Peoples who inhabited Crimea at different times. The most ancient population of Crimea
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 from 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. For a long time, a rich, interesting and globally significant historical and cultural heritage. 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.
Ethnicities 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 promoting 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.
Photos of beautiful places in Crimea
Armenians
To characterize objects according to the traditional culture of Armenians, it is necessary to turn to the history of their resettlement from the ancient capital of 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 Armenian architecture is concentrated in the eastern and southeastern parts of Crimea and dates back to the XIV - XV 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"), construction date - 1338. It is located three kilometers southwest of the city of Old Crimea. The ensemble of the Surb-Khach monastery is one of best works Armenian architects not only in Crimea. It revealed the main features of Armenian-Asian Minor architecture. Currently, the monastery is under the jurisdiction of the ARC State Committee for the Protection and Use of Historical and Cultural Monuments.
Worthy of attention and former monastery Surb 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. 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. In the village of Shirokoye there is a folk museum with 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 a traditional architectural style and with a traditional layout in the village of Kurskoye, Belogorsk district (former colony of Kishlav) and the town. Koktkbel, which played a 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 holidays are organized, customs and rituals are played out.
Greeks
In the field of research by Krymsky ethnographic museum, Institute of Oriental Studies, Center for Greek Studies covers the ethnic group of Greeks of Crimea (modern times). These are descendants of settlers of various periods from mainland Greece and the islands of the archipelago at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 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 - the “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 Greek culture is 13, geographically they are located in the Bakhchisarai and Belogorsk districts and the city of Simferopol (Greek shopping arcades, former church Constantine and Helena, 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 Jews of the 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. On throughout the XIX V. 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 objects is Roman Catholic cathedral, built in the middle of the 19th century. and currently active. It is located in the historical part of the city. An interesting fact is that under the Catholic Church, nuns of Italian origin were engaged in knitting elegant lace.
Karaites
The Karaite culture 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 Evpatoria - 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.
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 (the fortress, the "cave city", kenassy, the house of A. Firkovich, the Karaite cemetery Banta-Tiymez). This complex of Karaite culture is one of the most promising ethnographic objects. 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.
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 Christian churches. Last restoration work The painting of the 16th - 18th centuries was restored.
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.
Old Tatar cemeteries with burials of the 18th - 19th centuries, which have preserved traditional tombstones with inscriptions and ornaments, can also be classified as ethnographic objects of the culture of the Crimean Tatars. 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 Stary Crimea. A number of rural places and cities are currently meeting places for fellow villagers and national holidays.
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 dance, where professional and folk groups will be involved. 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, more than 30 objects of traditional Crimean Tatar culture can be identified in Crimea as the best preserved in places with good transport accessibility, with a basis for further development.
Germans
The attention of tourists can also be attracted by the culture of the Germans, which has been preserved in Crimea in the form of 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 at 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 of the Catholic Church (built in 1867), in the village. Fragrant - is currently placed under the jurisdiction of the Russian Orthodox Church of the Crimean Diocese. Getting to know the destroyed church in the village. Krasnogorye can be carried out based on materials from the State Archive of the 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 are the building of the 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) in the Krasnogvardeisky district, Zolotoe Pole (colony of Zurichtal) in the Kirov region and Kolchugino (colony of Kronental) in 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), the hospice house of Taranov-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 research 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 populated areas 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 Mazanka has preserved an old Russian cemetery with burials from the beginning of the 19th century, stone tombstones in the form of a St. George's cross are well preserved, inscriptions and ornaments are visible in places.
Religious buildings of traditional architecture include the existing St. Nicholas churches: 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. Row Orthodox cathedrals, churches, 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 from the end of the 19th century have also been preserved in the village, 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, resettlement villages of the 50s are interesting. XX century Among them are Pozharskoye and Vodnoye, Simferopol district (folklore ensembles in traditional costumes stage costume performances on themes of beliefs and traditions). The chosen 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 objects on the traditional culture of such small ethnic groups as 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 Bogemka) of the Dzhankoy district and the village. Aleksandrovka, Krasnogvardeisky district, and Estonians - the villages of Novoestonia, Krasnodarka (formerly the village of Kochee-Shavva) of the Krasnogvardeisky district and the village. Beregovoye (village Zashruk) Bakhchisarai district. In all villages, traditional dwellings with a characteristic layout and decoration elements of the late 19th - early 20th century have been preserved
A week-long tour, one-day hiking and excursions combined with comfort (trekking) in the mountain resort of Khadzhokh (Adygea, Krasnodar Territory). 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.
We bring to the attention of the readers of our site an ethno-historical excursion by Igor Dmitrievich Gurov regarding the issue of the rights of a particular nationality to the Crimean peninsula. The article was published in 1992 in the small monthly "Politics", published by the deputy group "Union". However, it still remains relevant, especially now, when, during the period of the most acute political crisis in Ukraine, the issue of broad autonomy for Crimea, which was frozen in the same 1992, is being resolved.
Despite the fact that Kyiv and some Moscow newspapers and television programs today proclaim the Crimean Tatars as the “only indigenous” people of the Crimean peninsula, and the Russian Taurians are portrayed exclusively as invaders and occupiers, Crimea remains Russian.
Let's turn to real historical facts. In ancient times, Crimea was inhabited by tribes of Cimmerians, then Tauris and Scythians. From the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. Greek colonies appear on the coast of Tavria. In the early Middle Ages, the Scythians were replaced by German-speaking Goths (later mixed with the Greeks in the chronicles of the “Greek Gothfins”) and Iranian-speaking Alans (related to modern Ossetians). Then the Slavs also penetrate here. Already in one of the Bosporan inscriptions of the 5th century, the word “ant” is found, which, as is known, Byzantine authors called the Slavs who lived between the Dnieper and the Dniester. And at the very end of the 8th century, the “Life of Stefan of Sourozh” describes in detail the campaign of the Novgorod prince Bravlin to Crimea, after which the active Slavicization of Eastern Crimea began.
Arab sources of the 9th century report one of the centers Ancient Rus'- Arsania, which, according to most scientists, was located on the territory of the Azov region, Eastern Crimea and the North Caucasus. This is the so-called Azov, or Black Sea (Tmutarakan) Rus', which was the support base for the campaigns of Russian squads in the 2nd half of the 9th - early 10th centuries. on the Asia Minor coast of the Black Sea. Moreover, the Byzantine historian Leo the Deacon, in his story about the retreat of Prince Igor after his unsuccessful campaign against Byzantium in 941, speaks of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Eastern Crimea) as the “homeland of the Russians.”
In the 2nd half of the 9th century. (after the campaign of Prince Svyatoslav and his defeat of the Khazar Kaganate in 965), Azov Rus finally entered the sphere of political influence of Kievan Rus. Later, the Tmutarakan principality was formed here. Under the 980th goal in the "Tale of Bygone Years" the son of Grand Duke Vladimir the Saint is mentioned for the first time - Mstislav the Brave; It is also reported there that his father endowed Mstislav with the Tmutarakan land (which he owned until his death in 1036).
The influence of Rus' is also strengthening in Western Taurida, especially after Prince Vladimir in 988, as a result of a 6-month siege, took the city of Chersonesos, which belonged to the Byzantines, and was baptized there.
The Polovtsian invasion at the end of the 11th century weakened the Russian princes in Taurida. The last time Tmutarakan was mentioned in the chronicles was in 1094, when the prince who ruled here, Oleg Svyatoslavovich (who bore the official title of “Archon of Matrakha, Zikhia and all Khazaria”), in alliance with the Polovtsians, came to Chernigov. And at the beginning of the 13th century, the lands of the former Tmutarakan principality became easy prey for enterprising Genoese.
In 1223, the Mongols made their first raid on Taurida, and by the end of the 13th century, after the defeat of the Kirkel principality created by the Hellenized Alans, the administrative center of the region became the city of Crimea (now Old Crimea), which from 1266 became the seat of the Mongol-Tatar Khan .
After the Fourth Crusade (1202-1204), which ended with the defeat of Constantinople, first Venice, and then (from 1261) Genoa were able to establish themselves in the Northern Black Sea region. In 1266, the Genoese bought the city of Cafa (Feodosia) from the Golden Horde and then continued to expand their possessions.
The ethnic composition of the population of Crimea during this period was quite diverse. In the XIII-XV centuries. Greeks, Armenians, Russians, Tatars, Hungarians, Circassians (“Zikhs”) and Jews lived in the Cafe. The Kafa Charter of 1316 mentions Russian, Armenian and Greek churches located in the commercial part of the city, along with Catholic churches and a Tatar mosque. In the 2nd half of the 15th century. it was one of the largest cities in Europe with a population of up to 70 thousand people. (of these, the Genoese made up only about 2 thousand people). In 1365, the Genoese, having secured the support of the Golden Horde khans (to whom they gave huge cash loans and supplied mercenaries), captured the largest Crimean city of Surozh (Sudak), inhabited mainly by Greek and Russian merchants and artisans and maintaining close ties with the Moscow state.
From Russian documents of the 15th century. It is also known about close contacts between the Orthodox principality of Theodoro (another name is the Mangup Principality), located in the south-west of Crimea, which arose on the ruins of the Byzantine Empire, with the Moscow state. For example, the Russian chronicle mentions Prince Stefan Vasilyevich Khovra, who emigrated to Moscow with one of his sons in 1403. Here he became a monk under the name Simon, and his son Gregory founded a monastery named Simonov in honor of his father. His other son, Alexei, ruled the principality of Theodoro at that time. From his grandson - Vladimir Grigorievich Khovrin - came famous Russian families - the Golovins, Tretyakovs, Gryaznys, etc. The connection between Moscow and Theodoro was so close that the Grand Duke of Moscow Ivan III was going to marry his son to the daughter of the Theodorite prince Isaac (Isaiko), but This plan was not realized due to the defeat of the Principality of Theodoro by the Turks.
In 1447, the first attack of the Turkish fleet on the shores of Crimea took place. Having captured Cafa in 1475, the Turks disarmed its entire population, and then, according to the anonymous Tuscan author, “On June 7 and 8, all the Wallachians, Poles, Russians, Georgians, Zichs and all other Christian nations, except the Latins, were captured, deprived clothes and partly sold into slavery, partly chained." “Turkova took Kafa and many of the Moscow guests, killed many of them, captured some, and robbed others to pay off the davash,” Russian chronicles report.
Having established their power over the Crimea, the Turks included in the Sultan’s lands only the former Genoese and Greek confluences, which they began to intensively populate with their fellow tribesmen - the Anatolian Ottoman Turks. The remaining areas of the peninsula went to the predominantly steppe Crimean Khanate, located in vassalage from Turkey.
It is from the Anatolian Ottoman Turks that the so-called origins originate. "South Coast Crimean Tatars", who determined the ethnic line of modern Crimean Tatars - i.e. their culture and literary language. The Crimean Khanate, subordinate to Turkey, in 1557 was replenished with representatives of the Little Nogai Horde, who migrated to the Black Sea region and the Steppe Crimea from the Volga and Caspian Sea. The Crimean and Nogai Tatars lived exclusively by nomadic cattle breeding and predatory raids on neighboring states. The Crimean Tatars themselves spoke in the 17th century. to the envoys of the Turkish Sultan: “But there are more than 100 thousand Tatars who have neither agriculture nor trade. If they do not raid, then how will they live? This is our service to the padishah.” Therefore, twice a year they carried out raids to capture slaves and loot. For example, during the 25 years of the Livonian War (1558-1583), the Crimean Tatars made 21 raids on the Great Russian regions. The poorly protected Little Russian lands suffered even more. From 1605 to 1644 the Tatars carried out at least 75 raids on them. In 1620-1621 they managed to ruin even the distant Duchy of Prussia.
All this forced Russia to take retaliatory measures and fight to eliminate this constant source of aggression in its south. However, this problem was solved only in the 2nd half of the 18th century. During the Russian-Turkish war of 1769-1774. Russian troops captured Crimea. Fearing retaliatory religious pogroms, most of The indigenous Christian population (Greeks and Armenians), at the suggestion of Catherine II, moved to the area of Mariupol and Nakhichevan, Rostov. In 1783, Crimea was finally annexed to Russia and in 1784 it became part of the newly formed Tauride province. Up to 80 thousand Tatars did not want to stay in Russian Taurida and emigrated to Turkey. In their place, Russia began to attract foreign colonists: Greeks (from Turkish possessions), Armenians, Corsicans, Germans, Bulgarians, Estonians, Czechs, etc. Great Russians and Little Russians began to move here in large numbers.
Another emigration of Tatars and Nogais from Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region (up to 150 thousand people) occurred during Crimean War 1853-1856, when many Tatar murzas and beys supported Turkey.
By 1897, there had been significant changes in the ethnic composition of the population of Taurida: Tatars made up only about 1/3 of the population of the peninsula, while Russians made up over 45 percent. (of which 3/4 are Great Russians and 1/4 are Little Russians), Germans - 5.8 percent, Jews 4.7 percent, Greeks - 3.1 percent, Armenians - 1.5 percent. etc.
After the February revolution of 1917, the nationalist pro-Turkish party “Milli Firka” (“national party”) arose among the Crimean Tatars. In turn, the Bolsheviks held a Congress of Soviets and in March 1918 proclaimed the creation of the Taurida SSR. Then the peninsula was occupied by the Germans, and the Millifirka Directory gained power.
At the end of April 1919, the “Crimean Soviet Republic” was created here, but already in June it was liquidated by units of General Denikin’s Volunteer Army.
From that time on, Russian Taurida became the main base of the White Movement. Only on November 16, 1920, Crimea was again captured by the Bolsheviks, knocking out the Russian Army of General Wrangel from the peninsula. At the same time, the Crimean Revolutionary Committee (Krymrevkom) was formed under the leadership of the “internationalists” Bela Kun and Rosalia Zemlyachka. On their instructions, a bloody massacre was organized in Crimea, during which the “fiery revolutionaries” exterminated, according to some information, up to 60 thousand Russian officers and soldiers of the White Army.
On October 18, 1921, the All-Russian Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars published a decree on the formation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR. At this time, 625 thousand people lived in Crimea, of which Russians made up 321.6 thousand, or 51.5% (including Great Russians - 274.9 thousand, Little Russians - 45.7 thousand, Belarusians - 1 thousand .), Tatars (including Turks and some Gypsies) - 164.2 thousand (25.9%), other nationalities (Germans, Greeks, Bulgarians, Jews, Armenians) - St. 22%.
From the beginning of the 1920s, in the spirit of the Bolshevik-Leninist national policy organizations of the All-Union Communist Party (Bolsheviks) began to actively pursue a course towards the Turkization of Crimea. Thus, in 1922, 355 schools were opened for the Crimean Tatars, and universities were created with teaching in the Crimean Tatar language. Tatars were appointed to the posts of chairmen of the Crimean Central Executive Committee and the Council of People's Commissars of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic - Veli Ibraimov and Deren-Ayerly, who pursued a nationalist policy covered by communist phraseology. Only in 1928 were they removed from their posts, but not for nationalism, but for connections with the Trotskyists.
By 1929, as a result of the campaign to disaggregate village councils, their number increased from 143 to 427. At the same time, the number of national village councils almost tripled (these were considered village councils or districts in which the majority of the national population was 60%). In total, 145 Tatar village councils were formed, 45 German, 14 Jewish, 7 Greek, 5 Bulgarian, 2 Armenian, 2 Estonian and only 20 Russian (since Russians during this period were classified as “great-power chauvinists”, during administrative delimitation it was considered normal to give advantage to others nationalities). A system of special courses for training national personnel at government agencies was also created. A campaign was launched to translate office work and village councils into “national” languages. At the same time, the “anti-religious struggle” - including against Orthodoxy and Islam - continued and intensified.
In the pre-war years, there was a significant increase in population (from 714 thousand in 1926 to 1,126,429 people in 1939). By national composition, the population was distributed in 1939 as follows: Russians - 558,481 people (49.58%), Ukrainians, 154,120 (13.68%), Tatars - 218,179 (19.7%), Germans 65,452 (5.81%) , Jews - 52093 (4.62%), Greeks - 20652 (1.83%), Bulgarians - 15353 (1.36%), Armenians - 12873 (1.14%), others - 29276 (2.6% ).
The Nazis, having occupied Crimea in the fall of 1941, skillfully played on the religious feelings of the Tatars and their dissatisfaction with the militant atheism of the Bolsheviks. The Nazis convened a Muslim congress in Simferopol, at which they formed the Crimean government ("Tatar Committee"), headed by Khan Belal Asanov. During 1941-1942. they formed 10 Crimean Tatar SS battalions, which, together with police self-defense units (created in 203 Tatar villages), numbered over 20 thousand people. Although there were Tatars among the partisans - about 600 people. In punitive operations with the participation of Crimean Tatar units, 86 thousand civilians of Crimea and 47 thousand prisoners of war were exterminated, about 85 thousand more people were deported to Germany.
However, measures of retribution for crimes committed by the Crimean Tatar punitive forces were extended by the Stalinist leadership to the entire Crimean Tatar ethnic group and a number of other Crimean peoples. On May 11, 1944, the State Defense Committee of the USSR adopted a resolution according to which 191,088 Tatars, 296 Germans, 32 Romanians and 21 Austrians were resettled from Crimea to Central Asia during May 18-19. On June 2, 1944, another GKO resolution followed, according to which 15,040 Greeks, 12,422 Bulgarians and 9,621 Armenians were evicted from Crimea on June 27 and 28. At the same time, foreign nationals living in Crimea were expelled: 1,119 Germans, Italians and Romanians, 3,531 Greeks, 105 Turks and 16 Iranians.
In July 1945, by Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was transformed into the Crimean region within the RSFSR, and on February 19, 1954, N. S. Khrushchev donated Crimea to Radyanskaya Ukraine, apparently in memory of his many years of secretaryship in the Communist Party (b)U .
With the onset of “perestroika,” the Moscow and Kyiv media began to portray the Tatars as the only “indigenous” inhabitants of the peninsula, its “original” owners. Why? The “Organization of the Crimean Tatar National Movement” declared its goal not only to return up to 350 thousand Tatars - natives of sunny Uzbekistan and other Central Asian republics to Crimea, but also to create their own “national state” there. To achieve this goal, they convened a kurultai in July 1991 and elected a “majlis” of 33 people. The actions of the OKND, led by the ardent Turkophile Mustafa Dzhamilev, were enthusiastically greeted by the Kyiv “Rukhovite” and former communist leadership, acting on the principle “everyone who is against the damned Muscovites is good.” But why did Dzhamilev need to create his own “national state” in Crimea?
Of course, the thirst for revenge among the Tatar new settlers offended by Stalin is understandable. But still, the OKND gentlemen, who so diligently call for the Turkification of Crimea, should remember their Anatolian and Nogai origins: after all, their true ancestral home is Turkey, Southern Altai and the hot steppes of Xinjiang.
And if you create some kind of “national states” in Taurida, you will have to satisfy the aspirations of the Great Russians, Ukrainians, Karaites, Greeks, and all other indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula. The only real prospect for Crimea is the peaceful coexistence of the ethnic groups living here. Dividing the population into “indigenous” and Russian is a historically untenable and politically dangerous task.
Igor Gurov
Newspaper "Politics", 1992, No. 5
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The sites of primitive people discovered by archaeologists on the Crimean peninsula (Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Volchiy Grotto) testify to the settlement of the region by humans already in the Stone Age.
The most ancient population of the Black Sea region and Crimea consisted of those who lived here at the turn of the 2nd-1st millennia BC. e. semi-sedentary and nomadic tribes, known under the general name of Cimmerians. The memory of them was preserved in local toponyms mentioned in ancient Greek sources: Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric, Cimmerium. The Cimmerians apparently inhabited all the Black Sea steppes, but in the Eastern Crimea, as well as on the Taman Peninsula, they lived longer.
In the 7th century BC e. The Cimmerians acted in alliance with the Scythians. There is information about a defeat in 652 BC. the Lydian capital Sardis by the Cimmerians and Scythians. The Cimmerian culture discovered by archaeologists is close to the Scythian and dates back to the end of the Bronze Age. This is evidenced by excavations on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, where burials of the 8th-7th centuries were discovered. BC e., associated with the Cimmerians. According to the story of Herodotus, the Cimmerians were driven out of the Northern Black Sea region by the Scythians, who dominated here already in the 7th century. BC e.
The descendants of the Cimmerians are considered to be the Tauri, who already lived in the Scythian times in the mountains of Crimea. The mountain range on the south coast of the peninsula was also called Taurus. The Greek name of the Crimean Peninsula - Taurica, which was preserved in antiquity and the Middle Ages, is associated with this name.
The bulk of the Scythians were tribes that came in the 8th century. BC e. from Central Asia. Several Scythian tribes of the Northern Black Sea region are known: the royal Scythians, who also lived in the Crimea, the Scythian nomads, the Scythian ploughmen, the Scythian farmers, the Scythian Vonns. The social system of the Scythians in the middle of the 1st millennium BC. e. characterized by the gradual collapse of tribal lines and the emergence of class relations. Patriarchal slavery was already known among the Scythians. The change from Cimmerian culture to Scythian culture in the 8th-7th centuries. BC e. coincided with the transition from the Bronze Age to the Iron Age. By the 4th century. BC e. The Scythian kingdom, which united individual tribes, turned into a strong military power that successfully repelled the Persian invasion. Remarkable monuments of the famous Scythian “animal” style were discovered by archaeologists in the burial mounds and mountainous hills of Crimea - in the Kulakovsky Kurgans (near Simferopol, Ak-mosque), unique gold items depicting human figures, animals and plants were found in the famous Scythian mounds of Kul-Oba, Ak-Mosque Burun, Golden Mound.
In the VIII-VI centuries. BC e. an intensive process is taking place Greek colonization North Pontic coast, due to the economic and social development of Ancient Hellas. In the 7th century BC e. the west was colonized, and in the 6th century. BC e. - northern coast of the Black Sea.
First of all in Taurida, probably in the first half of the 6th century. BC e., on the site of modern Kerch on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, the city of Panticapaeum was founded by the Milesians. The city itself was called by the Greeks and simply Bosporus. Around the middle of the 6th century. BC e. Tiritaka, Nymphaeum, and Cimmeric arose in Eastern Crimea. In the VI century. BC e. Theodosius was founded by the Milesian Greeks, as well as Myrmekium, located not far from Panticapaeum.
Around 480 BC e. In the Eastern Crimea, the previously independent Greek city-states (polises) are united into a single Bosporan state under the rule of the Archeanactids, immigrants from Miletus. In 438 BC. e. power in the Bosporus passes to the Spartokids, a dynasty possibly of Thracian origin.
Crafts, agriculture, trade, coin circulation of Panticapaeum, where from the middle of the 6th century. their own silver coins were minted and were at a relatively high level of development. There was an expansion of the external expansion of the Bosporan state. However, in the III-II centuries. BC e. The onslaught of the Scythians intensifies from the west, and the Sarmatians penetrate from the Kuban region.
The creation of a Scythian state in Crimea and the aggravation of social contradictions in the Bosporan kingdom contributed to the weakening of the latter.
In the western part of Crimea, Chersonesos, founded in the 5th century, played an important role. BC e. immigrants from the southern shore of the Black Sea (from Heraclea Pontic). Initially it was a trading post, which then became a center of agricultural and handicraft production. Trade also grew, the development of which was associated with the issuance of its own coins made of silver and copper. The remains of ancient Chersonesus are preserved on the western outskirts of modern Sevastopol.
Chersonesos probably followed a hostile policy towards the Bosporus. However, by the end of the 2nd century. BC e. The onslaught of the Scythians on Chersonesos intensifies. The Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator provided military assistance to Chersonesus. Eastern Crimea and Chersonese then came under the rule of the Pontic king. Perisad, the last king of the Bosporus from the Spartokid dynasty, abdicated the throne in favor of Mithridates VI. But this only exacerbated the emerging social contradictions in the slave-owning Bosporus. In 107 BC. e. An uprising led by the Scythian Savmak took place here, but it was suppressed by the troops of the Pontic king.
The Pontic kingdom became the main obstacle to further expansion of the Romans to the East. This led to the wars of Mithridates with Rome, which lasted from 89 BC. e. until the death of the Pontic king in 63 BC. e. The death of Mithridates meant the actual loss of political independence by this part of the Black Sea region. By the end of the 1st century. BC e. A portrait of the Roman emperor and members of his family appears on Bosporan coins. True, in 25 BC. e. Rome confirms the independence of Chersonese, but this independence was largely nominal.
City-states of Taurica in the first centuries AD. were developed slave-owning policies. This opinion is supported by their administrative structure, as well as monuments discovered by archaeologists material culture.
The dominant force in the steppe zone during this period were the Sarmatians, led by tribal nobility, surrounded by warriors. Several alliances of Sarmatian tribes are known - Roxolani, Aorsi, Siracs. Obviously, from the 2nd century. And. e. Sarmatians receive the general name Alans, probably from the name of one of their tribes. However, in Crimea, the Sarmatians, apparently, were inferior in number to the mass of Scythians who survived here, as well as the descendants of the ancient Tauri. In contrast to the Sarmatians, this old population is called Tauro-Scythians in ancient sources, which perhaps indicates the erasure of the differences between them.
The center of the Scythian tribes in Crimea was Scythian Naples, located on the site of present-day Simferopol. Scythian Naples was founded at the end of the 3rd century. BC e. and existed until the 4th century. n. e.
In the I-II centuries. The Bosporan kingdom is experiencing a new rise; it occupies approximately the same territory as under the Spartokids. Moreover, the Bosporus actually exercises a protectorate over Chersonesus. At the same time, Sarmatization of the population of the Bosporan cities occurs. In foreign policy The Bosporan kings showed a certain independence, including in relations with Rome.
In the 3rd century. In the Crimea, the Christian religion spread here, probably from Asia Minor. In the 4th century. an independent Christian bishopric already existed in Bosporus.
Chersonesus at this time continued to develop as a slave-owning republic, but the previous democratic system (within the framework, of course, of the slave-owning formation) was now replaced by an aristocratic one. At the same time, the Romanization of the ruling city elite took place. Chersonesus becomes the main stronghold of the Romans in the Northern Black Sea region. It housed a Roman garrison and supplied food to the center of the empire.
In the middle of the 3rd century. n. e. The Bosporan state was experiencing economic and political decline, reflecting the general crisis of the ancient slave system. Starting from the 50-70s. in Crimea, the onslaught of the Borans, Ostrogoths, Heruls and other tribes that were part of
to the Gothic League. The Goths defeated the Scythians and destroyed their settlements in the Crimea. Having captured almost the entire peninsula, with the exception of Chersonesos, they established their dominance over the Bosporus. The Gothic invasion led to the decline of the Bosporan kingdom, but it was dealt a mortal blow in the 70s. IV century tribes of the Huns who appeared in Eastern Crimea. The Bosporus, destroyed by them, lost its former significance and gradually disappeared from the historical arena.
From the collection “Crimea: past and present", Institute of History of the USSR, USSR Academy of Sciences, 1988
Ancient peoples of Crimea
During the Jurassic period of the Earth, when there was no man yet, the northern edge of the land was located on the site of the mountainous Crimea. Where the Crimean and southern Ukrainian steppes now lie, a huge sea overflowed. The appearance of the Earth gradually changed. The bottom of the sea rose, and where there were deep seas, islands appeared and continents moved forward. In other places on the island, the continents sank, and their place was taken by the vast expanse of the sea. Enormous cracks split continental blocks, reached the molten depths of the Earth, and gigantic streams of lava poured out to the surface. Piles of ash many meters thick were deposited in the coastal strip of the sea... The history of Crimea has similar stages.
Crimea in section
In the place where the coastline now stretches from Feodosia to Balaklava, at one time a huge crack passed through. Everything that was located to the south of it sank to the bottom of the sea, everything that was located to the north rose. Where there were sea depths, a low coast appeared, where there was a coastal strip, mountains grew. And from the crack itself, huge columns of fire burst out into streams of molten rocks.
The history of the formation of the Crimean relief continued when the volcanic eruptions ended, the earthquakes subsided and plants appeared on the land that emerged from the depths. If you look closely, for example, at the rocks of the Kara-Dag, you will notice that this mountain range is riddled with cracks, and some rare minerals are found here.
Over the years, the Black Sea has beaten the coastal rocks and thrown their fragments onto the shore, and today on the beaches we walk on smooth pebbles, we encounter green and pink jasper, translucent chalcedony, brown pebbles with layers of calcite, snow-white quartz and quartzite fragments. Sometimes you can also find pebbles that were previously molten lava; they are brown in color, as if filled with bubbles - voids or inclusions of milky-white quartz.
So today, each of us can independently plunge into this distant historical past of Crimea and even touch its stone and mineral witnesses.
Prehistoric period
Paleolithic
The oldest traces of hominid habitation on the territory of Crimea date back to the Middle Paleolithic - this is the Neanderthal site in the Kiik-Koba cave.
Mesolithic
According to the Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, up to 6 thousand BC. the territory of Crimea was not a peninsula, but was a fragment of a larger land mass, which included, in particular, the territory of the modern Sea of Azov. Around 5500 thousand BC, as a result of the breakthrough of waters from the Mediterranean Sea and the formation of the Bosporus Strait, for quite short period Large areas were flooded, and the Crimean Peninsula was formed.
Neolithic and Chalcolithic
In 4-3 thousand BC. Through the territories north of Crimea, migrations to the west of tribes, presumably speakers of Indo-European languages, took place. In 3 thousand BC. The Kemi-Oba culture existed on the territory of Crimea.
Nomadic peoples of the Northern Black Sea region of the 1st millennium BC.
At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. A tribe of Cimmerians emerged from the Indo-European community. This is the first people living on the territory of Ukraine, which is mentioned in written sources - Homer’s Odyssey. The Greek historian of the 5th century told the most and most reliably about the Cimmerians. BC. Herodotus. 
monument to Herodotus in Halicarnassus
We also find mention of them in Assyrian sources. The Assyrian name "Kimmirai" means "giants". According to another version from ancient Iranian - “a mobile cavalry detachment”.
Cimmerian
There are three versions of the origin of the Cimmerians. The first is the ancient Iranian people who came to the land of Ukraine through the Caucasus. The second is that the Cimmerians appeared as a result of the gradual historical development of the Proto-Iranian steppe culture, and their ancestral home was the Lower Volga region. Third, the Cimmerians were the local population. 
Archaeologists find material monuments of the Cimmerians in the Northern Black Sea region, in the Northern Caucasus, in the Volga region, on the lower reaches of the Dniester and Danube. The Cimmerians were Iranian-speaking.
The early Cimmerians led a sedentary lifestyle. Later, due to the onset of an arid climate, they became a nomadic people and mainly bred horses, which they learned to ride.
The Cimmerian tribes united into large tribal unions, which were headed by a king-leader.
They had a large army. It consisted of mobile troops of horsemen armed with steel and iron swords and daggers, bows and arrows, war hammers and maces. The Cimmerians fought with the kings of Lydia, Urartu and Assyria.
Cimmerian warriors
The Cimmerian settlements were temporary, mainly camps and wintering quarters. But they had their own forges and blacksmiths who made iron and steel swords and daggers, the best at that time in the Ancient World. They themselves did not mine metal; they used iron mined by forest-steppe dwellers or Caucasian tribes. Their craftsmen made horse bits, arrowheads, and jewelry. They had a high level of development of ceramic production. Particularly beautiful were the goblets with a polished surface, decorated with geometric patterns.
The Cimmerians knew how to perfectly process bones. Their jewelry made from semi-precious stones was very beautiful. Stone gravestones with images of people made by the Cimmerians have survived to this day.
The Cimmerians lived in patriarchal clans, which consisted of families. Gradually, they have a military nobility. This was greatly facilitated by predatory wars. Their main goal was to rob neighboring tribes and peoples.
The religious beliefs of the Cimmerians are known from burial materials. Noble people were buried in large mounds. There were male and female burials. Daggers, bridles, a set of arrowheads, stone blocks, sacrificial food, and a horse were placed in men's graves. Gold and bronze rings, glass and gold necklaces, and pottery were placed in women's burials.
Archaeological finds show that the Cimmerians had connections with the tribes of the Azov region, Western Siberia and the Caucasus. Among the artefacts were women's jewelry, decorated weapons, stone steles without an image of a head, but with a carefully reflected dagger and a quiver of arrows.
Along with the Cimmerians, the central part of the Ukrainian forest-steppe was occupied by the descendants of the Belogrudov culture of the Bronze Age, bearers of the Chernoles culture, who are considered ancestors Eastern Slavs. The main source of studying the life of the Chornolists are settlements. Both ordinary settlements with 6-10 dwellings and fortified settlements were found. A line of 12 fortifications built on the border with the steppe protected the Chornolistsiv from attacks by the nomids. They were located on areas closed by nature. The settlement was surrounded by a rampart on which a wall of wooden frames and a moat were built. The Chernolesk settlement, the southern outpost of the defense, was protected by three lines of ramparts and ditches. During attacks, residents of neighboring settlements found protection behind their walls.
The basis of the economy of the Chornolists was arable farming and homestead cattle breeding. 
The metalworking craft has reached an extraordinary level of development. Iron was used primarily for the production of weapons. The largest sword in Europe at that time with a steel blade with a total length of 108 cm was found at the Subbotovsky settlement.
The need to constantly combat the attacks of the Cimmerians forced the Chornolists to create a foot army and cavalry. Many pieces of horse harness and even the skeleton of a horse, laid next to the deceased, were found in the burials. Archaeological finds have shown the existence of a Cimmerian day in the Forest-Steppe of a fairly powerful association of Proto-Slav farmers, which for a long time resisted the threat from the Steppe.
The life and development of the Cimmerian tribes were interrupted at the beginning of the 7th century. BC. the invasion of the Scythian tribes, with which the next stage of the ancient history of Ukraine is associated.
2. Taurus
Almost simultaneously with the Cimmerians, an indigenous population lived in the southern part of Crimea - the Taurians (from the Greek word "Tavros" - tour). The name of the Crimean peninsula, Tauris, comes from the Tauris, introduced by the tsarist government after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus in his book “History” said that the Tauris were engaged in cattle breeding on the mountain plateaus, farming in the river valleys, and fishing on the Black Sea coast. . They were also engaged in crafts - they were skilled potters, they knew how to spin, process stone, wood, bones, horns, and also metals.
From the second half of the 1st millennium BC. In the Taurians, like other tribes, property inequality appeared, and a tribal aristocracy was formed. The Tauri built fortifications around their settlements. Together with their neighbors, the Scythians, they fought against the Greek city-state of Chersonesus, which was seizing their lands.
modern ruins Chersonese
The further fate of the Tauri was tragic: first - in the 2nd century. BC. - They were conquered by the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator, and in the second half of the 1st century. BC. captured by Roman troops.
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In the Middle Ages, the Tauri were exterminated or assimilated by the Tatars, who conquered Crimea. The original culture of the Taurians was lost.
Great Scythia. Ancient city-states in the Northern Black Sea region
3.Scythians
From the 7th century to the 3rd century BC. The Scythian tribes, who came from the depths of Asia and invaded the Northern Black Sea region, brought terror to the tribes and states of Eastern Europe and the Middle East.
The Scythians conquered a huge territory at that time between the Don, Danube and Dnieper, part of Crimea (the territory of modern Southern and South-Eastern Ukraine), forming the state of Scythia there. Herodotus left a more detailed characterization and description of the life and way of life of the Scythians.
In the 5th century BC. he personally visited Scythia and described it. The Scythians were descendants of Indo-European tribes. They had their own mythology, rituals, worshiped gods and mountains, and made blood sacrifices to them.
Herodotus identified the following groups among the Scythians: the royal Scythians, who lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Don and were considered the top of the tribal union; Scythian plowmen who lived between the Dnieper and Dniester (historians believe that these were the descendants of the Chernoles culture defeated by the Scythians); Scythian farmers who lived in the forest-steppe zone, and Scythian nomads who settled in the steppes of the Black Sea region. Among the tribes named by Herodotus, the Scythians proper were the tribes royal Scythians and Scythian nomads. They dominated over all other tribes.
Outfit of a Scythian king and military commander
At the end of the 6th century. BC. In the Black Sea steppes, a powerful state association was formed led by the Scythians - Greater Scythia, which included the local population of the steppe and forest-steppe regions (Skolot). Great Scythia, according to Herodotus, was divided into three kingdoms; one of them was headed by the main king, and the other two were junior kings (probably the sons of the main one).
The Scythian state was the first political union in south-Eastern Europe in the early Iron Age (the center of Scythia in the 5th-3rd centuries BC was the Kamenskoye settlement near Nikopol). Scythia was divided into districts (nomes), which were ruled by leaders appointed by the Scythian kings.
Scythia reached its highest rise in the 4th century. BC. It is associated with the name of King Atey. The power of Atey extended over vast territories from the Danube to the Don. This king minted his own coin. The power of Scythia did not waver even after the defeat from the Macedonian king Philip II (father of Alexander the Great).
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Philip II on campaign
The Scythian state remained powerful even after the death of 90-year-old Atey in 339 BC. However, at the border of the IV-III centuries. BC. Scythia is falling into decay. At the end of the 3rd century. BC. Great Scythia ceases to exist under the onslaught of the Sarmatians. Part of the Scythian population moved south and created two Lesser Scythia. One, which was called the Scythian kingdom (III century BC - III century AD) with its capital in Scythian Naples in Crimea, the other - in the lower reaches of the Dnieper.
Scythian society consisted of three main layers: warriors, priests, ordinary community members (farmers and cattle breeders. Each of the layers traced its origins to one of the sons of the first ancestor and had its own sacred attribute. For warriors it was an ax, for priests - a bowl, for community members - plow whitefish. Herodotus says that the Scythians held special honor among the seven gods; they were considered the ancestors of people and the creators of everything on Earth. 
Written sources and archaeological materials indicate that the basis of Scythian production was cattle breeding, since it provided almost everything necessary for life - horses, meat, milk, wool and felt for clothing. The agricultural population of Scythia grew wheat, millet, hemp, etc., and they sowed grain not only for themselves, but also for sale. Farmers lived in settlements (fortifications), which were located on the banks of rivers and fortified with ditches and ramparts.
The decline and then the collapse of Scythia were caused by a number of factors: worsening climatic conditions, drying out of the steppes, decline in the economic resources of the forest-steppe, etc. In addition, in the III-I centuries. BC. A significant part of Scythia was conquered by the Sarmatians.
Modern researchers believe that the first sprouts of statehood on the territory of Ukraine appeared precisely in Scythian times. The Scythians created a unique culture. Art was dominated by the so-called. "Animal" style.
The monuments of the Scythian era, mounds, are widely known: Solokha and Gaimanova Graves in Zaporozhye, Tolstaya Mogila and Chertomlyk in the Dnepropetrovsk region, Kul-Oba, etc. Royal jewelry (golden pectoral), weapons, etc. were found.
WITH Kifian gold pectoral and scabbard from Tolstoy Mogila
Silver amphora. Kurgan Chertomlyk
Chairman of Dionysus.
Kurgan Chertomlyk
Golden comb. Solokha Kurgan
Interesting to know
Herodotus described the burial ritual of the Scythian king: Before burying their king in the sacred territory - Guerra (Dnieper region, at the level of the Dnieper rapids), the Scythians took his embalmed body to all the Scythian tribes, where they performed a rite of memory over him. In Guerra, the body was buried in a spacious tomb along with his wife, closest servants, horses, etc. The king had gold items and precious jewelry. Huge mounds were built over the tombs - the more noble the king, the higher the mound. This indicates the stratification of property among the Scythians.
4. War of the Scythians with the Persian king Darius I
The Scythians were a warlike people. They actively intervened in conflicts between the states of Western Asia (the struggle of the Scythians with the Persian king Darius, etc.).
Around 514-512 BC. The Persian king Darius I decided to conquer the Scythians. Having gathered a huge army, he crossed the floating bridge across the Danube and moved deep into Great Scythia. The army of Daria I, as Herodotus claimed, numbered 700 thousand soldiers, however, this figure is believed to be several times exaggerated. The Scythian army probably numbered about 150 thousand fighters. According to the plan of the Scythian military leaders, their army avoided open battle with the Persians and, gradually leaving, lured the enemy into the interior of the country, destroying wells and pastures along the way. Currently, the Scythians planned to gather forces and defeat the weakened Persians. This “Scythian tactic,” as it was later called, turned out to be successful. 
in Darius's camp
Darius built a camp on the shores of the Sea of Azov. Overcoming vast distances, the Persian army tried in vain to find the enemy. When the Scythians decided that the Persian forces had been undermined, they began to act decisively. On the eve of the decisive battle, the Scythians sent the king of the Persians strange gifts: a bird, a mouse, a frog and five arrows. His advisor interpreted the content of the “Scythian Gift” to Darius as follows: “If, Persians, you do not become birds and fly high into the sky, or mice and hide in the ground, or frogs and jump into the swamps, then you will not return to yourself, you will be lost by these arrows." It is not known what Darius I was thinking, despite these gifts and the Scythians who formed troops into battle. However, at night, leaving the wounded in the camp who could support the fires, he fled with the remnants of his army.
Skopasis
King of the Sauromatians, who lived in the 6th century BC. e., the father of history Herodotus mentions in his books. Having united the Scythian armies, Skopasis defeated the Persian troops under the command of Darius I, who came to the northern shores of Maeotis. Herodotus writes that it was Skopasis who regularly forced Darius to retreat to Tanais and prevented him from invading Great Scythia.
This is how the attempt of one of the most powerful owners of the then world to conquer Great Scythia ended shamefully. Thanks to the victory over the Persian army, which was then considered the strongest, the Scythians won the glory of invincible warriors.
5. Sarmatians
During the 3rd century. BC. - III century AD the Northern Black Sea region was dominated by the Sarmatians, who came from the Volga-Ural steppes.
Ukrainian lands in the III-I centuries. BC.
We do not know what these tribes called themselves. The Greeks and Romans called them Sarmatians, which translates from ancient Iranian as “girt with a sword.” Herodotus claimed that the ancestors of the Sarmatians lived east of the Scythians beyond the Tanais (Don) river. He also told a legend that the Sarmatians trace their ancestry to the Amazons, who were taken by the Scythian youths. However, they were unable to master the language of men well and therefore the Sarmatians speak a corrupted Scythian language. Part of the truth in the statements of the “father of history” is: the Sarmatians, like the Scythians, belonged to the Iranian-speaking group of peoples, and their women had a very high status. 
The settlement of the Black Sea steppes by the Sarmatians was not peaceful. They exterminated the remnants of the Scythian population and turned most of their country into desert. Subsequently, on the territory of Sarmatia, as the Romans called these lands, several Sarmatian tribal associations appeared - Aorsi, Siracians, Roxolani, Iazyges, Alans.
Having settled in the Ukrainian steppes, the Sarmatians began to attack the neighboring Roman provinces, ancient city-states and settlements of farmers - Slav, Lviv, Zarubintsy culture, forest-steppe. Evidence of attacks on the Proto-Slavs were numerous finds of Sarmatian arrowheads during excavations of the ramparts of Zarubinets settlements.
Sarmatian horseman
The Sarmatians were nomadic pastoralists. They received the necessary agricultural products and handicrafts from their sedentary neighbors through exchange, tribute, and ordinary robbery. The basis of such relations was the military advantage of the nomads.
Wars for pastures and booty were of great importance in the life of the Sarmatians.
Dress of Sarmatian warriors
Archaeologists have not found any Sarmatian settlements. The only monuments they left are mounds. Among the excavated mounds there are many female burials. They found magnificent examples of jewelry made in the “Animal” style. An indispensable accessory for male burials is weapons and equipment for horses. 
Fibula. Nagaichinsky mound. Crimea
At the beginning of our era, the rule of the Sarmatians in the Black Sea region reached its highest point. The Sarmatization of the Greek city-states took place, and for a long time the Sarmatian dynasty ruled the Bosporan kingdom.
In them, like the Scythians, there was private ownership of livestock, which was the main wealth and the main means of production. A significant role in the Sarmatian economy was played by the labor of slaves, into whom they turned prisoners captured during continuous wars. However, the tribal system of the Sarmatians held on quite steadfastly.
The nomadic lifestyle of the Sarmatians and trade relations with many peoples (China, India, Iran, Egypt) contributed to the spread of various cultural influences among them. Their culture combined elements of the culture of the East, the ancient South and the West.
From the middle of the 3rd century. AD The Sarmatians lose their leading position in the Black Sea steppes. At this time, immigrants from Northern Europe - the Goths - appeared here. Together with local tribes, among whom were Alans (one of the Sarmatian communities), the Goths carried out devastating attacks on the cities of the Northern Black Sea region.
Genoese in Crimea
At the beginning of the 13th century, after the crusader knights captured Constantinople as a result of the fourth crusade (1202-1204), the Venetians who took an active part in organizing the campaign were able to freely penetrate into the Black Sea. 
storming of Constantinople
Already in the middle of the 13th century. they regularly visited Soldaya (modern Sudak) and settled in this city. It is known that the uncle of the famous traveler Marco Polo, Maffeo Polo, owned a house in Soldai.
Sudak fortress
In 1261, Emperor Michael Palaiologos liberated Constantinople from the crusaders. The Republic of Genoa contributed to this. The Genoese receive a monopoly on navigation in the Black Sea. In the middle of the 13th century. The Genoese defeated the Venetians in the six-year war. This was the beginning of the two-hundred-year stay of the Genoese in Crimea.
In the 60s of the 13th century, Genoa settled in Caffa (modern Feodosia), which became the largest port and trading center in the Black Sea region. 
Feodosia
Gradually the Genoese expanded their possessions. In 1357, Chembalo (Balaklava) was captured, in 1365 - Sugdeya (Sudak). In the second half of the 14th century. the southern coast of Crimea was captured, the so-called. "Captainship of Gothia", which was previously part of the principality of Theodoro - Lupiko (Alupka), Muzahori (Miskhor), Yalita (Yalta), Nikita, Gorzovium (Gurzuf), Partenita, Lusta (Alushta). In total, there were about 40 Italian trading posts in the Crimea, Azov region and the Caucasus. The main activity of the Genoese in Crimea is trade, including the slave trade. Cafe in the XIV - XV centuries. was the largest slave market on the Black Sea. More than a thousand slaves were sold annually at the Kafa market, and the permanent slave population of Kafa reached five hundred people.
At the same time, by the middle of the 13th century, a huge Mongol empire was emerging, formed as a result of the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and his descendants. The Mongol possessions extended from the Pacific coast to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region.
The cafe is actively developing at the same time. However, its existence was interrupted in 1308 by the troops of the Golden Horde Khan Tokhta. The Genoese managed to escape by sea, but the city and the pier were burned to the ground. Only after the new Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) reigned in the Golden Horde did the Genoese again appear on the shores of the Gulf of Feodosia. By the beginning of the 15th century. a new one is taking shape in Tavrika political situation. At this time, it finally weakens and begins to fall apart. Golden Horde. The Genoese cease to consider themselves vassals of the Tatars. But their new opponents were the growing principality of Theodoro, which laid claim to coastal Gothia and Chembalo, as well as the descendant of Genghis Khan, Hadji Giray, who sought to create a Tatar state in Crimea independent of the Golden Horde.
The struggle between Genoa and Theodoro for Gothia lasted intermittently throughout almost the entire first half of the 15th century, and the Theodorites were supported by Hadji Giray. The largest military clash between the warring parties occurred in 1433-1434.
Hadji-Girey
On the approaches to Solkhat, the Genoese were unexpectedly attacked by the Tatar cavalry of Hadji Giray and were defeated in a short battle. After the defeat in 1434, the Genoese colonies were forced to pay an annual tribute to the Crimean Khanate, which was headed by Hadji Giray, who vowed to expel the Genoese from their possessions on the peninsula. Soon the colonies had another deadly enemy. In 1453 The Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire finally ceased to exist, and the sea route connecting the Genoese colonies in the Black Sea with the metropolis was taken under control by the Turks. The Genoese Republic found itself faced with a real threat of losing all of its Black Sea possessions.
The common threat from the Ottoman Turks forced the Genoese to draw closer to their other irreconcilable enemy. In 1471 they entered into an alliance with the ruler Theodoro. But no diplomatic victories could save the colonies from destruction. On May 31, 1475, a Turkish squadron approached the Cafe. By this time, the anti-Turkish bloc “Crimean Khanate - Genoese colonies - Theodoro” had cracked.
The siege of Kafa lasted from June 1 to June 6. The Genoese capitulated at a time when the means to defend their Black Sea capital had not been exhausted. According to one version, the city authorities believed the promises of the Turks to save their lives and property. One way or another, the largest Genoese colony fell to the Turks surprisingly easily. The new owners of the city took away the property of the Genoese, and they themselves were loaded onto ships and taken to Constantinople.
Soldaya offered more stubborn resistance to the Ottoman Turks than Kafa. And after the besiegers managed to break into the fortress, its defenders locked themselves in the church and died in a fire.
Interest in the national culture of the Crimeans, in the history of representatives different nationalities and the peoples of Crimea is quite natural. Get to know the peoples living on the peninsula in different eras We offer it to you too.
You can familiarize yourself with the ethnic characteristics and composition of the population of Crimea in the article History of the Peoples of Crimea. Here we will talk about the peoples of Crimea who inhabited it throughout the history of the Crimean peninsula in chronological order.
Taurus. The Hellenic Greeks called Taurus the tribes that inhabited the mountainous foothills of the peninsula and the entire southern coast. Their self-name is unknown; perhaps the Tauri are descendants of the ancient indigenous population of the peninsula. The most ancient monuments of their material culture on the peninsula date back to approximately the 10th century. BC e., although their culture can be traced earlier. The remains of several fortified settlements, sanctuaries, as well as burial grounds, the so-called “Taurian boxes,” were found. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, hunting, and occasionally engaged in sea piracy. With the beginning of the new era, a gradual merger of the Taurians with the Scythians began, as a result of which a new ethnonym appeared - “Tavro-Scythians”.
Cimmerians- the collective name of the warlike nomadic tribes that inhabited the X-UP centuries. BC e. Northern Black Sea region and the flat part of Taurica. There are mentions of this people in many ancient sources. There are very few monuments of their material culture on the peninsula. In the 7th century BC e. The Cimmerians, pushed back by the Scythians, left the Northern Black Sea region. However, the memory of them was preserved for a long time in geographical names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric, etc.)
Scythians. Nomadic tribes of the Scythians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region and lowland Crimea in the 7th century. BC e., gradually moving to a sedentary lifestyle and absorbing part of the tribes who lived here. In the 3rd century. BC e. Under the onslaught of the Sarmatians, the Scythians lost their possessions on the mainland of the Black Sea region and the Sivash region and concentrated in the plain Crimea. A late Scythian state was formed here with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol), which fought with the Greek states for influence on the peninsula. In the 3rd century. it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians, and then the Goths and the Huns. The remainder of the Scythians mixed with the Tauri, Sarmatians and Goths.
Ancient Greeks (Hellenes). Ancient Greek colonists appeared in Crimea in the 6th century. BC e. Gradually populating the coast, they founded whole line cities and settlements (Pantikapaeus, Feodosia, Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, etc.). Later, the Greek cities united into the Chersonese state and the Bosporan kingdom. The Greeks founded settlements, minted coins, engaged in crafts, agriculture, winemaking, fishing, and traded with other peoples. For a long time they provided enormous cultural and political influence for all peoples living in Crimea. In the first centuries of the new era, the Greek states lost their political independence and became dependent on the Kingdom of Pontus, the Roman Empire, and then Byzantium. The Greek population is gradually merging with other Crimean ethnic groups, passing on their language and culture.
Sarmatians. Nomadic tribes of the Sarmatians (Roksolans, Yazygs, Aorses, Siraks, etc.) appeared in the Northern Black Sea region in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., crowding out the Scythians. They penetrated into Taurida from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e., either fighting the Scythians and Bosporites, or entering into military and political alliances with them. Probably, along with the Sarmatians, the Proto-Slavs also came to Crimea. The Sarmatians, gradually settling throughout the peninsula, mixed with the local Greco-Scythian-Taurian population.
Romans (Roman Empire). Roman troops first appeared on the peninsula (in the Bosporan kingdom) in the 1st century. before. n. e. after the victory over the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. But the Romans did not stay in the Bosporus for long. In the second half of the 1st century AD. e. Roman troops, at the request of the Chersonesos, helped repel the onslaught of the Scythians. From this time on, Chersonesus and the Bosporan kingdom became dependent on Rome.
The Roman garrison and squadron were in Chersonesos intermittently for about two centuries, introducing some elements of their culture into the life of the city. The Romans built fortresses in other parts of the peninsula (Kharaks at Cape Ai-Todor, fortresses in Balaklava, Alma-Kermen, etc.). But in the 4th century, Roman troops were finally withdrawn from Taurica.
Alans- one of the large Sarmatian nomadic tribes. They began to penetrate Crimea in the 2nd century. Initially, the Alans settled in the southeastern Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hun threat, the Alans moved to the mountainous southwestern Crimea. Here, in contact with the local population, they settle down and accept Christianity. In the early Middle Ages, along with the Goths, the Goto Alans formed an ethnic community.
Goths. The Germanic tribes of the Goths invaded the Crimea in the 3rd century. Under their blows, the Poednescythian kingdom fell, and the Bosporus fell into a dependent position. Initially, the Goths settled in the plain Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hun threat, part of the Goths moved to the southwestern Crimea. The territory of their settlement subsequently received the name Gothia, and its inhabitants became federates of the Byzantine Empire. With the support of Byzantium, fortified settlements were built here (Doros, Eski-Kermen). After the Goths adopted Christianity, the Gothic diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is here. In the 13th century, on the territory of Gothia, the Principality of Theodoro was formed, which existed until 1475. Neighboring with the Alans and professing a common Christian faith, the Goths gradually merged with them, forming the ethnic community of “Goto-Alans”, which subsequently participated in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Greeks, and then the Crimean Tatars .
Huns. During the IV - V centuries. Crimea was repeatedly invaded by hordes of Huns. Among them were different tribes - Turkic, Ugric, Bulgarian. The Bosporan kingdom fell under their attacks, and the local residents took refuge from their raids in the foothills and mountainous part of the peninsula. After the collapse of the union of Hunnic tribes in 453, part of the Huns settled in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. For some time they were a threat to the inhabitants of mountainous Taurica, but then quickly disappeared among the local, more cultured population.
Byzantines (Byzantine Empire). The Greek-speaking Orthodox population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire is commonly called Byzantines. For many centuries, Byzantium played a leading role in Crimea, determining the politics, economy and culture of local peoples. Actually, there were few Byzantines in Crimea; they represented the civil, military and church administrations. Although a small number of inhabitants of the empire periodically moved to live in Taurica when the metropolis was uneasy.
Christianity came from Byzantium to Taurida. With the help of the Byzantines, fortresses were built on the coast and in the mountainous Crimea, Chersonesos and Bosporus were fortified. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in the 13th century. Byzantine influence on the peninsula practically ceases.
Crimean Greeks. In the V-IX centuries. in the southeastern and southwestern Crimea, a new ethnic group was formed from the descendants of the ancient Greeks, Tauro-Scythians, Goto-Alans, and part of the Turks, which later became known as the “Crimean Greeks.” These different peoples were united by the adoption of Orthodox Christianity, as well as a common territory and way of life. In the 8th-9th centuries, the Greeks, who fled from Byzantine from the persecution of the iconocorans, joined it. In the 13th century In southwestern Taurica, two Christian principalities were formed - Theodoro and Kyrk-Orskoe, the main language of which was Greek. from the 15th century... after the defeat of the Genoese colonies and the principality of Theodoro by the Turks, natural Turkization and Islamization of the Crimean Greeks took place, but many of them retained the Christian faith (even having lost native language) until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. A small part of the Crimean Greeks later returned to Crimea.
Khazars- a collective name for various nationalities of Turkic (Turkic-Bulgarians, Huns, etc.) and non-Turkic (Magyars, etc.) origin. By the 7th century a state was formed - the Khazar Kaganate, uniting several peoples. At the end of the 7th century. The Khazars invaded Crimea, capturing its southern part, except Chersonesus. In Crimea, the interests of the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire constantly clashed. There were repeated uprisings of the local Christian population against the rule of the Khazars. After the elite of the Kaganate adopted Judaism and the victories of the Kyiv princes over the Khazars, their influence in Crimea weakened. The local population, with the help of Byzantium, managed to overthrow the power of the Khazar rulers. However, for a long time the peninsula was called Khazaria. The Khazars who remained in Crimea gradually joined the local population.
Slavic-Russ (Kievan Rus). Kievan Rus, establishing itself on the world stage in the period from the 9th to the 10th centuries, was constantly in conflict with the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire. Russian squads periodically invaded their Crimean possessions, seizing considerable booty.
In 988, the Kiev prince Vladimir and his squad adopted Christianity in Chersonesus. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the Kyiv prince at its head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Kaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in Crimea ceased, but trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.
Pechenegs, Polovtsians. The Pechenegs - Turkic-speaking nomads - quite often invaded Crimea in the 10th century. They did not have a significant impact on the local population due to the short duration of their stay in Crimea.
Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Komans)- Turkic-speaking nomadic people. Appeared on the peninsula in the 11th century. and began to gradually settle in southeastern Crimea. Subsequently, the Polovtsians practically merged with the newcomer Tatar-Mongols and became the ethnic basis of the future Crimean Tatar ethnos, since they outnumbered the Horde and were a relatively settled population of the peninsula.
Armenians moved to Crimea in the 11th-13th centuries, fleeing the raids of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs. First, the Armenians concentrated in southeastern Crimea (Solkhat, Kafa, Karasubazar), and then in other cities. They were engaged in trade and various crafts. By the 18th century A significant part of the Armenians renounce, but do not lose the Christian faith (Orthodoxy of the monophysical sense), until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. Some of the Crimean Armenians subsequently returned to Crimea.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many Armenians from European countries moved here. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, some Armenians, fleeing the Turkish genocide in Armenia, also moved to Crimea. In 1944, Crimean Armenians were deported from the peninsula. Currently, their partial return to Crimea is taking place.
Venetians, Genoese. Venetian merchants appeared in Crimea in the 12th century, and Genoese merchants in the 13th century. Gradually displacing the Venetians, the Genoese gained a foothold here. Expanding their Crimean colonies, they, according to an agreement with the Golden Horde khans, included the entire coastal territory - from Kafa to Chersonese. Actually, there were few Genoese - administration, security, merchants. Their possessions in Crimea existed until the capture of Crimea by the Ottoman Turks in 1475. The few Genoese who remained in Crimea after that (Crimean women's men) gradually disappeared among the local population.
Tatar-Mongols (Tatars, Horde). Tatars are one of the Turkic tribes conquered by the Mongols. Their name eventually passed on to the entire multi-tribal array of Asian nomads who set off on a campaign to the west in the 13th century. Horde is its more accurate name. Tatar-Mongols is a late term used by historians since the 19th century.
Horde(among them were Mongols, Turks and other tribes conquered by the Mongols, and the Turkic peoples predominated numerically), united under the rule of the Mongol khans, first appeared in Crimea in the 13th century.
Gradually they began to settle in northern and southeastern Crimea. Here the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde was formed with its center in Solkhat. In the XIV century. The Horde people converted to Islam and gradually settled in the southwestern Crimea. The Horde, in close contact with the Crimean Greeks and Cumans (Kipchaks), gradually moved to sedentary life, becoming one of the ethnic cores of the Crimean Tatar ethnos.
Crimean Tatars. (Crimean Tatars - this is how these people are called in other countries; the self-name “kyrymly” means Crimeans, residents of Crimea.) The process of formation of the ethnic group, which later received the name “Crimean Tatars,” was long, complex and multifaceted. Turkic-speaking (descendants of the Turks, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Horde, etc.) and non-Turkic-speaking peoples (descendants of the Goto-Alans, Greeks, Armenians, etc.) took part in its formation. The Crimean Tatars became the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
Among them, three subethnic groups can be distinguished. “Mountain Tatars” settled in the mountainous and foothill parts of the peninsula. Their ethnic core was mainly formed by the 16th century. from the descendants of the Horde, Kipchaks and Crimean Greeks who converted to Islam.
The ethnic group of “South Coast Tatars” was formed later on lands subject to the Turkish Sultan. Their ethnic basis was made up of the descendants of the local Christian population (Gotoalans, Greeks, Italians, etc.), who lived on these lands and converted to Islam, as well as the descendants of settlers from Asia Minor. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Tatars from other regions of Crimea began to settle on the southern coast.
In the steppe Crimea, the Black Sea region and the Sivash region, the Nogais roamed, who had mainly Turkic (Kipchak) and Mongolian roots. In the 16th century they accepted the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, and later joined the Crimean Tatar ethnic group. They began to be called “steppe Tatars”.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the process of emigration of Crimean Tatars to Turkey and other countries begins. As a result of several waves of emigration, the number of the Crimean Tatar population decreased significantly and by the end of the 19th century it accounted for 27% of the population of Crimea.
In 1944, the Crimean Tatar people were deported from Crimea. During the deportation, there was an involuntary mixing of different subethnic groups that had previously hardly mixed with each other.
Currently, most of the Crimean Tatars have returned to Crimea, and the final formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group is taking place.
Turks (Ottoman Empire). Having invaded Crimea in 1475, the Ottoman Turks took possession, first of all, of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro. A sanjak was formed on their lands - Turkish possessions in Crimea with its center in Kafe. They made up 1/10 of the peninsula, but these were the most strategically important territories and fortresses. As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, Crimea was annexed to Russia and the Turks (mainly military garrisons and administration) left it. The Turks organizedly resettled immigrants from Turkish Anatolia on the Crimean coast. Over time, having mixed considerably with the local population, they all became one of the ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatar people and received the name “South Coast Tatars.”
Karaites (Karai)- nationality Turkic origin, possibly descendants of the Khazars. However, to this day their origin is the subject of heated scientific debate. This is a small Turkic-speaking people, formed on the basis of a religiously isolated sect that professed Judaism in a special form - Karaimism. Unlike Orthodox Jews, they did not recognize the Talmud and remained faithful to the Torah (Bible). Karaite communities began to appear in Crimea after the 10th century, and by the 18th century. they were already the majority (75%) in the Jewish population of Crimea.
Russians, Ukrainians. During the XVI-XVII centuries. Relations between the Slavs and Tatars were not easy. The Crimean Tatars periodically raided the outlying lands of Poland, Russia and Ukraine, capturing slaves and booty. In turn, the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and then the Russian troops, carried out military campaigns on the territory of the Crimean Khanate.
In 1783, Crimea was conquered and annexed to Russia. The active settlement of the peninsula by Russians and Ukrainians began, who by the end of the 19th century. became the predominant population here and continue to remain so.
Greeks and Bulgarians from lands controlled by Turkey, under the threat of repression, with the support of the Russian state, they moved to Crimea at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 20th century. Bulgarians settle mainly in the rural areas of southeastern Crimea, and Greeks (usually called modern Greeks) live in coastal cities and villages. In 1944 they were deported from Crimea. Currently, some of them have returned to Crimea and many have emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria.
Jews. Ancient Jews have appeared in Crimea since the beginning of our era, quickly adapting among the local population. Their numbers here increased significantly in the 5th-9th centuries, when they were persecuted in Byzantium. They lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade,
By the 18th century some of them are strongly Turkified, becoming the basis for the Krymchaks - a Turkic-speaking ethnic group professing Judaism. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Jews always made up a significant proportion of the population of the peninsula (it was up to 8% by the beginning of the 20th century), since Crimea was part of the so-called “Pale of Settlement”, where Jews were allowed to settle.
Krymchaks- Turkic-speaking small people, formed by the 18th century. from the descendants of Jews who moved to Crimea at different times and from different places and were thoroughly Turkified, as well as Turks who converted to Judaism. They professed the Jewish religion of the Talmudic sense, which served to unite them into a single people. A few representatives of this people still live in Crimea today.
Germans. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. German settlers, taking advantage of significant benefits, began to settle mainly in the steppe Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. They were mainly engaged in agriculture. Almost until the Great Patriotic War they lived in separate German villages and hamlets. By the beginning of the 20th century. Germans made up up to 6% of the peninsula's population. Their descendants were deported from Crimea in 1941. Currently, only a few of the Crimean Germans have returned to Crimea. Most emigrated to Germany.
Poles, Czechs, Estonians. Settlers of these nationalities appeared in Crimea in the middle of the 19th century and were mainly engaged in agriculture. By the middle of the 20th century. they practically disappeared among the predominant local Slavic population.
