The peoples who lived in the Crimea from the most ancient. The peoples who inhabited the Crimea at different times

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 ...

The ethnic history of 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 could be preserved 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 the 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 of Greek culture, many Taurus 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, of clearly Scythian origin there were some royal dynasties in the Bosporan kingdom. 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, it was not until the 16th century that the 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 Crimean Khanate Christians living in the 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 critic 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. It's 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 of the native language among young people. Since 1956, the Greeks have been gradually returning 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. The total number of Greeks from the Crimea and their descendants in the USSR was 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 the southern lands of Rus'. In particular, a very large Armenian community has developed in Lvov. In the Crimea, numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, outbuildings.

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 declined sharply. 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 19th 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. Surenyants and others. Admiral of the Russian fleet Lazar Serebryakov (Artsatagortsyan), who founded the port city of Novorossiysk in 1838, proved himself in the military field. 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 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 independence within the borders historical territory Kyrk Yera - districts in the interfluve of the Alma and Kacha rivers and acquired their own statehood as part of 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 gahan - 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 the locals. They made up the majority of the 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 admission to military service 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, naval officer E. Efet and many others became famous among the Karaites in the Soviet army. 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 Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of the USSR in 1957-67, 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 that gave Russia the poet I. Selvinsky, partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union Ya.

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. 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 organization was called, representing the United States in the early years of Soviet power) 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 Relief of Jewish Colonization in Soviet Russia and other similar organizations. 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 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 in practical terms the question of creating a Jewish Crimean autonomy arose during the preparation of a propaganda and business trip of two prominent Soviet Jews - the actor S. Mikhoels and the 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 Directorate 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 ... To this end, Mikhoels and Fefer, our trusted agent, were instructed to probe the reaction of influential Zionist organizations to the creation of a Jewish republic in 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 the economic growth and development of the Jewish Soviet culture, in order to maximize the mobilization of all the forces of the Jewish population for the good of the Soviet Motherland, in order to completely equalize the situation 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 Crimea, which most 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, Jewish populace all countries of the world, wherever they are.

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, Crimea began to penetrate Turkic peoples, inhabiting 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 shores of the Taman Peninsula - ed.), Goths, Russians and various peoples with them, learn their customs, along with the customs they 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 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 central and 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. The 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 Ukrainians, and 598 Crimean Tatars.

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 my main ethnic territory, these Crimeans have become independent ethnic groups.

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 Bulgarians' resettlement 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. At the beginning of the 21st 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 a German population in the Crimea.

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 (5.8% of the total population) lived in Crimea, 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; the children went to their own German-language schools; 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 bursting collectivization, and after it the mass dispossession, 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 the X-XIII centuries, the Tmutarakan principality existed in the eastern part of the Crimea. And in the era of the Crimean Khanate, a part of the captives from the Great and Little Rus', monks, merchants, diplomats from Russia. 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. New Russian-Turkish war 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 allocated whole wagons for moving, where all the property could fit (furniture, utensils, decorations, clothes, multi-meter canvases of homespun cloth), livestock, poultry, apiaries, etc. 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 the 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 the secret archives of the 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 late XVIII century. Simferopol, 2007, p. 232

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

Ancient peoples of Crimea

The most ancient people who inhabited the Black Sea steppes and Crimea and whose name has come down to us are the Cimmerians: they lived here at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennium BC. e. Herodotus, who visited the Northern Black Sea region in the 5th century. BC e., the Cimmerians, of course, did not find, and transmitted information that remained in the memory of the local population, referring to the surviving geographical names - the Cimmerian Bosporus, on the banks of which there were settlements of Cimmeric and Cimmerian, Cimmerian walls, etc. However, the rest mixed up with the winners: in the light of the data of archeology, anthropology, linguistics, the Cimmerians and Scythians are kindred peoples, representatives of the northern Iranian ethnos, so it is obviously no coincidence that Greek authors sometimes confused or identified them.2 The question of the archaeological culture corresponding to the historical Cimmerians is considered one of the most difficult. Some researchers considered the Taurians to be direct descendants of the Cimmerians. In the meantime, the accumulating archaeological material led to the identification of a special culture, called Kizilkoba after the place of the first finds in the area of ​​the Red Caves - Kizil-koba. Its carriers lived in the same place as the Taurians - in the foothills, at the same time - from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. according to III-II centuries. BC e., were engaged in agriculture and distant pastoralism. However, there were significant differences in culture - for example, among the Kizilkobins, ceramics are decorated with geometric ornaments, among the Taurians it is usually absent; was different and funeral rite- the first buried the dead in small mounds, in catacomb-type graves, in an extended position on their backs, usually with their heads to the west; the second - in stone boxes, sprinkled with earth, in a crouched position on its side, with its head usually to the east. Today, the Kizilkobians and the Taurians are regarded as two different people who lived during the I millennium BC. e. in the mountainous part of the Crimea.

Whose descendants are they? Obviously, the roots of both cultures go back to the Bronze Age. Comparison of pottery and burial rite suggests that most likely the Kizilkoba culture dates back to the so-called late Catacomb culture, which many researchers consider the Cimmerians to be the bearers of.3

As for the Taurians, their most likely predecessors can be considered the carriers of the Kemioba culture (named after the Kemi-Oba barrow near Belogorsk, excavated by A.A. Shchepinsky, from which its study began), common in the foothill and mountainous Crimea in the second half of the 3rd - first half of the 2nd millennium BC. e. It was the Khimiobins who erected the first mounds in the Crimean steppes and foothills, surrounded by stone fences at the base and crowned with once anthropomorphic steles. These are large stone slabs, hewn in the form human figure, where the head, shoulders, belt are highlighted, represented the first attempt to create an image of a person in monumental art Black Sea region at the end of III - beginning of II millennium BC. e. A true masterpiece among them is a one and a half meter diorite stele from Kazanki, found near Bakhchisarai.4

The problem of the origin of anthropomorphic steles, found not only in the Black Sea region, but also in the south of France, is directly related to the spread of megalithic structures - stone fences, stone boxes, pillar-like menhirs. Noting their great similarity with the monuments of the northwestern Caucasus, the researchers prefer not to talk about the influence of the latter, but about a single culture common in the Bronze Age from Abkhazia in the east to the Crimean mountains in the west. Much brings the Kemioba culture closer to the later Taurus. The Taurians, the true heirs of the megalithic tradition, reproduced its structures, albeit on a somewhat reduced scale.5

Notes

1. Herodotus. History in 6 books / Per. and comment. G.A. Stratanovsky. - L .: Science, 1972. - Book. IV, 12.

2. Leskov A.M. Kurgans: finds, problems. - M ... 1981. - p. 105.

3. Shchetsinsky A.A. Red caves. - Simferopol, 1983. - p. 50.

4. Leskov A.M. Decree. op. - With. 25.

5. Shchepinsky A.A. Decree. op. - With. 51.

This historical reconstruction of cultures along the lines of "Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins" and "Kemiobins - Taurians", according to its author, should not be presented in a straightforward manner; there is still a lot of obscure and unexplored.

T.M. Fadeeva

Photo beautiful places Crimea

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Publication date: 08/03/2016

Thanks to its unique geographic location and the unique nature of the Crimean peninsula since ancient times has become a home for many peoples. Farmers found here for themselves fertile lands that give good harvests, for merchants - convenient trade routes, nomadic pastoralists were attracted by mountain and lowland pastures. That is why the ethnic composition of the Crimean population has always been multinational and remains the same today. The population of the peninsula, including Sevastopol, is about 2 million 400 thousand people, but during the holiday season more than 2 million tourists still come to Crimea. In 1783, after the entry of the Crimean peninsula into Russian empire most of the Tatars and Turks left the peninsula and began to move to Turkey, but Slavs are increasingly settled in Crimea, mainly Russians and Ukrainians.

The peoples who live in Crimea today

Representatives of 125 peoples live in Crimea today. According to the latest data, the most numerous people, which is in Crimea, are Russians (58% of the population), Ukrainians (24%). But the Crimean Tatars themselves - 232.3 thousand people, 10.6% of the population, they belong to the indigenous population of the Crimean peninsula. They speak the Crimean Tatar language, are Sunni Muslims by religion and belong to the Hanafi madhhab. At the moment, only 2% identified themselves as native Tatars. Other nationalities account for up to 4%. Of these, the largest number of Belarusians is 21.7 thousand (1%), and about 15 thousand Armenians. Such people live in Crimea national groups like: Germans and immigrants from Switzerland, who began to settle in the Crimea under Catherine II; Greeks began to appear here as early as the founding of a colony on the Kerch Peninsula in the Southwestern Crimea; as well as Poles, Gypsies, Georgians, Jews, Koreans, Uzbeks, their number is from 1 to 5 thousand people.

There are 535 Karaites and 228 Krymchaks. Also in the Crimea live people of such nationalities: Bashkirs, Ossetians, Maris, Udmurts, Arabs, Kazakhs and only 48 Italians. It is difficult to imagine the peninsula without the gypsies, who from ancient times call themselves "urmachel", lived among the indigenous population for many centuries and converted to Islam. They became so close to the indigenous Tatars that when the Crimean Tatar population was deported in 1944, the gypsies were also deported. Because of its multinational population in Crimea native language everyone has their own.

What languages ​​do the peoples speak, which ones live in Crimea

Based on the fact that in the Crimea the ethnic composition is quite diverse, the question arises, what language does the population of the peninsula communicate in? WITH recent events what is happening on the peninsula, and the entry of Crimea into Russian Federation, according to the adopted Constitution, three state languages ​​were proclaimed: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.

To easily rent a room in a hotel in Crimea, just go.

According to the latest survey of the population, 81% of the population called Russian their native language, 9.32% indicated the Crimean Tatar language, and only 3.52% Ukrainian, the rest called Belarusian, Moldovan, Turkish, Azerbaijani and others. No less diversity of religions on the Crimean peninsula: Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Greeks profess Orthodoxy, and the Crimean Tatars themselves - Sunni Islam, and Uzbeks and Tatars along with them; Catholics, Jews, Protestants also live. Despite the fact that the population on the peninsula is multinational, all peoples live quite peacefully and amicably. There is enough space for everyone on this small peninsula, both tourists and new residents are always welcome here.

Before the capture of Crimea by the Mongol-Tatars and the reign of the Golden Horde, many peoples lived on the peninsula, their history goes back centuries, and only archaeological finds indicate that the indigenous peoples of Crimea settled the peninsula 12,000 years ago, during the Mesolithic. The sites of ancient people have been found in Shankob, in the Kachinsky and Alimov canopy, in Fatmakob and in other places. It is known that the religion of these ancient tribes was totemism, and they buried the dead in log cabins, pouring high mounds on top of them.

Cimmerians (IX-VII centuries BC)

The first people that historians wrote about were the ferocious Cimmerians, who inhabited the plains of the Crimean peninsula. The Cimmerians were Indo-Europeans or Iranians and were engaged in agriculture; the ancient Greek geographer Strabo wrote about the existence of the capital of the Cimmerians - Kimerida, which was located on the Taman Peninsula. It is believed that the Cimmerians brought metalworking and pottery to the Crimea, their fat herds were guarded by huge wolfhounds. Cimmerians wore leather jackets and trousers, and pointed hats crowned the head. Information about this people exists even in the archives of the king of Assyria Ashurbanipal: the Cimmerians more than once invaded Asia Minor and Thrace. Homer and Herodotus, the Ephesian poet Callinus and the Milesian historian Hecataeus wrote about them.

The Cimmerians left the Crimea under the onslaught of the Scythians, part of the people joined the Scythian tribes, and part went to Europe.

Taurus (VI century BC - I century AD)

Tauri - so the Greeks who visited the Crimea called formidable tribes living here. The name may have been connected with the cattle breeding they were engaged in, because “tauros” means “bull” in Greek. It is not known where the Tauri came from, some scientists tried to connect them with the Indo-Aryans, others considered them Goths. It is with the Tauris that the culture of dolmens, ancestral burial places, is associated.

The Taurians cultivated the land and grazed cattle, hunted in the mountains and did not disdain sea robbery. Strabo mentioned that the Taurians gather in the Symbolon Bay (Balaklava), stray into gangs and rob ships. The most vicious tribes were considered arihi, sinhi and napei: their battle cry made the blood of enemies freeze; Tauri opponents were stabbed to death, and their heads were nailed to the walls of their temples. The historian Tacitus wrote how the Taurians killed the Roman legionnaires who had escaped the shipwreck. In the 1st century, the Taurians disappeared from the face of the earth, dissolving among the Scythians.

Scythians (7th century BC - 3rd century AD)

The Scythian tribes came to the Crimea, retreating under the pressure of the Sarmatians, here they switched to settled life and absorbed part of the Taurians and even mixed with the Greeks. In the 3rd century, a Scythian state appeared on the plains of Crimea with the capital Naples (Simferopol), which actively competed with the Bosporus, but in the same century it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians. Those who survived were finished off by the Goths and Huns; the remnants of the Scythians mixed with the autochthonous population and ceased to exist as a separate people.

Sarmatians (IV-III centuries BC)

The Sartmatians, in turn, added to the genetic heterogeneity of the peoples of the Crimea, dissolving into its population. The Roksolans, the Iazygs and the Aorses fought with the Scythians for centuries, penetrating into the Crimea. With them came the warlike Alans, who settled in the south-west of the peninsula and founded the Gotho-Alans community, having adopted Christianity. Strabo in Geography writes about the participation of 50,000 Roxolani in an unsuccessful campaign against the Pontics.

Greeks (VI century BC)

The first Greek colonists settled the Crimean coast during the time of the Taurians; here they built the cities of Kerkinitida, Panticapaeum, Chersonese and Theodosius, which in the 5th century BC. formed two states: Bosporus and Chersonese. The Greeks lived off horticulture and winemaking, fished, traded and minted their own coins. With the onset of a new era, the states fell into submission to Pontus, then to Rome and to Byzantium.

From the 5th to the 9th century AD in the Crimea, a new ethnic group "Crimean Greeks" arose, whose descendants were the Greeks of antiquity, Taurians, Scythians, Gotoalans and Turks. In the 13th century, the center of Crimea was occupied by the Greek principality of Theodoro, which was captured by the Ottomans at the end of the 15th century. Some of the Crimean Greeks who have preserved Christianity still live in Crimea.

Romans (1st century AD - 4th century AD)

The Romans appeared in the Crimea at the end of the 1st century, defeating the king of Panticapaeum (Kerch) Mithridates VI Eupator; soon, Chersonese, suffering from the Scythians, asked for their protection. The Romans enriched the Crimea with their culture by building fortresses on Cape Ai-Todor, in Balaklava, on Alma-Kermen and left the peninsula after the collapse of the empire - about this in the work "Population of the mountainous Crimea in late Roman times" writes Professor of Simferopol University Igor Khrapunov.

Goths (III-XVII centuries)

Goths lived in Crimea - Germanic tribe, which appeared on the peninsula during the Great Migration of Nations. The Christian saint Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Goths were engaged in agriculture, and their nobility held military posts in the Bosporus, which the Goths took control of. Having become the owners of the Bosporan fleet, in 257 the Germans undertook a campaign against Trebizond, where they seized countless treasures.

The Goths settled in the north-west of the peninsula and in the 4th century formed their own state - Gothia, which stood for nine centuries and only then partially entered the principality of Theodoro, and the Goths themselves were apparently assimilated by the Greeks and the Ottoman Turks. Most of the Goths eventually became Christians, their spiritual center was the fortress of Doros (Mangup).

For a long time, Gothia was a buffer between the hordes of nomads pushing against the Crimea from the north, and Byzantium in the south, survived the invasions of the Huns, Khazars, Tatar-Mongols and ceased to exist after the invasion of the Ottomans.

Catholic priest Stanislav Sestrenevich-Bogush wrote that back in the 18th century, the Goths lived near the Mangup fortress, their language was similar to German, but they were all Islamized.

Genoese and Venetians (XII-XV centuries)

Merchants from Venice and Genoa appeared on the Black Sea coast in the middle of the 12th century; having concluded an agreement with the Golden Horde, they founded trading colonies, which lasted until the capture of the coast by the Ottomans, after which their few inhabitants were assimilated.

In the 4th century, cruel Huns invaded the Crimea, some of which settled in the steppes and mixed with the Goths-Alans. And also Jews, Armenians who fled from the Arabs, moved to Crimea, Khazars, Eastern Slavs, Polovtsy, Pechenegs and Bulgars visited here, and it is not surprising that the peoples of Crimea are not alike, because in their veins the blood of various peoples flows.

Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians

Judging by ancient written sources, at the beginning of the Iron Age, the Cimmerians lived in the Crimea (information about them is extremely scarce), as well as the Taurians and Scythians, about whom we know a little more. At the same time, the ancient Greeks appeared on the northern shores of the Black Sea. Finally, archaeological sources gave grounds to single out the Kizilkoba culture here (Fig. 20). The presence, on the one hand, of written sources, and, on the other hand, of archaeological ones, poses a difficult task for researchers: what group of archaeological materials should be associated with certain tribes mentioned by ancient authors? As a result of comprehensive research, Taurus and Scythian antiquities clearly stood out. The situation is worse with the Cimmerians, who were a legendary, mysterious people already in the time of Herodotus (V century BC).

The issue with the Kizilkobins is also complicated. If this is one of the peoples known to ancient authors, then which one? How can one connect with certainty the meager, often contradictory evidence of antiquity and the abundant archaeological material? Some researchers see Cimmerians in the Kizilkobins, others see them as early Taurians, and still others distinguish them as an independent culture. Let's leave aside the "Cimmerian version" for the time being, let's see what were the grounds for putting an equal sign between the Kizilkobins and the Taurians.

It turned out that along with the sites of the Kizil-Koba type in the same years and on the same territory (mountainous and foothill Crimea), Taurus burial grounds - "stone boxes" were studied. A certain similarity was traced between the Taurian and Kizilkobinsky materials. Proceeding from this, in 1926 G. A. Bonch-Osmolovsky suggested that the Kizilkoba culture belongs to the Taurians. He did not specifically study the Kizilkoba culture, limiting himself to only the most general considerations, but since then, researchers have been asserting the idea that the Kizilkoba culture should be understood as the early Taurians. In the post-war period, works appeared that contain data on the Kizilkoba culture and Taurians, discuss issues of periodization, etc., but none of them aimed to fully substantiate the connection between the Kizilkobins and Taurians, taking into account new archaeological sources 27, 45 .

True, already in the 1930s and 1940s, some scientists (V. N. D'yakov 15, 16 , S. A. Semenov-Zuser 40) expressed doubts about the legitimacy of such conclusions. In 1962, after new research in the Kizilkobinsky tract (excavations were conducted by A. A. Shchepinsky and O. I. Dombrovsky), in the zone of the Simferopol reservoir (A. D. Stolyar, A. A. Shchepinsky and others), near the village Druzhny, in the Tash-Dzhargan tract and near Maryino near Simferopol, in the valley of the Kacha River and other places (A. A. Shchepinsky), the author of this book came to a similar judgment, supported by massive archaeological material. 8, 47. In April 1968, at a session of the Department of History of the USSR Academy of Sciences and a plenum of the Institute of Archeology of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, the author made a report "On the Kizilkobin culture and Tauris in the Crimea", in which he substantiated his point of view: Taurians and Kyzylkobins are representatives of different cultures of the Early Iron Age. The excavations of 1969, 1970 and subsequent years have clearly shown that the conclusion is correct: the Taurus and Kizilkoba sites do not belong to different stages of one culture, but to two independent cultures 48, 49 . This forced to reconsider their positions and some researchers who support the identification of the Taurians with the Kizilkobins 23, 24 .

new material gradually accumulated, excavations made it possible to clarify something, to doubt something. Therefore, in 1977, the author of this book again returned to the "Kizilkobin theme" and published a detailed argumentation of the provisions he had made earlier: the Kizilkobins and Taurians are different tribes, although they lived in the same historical era, lived in the neighborhood, partly even on the same territory 50 .

But, of course, there is a lot of controversy and unclear. How to correlate the data of archeology, in other words, the remains of material culture, with the information about the local Crimean tribes that is contained in the works of ancient authors? To answer this question, we will try to understand what is remarkable about each of these peoples (Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians), what the ancient Greeks say about them, and what archaeological materials testify to (Fig. 20).

Cimmerians

For the south of the European part of the USSR, this ancient tribes which we know from ancient written sources. Information about the Cimmerians is contained in the "Odyssey" of Homer (IX - beginning of the VIII centuries BC), the Assyrian "Cuneiform" (VIII-VII centuries BC), in the "History" of Herodotus (V century BC). AD), from Strabo (I century BC - I century AD) and other ancient authors. From these reports it follows that the Cimmerians are the most ancient natives of the Northern Black Sea region and the North-Western Caucasus. They lived here even before the arrival of the Scythians. The boundaries of their settlement are the northern shores of the Black Sea and from the mouth of the Danube to Chisinau, Kyiv, Kharkov, Novocherkassk, Krasnodar and Novorossiysk. Later, these tribes appear in Asia Minor, and by the VI century. BC e. leave the historical arena.

According to a number of researchers, the name "Cimmerians" is a collective name. The Cimmerians are associated with many cultures of the Bronze and Early Iron Ages - the Catacomb and Srubna in the south of Ukraine, the Koban in the Caucasus, the Kizilkobin and Taurus in the Crimea, the Hallstatt in the Danube region and others. Crimea, in particular the Kerch Peninsula, occupies a special place in resolving this issue. It is with him that the most reliable and most common information about the Cimmerians is associated: "Cimmerian region", "Cimmerian Bosporus", "Kimmerik city", "Kimmerik mountain", etc.

The material culture of the Cimmerians is characterized by archaeological sites of two main types - burials and settlements. Burials, as a rule, were made under small mounds in soil, often side-pit, graves. The burial rite is on the back in an extended position or with legs slightly bent at the knees. Settlements consisting of elevated stone buildings for residential and household purposes were located on elevated places near sources fresh water. Household utensils are mainly represented by molded vessels - bowls, bowls, pots, etc.

There are large flat-bottomed vessels for storing products with a high narrow neck, convex sides and a black or brownish-gray polished surface. The ornamentation of the vessels is characterized by a low relief roller or a simple carved geometric pattern. During excavations, bone and small bronze objects are found - awls, piercings, jewelry, and occasionally iron products - swords, knives, arrowheads. In Crimea, monuments of the Cimmerian time are known on the Kerch Peninsula, in the Sivash region, on Tarkhankut and in the foothill zone. In the area of ​​the Main Ridge of the Crimean Mountains, including on the Yayla and south coast characteristic Cimmerian monuments of the X-VIII centuries. BC e. not detected. Apparently, this is due to the fact that at that time other tribes lived here - the Tauri.

Taurus

With regard to this people, the earliest and most complete information is given by the "father of history" Herodotus. He visited the northern shores of the Black Sea, including Taurica, 60-70 years after the campaign of the Persian king Darius I here, so you can rely on his evidence of that time. It follows from the message of Herodotus: when Darius I went to war against the Scythians, the latter, seeing that they alone could not cope with the enemies, turned to neighboring tribes, including the Taurians, for help. The Taurians replied: “If you had not offended the Persians first and started a war with them, then we would consider your request correct and would willingly help you. However, you invaded the land of the Persians without our help and owned it as long as the deity allowed it. Now this deity is on their side, and the Persians want to take revenge on you in the same way. Even then, we did not offend these people in any way and now we will not be the first to be at enmity with them.

Who are the Taurians and where did they live?

Herodotus draws the southern border of their country near the city of Kerkinitida (now Evpatoria). “From here,” he writes, “there is a mountainous country lying along the same sea. It protrudes into Pontus and is inhabited by Taurian tribes up to the so-called Rocky Chersonese.” The same localization of the possessions of the Tauris by Strabo, who lived in the 1st century. BC e .: the Taurus coast stretches from the Bay of Symbols (Balaklava) to Feodosia. Thus, according to ancient sources, the Taurians are the inhabitants of the mountainous Crimea and the southern coast.

The most striking monuments of the Taurians are their burial grounds made of stone boxes, usually located on hills. Often they are surrounded by cromlechs or rectangular fences. Burial mounds are not typical for them, but fillings or linings made of stone with earth are well known. Burials (single or collective) were made on the back (earlier) or on the side (later) with strongly pursed legs, with the head usually to the east, northeast, north.

The inventory of the Taurus burials is stucco ceramics, simple and polished, sometimes with embossed ridges, very rarely with a simple carved ornament. During excavations, artifacts made of stone, bone, bronze, and, more rarely, of iron are also found (Fig. 19).

Judging by archaeological excavations supported by written sources, the time of residence of this people is approximately from the 10th-9th centuries. BC e. according to the III century. BC e., and possibly later - until the early Middle Ages.

We divide the history of the Tauris into three periods.

Taurus of the early, pre-antique period (the end of the 10th - the first half of the 5th century BC). This stage of their history is characterized by the decomposition of the tribal system. The basis of the economy was cattle breeding and agriculture (obviously, mainly hoeing). All products obtained from these branches of the economy went to the internal needs of society. A comprehensive study of the known Taurus monuments, as well as numerous calculations on them, give reason to believe that the number of Taurians in this period hardly exceeded 5-6 thousand people.

Taurus of the developed, ancient period (second half of the 5th-3rd centuries BC). At this time there is a transition from a tribe to a class society. In addition to the widespread introduction of metal (bronze and iron), a significant increase in labor productivity, the establishment of close trade contacts (exchange) with the surrounding peoples - the Scythians and, especially, the Greeks, are also characteristic. Hence the abundance of imported items found during excavations. The basis of the economy of the developed period is the breeding of cattle and small cattle, and to a lesser extent agriculture (obviously, because part of the Tauris' possessions suitable for agriculture are occupied by the tribes of the Kizilkoba culture, driven from the north by the Scythians). The population of the Taurus in that period was 15-20 thousand people.

Taurus late period(II century BC - V century AD) are almost not studied archaeologically. It is known that in the 1st c. BC e. they, along with the Scythians, become allies of Mithridates in the fight against Rome. The turn and the first centuries of our era, apparently, should be considered as the agony of the Taurus world. Archaeological monuments of this period in the mountainous Crimea can be called Tauro-Scythian, and the population - Tauro-Scythians. After the early medieval invasion of the Goths, and then the Huns, the Taurians as an independent nation are no longer known.

Scythians

Under this name, ancient written sources report about them, but they themselves called themselves chipped. In the Northern Black Sea region, including the Crimea, these warlike nomadic tribes appeared in the 7th century. BC e. Having pressed the Cimmerians, the Scythians first penetrate the Kerch Peninsula and the plain Crimea, and then into its foothill part. In the second half of the 4th c. BC e. they seep into the original Taurus and Kizilkoba lands and, having switched to a settled way of life, create in the 3rd century. BC e. quite large public education with the capital Naples (now the territory of Simferopol).

The monuments of the Scythians are numerous and varied: settlements, shelters, settlements, burial structures (in the beginning barrows, later - extensive barrowless necropolises with earthen graves). Burials are characterized by an elongated burial rite. The accompanying inventory of mounds is molded undecorated vessels, weapons (bronze, iron or bone arrowheads, short swords - akinaki, spears, knives, scaly shells). Often there are bronze objects and decorations made in the so-called Scythian "animal style".

These are the main, leading signs of the Cimmerian, Taurus and Scythian tribes who lived in the Crimea simultaneously with the tribes of the Kizilkoba culture, the existence of which is known to us from archaeological sources.

Now let's compare the data. Let's start with the Kizilkobins and Taurians, first of all with their dishes, the most typical and widespread inventory. archaeological sites this time. Comparison (see Fig. 18 and Fig. 19) eloquently indicates that the Kizilkoba utensils are significantly different from the Taurus. In the first case, it is often decorated with an ornament, typical for this culture, of carved or grooved lines, combined with impressions; in the second, it is usually not ornamented.

This indisputable archaeological fact until the mid-60s seemed unconvincing. More evidence was needed. In addition, very important links were missing in the scientific material. Indeed, the irony of fate: the source of knowledge about the Taurians is burial grounds (there are no settlements!), And about the Kizilkobins - settlements (there are no burial grounds!). The excavations of the last fifteen years have clarified the picture in many ways. It was established, for example, that in the foothill, mountainous Crimea and on the southern coast there are many settlements, where stucco unornamented ceramics of the 8th-3rd centuries were found. BC e., completely similar to ceramics from the Taurus stone boxes.

It was also possible to solve another puzzling issue - about the Kizilkoba burials. Excavations in the valley of the Salgir River, first in 1954 in the zone of the Simferopol reservoir (under the direction of P. N. Schultz and A. D. Stolyar), and then in the Simferopol suburbs of Maryino and Ukrainka, in the upper reaches of the Small Salgir, in the middle reaches of the Alma and others places (under the leadership of A. A. Shchepinsky. - Ed.) showed that the Kizilkobins buried the dead in small mounds - earthen or made of small stone. The graves are known as the main and repeated (inlet), often they are side-pit - with stone side mortgages. In terms of the grave, it is elongated-oval, sometimes with a slight expansion in the head area. Burials - single or in pairs - were made in an elongated (occasionally slightly crouched) position on the back, with arms along the body. The predominant orientation is western. Funeral inventory - stucco ornamented pots, bowls, goblets of the Kizilkoba look, bronze arrowheads, iron swords, knives, as well as various decorations, lead spindle whorls, bronze mirrors, etc. Most of these types of burials date back to VII-V and IV - the beginning 3rd century BC e., and their range is quite wide: the mountainous and foothill part of the peninsula, the northern, northwestern and southwestern Crimea, the Kerch Peninsula.

An interesting touch: Kizilkoba ceramics are also found during excavations of the ancient settlements of Nymphea, Panticapaeum, Tiritaki, Mirmekia. This is on the Kerch Peninsula. The same picture is at the opposite end of the Crimea - on the Tarkhankut Peninsula: Kizilkobinskaya ceramics was discovered during excavations of the settlements of ancient times "Seagull", Kerkinitida, Chegoltai (Masliny), near the village of Chernomorsky, near the villages of Severnoye and Popovka.

What are the conclusions from all this? Firstly, the geometric ornament of ceramics - the most expressive feature of the Kizilkoba culture - is clearly not Taurian. Secondly, in the Crimea there are burials made in the "Taurian time", which differ from the burials in the Taurus stone cists by all the leading features (type of structure, construction of the grave, burial rite, orientation of the buried, ceramics). Thirdly, the distribution area of ​​settlements and burials goes far beyond the original Taurica - the possessions of the Taurians. And, finally, in the same area where the Taurus stone boxes were found, there are now known settlements with similar ceramics, Taurus in appearance.

In a word, all the arguments and conclusions can be reduced to one thing: the Kizilkobins and the Taurians are not the same thing, and there is no reason to bring them closer (and even more so to put an equal sign between them).

The hypothesis that the kurgan burials with Kizilkoba ceramics belong to the early Scythians is also not confirmed. In the Crimea, the earliest Scythian burials appear, judging by the excavations, at the end of the 7th century. BC e. on the Kerch Peninsula, and in the foothills of the Crimea - only two or three centuries later. Their inventory is also specific, especially items in the "animal style" characteristic of the Scythians. Back in 1954, the archaeologist T.N. Troitskaya perspicaciously noted that in the early Scythian time "on the territory of the foothill, mountainous and, probably, the steppe part of Crimea, the main population were local tribes, carriers of the Kizilkoba culture."

So, in the Early Iron Age (V-III centuries BC), three main cultures were widespread in the Crimea - Taurus, Kizilkoba and Scythian (Fig. 21). Each of them has its own pronounced cultural and historical features, its own type of settlements, burials, ceramics, etc.

The question of the origin and formation of the Taurus and Kizilkoba cultures also deserves attention. Some researchers believe that the basis of the Taurus culture is the culture of the Late Bronze Age of the Central and North Caucasus, in particular, the so-called Koban culture; according to others, the culture of the Taurians has one of the material sources of the buried stone boxes of the Bronze Age, which are now commonly associated with the Kemioba culture. One way or another, the roots of the Taurus, as well as the Kizilkoba, come from the depths of the Bronze Age. But if in the Kemiobins one can see the ancestors of the Taurians, pushed back by the steppe aliens to the mountainous regions of Crimea, then the Kizilkobins most likely descend from the carriers of the late Catacomb culture (named after the type of burials - catacombs). In the first half of the II millennium BC. e. these tribes begin to penetrate into the foothills and mountainous Crimea and to the southern coast; in them, many researchers see the ancient Cimmerians.

Both researchers and readers always strive to get to the bottom of the primary sources: what happened before? and how is this confirmed? Therefore, we will tell about the problem of ethnogenesis, i.e., the origin of tribes, in more detail - with the disclosure of all the difficulties that stand in the way of the truth.

The reader already knows: the distant ancestors of the Taurians are most likely the Kemiobins, pushed back by the steppe newcomers to the mountainous regions of the Crimea. The proof is the signs that are common to both cultures, Kemiobin and Taurus. Let's call these features:

megalithic tradition, in other words - the presence of massive stone structures (cromlechs, fences, menhirs, mortgages, "stone boxes");

construction of burial structures: "stone boxes", often trapezoidal in longitudinal and transverse section, pebble bedding, etc.;

burial rite: on the back or on the side with legs bent at the knees;

orientation of the buried according to the cardinal points: east or northeast prevails;

collective, obviously, ancestral tombs and cremations;

the nature of the ceramics: stucco, polished, unornamented, sometimes with embossed ridges (Fig. 22).

Who were those steppe aliens who pushed the Kemiobians into the mountains? Most likely, the tribes of the Catacomb culture. However, it must be borne in mind that this culture is far from homogeneous. According to the burial rite and inventory, three types of burials are clearly distinguished in it - on the back with legs bent at the knees, on the back in an extended position, and on the side in a strongly crouched position. All of them were made under mounds, in the so-called catacombs. Burials of the first type with bent legs are accompanied by unornamented or weakly ornamented vessels, the second - elongated type - on the contrary, richly ornamented, and the third - crouched type - coarse vessels or completely devoid of grave goods.

Catacomb elements are best preserved in elongated burials, which can be traced to the middle of the 2nd millennium BC. e. In them, obviously, one must see the proto-Cimmerians - the ancestors of the Kizilkobins.

The fact that late Catacomb tribes took the most active part in the formation of the Kizilkobin tribes can be judged by the following signs common to the Catacombs and Kizilkobins:

the presence of burial mounds and burial mounds;

construction of catacomb graves for catacombs and catacomb linings for the Kyzylkobins;

rite of burial in an extended position on the back;

close forms of stucco vessels;

the presence of ceramics with a similar ornamental motif;

the similarity of tools - diamond-shaped stone hammers (Fig. 23).

In this historical reconstruction There is one shortcoming: between the Kemiobins and Tauris, on the one hand, and the tribes of the Catacomb and Kizilkobin cultures, on the other, there is a time gap of about 300-500 years. Of course, there can be neither breaks nor interruptions in history; there is a lack of knowledge here.

Considering the “silent period” (this is the second half of the 2nd millennium BC), it is permissible to assume that archaeologists make the age of the latest Kemiobinsky and Catacomb monuments somewhat older, while individual Taurus and Kizilkoba, on the contrary, rejuvenate. Special studies have shown that those materials that are archaeologically dated to the 9th-6th centuries. BC e., according to the radiocarbon method are defined as the XII-VIII centuries. BC e., i.e., 200-300 years older. It should also be taken into account that it was in the second half of the II millennium BC. e. in the burial mounds of the Crimea, as well as the whole south of Ukraine, small stone boxes appear, similar in design and inventory, on the one hand, to Kemiobinsky, and on the other, to Early Taurus. It is possible that they fill in the missing link.

Finally, several archaeological cultures are associated with the same "silent period" in the Crimea - the so-called multi-rolled ceramics (1600-1400 BC), early log (1500-1400 BC) and late log, in the materials of which there are sites of Sabatino (1400-1150 BC) and Belozersky (1150-9 00 BC) types. In our opinion, the most convincing is the point of view of those researchers who believe that the Sabatinovskaya culture is formed on the basis of the culture of multi-rolled ceramics and that its bearers were part of the Cimmerian tribal union.

It is difficult to talk about that distant time with complete certainty: it was like this or like that. I have to add: perhaps, apparently. In any case, the formation and development of the Kizilkoba and Taurus cultures followed (apparently!) two parallel paths. One of them supposedly ran along the line "Kemiobins - Taurians", the other - along the line "Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins".

As the reader already knows, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Cimmerians inhabited the flat Crimea and, for the most part, the Kerch Peninsula. Taurians lived in the foothills, mountains and on the southern coast at that time. However, in the 7th century BC e. the situation has changed - Scythian nomads appear in the Crimean steppes, and the number of Kizilkobins increases in the southern and mountainous parts of the peninsula. These are the archaeological data. They are quite consistent with the legend transmitted by Herodotus: " nomadic tribes Scythians lived in Asia. When the Massagets (also nomads - Ed.) drove them out of there military force, the Scythians crossed the Araks and arrived in the Cimmerian land (the country now inhabited by the Scythians, as they say, belonged to the Cimmerians since ancient times). With the approach of the Scythians, the Cimmerians began to hold the Council, what should they do in the face of a large enemy army. Opinions were divided - the people were for retreat, while the kings considered it necessary to protect the land from invaders. Having made such a decision (or rather, two opposite decisions. - Ed.), the Cimmerians were divided into two equal parts and began to fight among themselves. All those who fell in the fratricidal war were buried by the Cimmerian people near the river Tirsa. After that, the Cimmerians left their land, and the Scythians who came took possession of a deserted country.

It is quite possible that some of these Cimmerians who "left their land" moved to the mountainous Crimea and settled among the Taurus tribes, laying the foundation for a culture that we conventionally call "Kizilkobin". Perhaps it was this migration of the late Cimmerians that was reflected in Strabo, in his message that in the mountainous country of the Taurians there is Mount Table and Mount Cimmeric. Be that as it may, but there is such a point of view, shared by many researchers: the Kizilkobins are the late Cimmerians. Or, according to another assumption (in our opinion, more correct), the Kizilkobins are one of the local groups of the late Cimmerians.

It would seem that this can be put an end to. But it's too early. As academician B. A. Rybakov noted back in 1952: “None of the historical phenomena in the Crimea can be considered in isolation, without connection with the fate of not only the Northern Black Sea region, but the whole of Eastern Europe. The history of Crimea is an integral and important part of the history of Eastern Europe" 37, 33.

The traces of the Kizilkobin tribes are not limited to the Crimea either. Studies have shown that similar monuments, but with their own local features, are known outside the Crimea. Typical Kizilkobinskaya ceramics on the territory of mainland Ukraine was found in the oldest layer of Olbia, on the island of Berezan, near the village of Bolshaya Chernomorka in the Nikolaev region, in the Scythian settlement of Kamensky in the Lower Dnieper region.

There are also burials of the Kizilkoba type. One of them was found in a barrow near the village of Chaplynki in the south of the Kherson region, the other - in a barrow near the village of Pervokonstantinovka in the same region. Special interest causes the fact that in the North-Western Black Sea region there are burials of the 8th - early 7th centuries. BC e. (and there are quite a lot of them), similar to those of Kizilkoba: catacombs and ground graves, burials in an elongated position with a predominantly western orientation, ceramics with carved geometric ornaments.

Cimmerian burials in catacombs and side-chamber burial structures, completely similar to those of Kizilkobin, are now known in the vast territory of the south of our country - in Odessa, Nikolaev, Dnepropetrovsk, Zaporozhye, Kherson, Volgograd regions, in the Stavropol Territory, as well as in Astrakhan and Saratov regions. The territory of distribution of monuments of this kind coincides with the distribution area of ​​the Catacomb culture. There are numerous analogues of Kizilkoba ceramics in the North Caucasus. These are finds from the upper layer of the Alkhasta settlement in the Assinsky gorge, from the Aivazovsky settlement on the Sushka River, and especially from the Serpent settlement. Similar pottery is found in the North Caucasian cemeteries. Consequently, as P. N. Shults wrote in 1952, the Kizilkoba culture is not an isolated phenomenon, it has close analogues in a number of elements both in the North Caucasus and in the south of mainland Ukraine (Fig. 24).

One should not be embarrassed by the fact that in some manifestations of the Kizilkoba culture there are early Scythian or Taurian elements, or, on the contrary, in the latter - Kizilkoba. This is explained by the surrounding historical situation, in which contacts with the tribes of neighboring cultures are inevitable - the Scythians, Savromats, Taurians, Greeks. There are a number of cases where the Kyzylkoba and Taurus sites are located in close proximity to each other. Several such monuments are located in the area of ​​the Red Caves, including a large settlement in the Golden Yarmo tract on Dolgorukovskaya Yaila. Here, on a small area in one layer (thickness 15 cm), there are archaeological materials of the Neolithic, Taurus and Kizilkoba appearance; nearby are the "stone boxes" of the Taurians, and the Kizilkobin burial ground. Such richness of this part of the yayla with early Iron Age monuments leaves no doubt that at a certain stage the Kizilkoba and Taurus tribes coexisted.

A complex archaeological complex of the Early Iron Age was discovered in 1950 and studied by us in the Tash-Dzhargan tract near Simferopol. And again the same picture - the Taurus and Kizilkoba settlements are nearby. The first of them adjoins a burial ground from Taurus "stone boxes", near the second there was once a burial ground from small mounds, burials under them were accompanied by Kizilkoba ceramics.

Close proximity can easily explain the case when certain elements typical of the Kizilkoba culture are found on the Taurus sites, and vice versa. This may also indicate something else - about peaceful relations between the tribes.

Outside the Northern Black Sea region, the Savromats of the Don and Trans-Volga regions are closest to the Kizilkobins: a similar construction of the grave, the same western orientation of the buried, a similar type of ornamentation of dishes. Most likely, there are some connections between the Sauromatians and the Cimmerians.

The material from the Red Caves and numerous analogues outside them confirm the opinion of those researchers who consider the Cimmerians as a complex phenomenon - a kind of conglomerate of many local pre-Scythian tribes. Obviously, at the dawn of the Early Iron Age, these tribes - the natives of the Northern Black Sea region - constituted a single Cimmerian cultural and historical region.

In the conditions of the Crimean peninsula, with its certain geographical isolation, the Cimmerians preserved their traditions longer than in other regions of the Northern Black Sea region. True, in different parts of the Crimea their fate was different. In the steppe regions, the remnants of the disunited Cimmerian tribes (i.e., the Kizilkobins) were forced to enter into close contacts with the Scythians and ancient Greek settlers. In their environment, they soon assimilated, which is confirmed by the materials of the ancient settlements of Tarkhankut and the Kerch Peninsula.

The late Cimmerian (Kizilkoba) tribes of the mountainous Crimea have a different fate. The Scythians, these typical steppe dwellers, were not attracted to the mountainous regions. The Greeks did not aspire here either. The bulk of the population was made up of aboriginal Taurus tribes and, to a much lesser extent, Cimmerian. Consequently, when the nomadic Scythians began to occupy the flat part of the Crimea, the Cimmerians (aka Kizilkobins), who retreated under their onslaught, found here, in the mountains, favorable soil for themselves. Although these tribes came into close contact with the Tauri, they nevertheless retained their traditions and, obviously, a certain independence for a long time.

Ancient peoples in Crimea - Cimmerians, Taurians and Scythians

29.02.2012

Cimmerians
Cimmerian tribes occupied the lands from the Dniester to the Don, part of the northern Crimea, the Taman and Kerch Peninsulas. The city of Kimmerik was located on the Kerch Peninsula. These tribes were engaged in cattle breeding and agriculture, tools and weapons were made of bronze and iron. Cimmerian kings with military detachments made military campaigns against neighboring camps. They took prisoners for slavery.

In the 7th century BC. Cimmeria collapsed under the onslaught of the more powerful and numerous Scythians. Some Cimmerians went to other lands and disappeared among the peoples of Asia Minor and Persia, some intermarried with the Scythians and remained in the Crimea. There is no clear idea of ​​what origin this people is, but based on studies of the language of the Cimmerians, they suggest their Indo-Iranian origin.

TAVRA
Name brands given to the people by the Greeks, presumably in connection with the sacrifice to the Virgin - supreme goddess ancient Crimean settlement. The foot of the main altar of the Virgin, located on Cape Fiolent, framed the blood of not only bulls (Taurians), but also people, as ancient authors write about: “Taurians are a numerous people and love nomadic life in the mountains. In their cruelty they are barbarians and murderers, propitiating their gods with dishonest deeds.
The Taurians were the first in the Crimea to sculpt human sculptures, monumental works of art. These figures were erected on the tops of mounds, surrounded by stone fences at the base.

The Taurians lived in tribes, which later, probably, united in tribal unions. They were engaged in shepherding, farming and hunting, and the coastal Tauris also fished and sailed. Sometimes they attacked foreign ships - most often Greek. The Taurians did not have slavery, so they killed the captives or used them for sacrifice. They were familiar with the craft: pottery, weaving, spinning, bronze casting, bone and stone making.
Possessing all the advantages of local residents, accustomed to the Crimean conditions, the Taurians often made daring sorties, attacking grizons of new fortresses. Here is how Ovid describes the everyday life of one of these fortresses: “A little on the hour from the watch tower will give an alarm, we immediately put on armor with a trembling hand. A ferocious enemy, armed with a bow and arrows saturated with poison, inspects the walls on a heavily breathing horse and, just as a predatory wolf carries and drags a sheep that has not made it to the sheepfold through the pastures and forests, so the hostile barbarian captures anyone he finds in the fields who has not yet been accepted by the fence gate. He is either taken prisoner with a stock around his neck, or dies from a poisonous arrow. And it was not for nothing that the whole chain of Roman defense was turned by the front to the mountains - the danger threatened from there.
They often fought with their northern neighbor - the Scythians, while developing a peculiar tactic: the Taurians, undertaking a war, always dug up the roads in the rear and, having made them impassable, went into battle. They did this so that, not being able to escape, it was necessary to either win or die. Taurians who died on the field were buried in stone boxes made of slabs weighing several tons.

SCYTHIANS

To Crimea Scythians penetrated around the 7th century. BC. These were people of 30 tribes who spoke seven dissimilar languages.

Studies of coins with images of Scythians and other objects of that time show that their hair was thick, their eyes were open, straight-set, their forehead was high, their nose was narrow and straight.
The Scythians soon appreciated the favorable climate and fertile soil of the peninsula. They mastered almost the entire territory of Crimea, except for the waterless steppes, for agriculture and pastoral cattle breeding. The Scythians bred sheep, pigs, bees, and maintained an attachment to cattle breeding. In addition, the Scythians traded their grain, wool, honey, wax, and flax.
Oddly enough, but the former nomads mastered navigation so skillfully that in that era the Black Sea was called the Scythian.
They brought overseas wines, fabrics, jewelry and other art objects from other countries. The Scythian population was divided into tillers, warriors, merchants, sailors and artisans of various specialties: potters, masons, builders, tanners, foundry workers, blacksmiths, etc.
A peculiar monument was made - a cauldron made of bronze, the thickness of the walls of which was 6 fingers, and the capacity was 600 amphoras (about 24 thousand liters).
The capital of the Scythians in the Crimea was Naples(Greek "new city"). The Scythian name of the city has not survived. The walls of Naples at that time reached a huge thickness - 8-12 meters - and the same height.
Scythia did not know priests - only fortune-tellers who managed without temples. The Scythians deified the Sun, Moon, stars, natural phenomena - rain, thunder, lightning, held holidays in honor of the earth and cattle. On high barrows they erected high statues - "women" as monuments to all their ancestors.

The Scythian state collapsed in the III century. BC. under the blows of another warlike people- Sarmatians.