus for the development of the Northern Black Sea region: political, cultural and trade ties between the local population and the Greeks intensified. The indigenous inhabitants of the Crimea learned to cultivate the land in more advanced ways, they began to plant olives and grapes. The influence of Greek culture on the spiritual world of the Scythians, Taurians, Sarmatians and other tribes that came into contact with it turned out to be enormous. However, the relationship between neighboring peoples was not easy: peaceful periods were followed by years of wars. Therefore, all Greek policies were protected by strong stone walls.

4th century BC was the time of foundation of several settlements in the west of the peninsula. The largest of them are Kalos-Limen (Black Sea) and Kerkinitida (Evpatoria). At the end of the 5th century BC, immigrants from the Greek Heraclea founded the policy of Chersonesos (modern Sevastopol). A hundred years later, Chersonesus became a city-state independent of the Greek metropolis and the largest policy of the Northern Black Sea region. In its heyday, it was a powerful port city, surrounded by fortified walls, cultural, handicraft and shopping mall southwestern part of Crimea.

Around 480 BC, the independent Greek cities united to form Bosporan kingdom, whose capital was the city of Panticapaeum. A little later, Theodosia joined the kingdom.

In the 4th century BC, the Scythian king Atey united the Scythian tribes into a strong state, which owned the territory from the Dniester and the Southern Bug to the Don. From the end of the 4th century BC and especially in the 3rd century BC Scythians and the Tauri, under their influence, exerted strong military pressure on the policies. In the III century BC, Scythian villages, fortifications and cities appeared on the peninsula, including the capital of the kingdom - Scythian Naples. At the end of the 2nd century BC, Chersonese, besieged by the Scythians, turned for help to the Pontic kingdom (located on the southern coast of the Black Sea). The troops of Ponta lifted the siege, but at the same time captured Theodosia and Panticapaeum, after which both the Bosporus and Chersonesos became part of the Pontic kingdom.

Romans, Huns, Byzantium

From the middle of the 1st century to the beginning of the 4th century AD, the entire Black Sea region (including Crimea-Taurica) was within the sphere of interests of the Roman Empire. The stronghold of the Romans in Taurica became Chersonese. In the 1st century, on Cape Ai-Todor, Roman legionnaires built the fortress of Kharaks and connected it with roads with Chersonese, in which the garrison was located. The Roman squadron was stationed in the harbor of Chersonesos.

In 370, hordes of Huns came to the Crimean lands. They wiped out the Bosporan kingdom and the Scythian state from the face of the earth, destroyed Chersonese, Panticapaeum and Scythian Naples. After the Crimea, the Huns went to Europe, bringing the death of the great Roman Empire. In the IV century, the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern (Byzantine). The southern part of Taurica entered the sphere of interests of the Eastern Empire. Chersonese became the main base of the Byzantines in the Crimea, which became known as Kherson. This period was the time of the penetration of Christianity into the peninsula. According to church tradition, Andrew the First-Called became his first messenger. The third bishop of Rome, Clement, exiled in 94 to Cherson, also actively preached the Christian faith. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement appeared in Byzantium: all images of saints were destroyed - on icons, in temple paintings. The monks fled from persecution on the outskirts of the empire, including in the Crimea. In the mountains of the peninsula, they founded cave monasteries and temples:

• Kachi-Kalyon;
• Chelter;
• Uspensky;
• Shuldan.

At the end of the 6th century, a new wave of invaders poured onto the peninsula - the Khazars, the ancestors of the Karaites. They occupied the entire Crimea, except for Kherson. In 705, Kherson recognized the Khazar protectorate and separated from Byzantium. In response, Byzantium sent a punitive fleet in 710 with a small army on board. Kherson fell, and the Byzantines treated its inhabitants with unprecedented cruelty. But as soon as the imperial troops left the city, it rebelled: uniting with the Khazars and part of the army that had changed the empire, Cherson captured Constantinople and put his emperor at the head of Byzantium.

Slavs, Mongols, Genoese, Theodoro Principality

In the 9th century in the course Crimean history a new force is actively intervening - Slavs. Their appearance on the peninsula coincided with the decline of the Khazar state, which was finally defeated in the 10th century by Prince Svyatoslav. In 988 - 989 Kherson was captured by Prince Vladimir of Kiev. Here he adopted the Christian faith.

In the XIII century, the Tatar-Mongols of the Golden Horde invaded the peninsula several times, thoroughly plundering the cities. From the middle of the XIII century, they began to settle in the territory of Taurica. At this time, they captured Solkhat and turned it into the center of the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde. It received the name Kyrym, subsequently inherited by the peninsula.

In the same years, an Orthodox church appeared in the Crimean mountains. Principality of Theodoro with its capital at Mangup. The Genoese had disputes with the Principality of Theodoro about the ownership of the disputed territories.

Turks

In early 1475, Kafa had a fleet Ottoman Empire. Well-fortified Kafa withstood the siege for only three days, after which it surrendered to the mercy of the winner. By the end of the year Turks captured all the coastal fortresses: the rule of the Genoese in the Crimea ended. Mangup held out for the longest time and surrendered to the Turks only after a six-month siege. The invaders brutally treated the captive Theodorians: the city was devastated, most of the inhabitants were killed, and the survivors were taken into slavery.

Crimean Khan became a vassal Ottoman Empire and a conductor of the aggressive policy of Turkey in relation to Rus'. Raids on the southern lands Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and Rus' have become permanent. Rus' sought to protect its southern borders and gain access to the Black Sea. Therefore, she repeatedly fought with Turkey. The war of 1768-1774 was unsuccessful for the Turks. In 1774 between Ottoman Empire and Russia was concluded Kuchuk-Kainarji Treaty about peace, which brought independence to the Crimean Khanate. Russia received the fortresses of Kin-burn, Azov and the city of Kerch in the Crimea along with the Yeni-Kale fortress. In addition, Russian merchant ships now have free access to navigation in the Black Sea.

Russia

In 1783 Crimea was finally annexed to Russia. Most Muslims left the peninsula and moved to Turkey. The edge has fallen into disrepair. Prince G. Potemkin, the governor of Taurida, began to resettle here retired soldiers and serfs from neighboring regions. So the first villages with Russian names appeared on the peninsula - Izyumovka, Mazanka, Clean... This move of the prince turned out to be correct: the Crimean economy began to develop, agriculture was revived. The city of Sevastopol, the base of the Russian Black Sea Fleet, was founded in an excellent natural harbor. Near the Ak-Mechet, a small town, Simferopol was being built - the future "capital" of the Tauride province.

In 1787 Empress Catherine II visited Crimea with a large retinue of dignitaries of foreign states. She stayed in travel palaces specially built for this occasion.

Eastern war

In 1854-1855, Crimea became the scene of yet another war, called the Eastern War. In the autumn of 1854, Sevastopol was besieged by a united army France, England and Turkey. Under the leadership of Vice Admirals P.S. Nakhimov and V.A. Kornilov's defense of the city lasted 349 days. In the end, the city was destroyed to the ground, but at the same time glorified throughout the world. Russia lost this war: in 1856, an agreement was signed in Paris prohibiting both Turkey and Russia from having navies on the Black Sea.

Health resort of Russia

In the middle of the 19th century, the doctor Botkin recommended that the royal family purchase the Livadia estate, as a place with an exceptionally healthy climate. This was the beginning of a new, resort era in the Crimea. Villas, estates, palaces belonging to the royal family, rich landowners and industrialists, court nobility were built along the entire coast. For several years, the village of Yalta has become a popular aristocratic resort. Railways, which connected the largest cities of the region, further accelerated its transformation into a resort and summer resort of the empire.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula belonged to the Tauride province and was an agrarian region with several industrial cities in economic and economic terms. These were mainly Simferopol and port Kerch, Sevastopol and Theodosius.

Soviet power established itself in the Crimea only in the autumn of 1920, after the German army and Denikin's troops were expelled from the peninsula. A year later, the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Republic was formed. Palaces, dachas and villas were given over to people's sanatoriums, where collective farmers and workers from all over the young state were treated and rested.

The Great Patriotic War

During the Second World War, the peninsula courageously fought the enemy. Sevastopol repeated his feat, surrendering after a 250-day siege. The pages of the heroic chronicle of those years are full of such names as « Tierra del Fuego Eltigen", "Kerch-Feodosiya operation", "The feat of partisans and underground workers"... For the courage and stamina shown, Kerch and Sevastopol were awarded the titles of hero cities.

February 1945 brought together the heads of the allied countries in the Crimea - USA, UK and USSR- at the Crimean (Yalta) conference in the Livadia Palace. During this conference, decisions were made to end the war and establish a post-war world order.

Postwar years

Crimea was liberated from the invaders at the beginning of 1944, and the restoration of the peninsula immediately began - industrial enterprises, rest houses, sanatoriums, facilities Agriculture, villages and cities. The black page in the history of the peninsula of that time was the expulsion of Greeks, Tatars and Armenians from its territory. In February 1954, by decree of N.S. Khrushchev, the Crimean region was transferred to Ukraine. Today, many believe that it was a royal gift ...

During the 60-80s of the last century, the growth of Crimean agriculture, industry and tourism reached its peak. Crimea received the semi-official title of an all-Union health resort: 9 million people annually rested in its health resorts.

In 1991, during the putsch in Moscow, the General Secretary of the USSR M.S. was arrested. Gorbachev at the state dacha in Foros. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became Autonomous Republic , which became part of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, after the all-Crimean referendum, the Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and became one of the subjects Russian Federation. started recent history 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!