Ancient peoples living in Crimea. Crimea: history of the peninsula

Peoples inhabiting Crimea

The ethnic history of Crimea is very complex and dramatic. One thing can be said: the national composition of the peninsula has never been monotonous, especially in its mountainous and coastal areas. Speaking about the population of the Tauride Mountains back in the 2nd century. BC, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder notes that 30 peoples live there. Mountains and islands often served as a refuge for relict peoples, once great, and then disappeared from the historical arena. This was the case with the warlike Goths, who conquered almost all of Europe and then disappeared into its vastness at the beginning of the Middle Ages. And in Crimea, Gothic settlements remained until the 15th century. The last reminder of them is the village of Kok-Kozy (now Golubinka), that is, Blue Eyes.

Today there are more than 30 national cultural associations in Crimea, 24 of which are officially registered. The national palette is represented by seventy ethnic groups and ethnic groups, many of which have preserved their traditional everyday culture.

Random photos of Crimea

The most numerous ethnic group in Crimea is, of course, Russians. It should be noted that they appeared in Crimea long before the Tatars, at least since the time of Prince Vladimir’s campaign against Chersonesos. Even then, along with the Byzantines, Russian merchants traded here, and some of them settled in Chersonesos seriously and for a long time. However, only after the annexation of Crimea to Russia does a numerical superiority of Russians arise over other peoples inhabiting the peninsula. For comparatively a short time Russians already make up more than half of the population. These come mainly from the central black earth provinces of Russia: Kursk, Oryol, Tambov and others.

Since ancient times, Crimea was a multi-ethnic territory. Over the course of a long time, a rich, interesting and globally significant historical and cultural heritage has been formed on the peninsula. From the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries. Due to a number of historical events, representatives of various peoples began to appear on the peninsula, who played a certain role in economic, socio-political and cultural (architecture, religion, traditional everyday culture, music, fine arts, etc.) life.

Ethnic groups and ethnic groups have contributed to the cultural heritage of Crimea, which together constitute a rich and interesting tourist product, united in ethnographic and ethnic tourism. Currently, there are more than 30 national cultural associations in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, 24 of which are officially registered. The national palette is represented by seventy ethnic groups and ethnic groups, many of which have preserved their traditional everyday culture and are actively popularizing their historical and cultural heritage.

Secondly, peoples (ethnic groups) that appeared en masse on the peninsula 150 or more - 200 years ago, having a unique history and culture. Their traditional everyday culture was, to one degree or another, subject to ethnic assimilation and mutual influence: regional features appeared in it, and some aspects of material and spiritual culture were preserved and began to be actively revived from the late 80s to early 90s. XX century. Among them are Bulgarians, Germans, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Jews, Czechs, Poles, Assyrians, Estonians, French and Italians.

And thirdly, after 1945, Azerbaijanis, Koreans, Volga Tatars, Mordovians, Chuvashs, Gypsies, as well as Russians, Ukrainians and Belarusians from various regions began to come to Crimea and gradually form diasporas, adding to the East Slavic population of Crimea. This page describes ethnographic objects that characterize the culture of 16 ethnic communities.

This includes architectural monuments left in the Middle Ages by the Italians (Venetians and Genoese) and early Christian cultural monuments, which are considered multi-ethnic objects, since it is not always possible to determine the ethnicity of the creators of religious buildings, or the complexes include objects created by representatives of various ethnic groups that have been neighbors for a long time on the territory of Crimea.

Photo beautiful places Crimea

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Armenians

To characterize objects according to the traditional culture of Armenians, it is necessary to turn to the history of their resettlement from ancient capital Armenia Ani. The core of the first Armenian settlements was ancient Solkhat (Old Crimea) and Kafa (Feodosia), as evidenced by numerous chronicle sources. The best monuments of Armenian architecture are concentrated in the eastern and southeastern parts of Crimea and date back to the 14th - 15th centuries. Excellent examples of urban housing of a later period have been preserved in Feodosia, Sudak, Old Crimea and small villages.

Of particular excursion interest is the monastery complex Surb-Khach ("Holy Cross"), date of construction - 1338. It is located three kilometers southwest of the city of Old Crimea. The ensemble of the Surb-Khach monastery is one of the best works of Armenian architects not only in Crimea. It revealed the main features of Armenian-Asian Minor architecture. Currently the monastery is run by State Committee ARC on the protection and use of historical and cultural monuments.

The former monastery of St. Stefanos (6.5 km south of the city of Old Crimea) and the miniature Church of the Twelve Apostles, part of the medieval fortress complex in Sudak, are also worthy of attention. Of the 40 Armenian churches in Kafa, few have survived to this day. Among them is the Church of St. George the Victorious - a tiny basilica building, the larger churches of John the Baptist and the Archangels Michael and Gabriel with a carved turret decorated with the finest stone carvings. In Feodosia, Sudak and Old Crimea and their environs, khachkars - ancient tombstones with the image of a cross - have been preserved.

In Old Crimea, once a year, members of the Armenian community of Crimea, guests from Armenia and foreign countries - up to 500 people - gather for the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. During the holiday, services are held in churches, traditional rituals are performed, and national dishes are prepared.

Belarusians

The history of the appearance of Belarusians in Crimea dates back to the end of the 18th century. Settlers from Belarus arrived on the peninsula in the 19th and 20th centuries. Currently, the places of compact residence of Belarusians are the village of Shirokoe, Simferopol district, and the village of Maryanovka, Krasnogvardeisky district. Works in the village of Shirokoye folk museum, which has an ethnographic exhibition on the traditional everyday culture of Belarusians, there are children's and adult folklore groups. The days of culture of the Republic of Belarus have become traditional, in which not only Belarusians of Crimea, but also professional performers from Belarus actively participate.

Bulgarians

Of interest is the culture of the Bulgarians, whose appearance in Crimea dates back to the beginning of the 19th century. According to the traditional everyday culture of the Bulgarians, 5 ethnographic objects have been identified that deserve attention. They can serve as preserved houses built in the 80s. XIX century - beginning of the 20th century in traditional architectural style and with a traditional layout in the village of Kurskoye, Belogorsk district (former colony of Kishlav) and the town. Koktkbel, who played significant role in economic, socio-political, religious and cultural life until 1944. A rich folklore heritage is preserved in the village of Zhelyabovka, Nizhnegorsky district, folk festivals are organized, customs and rituals are played out.

Greeks

The ethnic group of the Greeks of Crimea (modern times) falls into the field of research of the Crimean Ethnographic Museum, the Institute of Oriental Studies, and the Center for Greek Studies. These are descendants of settlers of various periods from mainland Greece and the islands of the archipelago of the late 18th - early 19th centuries.

One of the villages that have preserved monuments of the traditional culture of the Greeks who arrived in Crimea after the Russian-Turkish War (1828-1829) from Rumelia (Eastern Thrace) is the village of Chernopolye (formerly Karachol) in the Belogorsk region. Dwellings dating back to the early 20th century have been preserved here. Currently, the church in the name of Saints Constantine and Helena (built in 1913) has been restored; there is a source of St. Constantine - “Holy Spring”, where the Greeks come after the liturgy for ablution and drinking. The holy holiday of Panair, held annually by the Chernopol community on June 3-4, is famous among the Greeks of Crimea and the Donetsk region. Folk rituals, traditions and customs, rich song folklore are preserved not only in families, but also in folklore groups. In January 2000, an ethnographic house museum was opened in the village of Chernopolye.

In addition to the so-called “Modern Greek” monuments, many monuments have been preserved in Crimea, characterizing various periods of Greek culture in Crimea. Christian and Muslim necropolises of the 16th-17th centuries were discovered and explored in the Bakhchisarai region. Among the old-timers of the Greek population were Greek Christians (Rumeians) and Turkic-speaking ones - Urums, therefore the inscriptions on the tombstones are found in two languages. These priceless historical and cultural monuments, many of which are dated and have preserved their ornamentation, arouse enormous interest among residents of the peninsula and researchers. Thus, the villages of the Bakhchisarai region Vysokoye, Bogatoye, Gorge, Bashtanovka, Mnogoreche, Zelenoe with Christian and Muslim necropolises, preserved dwellings of the 19th century. can be distinguished as ethnographic objects characterizing the spiritual and material culture of the late medieval population of Crimea - the Greeks.

Over the course of a long stay with representatives of other ethnic groups (Russians), there was a mutual influence of cultures not only in the material, but also in the spiritual. The self-name of the people of one of the branches in the Greek line is known - Buzmaki, which appeared as a result of the long coexistence of several ethnic groups. Such mixing and layering of cultures is known in the village of Alekseevka, Belogorsk district (formerly the village of Sartana). These objects require further study and special arrangement.

Many religious monuments of Christianity during the Middle Ages and modern times are associated with the culture of the Greeks. One of the interesting cultural monuments of Greek Christians is the Assumption Monastery in the rocks near Bakhchisarai, the foundation of which dates back to the 7th century. ad. The significance of the monastery as a patron of Christians attracted many local residents to settle around it. In the Middle Ages, there was a Greek settlement near the monastery, where, according to legend, the icon of the Mother of God Panagia appeared to the residents. Nowadays, this site attracts many pilgrims; divine services are held there.

The total number of allocated objects on the culture of the Greeks is 13, geographically they are located in the Bakhchisaray and Belogorsk regions and the city of Simferopol (Greek shopping arcades, the former Church of Constantine and Helen, the A. Sovopulo fountain).

Jews

The history of the various peoples of Crimea has been studied unevenly. Currently, the greatest interest of scientists is attracted by the history of Jewish communities on the peninsula, which appeared here from the first centuries of our era, as well as the history of the Karaites and Krymchaks, who emerged from medieval Jewish communities and consider themselves independent ethnic groups.

After 1783, numerous Ashkenazi Jewish families began to move to Crimea (Ashkenazi Jews made up about 95% of the number of Jews former USSR, i.e. they were descendants of the so-called German Jews). The appearance of numerous Ashkenazi Jews on the peninsula was associated with its inclusion in 1804 in the Pale of Settlement, i.e. areas where Jews were allowed to settle. Throughout the 19th century. communities appear in Kerch, Feodosia, Simferopol, Evpatoria, Sevastopol, as well as in rural areas. 1923-1924 marked by the spontaneous resettlement of Jews to Crimea, mainly from Belarus, and the creation of Jewish agricultural colonies, mainly in the steppe part of the peninsula. Of interest may be the typical houses for Jewish settlers preserved in the steppe Crimea, built under the program of the American Jewish United Agronomic Corporation (Agrojoined), as a basis for creating an ethnographic open-air museum or an ethnographic village.

Currently, the interest of tourists and excursionists may be aroused by the traditional activities of the Jewish urban population in the field of handicrafts (tailors, artists, jewelers, etc.), as well as the religious and spiritual life of the community. According to the degree of preserved objects (synagogues, residential buildings, schools), we should highlight the cities of Simferopol, Feodosia, Kerch, where by the beginning of the 20th century. lived a large community.

In Kerch, the buildings of several synagogues, the house of the Ginzburg family, in good condition, and the former Jewish street (now Volodya Dubinin Street), located in the historical part of the city, have been preserved.

Italians

The ethnic group of Italians, which during the first half of the 19th century may also be of interest to tourists. was formed in Feodosia and Kerch. The Kerch group of Italians was one of the numerous in the south of Russia, after the Italians of Odessa, and remained largely intact in the 30s and 40s. XX century, and their descendants still live in the city today. The Kerch “colony” was not a continuous settlement occupied only by Italians. They settled on the outskirts of Kerch, and currently the streets where they lived form part of the city. One of the surviving buildings is the Roman Catholic Cathedral, built in mid-19th V. and currently active. It is located in the historical part of the city. An interesting fact is that when catholic church the nuns, of Italian origin, were engaged in knitting elegant lace.

Karaites

The culture of the Karaites is of great interest to tourists. In the 19th century the center of social and cultural life of the Karaites from Chufut-Kale moved to Yevpatoria, there were communities in other cities of the peninsula - in Bakhchisarai, Kerch, Feodosia, Simferopol.

Ethnographic objects can serve as preserved monuments in Yevpatoria - the kenassa complex: large kenassa (built in 1807), small kenassa (1815) and courtyards with arcades (XVIII - XIX centuries), a number of residential buildings with traditional architecture and layout (for example , the house of M. Shishman, the former dacha of Bobovich, the house with the armechel of S. Z. Duvan, etc.), the Duvanov Karaite almshouse, as well as a unique Karaite necropolis, which did not escape losses in previous years.

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Objects in Feodosia should also be added to this list: the former dacha of Solomon Crimea (built in 1914) and the building of the former dacha of Stamboli (1909-1914). The first building now houses the Voskhod sanatorium, and the second building houses the Feodosia City Executive Committee. In addition, the Feodosia Museum of Local Lore exhibits a permanent exhibition on the culture of the Karaites.

In Simferopol, the building of the kenassa (1896, reconstruction 1934/1935) has been preserved, where the editorial office of the State Television and Radio Broadcasting Company "Crimea" is currently located, as well as houses belonging to the Karaites in the historical part of Simferopol, the so-called. "Old city".

One of the masterpieces of medieval architecture is the fortress and cave city "Chufut-Kale", where many monuments to the history and culture of the Karaites have been preserved (fortress, "cave city", kenassy, ​​A. Firkovich's house, Karaite cemetery Banta-Tiymez). This complex of Karaite culture is one of the most promising ethnographic sites. Karaite society has a plan for its development. The Bakhchisaray Historical and Cultural Reserve houses and exhibits a collection on the culture of the Karaite communities of Chufut-Kale and Bakhchisaray. The number of cultural objects is more than 10, the main one of which is Chufut-Kale, which is already used in tourist and excursion services.

Krymchaks

The center of Krymchak culture in the 19th century. Karasu-Bazar remained (the city of Belogorsk; the Krymchak community appeared here in the 16th century). The city has preserved the so-called "Krymchak settlement", which developed on the left side of the Karasu River. In the 20th century Gradually, the spiritual and cultural life of the Kramchak community moved to Simferopol, which remains so at the present time. Of the surviving monuments, we should remember the building of the former Krymchak kaal.

Crimean Tatars

Ethnographic objects of the Crimean Tatar culture should include, first of all, religious objects. By religion, Crimean Tatars are Muslims and profess Islam; their places of worship are mosques.

The influence of Turkish architecture on the architecture of Crimea can be considered the buildings of the famous Turkish architect Haji Sinan (late 15th - 16th centuries). These are the Juma-Jami mosque in Evpatoria, a mosque and baths in Feodosia. The Juma-Jami Mosque is well preserved. It rises like a mighty bulk above the one-story city blocks of the old part of the city. Mosque of Khan Uzbek in the city of Old Crimea.

Interesting buildings are the tombstone mausoleums-durbes. They are octagonal or square in plan with a domed ceiling and a crypt. Such durbes were identified as ethnographic objects in the Bakhchisarai region.

The Khan's palace in Bakhchisarai is called a masterpiece of Muslim architecture. In 1740-43 A large Khan-Jami mosque was built in the palace. Two minarets have been preserved, which are tall thin towers with spiral staircases inside and balconies at the top. The western wall of the mosque was painted by the Iranian master Omer. Now this is the exhibition space of the Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Museum. The Small Palace Mosque is one of the early buildings of the palace (XVI century), built according to the type of Christian churches. The latest restoration work has restored the painting of the 16th - 18th centuries.

The Eski-Saray mosque in the Simferopol region was built in the 15th century. There is an assumption that there was a Khan's mint here. The mosque is a square building, above which a dome is erected on an octagonal base. The mosque building was transferred to the Muslim community of Simferopol.

In 1989, the Kebir-Jami mosque in Simferopol was transferred to the Muslim community. Built in 1508, it was built in the traditional Muslim architecture style and was restored several times. At the mosque there was an educational institution - a madrasah, the building of which has also been preserved in the city.

Of great interest is the Zindzhirli madrasah, located on the outskirts of Bakhchisarai - Staroselye (formerly Salachik). The madrasah was built in 1500 by Khan Mengli Giray. This is a work of early Crimean Tatar architecture. It is a smaller and simplified version of the Seljuk madrassas in Asia Minor. The madrasah is the only surviving building of its kind in Crimea.

To ethnographic objects of culture Crimean Tatars Old Tatar cemeteries with burials of the 18th - 19th centuries, which have preserved traditional tombstones with inscriptions and ornaments, can also be included. Location - villages and inter-village territories of the Bakhchisarai region.

Traditional (rural) Crimean Tatar architecture is of interest to tourists. Examples of housing, as well as public and economic buildings, have been preserved in almost all regions of Crimea, having regional characteristics (steppe part, foothills and the southern coast of Crimea). The greatest concentration of such ethnographic objects occurs in the city of Bakhchisaray, Bakhchisaray, Simferopol and Belogorsk districts, as well as the villages of Alushta and Sudak city councils and the city of Old Crimea. A number of rural places and cities are currently meeting places for fellow villagers and holding folk festivals.

The revival of a certain specificity of objects that interested tourists and travelers already in the 19th century is possible at the present time. For example, music and dancing, where professional and folk groups. They can also be used in staging traditions, rituals, and showing holidays. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries. The attention of vacationers was attracted and widely used in excursion services by guides and shepherds, who differed from other layers of the Crimean Tatars in their way of life and even traditional clothing.

In total in Crimea, as the best preserved in places of good transport accessibility, with a base for further development in currently More than 30 objects of traditional Crimean Tatar culture can be identified.

Germans

The attention of tourists can also be attracted by the culture of the Germans, which has been preserved in Crimea in the form architectural objects- public and religious buildings, as well as traditional rural architecture. The most optimal way to get acquainted with the material and spiritual culture of the Germans is through direct trips to the former German colonies founded in 1804-1805. and throughout the 19th century. on the peninsula. The number of German colonies was numerous, they were concentrated mainly in the steppe part of the Crimea.

Currently, a number of villages (former colonies) have been identified that played a significant role in the economic, socio-political, religious and cultural life of the Germans until 1941. First of all, these are the former colonies of Neusatz, Friedenthal and Rosenthal (now the villages of Krasnogorye, Kurortnoye and Aromatnoye, Belogorsk district), located a short distance from each other and acting as complex ethnographic objects that characterize the traditional layout of villages and architecture (houses, estates, outbuildings).

There is an opportunity to get acquainted with religious buildings - the building catholic church(built in 1867), in the village. Aromatic - currently under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church Crimean Diocese. Getting to know the destroyed church in the village. Krasnogorye can be carried out using materials State Archive Autonomous Republic of Crimea. The building was built in 1825, rebuilt in 1914, the church was named in honor of Emperor Nicholas II, but in the 60s it was completely destroyed.

Among the surviving objects is the building primary school and the central school (built in 1876), as well as old German cemeteries (XIX-XX centuries). These objects have good transport accessibility, a degree of preservation of the monuments, but require further development, registration of the monuments and interest on the part of German societies, since at present there are no Germans living in the villages. Among the objects in rural areas, a number of other villages can be distinguished, for example, Aleksandrovka and Leninskoye (former colony of Byuten) of the Krasnogvardeysky district, Zolotoe Pole (colony of Zurichtal) Kirovsky district and Kolchugino (Kronental colony) of the Simferopol region. The cultural objects of the Crimean Germans must also include places of worship, buildings of public importance in cities, for example, Simferopol, Yalta, Sudak (in the latter place, objects have been preserved in the village of Uyutnoye, Sudak City Council, i.e. the territory of the former colony of Sudak, which was its winemaking specialization).

Currently, the number of ethnographic (in rural areas) and architectural objects identified by German culture is more than 20.

Russians

Almost all of the monuments of Russian culture in Crimea are under state protection and, in one way or another, are included in various tourist routes. An example is the palace of Count Vorontsov in Alupka, which is one of the most unique architectural monuments of the “Russian period” in the history of Crimea (after Catherine II signed the manifesto on the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many luxurious cultural monuments, executed in the best traditions of that time, belonging to Russians and Russian-born people arose nobles and nobility).

The Alupka Palace was built according to the design of the English architect E. Blair, but embodied the features of both classicism and romantic and Gothic forms, as well as techniques of Moorish architecture. This building could be classified as a multi-ethnic cultural monument, but ethnicity is not always determined by the manner of execution, the styles used, techniques, and even the affiliation of the architect. The main feature that distinguishes this object is its Russian environment.

According to the same principle, the Livadia Palace, built in 1911, is classified as a monument of Russian culture. according to the design of the Yalta architect N. Krasnov, on the site of a building that burned down in 1882. palace The building was built with the latest technology: there is central heating, an elevator, and electric lighting. Fireplaces installed in the halls serve not only as decorative decoration, but can also heat the halls of the palace. Traditional for Russian architecture of the 17th century. the forms determine the appearance of the Alexander Church in Yalta, also built by the architect Krasnov (1881).

In Sevastopol, many buildings made in the tradition of the Russian-Byzantine style have been preserved. A striking embodiment of this direction is the Vladimir Cathedral - the tomb of admirals M.P. Lazareva, V.A. Kornilova, V.I. Istomina, P.S. Nakhimov (built in 1881 by architect K.A. Ton). Using forms and techniques, the classics were built in the 50s. XX century ensembles of residential buildings on Nakhimov Avenue. A number of buildings in Simferopol were made in the style of Russian classicism - the former country estate of the doctor Mühlhausen (1811), hospice Taranova-Belozerov (1825), Vacation home Vorontsov in the Salgirka park. All these buildings are protected by law and decrees of the republican authorities on protection, and can be included in the list of ethnographic objects of Russian culture.

Masterpieces of traditional rural Russian culture were revealed during the study of the Simferopol region. These are the villages themselves, founded at the end of the 18th century. retired soldiers of the Russian army - Mazanka, Kurtsy, Kamenka (Bogurcha). Among the first Russian settlements is also the village. Zuya, Belogorsky district, village. Prokhladnoye (formerly Mangushi), Bakhchisaray district, Grushevka (formerly Saly) Sudak city council. In these settlements, dwellings from the late 18th - early 19th centuries have been preserved. (Mazanka, Grushevka). Some of them are abandoned, but have retained elements of traditional architecture and interior layout. In some places, dugouts that preceded the mud hut dwellings of Russian soldiers have been preserved.

Far from the village Muzanka preserved old Russian cemetery with burials from the beginning of the 19th century, well-preserved stone tombstones in the form of a St. George's cross, inscriptions and ornaments can be seen in places.

To religious buildings traditional architecture The existing St. Nicholas churches should be included: in Mazanka, Zuya, Belogorsk, the foundation of which dates back to the beginning - mid-19th century.

The most significant objects include the Peter and Paul Orthodox Cathedral, the Holy Trinity Cathedral, and the Church of the Three Saints in Simferopol. All these places of worship are operational. A number of Orthodox cathedrals, churches, and chapels are identified as ethographic objects in the areas of Greater Yalta and Greater Alushta. On the eastern tip of our peninsula, one can highlight such an ethnographic site as the Old Believer village of Kurortnoye, Leninsky district (formerly Mama Russian). The prayer house, the traditional way of life of the Old Believers have been preserved here, and customs and rituals are performed. In total, 54 ethnographic objects reflecting Russian material and spiritual culture in Crimea were identified, including some objects marked as “East Slavic”. This is explained by the fact that many so-called Russian-Ukrainian, Russian-Belarusian families were classified as the Russian population.

Ukrainians

To study the culture of the Ukrainian ethnic group in Crimea, the village of Novonikolaevka, Leninsky district, can be identified as a complex ethnographic object, which has a museum of ethnography, which also presents an exposition of both East Slavic traditional material and spiritual culture, and also includes a subject series on the Ukrainians of Crimea, settlers of the 19th - early 20th centuries Dwellings have also been preserved in the village late XIX century, one of them is equipped as a museum “Ukransky Khata” (initiative and ethnographic material of local resident Yu.A. Klimenko). The traditional interior is maintained, household items and furniture are presented, and many folklore sketches are collected.

In terms of holding folk holidays, performing Ukrainian rites and rituals, the resettlement villages of the 50s are interesting. XX century Among them are Pozharskoye and Vodnoye, Simferopol district ( folklore ensembles in traditional costumes they stage costume performances on themes of beliefs and traditions). The venue for the holidays was “Weeping Rock” - a natural monument not far from the village. Water.

Among the ethnographic objects identified during the research work of the staff of the Crimean Ethnographic Museum, there are also objects on the traditional culture of such small ethnic groups, like the French, Crimean gypsies, Czechs and Estonians.

French people

The culture of the French is associated with a number of places on the peninsula. Undoubtedly, identifying objects and their further use will be interesting for tourists.

Crimean gypsies

A number of interesting points can be identified in the culture of the Crimean gypsies, for example, one of the Chingine groups (as the Crimean Tatars called the gypsies) were musicians by their occupation, who in the 19th century. played at Crimean Tatar weddings. Currently, the Chingins live compactly in the village. Oktyabrsky and town. Soviet.

Czechs and Estonians

The places of compact residence of Czechs and Estonians is the steppe part of the peninsula: Czechs - village. Lobanovo (formerly the village of Bohemka) Dzhankoy district and the village. Aleksandrovka of the Krasnogvardeysky district, and Estonians - the villages of Novoestonia, Krasnodarka (formerly the village of Kochee-Shavva) of the Krasnogvardeysky district and the village. Beregovoe (village Zashruk) Bakhchisaray district. In all villages, traditional dwellings with a characteristic layout and decoration elements of the late 19th - early 20th century have been preserved

Week-long tour, one-day hiking and excursions combined with comfort (trekking) in the mountain resort of Khadzhokh (Adygea, Krasnodar region). Tourists live at the camp site and visit numerous natural monuments. Rufabgo waterfalls, Lago-Naki plateau, Meshoko gorge, Big Azish cave, Belaya River Canyon, Guam gorge.

- November, 10th 2013

In recent years, after the return of the Tatars from deportation, interethnic and interregional relations on the Crimean Peninsula have worsened. The basis of the conflict is a dispute: whose land is this and who is indigenous to Crimea? First, let's define who historical and ethnographic sciences classify as indigenous peoples. The Encyclopedia gives this answer:

An indigenous people is an ethnic group that has mastered a territory that was not inhabited by anyone before.

Now let’s trace the changes in Crimean ethnogenesis (the emergence of various peoples), although this will not be a complete picture, but nevertheless it is impressive. So, they lived in Crimea at different times.

About 300 thousand years ago– primitive people (Early Paleolithic); tools for labor and hunting were found at sites on the South Coast.

About 100 thousand years ago– primitive people (Middle Paleolithic); more than 20 human sites are known: Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Shaitan-Koba, Akkaya, Zaskalnaya, Prolom, Kobazi, Wolf Grotto, etc.; religion - animism.

40-35 thousand years ago– people of the Upper Paleolithic; religion - totemism; 4 sites were found, including Suren I.

12th-10th millennium– people of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age); more than 20 sites were found throughout Crimea: Shankoba, Fatmakoba, Alimov canopy, Kachinsky canopy, etc.; religion - totemism.

8th millennium– Neolithic (New Stone Age) people; Kemi-Oba culture (Tashair); religion - totemism.

5th millennium(Bronze Age) – the arrival of the tribes of the “Catacomb” and “Srubnaya” cultures to the Crimea (burials in mounds).

Existence different cultures did not pass without a trace for them - they undoubtedly influenced each other, changed and enriched, and perhaps merged, giving rise to new cultures. Perhaps this was the beginning of the culture of the Cimmerians (alien tribes) and the culture of the Taurians (local tribes):

3rd millennium BC(Iron Age) - Cimmeria, Cimmerians - a warlike people, Indo-Aryans - people of the European type; their distribution area: the south of modern Russia, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Crimea; religion – polytheism. They lived in the valleys. Most likely, they brought the ability to mine and process iron to Crimea.

X century BC- Tavria, Tavrika, Taurida, Taurians (they can only be called a single people with a certain stretch; rather, they are a conglomerate of various tribes: Arichs, Napei, Sinkhs, etc.) They lived in the mountains, were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing; their burials have been preserved - dolmens and fortifications: Uch-Bash, on Cape Kharaks, on Mount Castel Seraus, Koshka, Karaul-oba, on the rocks of the Kachin Gate, Ai-Yori and in the Karalez Valley; religion - the cult of the Virgin and other gods.

These tribes were united by one name by the Greeks, who were already visiting the Crimean shores in those days. It is not clear why they called them that: either because of their ferocious disposition, or because of their countless herds (“tauros” is a bull from Greek), or this word meant “highlanders” (taurus-tur-mountain)…

VII-VI centuries BC- Greeks. Chersonese Tauride, Cimmerian Bosporus on the shores of the Pontus Euxine (Black Sea) and Maeotis (Sea of ​​Azov). The Greeks founded these two states, as well as hundreds of settlements along the coast; religion - polytheism, Pantheon of Olympian gods led by Zeus (Cronos); from the 1st century AD – gradual Christianization; The Greeks were the first in Crimea to begin trading local slaves “for export” (how, by the way, could the Tauri, and then the Scythians, treat them, because they didn’t even consider them people?)

VIII-VII centuries BC– Scythia, Scythians (Skolot), Sindians, Meotians, Sakas, Massagetae and other Indo-Iranian nomadic tribes, which practically displaced the Cimmerians from the Crimean expanses and gradually became settled in vast territories (the capital of Scythia was near modern Nikopol, and the second - in the Crimea (Simferopol) – Scythian Naples, built in the 3rd century BC) Religion – polytheism. Pantheon of gods led by Popeye.

An eternal and irresistible process mutual influence and the mixing of peoples led to the fact that in the first centuries of our era the Tauri were no longer separated from the Scythians, but were called Tauro-Scythians, and some of the Scythian settlements mixed with Greek ones (for example, the Tatars already in the 13th century found a wretched Greek village on the site of Naples, which was called Kermenchuk ). But let's continue the list.

2nd century BC Sarmatia. The Sarmatians pushed the related-speaking Scythians out of the Northern Black Sea region and the Azov region into the Crimea; religion - polytheism.

1st century BC– Jewish Diaspora – Semites. Religion – monotheism (god Yahweh); gravestones with seven-branched candlesticks and inscriptions in Hebrew were discovered on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas.

I century BC - I century AD– Pontic people (Pontic Bosporus); settled on the site of the Bosporan Cimmerian kingdom led by Mithridates VI Eupator (Kerch); religion - polytheism. Together with the Pontic people, Armenians appeared on the peninsula.

1st century BC – III century AD– the Romans and Thracians, after the defeat of the Pontic Kingdom, captured Crimea (now this is the easternmost outskirts of the Roman Empire); religion - polytheism, and from 325. – Christianity; The Romans introduced local residents to their culture and introduced them to the virtues of Roman law.

Until the 4th century AD– Eastern Slavs: Antes, Tivertsy (Artania) – known in the Northern Black Sea region since ancient times; pushed to the north during the Great Migration of Peoples, partially preserved in Taman - the future Tmutarakan; religion - polytheism.

III century AD– Germanic tribes: Goths and Heruli (Gothia, Captaincy of Gothia); came from the Baltic states, destroyed Scythia and created their own state of Gothia on the southern coast of Crimea. Later, they left the Huns to the west, some returned in the 7th century. The Goths were the impetus for the unification of the Slavs; religion - polytheism, and later - Christianity.

III century AD– Alans-Yas, related to the Sarmatians (distant ancestors of the Ossetians); together with the Sarmatians they settled among the Scythians; best known in Crimea for their settlement of Kyrk-Ork (until the 14th century, then Chufut-Kale), when they were pushed into the mountains by the Huns; religion – Christianity.

IV century– Huns, Xiongnu (Hun Principality) – the ancestors of today’s Tuvans; invaded from the Trans-Altai region, dealt a powerful blow to the Goths, drove away a significant part of the population, thereby marking the beginning of the Great Migration of Peoples; religion - paganism, later - Christianity.

IV century– Byzantium (East Roman Empire), Kherson theme; after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Taurica, as it were, was “inherited” by Byzantium; strongholds in Crimea - Kherson, Bosporus (Kerch), Gurzuvits (Gurzuf), Aluston (Alushta), etc. In 325. accept Christianity.

VI century– the Turks (Mongoloid Turkets) raided to the Crimea from Siberia, having established their Ashin dynasty in Khazaria (the lower reaches of the Volga and Terek), but did not gain a foothold on the peninsula; pagans.

VI century- Avars (obry) - created the Avar Kaganate in Transnistria, also raided the Crimea until they were defeated by the Bulgars; pagans.

7th century– Bulgars (Bulgarians). Some of them settled in the Crimea, becoming settled from nomadic, settling in foothill valleys and engaging in agriculture (in general, the Volga Bulgar-Turks moved to the West; another wave of them went north, creating the Kazan Khanate; in the Balkans they assimilated with the southern Slavs, founding Bulgaria and adopting Christianity ); pagans, and from the 9th century. - Orthodox Christians.

7th century– Greekized superethnos (Gothia, Doros) – formed the Greek-speaking basis of the population of the Mangup principality (Dori); Byzantium is strengthening, uniting multilingual peoples who lived in the mountainous Crimea and along the South Coast; religion – Christianity, as well as other religions.

VIII-X centuries– Khazar Khaganate, Khazars ( Turkic-speaking peoples Dagestan type); religion is paganism, later some converted to Islam, some to Judaism, and some to Christianity. Power in the Kaganate is first seized by the Turkets-Ashins, then by the Jews; Judean Khazaria captures part of the steppe and coastal Crimea, competes with Byzantium, and seeks to subjugate Rus' (destroyed by Prince Svyatoslav in 965).

VIII-X centuries– Karaites; came to Khazaria from Israel through Persia and the Caucasus; crossed with the Khazars; forced out by Rokhdanite Jews to the outskirts of Khazaria, including the Crimea; language – Kynchak dialect of the Turkic language, close to Crimean Tatar; religion – Judaism (only the Pentateuch – Torah is recognized).

VII-I centuries– Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) – remained in Crimea and Taman as fragments of the defeated Khazar Kaganate (known as residents of the Tmutarakan principality and Kievan Rus); the language is close to Karaite; religion – Orthodox Judaism-Rabbinism.

Late 9th – early 19th centuries.– Pechenegs-Bejans (Turkmens) – Turks from the Baraba steppes; defeated by the Polovtsians and Guzes; some dispersed to the Crimea, some to the Lower Dnieper region (Karakalpaks); were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs; religion – paganism.

X-XI centuries– Guz-Oghuz (Turkmen) – Turkic people. Leader - Oguz Khan; ousted the Pechenegs from the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region, and then, together with the Pechenegs, opposed the Russes (Rugs), Slavs and Polovtsians; religion – paganism.

X-XIII centuries- Eastern Slavs (Tmutarakan Principality as part of Kievan Rus). This is the principality (Taman and Korchev-Kerch), founded by Prince Vladimir in 988, in 1222. together with the Polovtsians, they fought off the Turks; at the Battle of Kalka in 1223. Ataman Tmutarakan Plaskinya took the side of the Mongol-Tatars; religion – Christianity.

XI century– Polovtsians (Kypchaks, Cumans, Komans). They created the state of Odzhaklar in the Black Sea region and Crimea with its capital Sarkel (on the Don). They alternately fight with Russia and make alliances; together with four Russian princes Mstislav and Khan Katyan, they were defeated on the Kalka River in 1223; some went to Hungary and Egypt (Mamluks), the rest were assimilated by the Tatars, Slavs, Hungarians, Greeks, etc. Religion - paganism.

XI century– perhaps Armenians were settling in Crimea at this time (their homeland was being tormented by the Persians and Seljuk Turks). Mountain Taurica east of present-day Belogorsk has for some time been called Primorsky Armenia; in a wooded tract there emerges the Armenian monastery of Surb-Khach (holy cross), known even outside the Crimea; Belogorsk itself is a large and rich city - Solkhat (it is inhabited by Kipchaks, Alans and Rus, as well as Soldaya, Surozh (Sudak).

Ancient authors have many reports about the dews (Rus) who lived from the first centuries of our era in the Northern Azov region, the Black Sea region and in the Crimea. In Byzantine documents it was stated: “ Scythians, who are Russians" In the 9th century. The Black Sea was called the Russian Sea by the Arabs (previously it was the Rum Sea - “Byzantine”). In the 9th century. The enlightener Kirill saw books “written in Russian characters” in Taurica. The word "ros" means "light, white." The Tarkhankut Peninsula was designated as the “white coast”, and the Dews lived there. The Arabs called the Rus Slavs, the Greeks called Scythians, and the Cimmerian Bosporus was considered their homeland. There is a version that the Novgorod prince Bravlin, who went to the Greek settlements, was a local Tauro-Scythian leader, and the “Russian new city” is most likely Scythian Naples. In the 11th century. The Kerch Strait is called the Russian River, and on its Crimean shore, opposite Tmutarakan, stands the city of Rosia - White City(Kerch?). The Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin, in 1474, when returning from “Overseas,” visited the Crimea, where he saw many Russians and people of the Orthodox faith in general, as well as baptized Tatars (which he wrote about in his diaries).

XII-XV centuries- Venetians, Genoese, Pisans founded trading posts in Crimea: Kafa, Soldaya, Vosporo, Chembalo. They appeared in Crimea back in Byzantine times and participated in the Battle of Kulikovo in Mamai’s army. In 1475 Kafa (modern Feodosia) fell under the attacks of the Turks and Tatars. Religion – Catholicism.

XII-XV centuries– in Crimea, the multi-ethnic Mangup principality of Theodoro emerges, having connections with Constantinople, Europe, Moscow and numbering 200 thousand. people population ( most of- Greeks). It extended from Balaklava to Alushta, located in the mountainous Crimea; defeated by the Turks and Tatars in 1475. After 300 years, only 30 thousand remained in Crimea. Greeks, half of them Urums (Tatarized). In 1778, the Greeks left for the Azov region (Mariupol).

Beginning of the 13th century.– Crimea is inhabited by Tatars – Ulus of the Golden Horde. The capital becomes Eski-Crimea - Old Crimea (formerly Solkhat). The Transbaikalian tribes of the Tatars and Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, captured the Yenisei and Ob Kirghiz and conquered the peoples of Central Asia. At the beginning of the 13th century. Genghis Khan moved west towards the Kipchaks and Kievan Rus. In Crimea - since 1239; pagans, and from the 14th century - Sunni Muslims.

Crimean Khanate (Tatars) - from 1428. the capital moved from Solkhat to Bakhchisarai; formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde. Since 1475 to 1774 this state is a vassal of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire; liquidated in 1783 Religion – Islam.

XIII century– Gypsies – known in Crimea since the time of the Crimean Khanate. They may have first appeared in Khazar times; religion - paganism, and then partly Christianity, partly Islam.

XV century – 1475-1774- Turks, Ottoman Empire (the first attempt to establish themselves in Crimea was in 1222) The Turks capture Kafa, Sudak, the cave cities of Mangup and Chufut-Kale, and the Sultan becomes the religious head of the Crimean Tatars. Religion – Islam.

XVIII - XX centuries.– Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Germans, Czechs, Estonians, Moldovans, Kara Greeks, Wallachians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Kazan and Siberian Tatars, Koreans, Hungarians, Italians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, etc.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. Turks and most of the Tatars go to Turkey, and the settlement of Crimea and the Novorossiysk region by Slavic and other peoples (including from abroad) begins. Religion – various religions and denominations.

Afterword

The article uses data from the article “Indigenous and Dwelling” (newspaper “Krymskaya Pravda” dated January 27, 2004), written by Vasily Potekhin, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Honored Education Worker of Crimea, member of the Writers' Union, who states:

None of the peoples currently living in Crimea are aboriginal - autochthonous, that is, indigenous. The principle of our peaceful multi-ethnic existence today is reflected on the coat of arms of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the form of the motto: “Prosperity in unity.” Nationalism inevitably leads to national fascism. Crimea was, is and will be a historical testing ground for the creation of multinational Eurasian culture.

Culture will save the world.

Before the capture of Crimea by the Mongol-Tatars and the reign of the Golden Horde here, 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. Sites of ancient people were found in Shankob, in the Kachinsky and Alimov canopies, in Fatmakoba and in other places. It is known that the religion of these ancient tribes was totemism, and they buried their dead in log houses, placing high mounds on top of them.

Chimerians (9th–7th centuries BC)

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

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

Taurus (VI century BC, - 1st century AD)

Tauris - this is what the Greeks who visited Crimea called the formidable tribes living here. The name may have been related to the cattle breeding in which they were engaged, because “tauros” means “bull” in Greek. It is unknown where the Taurians came from; some scientists tried to connect them with the Indo-Aryans, others considered them Goths. The culture of dolmens – ancestral burial grounds – is associated with the Tauri.

The Tauri cultivated the land and grazed livestock, hunted in the mountains and did not disdain sea robbery. Strabo mentioned that the Tauri gathered in Symbolon Bay (Balaklava), formed gangs and robbed ships. The most evil tribes were considered the Arikhs, Sinkhs and Napei: their war cry made the blood of their enemies freeze; The Taurus stabbed their opponents and nailed their heads to the walls of their temples. The historian Tacitus wrote how the Tauri killed the Roman legionnaires who had escaped from a shipwreck. In the 1st century, the Tauri disappeared from the face of the earth, dissolving among the Scythians.

Scythians (VII century BC – III century AD)

The Scythian tribes came to the Crimea, retreating under the pressure of the Sarmatians, here they settled down and absorbed part of the Tauri and even mixed with the Greeks. In the 3rd century, a Scythian state with its capital Naples (Simferopol) appeared on the plains of Crimea, 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 Sartmats, in turn, replenished the genetic diversity of the peoples of Crimea, dissolving into its population. The Roksolani, Iazyges and Aorses fought with the Scythians for centuries, penetrating into the Crimea. With them came the warlike Alans, who settled in the southwest of the peninsula and founded the Goth-Alans community, converting to Christianity. Strabo in his “Geography” writes about the participation of 50,000 Roxolani in an unsuccessful campaign against the Pontic people.

Greeks (VI century BC)

The first Greek colonists settled the Crimean coast during the time of the Tauri; here they built the cities of Kerkinitis, Panticapaeum, Chersonesos and Theodosius, which in the 5th century BC. formed two states: Bosporus and Chersonesos. The Greeks lived by gardening and winemaking, fishing, trading and minting their own coins. With the advent of the new era, the states fell under the control of Pontus, then Rome and Byzantium.

From the 5th to the 9th century AD In Crimea, a new ethnic group “Crimean Greeks” arose, whose descendants were the Greeks of antiquity, Taurians, Scythians, Goto-Alans 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 Crimea at the end of the 1st century, defeating the king of Panticapaeum (Kerch) Mithridates VI Eupator; Soon Chersonesus, which had suffered from the Scythians, asked to come under their protection. The Romans enriched Crimea with their culture, building fortresses on Cape Ai-Todor, in Balaklava, on Alma-Kermen and left the peninsula after the collapse of the empire - professor of Simferopol University Igor Khrapunov writes about this in his work “The Population of Mountain Crimea in Late Roman Times.”

Goths (III–XVII centuries)

The Goths lived in Crimea, a Germanic tribe that appeared on the peninsula during the Great Migration. The Christian saint Procopius of Caesarea wrote that the Goths were farmers and their nobles held military positions in the Bosporus, which the Goths took control of. Having become the owners of the Bosporan fleet, in 257 the Germans launched a campaign against Trebizond, where they captured countless treasures.

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

For a long time, Gothia was a buffer between the hordes of nomads pressing on 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 a treaty with the Golden Horde, they founded trading colonies that lasted until the Ottomans captured the coast, after which their few inhabitants were assimilated.

In the 4th century, the cruel Huns invaded the Crimea, some of whom settled in the steppes and mixed with the Goth-Alans. Jews and Armenians who fled from the Arabs also moved to Crimea, Khazars, Eastern Slavs, Polovtsians, Pechenegs and Bulgars visited here, and it is absolutely no wonder that the peoples of Crimea are not similar to each other, because the blood of a variety of peoples flows in their veins.

Crimea is unique historical and cultural reserve, striking in its antiquity and diversity.

Its numerous cultural monuments reflect historical events, culture and religion different eras and different peoples. The history of Crimea is an interweaving of East and West, the history of the Greeks and the Golden Horde, the churches of the first Christians and mosques. For many centuries, different peoples lived, fought, made peace and traded here, cities were built and destroyed, civilizations arose and disappeared. It seems that the very air here is filled with legends about the lives of the Olympian gods, Amazons, Cimmerians, Taurians, Greeks...

50-40 thousand years ago - the appearance and residence on the territory of the peninsula of a man of the Cro-Magnon type - the ancestor of modern man. Scientists have discovered three sites of this period: Syuren, near the village of Tankovoe, Kachinsky canopy near the village of Predushchelnoye in the Bakhchisarai region, Adzhi-Koba on the slope of Karabi-Yayla.

If before the first millennium BC. e. While historical data allows us to talk only about different periods of human development, later it becomes possible to talk about specific tribes and cultures of Crimea.

In the 5th century BC, the ancient Greek historian Herodotus visited the Northern Black Sea region and described in his works the lands and peoples living on them. It is believed that one of the first peoples who lived in the steppe part of Crimea in the 15th-7th centuries BC. there were Cimmerians. These warlike tribes left Crimea in the 4th - 3rd centuries BC due to the equally aggressive Scythians and got lost in the vast expanses of the Asian steppes. Perhaps only ancient toponyms remind us of the Cimmerians: Cimmerian Walls, Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric...

They lived in the mountainous and foothill regions of the peninsula. Ancient authors described the Tauri as cruel, bloodthirsty people. Skilled sailors, they engaged in piracy, robbing ships sailing along the coast. Captives were sacrificed to the goddess Virgo (the Greeks associated her with Artemis), throwing them into the sea from a high cliff where the temple was located. However, modern scientists have established that the Tauri led a pastoral and agricultural lifestyle, were engaged in hunting, fishing, and collecting shellfish. They lived in caves or huts, and in case of an enemy attack they built fortified shelters. Archaeologists have discovered Taurus fortifications on the mountains Uch-Bash, Koshka, Ayu-Dag, Kastel, on Cape Ai-Todor, as well as numerous burials in the so-called stone boxes - dolmens. They consisted of four flat slabs placed on edge, the fifth covering the dolmen from above.

The myth about the evil sea robbers Taurus has already been debunked, and today they are trying to find the place where the temple of the cruel goddess of the Virgin stood, where bloody sacrifices were performed.

In the 7th century BC. e. Scythian tribes appeared in the steppe part of the peninsula. Under pressure from the Sarmatians in the 4th century BC. e. The Scythians concentrate in the Crimea and the lower Dnieper. Here, at the turn of the IV-III centuries BC. e. A Scythian state is formed with the capital Naples of Scythia (on the territory of modern Simferopol).

In the 7th century BC, Greek colonization of the Northern Black Sea region and Crimea began. In Crimea, in places convenient for navigation and living, the Greek “polises” arose: the city-state of Tauric Chersonesus (on the outskirts of modern Sevastopol), Feodosia and Panticapaeum-Bosporus (modern Kerch), Nymphaeum, Myrmekiy, Tiritaka.

The emergence of Greek colonies in the Northern Black Sea region strengthened trade, cultural and political ties between the Greeks and the local population; local farmers learned new forms of cultivation, growing grapes and olives. Greek culture had a huge impact on spiritual world Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians and other tribes. But the relationship between different peoples was not easy. Peaceful periods gave way to hostile ones, wars often broke out, which is why Greek cities were protected by strong walls.

In the 4th century. BC e. several settlements were founded west coast Crimea. The largest of them are Kerkinitida (Evpatoria) and Kalos-Limen (Black Sea). In the last quarter of the 5th century BC. e. immigrants from the Greek city of Heraclea founded the city of Chersonesos. Now this is the territory of Sevastopol. By the beginning of the 3rd century. BC e. Chersonesos became a city-state independent from the Greek metropolis. It becomes one of the largest policies in the Northern Black Sea region. Chersonesos in its heyday was a large port city, surrounded by thick walls, a trade, craft and cultural center of the entire southwestern coast of Crimea.

Around 480 BC e. The Bosporan Kingdom was formed from the unification of initially independent Greek cities. Panticapaeum became the capital of the kingdom. Later, Theodosia was annexed to the kingdom.

In the 4th century BC, the Scythian tribes united under the rule of King Atey into a strong state that occupied a vast territory from the Southern Bug and the Dniester to the Don. Already at the end of the 4th century. and especially from the first half of the 3rd century. BC e. The Scythians and, probably, the Tauri, under their influence, exert strong military pressure on the "polises". In the 3rd century BC, Scythian fortifications, villages and cities appeared in the Crimea. The capital of the Scythian state - Naples - was built on the southeastern outskirts of modern Simferopol.

IN last decade II century BC e. Chersonesos in critical situation, when Scythian troops besieged the city, he turned to the Pontic Kingdom (located on the southern shore of the Black Sea) for help. Ponta's troops arrived in Chersonesos and lifted the siege. At the same time, Pontus' troops took Panticapaeum and Feodosia by storm. After this, both Bosporus and Chersonesus were included in the Pontic kingdom.

From approximately the middle of the 1st to the beginning of the 4th century AD, the sphere of interests of the Roman Empire included the entire Black Sea region and Taurica as well. Chersonesus became a stronghold of the Romans in Taurica. In the 1st century, Roman legionaries built the Charax fortress on Cape Ai-Todor, laid roads connecting it with Chersonesos, where the garrison was located, and a Roman squadron was stationed in the Chersonesos harbor. In 370, hordes of Huns fell on the lands of Tauris. Under their blows, the Scythian state and the Bosporan kingdom perished; Naples, Panticapaeum, Chersonesos and many cities and villages lay in ruins. And the Huns rushed further to Europe, where they caused the death of the great Roman Empire.

In the 4th century, after the division of the Roman Empire into Western and Eastern (Byzantine), the sphere of interests of the latter included South part Tauriki. Chersonesus (it became known as Kherson) became the main base of the Byzantines on the peninsula.

Christianity came to Crimea from the Byzantine Empire. According to church tradition, Andrew the First-Called was the first to bring the good news to the peninsula; the third bishop of Rome, Saint Clement, who was exiled to Chersonesos in 94, carried out great preaching activities. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement began in Byzantium; icons and paintings in churches were destroyed. Monks, fleeing persecution, moved to the outskirts of the empire, including the Crimea. Here in the mountains they founded cave temples and monasteries: Uspensky, Kachi-Kalyon, Shuldan, Chelter and others.

At the end of the 6th century, a new wave of conquerors appeared in Crimea - these were the Khazars, whose descendants were considered to be the Karaites. They occupied the entire peninsula, with the exception of Cherson (as Chersonesos is called in Byzantine documents). From this time on, the city began to play a significant role in the history of the empire. In 705, Kherson separated from Byzantium and recognized the Khazar protectorate. To which Byzantium sent a punitive fleet with a landing party in 710. The fall of Kherson was accompanied by unprecedented cruelty, but before the troops had time to leave the city, it rose again. Having united with the punitive troops that had betrayed Byzantium and the allies of the Khazars, the troops of Cherson entered Constantinople and installed their own emperor.

In the 9th century, a new force actively intervened in the course of Crimean history - the Slavs. At the same time, the decline of the Khazar power occurred, which was finally defeated in the 60s of the 10th century by the Kyiv prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988-989, the Kiev prince Vladimir took Kherson (Korsun), where he accepted the Christian faith.

During the 13th century, the Golden Horde (Tatar-Mongols) invaded Taurica several times, plundering its cities. Then they began to settle on the territory of the peninsula. In the middle of the 13th century, they captured Solkhat, which became the center of the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde and was named Kyrym (like the entire peninsula subsequently).

In the 13th century (1270), first the Venetians and then the Genoese penetrated the southern coast. Having ousted their competitors, the Genoese created a number of fortified trading posts on the coast. Their main stronghold in Crimea becomes Kafa (Feodosia), they captured Sudak (Soldaya), as well as Cherchio (Kerch). In the middle of the 14th century, they settled in the immediate vicinity of Kherson - in the Bay of Symbols, founding the Chembalo (Balaklava) fortress there.

During the same period, the Orthodox principality of Theodoro was formed in the mountainous Crimea with its center in Mangup.

In the spring of 1475, a Turkish fleet appeared off the coast of Kafa. The well-fortified city was able to hold out under siege for only three days and surrendered to the mercy of the winner. Having captured coastal fortresses one after another, the Turks put an end to Genoese rule in the Crimea. The Turkish army met worthy resistance at the walls of the capital Theodoro. Having captured the city after a six-month siege, they ravaged it, killing the inhabitants or taking them into slavery. The Crimean Khan became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan.

The Crimean Khanate became the conductor of Turkey's aggressive policy towards the Moscow state. Constant Tatar raids on the southern lands of Ukraine, Russia, Lithuania and Poland.

Russia, which sought to secure its southern borders and gain access to the Black Sea, fought with Turkey more than once. In the war of 1768-1774. The Turkish army and navy were defeated, and in 1774 the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty was concluded, according to which the Crimean Khanate gained independence. Kerch with the fortress of Yoni-Kale, the fortresses of Azov and Kin-burn in the Crimea passed to Russia, Russian merchant ships could freely sail in the Black Sea.

In 1783, after the Russian-Turkish War (1768-1774), Crimea was annexed to the Russian Empire. This contributed to the strengthening of Russia, its southern borders ensured the safety of transport routes on the Black Sea.

The majority of the Muslim population left Crimea, moving to Turkey, the region became depopulated and fell into desolation. In order to revive the peninsula, Prince G. Potemkin, appointed governor of Taurida, began to resettle serfs and retired soldiers from neighboring areas. This is how the new villages of Mazanka, Izyumovka, Chistenkoye appeared on the Crimean land... The works of His Serene Highness were not in vain, the economy of Crimea began to develop rapidly, orchards, vineyards, and tobacco plantations were laid out on the southern coast and in the mountainous part. On the shores of an excellent natural harbor, the city of Sevastopol was founded as a base for the Black Sea Fleet. Near the small town of Ak-Mosque, Simferopol is being built, which became the center of the Tauride province.

In January 1787, Empress Catherine II, accompanied by the Austrian Emperor Joseph I, traveling under the name of Count Fankelstein, ambassadors of the powerful countries of England, France and Austria and a large retinue, went to the Crimea to inspect new lands to demonstrate to her allies the power and greatness of Russia: The Empress stopped at travel palaces built especially for her. During lunch in Inkerman, the curtains on the window were suddenly parted, and the travelers saw Sevastopol under construction, warships greeting the empresses with volleys. The effect was amazing!

In 1854-1855 The main events of the Eastern War (1853-1856), better known as the Crimean War, took place in Crimea. In September 1854, the united armies of England, France and Turkey landed north of Sevastopol and besieged the city. The defense of the city continued for 349 days under the command of Vice Admirals V.A. Kornilov and P.S. Nakhimov. The war destroyed the city to the ground, but also glorified it throughout the world. Russia was defeated. In 1856, a peace treaty was concluded in Paris, prohibiting Russia and Turkey from having military fleets in the Black Sea.

Having been defeated in the Crimean War, Russia experienced an economic crisis. The abolition of serfdom in 1861 allowed industry to develop faster; enterprises engaged in the processing of grain, tobacco, grapes, and fruits appeared in Crimea. At the same time, the resort development of the South Coast began. On the recommendation of doctor Botkin, the royal family acquires the Livadia estate. From this moment on, palaces, estates, and villas were built along the entire coast, which belonged to members of the Romanov family, court nobility, wealthy industrialists and landowners. In a matter of years, Yalta turned from a village into a famous aristocratic resort.

Construction had a great influence on the development of the region's economy railways, connecting Sevastopol, Feodosia, Kerch and Evpatoria with the cities of Russia. All higher value Crimea was also acquired as a resort.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Crimea belonged to the Tauride province; economically, it was an agricultural region with a small number of industrial cities. The main ones were Simferopol and the port cities of Sevastopol, Kerch, Feodosia.

Soviet power won in Crimea later than in the center of Russia. The Bolsheviks' stronghold in Crimea was Sevastopol. On January 28-30, 1918, the Extraordinary Congress of Soviets of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies of the Tauride Province took place in Sevastopol. Crimea was proclaimed the Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida. It lasted a little over a month. At the end of April, German troops captured Crimea, and in November 1918 they were replaced by the British and French. In April 1919, the Red Army of the Bolsheviks occupied the entire Crimea, except for the Kerch Peninsula, where the troops of General Denikin fortified themselves. On May 6, 1919, the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed. In the summer of 1919, Denikin’s army occupied the entire Crimea. However, in the fall of 1920, the Red Army led by M.V. Frunze again restored Soviet power. In the fall of 1921, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was formed as part of the RSFSR.

Socialist construction began in Crimea. According to the decree signed by Lenin “On the use of Crimea for the treatment of workers,” all palaces, villas, and dachas were given over to sanatoriums where workers and collective farmers from all the union republics rested and were treated. Crimea has turned into an All-Union health resort.

During the Great Patriotic War, Crimeans bravely fought the enemy. The second heroic defense of Sevastopol, which lasted 250 days, the Kerch-Feodosia landing operation, Tierra del Fuego Eltigen, the feat of the underground fighters and partisans became the pages of the military chronicle. For the steadfastness and courage of the defenders, two Crimean cities - Sevastopol and Kerch - were awarded the title of hero city.

In February 1945, a conference of the heads of three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain - took place at the Livadia Palace. At the Crimean (Yalta) Conference, decisions were made related to the end of the war with Germany and Japan, and the establishment of a post-war world order.

After the liberation of Crimea from the fascist occupiers in the spring of 1944, the restoration of its economy began: industrial enterprises, sanatoriums, rest homes, Agriculture, revival of destroyed cities and villages. The expulsion of many peoples became a black page in the history of Crimea. The fate befell the Tatars, Greeks, and Armenians.

On February 19, 1954, a decree was issued on the transfer of the Crimean region to Ukraine. Today, many believe that Khrushchev made a royal gift to Ukraine on behalf of Russia. Nevertheless, the decree was signed by the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, Voroshilov, and Khrushchev’s signature is not present at all in the documents relating to the transfer of Crimea to Ukraine.

During Soviet power, especially in the 60s - 80s of the last century, there was a noticeable growth in Crimean industry and agriculture, the development of resorts and tourism on the peninsula. Crimea, in fact, was known as an all-Union health resort. Every year, 8-9 million people from all over the vast Union vacationed in Crimea.

1991 - “putsch” in Moscow and the arrest of M. Gorbachev at his dacha in Foros. The collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea becomes an Autonomous Republic within Ukraine, and Greater Yalta becomes the summer political capital of Ukraine and the countries of the Black Sea region.

Crimea was like a long-awaited reward for those who, moving from the depths of Russia, managed to overcome the steppes scorched 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 inhabited by primitive people thousands of years ago, and throughout its history it 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 arrive, and coastal cities could also provide protection to the Crimeans, it is not surprising that some were able to survive here historical ethnic groups. Mixings of peoples have always taken place here, and it is no coincidence that historians talk about the “Tavro-Scythians” and “Goto-Alans” living here.

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

Crimean Greeks

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

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

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, Goths and Alans. Already in 325, at the First Ecumenical Council in Nicaea, Cadmus, bishop of Bosporus, and Theophilus, bishop of Gothia, were present. In the future it is Orthodox Christianity will become what united the diverse population of Crimea into a single ethnic group.

The Byzantine Greeks and the Orthodox Greek-speaking population of Crimea called themselves “Romeans” (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 “Hellenes”. Outside Greece, the ethnonym "Romei" (or, in Turkish pronunciation, "Urum") persisted until the twentieth century. In our time, the name “Pontic” (Black Sea) Greeks (or “Ponti”) has been established for all the various Greek ethnic groups in the Crimea and throughout New Russia.

The Goths and Alans who lived in the southwestern part of Crimea, which was called the “country of Dori,” although they retained their languages ​​in everyday life for many centuries, their written language remained Greek. A common religion, a similar way of life and culture, and the spread of the Greek language led to the fact that over time the Goths and Alans, as well as the Orthodox descendants of the “Tavro-Scythians,” joined the Crimean Greeks. Of course, this did not happen right away. Back in the 13th century, Bishop Theodore and the Western missionary G. Rubruk met Alans in Crimea. Apparently, only by the 16th century did the Alans finally merge with the Greeks and Tatars.

Around the same time, the Crimean Goths disappeared. Since the 9th century, the Goths ceased to be 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 the Goths in Crimea, who lived in fortified castles and whose language was Germanic. Rubruk himself, who was of Flemish origin, could, of course, distinguish 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 Metropolitan of Gotha (in Church Slavonic - Gotthean) and Kafaysky (Kafiansky, that is, Feodosia).

It was probably the Hellenized Goths, Alans and other ethnic groups of Crimea that made up the population of the Principality of Theodoro, which existed until 1475. Probably, the Crimean Greeks also included fellow Russians from the former Tmutarakan principality.

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 has become the prestigious language of the dominant people.

In the 13th-15th centuries, “Surozhans” were well known in Rus' - merchants from the city of Surozh (now Sudak). They brought special Sourozh goods to Rus' - silk products. It is interesting that even in V. I. Dahl’s “Explanatory Dictionary of the Living Great Russian Language” there are concepts that survived until the 19th century, such as “Surovsky” (i.e., Surozh) goods, and “Surozhsky series”. Most of the Surozhan 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. The famous merchant dynasties of Moscow Rus' - the Khovrins, Salarevs, Troparevs, Shikhovs - came from the descendants of the Surozhans. 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 boyarhood. The names of villages near Moscow - Khovrino, Salarevo, Sofrino, Troparevo - are associated with the merchant names of the descendants of the Surozhans.

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

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

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

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

Today there are 77 thousand Crimean Greeks (according to the 2001 Ukrainian census), most of whom live in the Azov region. From among them came many outstanding figures in Russian politics, culture and economics. Artist A. Kuindzhi, historian F. A. Hartakhai, 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 Crimea already in 1774-75. new, “Greek” Greeks from Greece appeared. We are talking about those natives of the Greek islands in the Mediterranean Sea, 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 guarded the coast from Sevastopol to Feodosia with the center in Balaklava. Already in 1792, new Greek settlers numbered 1.8 thousand people. Soon the number of Greeks began to grow rapidly due to the widespread immigration of Greeks from the Ottoman Empire. Many Greeks settled in Crimea. At the same time, Greeks came from various regions of the Ottoman Empire, 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 fought bravely in the wars with the Turks and during the Crimean War. Many Greeks served in the Black Sea Fleet.

In particular, from among the Greek refugees came such outstanding military and political Russian figures as the Russian admirals of the Black Sea Fleet, the Alexiano brothers, the hero of the Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91. Admiral F.P. Lally, General A.I. Bella, who fell in 1812 near Smolensk, 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 coincidence that there is an abundance of Greek surnames in the lists of Russian diplomacy, military and naval activities. Many Greeks were mayors, leaders of the nobility, and 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 Greeks began to engage in peaceful pursuits - viticulture, tobacco growing, and fishing. The Greeks owned shops, hotels, taverns and coffee shops in all corners of Crimea.

After the establishment of Soviet power in 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. There were 47.2% of the total number of literate Greeks. In Crimea there were 5 Greek village councils, in which office work was conducted in Greek, there were 25 Greek schools with 1,500 students, and several Greek newspapers and magazines were published. At the end of the 30s, many Greeks became victims of repression.

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

In 1939, 20.6 thousand Greeks (1.8%) lived in Crimea. The decrease in their numbers is explained mainly by 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 punitive forces destroyed the entire population of the Greek village of Laki. By the time of the liberation of Crimea, about 15 thousand Greeks remained there. However, despite the loyalty to the Motherland, which was demonstrated by the vast majority of Crimean Greeks, in May-June 1944 they were deported along with the Tatars and Armenians. A certain number of people of Greek origin, who were considered to be persons of another nationality according to their personal data, remained in Crimea, but it is clear that they tried to get rid of everything Greek.

After the removal of restrictions on the legal status of Greeks, Armenians, Bulgarians and members of their families in special settlements, according to the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR dated March 27, 1956, the special settlers gained some freedom. But the same decree deprived them of the opportunity to receive back the confiscated property and the right to return to Crimea. All these years the Greeks were deprived of the opportunity to study the Greek language. Education took place in schools in Russian, which led to the loss of the native language among young people. Since 1956, Greeks have gradually returned to Crimea. Most of those who arrived found themselves separated from each other in their native land, and lived individual families throughout Crimea. In 1989, 2,684 Greeks lived in Crimea. Total number Greeks from Crimea and their descendants in the USSR amounted to 20 thousand people.

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

Crimean Armenians

Another ethnic group has lived in Crimea for more than a millennium - the Armenians. 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 Crimea. Mass immigration of Armenians to Crimea began in the 11th century, after the Seljuk Turks defeated the Armenian kingdom, which caused a mass exodus of the population. In the XIII-XIV centuries, there were especially many Armenians. Crimea is even called “maritime Armenia” in some Genoese documents. In a number of cities, including the largest city of the peninsula at that time, Kafe (Feodosia), Armenians made up the majority of the population. Hundreds of Armenian churches with schools were built on the peninsula. At the same time, some Crimean Armenians moved to the southern lands of Rus'. In particular, a very large Armenian community has developed in Lviv. In Crimea there are still numerous Armenian churches, monasteries, outbuildings.

Armenians lived throughout Crimea, but until 1475 the majority of Armenians lived in the Genoese colonies. Under pressure from the Catholic Church, some Armenians joined the union. Most Armenians, however, remained faithful to the traditional Armenian Gregorian Church. The religious life of the Armenians was very intense. There were 45 Armenian churches in one cafe. The Armenians were governed by their community elders. The Armenians were judged according to their own laws, according to their own code of justice.

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

In 1475, Crimea became dependent on the Ottoman Empire, with the cities of the southern coast, where the majority of Armenians lived, coming under the direct control of the Turks. The conquest of Crimea by the Turks was accompanied by the death of many Armenians and the removal of part of the population into slavery. The Armenian population declined sharply. Only in the 17th century did their numbers begin to increase.

During three centuries of Turkish rule, many Armenians converted to Islam, which led to their assimilation by the Tatars. Among the Armenians who retained the Christian faith, the Tatar language and oriental customs became widespread. Nevertheless, the Crimean Armenians as an ethnic group did not disappear. The vast majority of Armenians (up to 90%) lived in cities, 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 evicted. 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 Crimea, and in 1811 they were officially allowed to return to their former place of residence. About a third of Armenians took advantage of this permission. Temples, lands, city blocks were returned to them; Urban national self-governing communities were created in Old Crimea and Karasubazar, and a special Armenian court operated until the 1870s.

The result of these government measures, along with the entrepreneurial spirit characteristic of 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, composer A. Spendiarov, artist V. Surenyants, etc. Admiral of the Russian fleet Lazar Serebryakov (Artsatagortsyan) distinguished himself in the military field ), who founded the port city of Novorossiysk in 1838. Crimean Armenians are also represented quite significantly among bankers, ship owners, and entrepreneurs.

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 thousand Armenians on the peninsula. 70% of them lived in cities.

The years of civil war took a heavy toll on the Armenians. Although some prominent Bolsheviks emerged from the Crimean Armenians (for example, Nikolai Babakhan, Laura Bagaturyants, etc.), who played a large role in the victory of their party, still a significant part of the Armenians of the peninsula belonged, in Bolshevik terminology, to “bourgeois and petty-bourgeois elements” . The war, repressions of all 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 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 Crimea began. At the end of the twentieth century, there were about 5 thousand 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 homeland of one of the small ethnic groups - the Karaites. They belong to the Turkic peoples, but differ in their religion. Karaites are Judaists, and they belong to a special branch of Judaism, whose representatives are called Karaites (literally “readers”). The origin of the Karaites is mysterious. The first mention of the Karaites dates back only to 1278, but they lived in Crimea several centuries earlier. The Karaites are probably descendants of the Khazars.

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

Let us recall that the Khazars ruled Crimea in the 8th-10th centuries. By religion, the Khazars were Jews, without being ethnic Jews. It is quite possible that some Khazars who settled in the mountainous Crimea retained the Jewish faith. True, the only problem with the Khazar theory of the origin of the Karaites is the fundamental fact that the Khazars accepted Orthodox Talmudic Judaism, and the Karaites even have the name of a different direction in Judaism. But the Crimean Khazars, after the fall of Khazaria, could well have moved 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 coreligionists. When the Khazars adopted Judaism, the teachings of the Karaites were just emerging among the Jews in Baghdad. It is clear that those Khazars who retained their faith after the fall of Khazaria could take a direction in religion that emphasized their difference from the Jews. Enmity between the “Talmudists” (that is, the bulk of the Jews) and the “readers” (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 maintained independence within the boundaries of the historical territory of Kyrk Yera - a district between the Alma and Kachi rivers and gained their own statehood within a small principality with its capital in the fortified 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 - kagan, or gakhan - of all the Karaites of Crimea (and not just the principality). His competence also included judicial and legal activities. The duality of power, expressed in the presence of both secular and spiritual heads, was inherited by the Karaites from the Khazars.

In 1246, the Crimean Karaites partially moved to Galicia, and in 1397-1398, part of the Karaite warriors (383 families) ended up in Lithuania. Since then, in addition to their historical homeland, Karaites have constantly lived in Galicia and Lithuania. In their places of residence the Karaites used kind attitude surrounding authorities, preserved national identity, 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 Crimea, not particularly standing out among the local residents. They made up the majority of the population of the cave city of Chufut-Kale, inhabited neighborhoods in Old Crimea, Gezlev (Evpatoria), Cafe (Feodosia).

The annexation of Crimea to Russia became the finest hour for this people. The Karaites were exempt from many taxes, they were allowed to acquire land, which turned out to be very profitable when many lands were empty after the eviction of the Greeks, Armenians and the emigration of many Tatars. The Karaites were exempt from conscription, although their voluntary enrollment military service welcomed. Many Karaites actually chose military professions. Quite a few of them distinguished themselves in battles in defense of the Fatherland. Among them, for example, heroes Russo-Japanese War Lieutenant M. Tapsachar, General Y. Kefeli. 500 career officers and 200 volunteers of Karaite origin took part 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, earned a full set of soldier's St. George's Crosses and at the same time also an officer's St. George's Cross.

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 were experiencing a demographic explosion. By 1914, their number reached 16 thousand, of which 8 thousand lived in Crimea (at the end of the 18th century there were about 2 thousand).

Prosperity ended in 1914. Wars and revolution led to the loss of the Karaites' previous economic position. In general, the Karaites as a whole did not accept the revolution. Most of the officers and 18 generals from among the Karaites fought in the White army. Solomon Crimea was the Minister of Finance in the Wrangel government.

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

More than 600 Karaites took part in the Great Patriotic War, most were awarded military awards, more than half died or 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 Karaite military leaders was Colonel General V.Ya. Kolpakchi, participant in the First World War and the Civil War, military adviser in Spain during the war of 1936-39, commander of armies during the Great Patriotic War. It should be noted that Marshal R. Ya. Malinovsky (1898-1967), twice Hero of the Soviet Union, Minister of Defense of the USSR in 1957-67, is often considered a Karaite, although his Karaite origin has not been proven.

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

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

Krymchaks

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

Jews appeared in Crimea even BC, as evidenced by Jewish burials, 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, engaging 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 shore 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 mainly Crimean Jews came from the descendants of local residents who converted to Judaism, and not from the Jews of Palestine who emigrated here. Documents dating back to the 1st century have reached our time on the emancipation of slaves subject to their conversion to Judaism by their Jewish owners.

Conducted 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. However, the Jewish religion contributed to the Jewish self-identification of the Krymchaks, who considered themselves Jews.

The Turkic language (close to the Crimean Tatar), eastern customs and way of life, which distinguished the Crimean Jews from their fellow tribesmen in Europe, spread among them. Their self-name became the word “Krymchak”, meaning in Turkic a resident of 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 religious 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 massacres carried out by all the changing authorities in Crimea, famine and emigration led to a sharp reduction in the number of Crimeans. In 1926 there were 6 thousand of them.

During the Great Patriotic War, most Crimeans were exterminated by the German occupiers. After the war, no more than 1.5 thousand Crimeans remained in the USSR.

Nowadays, emigration, assimilation (leading to the fact that Crimeans 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 us hope that the small ancient ethnic group that gave Russia the poet I. Selvinsky, the partisan commander, Hero of the Soviet Union Ya. I. Chapichev, the great Leningrad engineer M. A. Trevgoda, State Prize laureate, and a number of other prominent scientists, art, politics and economics will not disappear.

Jews

Jews speaking Yiddish were incomparably more numerous in Crimea. Since Crimea was part of the Pale of Settlement, quite a lot of Jews from the right bank of 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 civil war, they still remained the third (after Russians and Tatars) ethnic group of Crimea. In 1926 there were 40 thousand (5.5%). By 1939, their number had increased to 65 thousand (6% of the population).

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

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

On December 16, 1924, even a document was signed with such an intriguing title: “On Crimean California” between the “Joint” (American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, as the American Jewish organization that represented the United States in the early years of Soviet power was called) and Central Executive Committee of the RSFSR. Under this agreement, the Joint allocated $1.5 million per year to the USSR for the needs of Jewish agricultural communes. The fact that most Jews in Crimea did not engage 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 country’s leaders, an agreement was reached on D. Rosenberg’s financing of activities for the resettlement of Jews from Ukraine and Belarus to the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. Help was also provided by the French Jewish Society, the American Society for the Relief of Jewish Colonization in Soviet Russia and other organizations of a similar type. On January 31, 1927, a new agreement was concluded with Agro-Joint (a subsidiary of the Joint itself). According to it, the organization allocated 20 million rubles. To organize the resettlement, the Soviet government allocated 5 million rubles for these purposes.

The planned resettlement of Jews began already in 1924. The reality turned out to be not so optimistic.

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

Most of the settlers did not cultivate the land and mostly dispersed to cities. By 1933, of the settlers of 1924, only 20% remained on the collective farms of the Freidorf MTS, and 11% on the Larindorf MTS. On some collective farms the turnover rate reached 70%. By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, only 17 thousand Jews in Crimea lived in rural areas. The project failed. In 1938, the resettlement of Jews was stopped, and KomZet was dissolved. The Joint branch 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 outflow of immigrants meant that the Jewish population did not grow as significantly as might have been expected. By 1941, 70 thousand 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 Crimea had to experience all the features of Hitler's “new order” when the occupiers began the final solution to 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 Crimeans.

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

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

In practical terms, the question of creating a Jewish Crimean autonomy arose in preparation for the 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. It was assumed that American Jews would be enthusiastic about the idea and would agree to finance all the costs associated with it. Therefore, the two-person delegation traveling 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 Crimea did indeed seem quite possible. Stalin did not seem to mind. Members of the JAC (Jewish Anti-Fascist Committee) created during the war years, during 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 Crimea. He wanted to make maximum use of the influential Jewish community in the United States for Soviet interests. As 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... With this The goal of Mikhoels and Fefer, our trusted agent, was assigned 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, said: “With the goal of normalizing economic growth and the development of Jewish Soviet culture, with the goal of maximizing the mobilization of all the forces of the Jewish population for the benefit of the Soviet Motherland, with the goal complete equation position of the Jewish masses among fraternal peoples, we consider it timely and appropriate, 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 best meets the requirements both in terms of capacity for resettlement , and due to the existing successful experience in the development of Jewish national regions there... In the construction of the Jewish Soviet Republic, Jewish people would also provide us with significant assistance masses 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 with 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 there would now be plenty of room for the arriving Jews.

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

However, the Crimean project was not implemented. Stalin, having made maximum use of financial assistance from Jewish organizations, did not create Jewish autonomy in Crimea. Moreover, even the return to Crimea of ​​those Jews who were evacuated during the war turned out to be difficult. However, in 1959 there were 26 thousand 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 Kaganate, Turkic peoples began to penetrate into Crimea, inhabiting only the steppe part of the peninsula. In 1223, the Mongol-Tatars attacked Crimea for the first time. But it was only a raid. In 1239, Crimea was conquered by the Mongols and became part of the Golden Horde. The southern coast of 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, a new Turkic ethnic group began to emerge from the mixture of many peoples. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Byzantine historian George Pachymer (1242-1310) wrote: “Over time, the peoples who lived inside those countries mixed with them (Tatars - ed.), I mean: Alans, Zikkhs (Caucasian Circassians who lived on the coast Taman Peninsula - ed.), Goths, Russians and other peoples different from them, learn their customs, along with their customs they acquire language and clothing and become their allies.” The unifying principles for the emerging ethnic group were Islam and the Turkic language. Gradually, the Tatars of Crimea (who, however, did not call themselves Tatars at that time) became very numerous and powerful. It is no coincidence that it was the Horde governor in 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 Old Crimea), built by the Golden Horde in the valley of the Churuk-Su river in the southeast of the Crimean peninsula. In the 14th century, the name of the city of Crimea gradually passed to the entire peninsula. Residents of the peninsula began to call themselves “kyrymly” - Crimeans. The Russians called them Tatars, like all 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 when talking about earlier eras.

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

Initially, the Tatars were inhabitants of the steppe Crimea; the mountains and the southern coast were still inhabited by various Christian peoples, and they outnumbered the Tatars. However, as Islam spread, converts from 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 Yavolga (that is, Trans-Volga) Tatars. Finally, already in the 17th century, many Nogais settled in the steppes near Crimea. All this led to the strongest Turkization of Crimea, including part of the Christian population.

A significant part of the mountain population fled, amounting to special group Tatars, known as "Tats". Racially, the Tats belong to the Central European race, that is, they are similar in appearance to representatives of the peoples of the central and of Eastern Europe. Also, many residents of the southern coast, descendants of the Greeks, Tauro-Scythians, Italians and other inhabitants of the region, who converted to Islam, gradually joined the ranks of the Tatars. Until the deportation of 1944, the residents of many Tatar villages on the South Bank retained elements of the Christian rituals they inherited from their Greek ancestors. Racially, the South Coast residents belong to the South European (Mediterranean) race and are similar in appearance to the Turks, Greeks, and Italians. They formed a special group of Crimean Tatars - the Yalyboylu. Only the steppe Nogai retained elements of traditional nomadic culture and retained some Mongoloid features in their physical appearance.

The descendants of captives and captives, mainly from the Eastern Slavs who remained on the peninsula, also joined the Crimean Tatars. Slaves who became wives of the Tatars, as well as some men from among the captives who converted to Islam and, thanks to their knowledge of some useful crafts, also became Tatars. “Tumas,” as the children of Russian captives born in Crimea were called, made up a very large part of the Crimean Tatar population. The following historical fact is indicative: In 1675, the Zaporozhye ataman Ivan Sirko, during a successful raid into Crimea, freed 7 thousand Russian slaves. However, on the way back, approximately 3 thousand of them asked Sirko to let them go back to Crimea. Most of these slaves were Muslims or Thums. 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 massacre and said: “Forgive us, brothers, but you yourself sleep here until the Last Judgment of God, instead of multiplying in the Crimea, among the infidels, on our brave Christian heads and on your eternal death without forgiveness.”

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

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

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

Already in 1859, the Nogais of the Azov region began leaving for Turkey. In 1860, a mass exodus of Tatars began from the peninsula itself. By 1864, the number of Tatars in Crimea had 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, cancellations of previously issued foreign passports and refusals to issue new ones began. However, the main factor in stopping emigration was the news of what awaited the Tatars in Turkey of the same religion. A lot of Tatars died on the way on overloaded feluccas in the Black Sea. The Turkish authorities simply threw the settlers on the shore 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 re-emigration to Crimea has already begun. But neither the Turkish authorities, who understood that the return of Muslims from under the rule of the caliph again to the rule of the Russian Tsar would make an extremely unfavorable impression on the Muslims of the world, nor the Russian authorities, who also feared the return of embittered people who had lost everything, were not going to help the return to Crimea.

Smaller scale Tatar exoduses to the Ottoman Empire occurred in 1874-75, in the early 1890s, and in 1902-03. As a result, most of the Crimean Tatars found themselves outside of Crimea.

So the Tatars of their own free will became an ethnic minority in their land. Thanks to high natural growth, their number reached 216 thousand people by 1917, which accounted for 26% of the population of Crimea. In general, during 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 Crimea did not bother the Bolsheviks. Guided by their national policy, they went 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 Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, 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 too. Most of the leading personnel were also Tatars. Tatar language was, along with Russian, the language of office work and schooling. In 1936, there were 386 Tatar schools in Crimea.

During the Great Patriotic War, the fate of the Crimean Tatars developed dramatically. Some Tatars fought honestly in the ranks of the 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. Thus, as of January 15, 1944, there were 3,733 partisans in Crimea, of which 1,944 were Russians, 348 Ukrainians, 598 Crimean Tatars. In retaliation for the actions of the partisans, the Nazis burned 134 settlements in the foothills and mountainous areas of Crimea, 132 of which were predominantly Crimean Tatar.

However, you can’t erase the words from the song. During the occupation of Crimea, many Tatars found themselves on the side of the Nazis. 20 thousand Tatars (that is, 1/10 of the entire Tatar population) served in the ranks of volunteer formations. They were involved in the fight against partisans, and were especially active in the reprisals against 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. Members of the families of Soviet army soldiers, members of the underground and guerrilla warfare, as well as Tatar women married to representatives of another nationality.

Beginning in 1989, the Tatars began returning to Crimea. 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, Tatars en masse voted for Rukh and other independent parties.

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

Other ethnic groups of Crimea

Since its annexation to Russia, representatives of several small ethnic groups have also lived on the peninsula, who also became Crimeans. We are talking about Crimean Bulgarians, Poles, Germans, Czechs. Living far from their main ethnic territory, these Crimeans became independent ethnic groups.

Bulgarians appeared in Crimea at the end of the 18th century, immediately after the annexation of the peninsula to Russia. The first Bulgarian settlement in Crimea appeared in 1801. The Russian authorities appreciated the hard work of the Bulgarians, as well as their ability to farm in subtropical conditions. Therefore, Bulgarian settlers received from the treasury a daily allowance of 10 kopecks per capita; each Bulgarian family was allocated up to 60 acres of state land. Each Bulgarian immigrant was given benefits in taxes and other financial obligations for 10 years. After their expiration, they were largely maintained for the next 10 years: the Bulgarians were subject to only a tax of 15-20 kopecks per tithe. Only after twenty years had passed after their arrival in Crimea, immigrants from Turkey were equalized in taxation with the Tatars, immigrants from Ukraine and Russia.

The second wave of resettlement of Bulgarians to Crimea occurred during the Russian-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 Crimea. It should be noted that the religious and linguistic closeness of the Bulgarians and Russians led to the assimilation of part of the Crimean Bulgarians.

Wars and revolutions had a hard impact on the Bulgarians of Crimea. Their numbers grew rather slowly due to assimilation. In 1939, 17.9 thousand Bulgarians lived in Crimea (or 1.4% of the total population of the peninsula).

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

Czechs appeared in Crimea a century and a half ago. In the 60s of the 19th century, 4 Czech colonies appeared. The Czechs had a high level of education, which paradoxically contributed to their rapid assimilation. In 1930, there were 1,400 Czechs and Slovaks in Crimea. On beginning of XXI century, only 1 thousand 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 Crimea already in 1798, although the mass migration of Poles to Crimea began only in the 60s of the 19th century. It should be noted that since the Poles did not inspire confidence, especially after the uprising of 1863, they were not only not given any benefits like colonists of other nationalities, but were even forbidden to settle in separate settlements. As a result, “purely” Polish villages did not arise in 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 religion lost its former influence on ordinary Poles, the Polish population of Crimea rapidly assimilated. At the end of the 20th century, about 7 thousand Poles (0.3% of the population) lived in Crimea.

Germans appeared in Crimea already in 1787. Since 1805, German colonies began to emerge on the peninsula with their own internal self-government, schools and churches. The Germans came 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 Crimea.

The benefits provided to the colonists, the favorable natural conditions of Crimea, and the hard work 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 to Crimea. The colonists were characterized by a high birth rate, so the German population of Crimea grew rapidly. According to the first All-Russian census of 1897, 31,590 Germans lived in Crimea (5.8% of the total population), of which 30,027 were rural residents.

Among the Germans, almost everyone was literate, and 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” without participating in civil strife. But some Germans fought for Soviet power. In 1918, the First Yekaterinoslav Communist Cavalry Regiment was formed, which fought against the German occupiers in Ukraine and Crimea. In 1919, the First German Cavalry Regiment as part of Budyonny's army led an armed struggle in the south of Ukraine against Wrangel and Makhno. Some Germans fought on the side of the whites. Thus, the German Jaeger Rifle Brigade fought in Denikin’s army. A special regiment of Mennonites fought in Wrangel's army.

In November 1920, Soviet power was finally established in Crimea. The Germans who recognized it continued to live in their colonies and their farms, practically without changing their way of life: the farms were still strong; children went to their own schools with teaching in German; all issues were resolved jointly within the colonies. Two German districts were officially formed on the peninsula - Biyuk-Onlarsky (now Oktyabrsky) and Telmanovsky (now Krasnogvardeysky). Although many Germans lived in other places in 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 to “stay out of politics.” It is significant that during the 20s, 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 outbreak of collectivization, followed by mass dispossession, affected primarily German farms. Despite losses in the Civil War, repression and emigration, the German population of Crimea continued to increase. 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 ethnic group. In August-September 1941, more than 61 thousand people were deported (including approximately 11 thousand people of other nationalities related to the Germans by family ties). The final rehabilitation of all Soviet Germans, including Crimean ones, followed only in 1972. From that time on, the Germans began to return to Crimea. In 1989, 2,356 Germans lived in Crimea. Alas, some of the deported Crimean Germans emigrate to Germany, and not to their peninsula.

East Slavs

The majority of the inhabitants of Crimea are Eastern Slavs (we will call them that politically correctly, taking into account the Ukrainian identity of some Russians in Crimea).

As already mentioned, the Slavs have lived in Crimea since ancient times. In the 10th-13th centuries, the Tmutarakan principality existed in the eastern part of Crimea. And during the era of the Crimean Khanate, some captives from Great and Little Rus', monks, merchants, and diplomats from Russia were constantly on the peninsula. Thus, the Eastern Slavs were part of the permanent indigenous population of Crimea for centuries.

In 1771, when Crimea was occupied by Russian troops, about 9 thousand Russian freed slaves were freed. Most of them remained in Crimea, but 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 1783 manifesto on the annexation of Crimea, by order of G. A. Potemkin, soldiers of the Ekaterinoslav and Phanagorian regiments were left to live in Crimea. Married soldiers were given leave at government expense so that they could take their families to Crimea. In addition, girls and widows were summoned from all over Russia who agreed to marry soldiers and move to Crimea.

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

Already in 1783-84, in the Simferopol district alone, 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 counted here. The new Russian-Turkish war of 1787-91 somewhat slowed down the influx of immigrants to 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) already made up approximately 5% of the peninsula’s population over the several years that Crimea was part of Russia. In fact, there were even more Russians, since many fugitive serfs, deserters and Old Believers sought to avoid any contact with representatives of the 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 Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. After the Crimean War and the mass emigration of Tatars to the Ottoman Empire, which led to the emergence of a large number of “no man’s lands” fertile land, new thousands of Russian immigrants arrived in Crimea.

Gradually, the local Russian residents began to develop special features of their economy and way of life, caused both by the peculiarities of the geography of the peninsula and its multinational character. In a statistical report on the population of the Tauride province for 1851, it was noted that Russians (Great Russians and Little Russians) and Tatars wear clothes and shoes, differing little from each other. The utensils used are both clay, made at home, and copper, made by Tatar craftsmen. The usual Russian carts were soon replaced by Tatar carts upon arrival in Crimea.

Since the second half of the 19th century, the main wealth of Crimea - its nature - has made the peninsula a center of recreation and tourism. Palaces of the imperial family and influential nobles began to appear on the coast, and 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 Crimea continued. At the beginning of the 20th century, Russians became the predominant ethnic group in Crimea. Considering the high degree of Russification of many Crimean ethnic groups, the Russian language and culture (which had largely lost their local characteristics) absolutely prevailed in Crimea.

After the revolution and the Civil War, Crimea, which turned into an “all-Union health resort,” continued to attract Russians. However, Little Russians, who were considered a special people - Ukrainians, also began to arrive. Their share of the population in the 20-30s increased from 8% to 14%.

In 1954 N.S. Khrushchev, in a voluntaristic gesture, annexed Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Republic. The result was the Ukrainization of Crimean schools and offices. In addition, the number of Crimean Ukrainians has increased sharply. Actually, some of the “real” Ukrainians began to arrive in Crimea back in 1950, according to the government’s “Plans for the resettlement 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. For the move, the settlers were given entire carriages, which could accommodate all their property (furniture, utensils, decorations, clothing, multi-meter canvases of homespun), 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 catastrophe in Crimea. In 2001, Crimea had a population of 2,024,056. But in fact, the demographic catastrophe of Crimea is even worse, since the population decline was partially compensated by the Tatars returning to Crimea.

In general, at the beginning of the 21st century, Crimea, despite its centuries-old multi-ethnicity, remains predominantly Russian in population. During its two decades as 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 gain a certain number of its supporters, but, nevertheless, the existence of Crimea within Ukraine seems problematic.

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

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

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

From the Cimmerians to the Crimeans. The peoples of Crimea from ancient times to the end of the 18th century. Simferopol, 2007, p. 232

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