History of Crimea - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Crimea, a peninsula

Peninsula

A peninsula is a piece of land that is bordered by water on three sides but connected to mainland. In many Germanic and Celtic languages and also in Baltic, Slavic and Hungarian, peninsulas are called "half-islands"....

on the northern coast of the Black Sea

Black Sea

The Black Sea is bounded by Europe, Anatolia and the Caucasus and is ultimately connected to the Atlantic Ocean via the Mediterranean and the Aegean seas and various straits. The Bosphorus strait connects it to the Sea of Marmara, and the strait of the Dardanelles connects that sea to the Aegean...

and an autonomous republic

Autonomous republic

An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Many of these republics were established during the Soviet...

under the jurisdiction of Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

, has a history of over 2000 years. The territory of Crimea

Crimea

Crimea , or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea , is a sub-national unit, an autonomous republic, of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name...

has been conquered and controlled many times throughout this history. The Cimmerians

Cimmerians

The Cimmerians or Kimmerians were ancient equestrian nomads of Indo-European origin.According to the Greek historian Herodotus, of the 5th century BC, the Cimmerians inhabited the region north of the Caucasus and the Black Sea during the 8th and 7th centuries BC, in what is now Ukraine and Russia...

, Greek

Ancient Greece

Ancient Greece is a civilization belonging to a period of Greek history that lasted from the Archaic period of the 8th to 6th centuries BC to the end of antiquity. Immediately following this period was the beginning of the Early Middle Ages and the Byzantine era. Included in Ancient Greece is the...

s, Scythians, Goths

Crimean Goths

Crimean Goths were those Gothic tribes who remained in the lands around the Black Sea, especially in Crimea. They were the least-powerful, least-known, and almost paradoxically, the longest-lasting of the Gothic communities...

, Huns

Huns

The Huns were a group of nomadic people who, appearing from east of the Volga River, migrated into Europe c. AD 370 and established the vast Hunnic Empire there. Since de Guignes linked them with the Xiongnu, who had been northern neighbours of China 300 years prior to the emergence of the Huns,...

, Bulgars

Bulgars

The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....

, Khazars

Khazars

The Khazars were semi-nomadic Turkic people who established one of the largest polities of medieval Eurasia, with the capital of Atil and territory comprising much of modern-day European Russia, western Kazakhstan, eastern Ukraine, Azerbaijan, large portions of the northern Caucasus , parts of...

, the state of Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....

, Byzantine

Byzantine Empire

The Byzantine Empire was the Eastern Roman Empire during the periods of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, centred on the capital of Constantinople. Known simply as the Roman Empire or Romania to its inhabitants and neighbours, the Empire was the direct continuation of the Ancient Roman State...

Greeks, Kipchaks

Kipchaks

Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...

, Ottoman

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

Turks, Golden Horde

Golden Horde

The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...

Tatars and the Mongols

Mongols

Mongols ) are a Central-East Asian ethnic group that lives mainly in the countries of Mongolia, China, and Russia. In China, ethnic Mongols can be found mainly in the central north region of China such as Inner Mongolia...

all controlled Crimea in its early history. In the 13th century, it was partly controlled by the Venetians

Republic of Venice

The Republic of Venice or Venetian Republic was a state originating from the city of Venice in Northeastern Italy. It existed for over a millennium, from the late 7th century until 1797. It was formally known as the Most Serene Republic of Venice and is often referred to as La Serenissima, in...

and by the Genovese

Republic of Genoa

The Most Serene Republic of Genoa |Ligurian]]: Repúbrica de Zêna) was an independent state from 1005 to 1797 in Liguria on the northwestern Italian coast, as well as Corsica from 1347 to 1768, and numerous other territories throughout the Mediterranean....

; they were followed by the Crimean Khanate

Crimean Khanate

Crimean Khanate, or Khanate of Crimea , was a state ruled by Crimean Tatars from 1441 to 1783. Its native name was . Its khans were the patrilineal descendants of Toqa Temür, the thirteenth son of Jochi and grandson of Genghis Khan...

and the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

in the 15th to 18th centuries, the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

in the 18th to 20th centuries, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic , commonly referred to as Soviet Russia, Bolshevik Russia, or simply Russia, was the largest, most populous and economically developed republic in the former Soviet Union....

and later the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

in the rest of the 20th century, and Germany

Nazi Germany

Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by...

during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

.

The name "Crimea" takes its origin in the name of the city of Qırım (today called Stary Krym) which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde

Golden Horde

The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...

. The ancient Greeks

Ancient Greece

called Crimea Tauris (later Taurica
Taurica
Taurica, Tauric Chersonese, and Taurida were names by which the territory of Crimea was known to the Greeks and Romans.- Etymology of the name :...

), after its inhabitants, the Tauri

Tauri

The Tauri , also Scythotauri, Tauri Scythae, Tauroscythae were a people settling on the southern coast of the Crimea peninsula, inhabiting the Crimean Mountains and the narrow strip of land between the mountains and the Black Sea...

.

Taurica was eventually renamed by the Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

, from whose language

Crimean Tatar language

The Crimean Tatar language is the language of the Crimean Tatars. It is a Turkic language spoken in Crimea, Central Asia , and the Crimean Tatar diasporas in Turkey, Romania, Bulgaria...

the Crimea's modern name derives. The word "Crimea" comes from the Crimean Tatar name Qırım, via Greek

Greek language

Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...

Krimeía (Κριμαία).

After the annexation of Crimea in 1783 the newly-installed Russian authorities made an attempt to revive the ancient name, and the former lands of the Crimean Khanate were organized into the Taurida Governorate

Taurida Governorate

The Taurida Governorate or Government of Taurida was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crimean peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River and the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea of Azov It was formed after the defunct Taurida Oblast in was abolished in...

. But this name was used only in the official documents and "Crimea" remained a common name for the country.

Early history

Taurica also known as Tauris, Taurida, Tauric Chersonese and Chersonesus Taurica was the name of Crimea in antiquity

Classical antiquity

Classical antiquity is a broad term for a long period of cultural history centered on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations of ancient Greece and ancient Rome, collectively known as the Greco-Roman world...

.

The earliest inhabitants of whom we have any authentic traces were the Cimmerians

Cimmerians

, who were expelled by the Scythians during the 7th century BC. The inland regions were then inhabited by Scythians and the mountainous south coast by the remaining Cimmerians, who became known as the Tauri

Tauri

.

According to Greek

Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece...

legend

Legend

A legend is a narrative of human actions that are perceived both by teller and listeners to take place within human history and to possess certain qualities that give the tale verisimilitude...

s, Tauris is the place to which Iphigeneia

Iphigeneia

Iphigenia is a daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra in Greek mythology. In Attic accounts, her name means "strong-born", "born to strength", or "she who causes the birth of strong offspring."-Post-Homeric Greek myth:...

was sent after the goddess

Goddess

A goddess is a female deity. In some cultures goddesses are associated with Earth, motherhood, love, and the household. In other cultures, goddesses also rule over war, death, and destruction as well as healing....

Artemis

Artemis was one of the most widely venerated of the Ancient Greek deities. Her Roman equivalent is Diana. Some scholars believe that the name and indeed the goddess herself was originally pre-Greek. Homer refers to her as Artemis Agrotera, Potnia Theron: "Artemis of the wildland, Mistress of Animals"...

rescued her from the human sacrifice her father

Agamemnon

In Greek mythology, Agamemnon was the son of King Atreus and Queen Aerope of Mycenae, the brother of Menelaus, the husband of Clytemnestra, and the father of Electra and Orestes. Mythical legends make him the king of Mycenae or Argos, thought to be different names for the same area...

was about to perform. The goddess swept the young princess off to Tauris where she became a priestess at her temple

Temple of Artemis

The Temple of Artemis , also known less precisely as the Temple of Diana, was a Greek temple dedicated to a goddess Greeks identified as Artemis and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. It was situated at Ephesus , and was completely rebuilt three times before its eventual destruction...

. Here, she was forced by the Taurian king Thoas to perform human sacrifices on any foreigners who came ashore. According to other historians, the Tauri were known for their savage rituals and piracy and were also the earliest indigenous peoples of the peninsula. The land of Tauris and its rumored customs of killing Greeks are also described by Herodotus

Herodotus

Herodotus was an ancient Greek historian who was born in Halicarnassus, Caria and lived in the 5th century BC . He has been called the "Father of History", and was the first historian known to collect his materials systematically, test their accuracy to a certain extent and arrange them in a...

in his histories, Book IV, 99–100 and 103.

The Ancient Greeks in turn named the region after the Tauri. As the Tauri inhabited only mountainous regions of southern Crimea at first the name Tauris was used only to this southern part, but later it was extended to name the whole peninsula.

Sometimes Taurica is referred to as Tauric Chersonese or Chersonesus Taurica. This name is Greek for the "Tauric peninsula" (Chersonese literally means "peninsula"). This variant of the name should not be confused with the city of Chersonesos

Chersonesos

Chersonesus Taurica is an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of Crimea, known then as Taurica...

In the 5th century BC Greek

Ancient Greece

colonists began to settle along the Black Sea coast; among them were the Dorians from Heraclea

Heraclea Pontica

Heraclea Pontica , an ancient city on the coast of Bithynia in Asia Minor, at the mouth of the river Lycus. It was founded by the Greek city-state of Megara c.560-558 and was named after Heracles who the Greeks believed entered the underworld at a cave on the adjoining Archerusian promontory .The...

who founded a sea port of Chersonesos

Chersonesos

Chersonesus Taurica is an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of Crimea, known then as Taurica...

outside modern Sevastopol

Sevastopol

Sevastopol is a city on rights of administrative division of Ukraine, located on the Black Sea coast of the Crimea peninsula. It has a population of 342,451 . Sevastopol is the second largest port in Ukraine, after the Port of Odessa....

and the Ionia

Ionia

Ionia is an ancient region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey, the region nearest İzmir, which was historically Smyrna. It consisted of the northernmost territories of the Ionian League of Greek settlements...

ns from Miletus

Miletus

Miletus was an ancient Greek city on the western coast of Anatolia , near the mouth of the Maeander River in ancient Caria...

who landed at Feodosiya and Panticapaeum

Panticapaeum

Panticapaeum , present-day Kerch: an important city and port in Taurica , situated on a hill Panticapaeum (Greek: Παντικάπαιον, Pantikápaion), present-day Kerch: an important city and port in Taurica (Tauric Chersonese), situated on a hill Panticapaeum (Greek: Παντικάπαιον, Pantikápaion),...

(also called Bosporus).

In 438 BC, the Archon (ruler) of the latter settlers assumed the title of the King of Cimmerian Bosporus

Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus

-Later Rulers:* Genger ca. 1150 BC* ?* Franco* Esdron* Gelio* Basabiliano* Plaserion I* Plesron* Eliacor* Gaberiano* Plaserion II* Antenor-Migration to Ukraine:* Priam II* Helenos II* Plesron II* Basabiliano II* Alexander* Priam III...

, a state that maintained close relations with Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

, supplying the city with wheat, honey and other commodities. The last of that line of kings, Paerisades V, being hard-pressed by the Scythians, put himself under the protection of Mithridates VI

Mithridates VI of Pontus

Mithridates VI or Mithradates VI Mithradates , from Old Persian Mithradatha, "gift of Mithra"; 134 BC – 63 BC, also known as Mithradates the Great and Eupator Dionysius, was king of Pontus and Armenia Minor in northern Anatolia from about 120 BC to 63 BC...

, the king of Pontus

Pontus

Pontus or Pontos is a historical Greek designation for a region on the southern coast of the Black Sea, located in modern-day northeastern Turkey. The name was applied to the coastal region in antiquity by the Greeks who colonized the area, and derived from the Greek name of the Black Sea: Πόντος...

, in 114 BC. After the death of this sovereign, his son, Pharnaces II

Pharnaces II of Pontus

Pharnaces II of Pontus, also known as Pharnaces II was a prince, then King of Pontus and the Bosporan until his death. He was a monarch of Persian and Greek Macedonian ancestry. Pharnaces II was the youngest son and child born to King Mithridates VI of Pontus from his first wife, his sister Queen...

, was invested by Pompey

Pompey

Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, also known as Pompey or Pompey the Great , was a military and political leader of the late Roman Republic...

with the Kingdom of Bosporus in 63 BC as a reward for the assistance rendered to the Romans

Roman Republic

The Roman Republic was the period of the ancient Roman civilization where the government operated as a republic. It began with the overthrow of the Roman monarchy, traditionally dated around 508 BC, and its replacement by a government headed by two consuls, elected annually by the citizens and...

in their war against his father. In 15 BC, it was once again restored to the king of Pontus, but from then ranked as a tributary state of Rome.

Roman Crimea

In the 2nd century BC, the eastern part of Taurica became part of the Bosporan Kingdom

Bosporan Kingdom

The Bosporan Kingdom or the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus was an ancient state, located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus...

, before being incorporated into the Roman Empire

Roman Empire

The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....

in the 1st century BC.

During the AD 1st, 2nd and 3rd centuries, Taurica was host to Roman legions and colonists in Charax, Crimea

Charax, Crimea

Charax is the largest Roman military settlement excavated in the Crimea. It was sited on a four-hectare area at the western ridge of Ai-Todor, close to the modern tourist attraction of Swallow's Nest.-The Camp:...

. The Charax colony was founded under Vespasian

Vespasian

Vespasian , was Roman Emperor from 69 AD to 79 AD. Vespasian was the founder of the Flavian dynasty, which ruled the Empire for a quarter century. Vespasian was descended from a family of equestrians, who rose into the senatorial rank under the Emperors of the Julio-Claudian dynasty...

with the intention of protecting Chersonesos

Chersonesos

Chersonesus Taurica is an ancient Greek colony founded approximately 2,500 years ago in the southwestern part of Crimea, known then as Taurica...

and other Bosporean trade emporiums from the Scythians. The Roman colony was protected by a vexillatio

Vexillatio

A vexillatio was a detachment of a Roman legion formed as a temporary task force created by the Roman Army of the Principate. It was named from the standards carried by legionary detachments, vexillum , which bore the emblem and name of the parent legion...

of the Legio I Italica

Legio I Italica

Legio prima Italica was a Roman legion levied by emperor Nero on September 22, 66 . There are still records of the I Italica in the Danube border in the beginning of the 5th century...

; it also hosted a detachment of the Legio XI Claudia

Legio XI Claudia

Legio undecima Claudia was a Roman legion. XI Claudia dates back to the two legions recruited by Julius Caesar to invade Gallia in 58 BC, and it existed at least until early 5th century, guarding lower Danube in Durostorum...

at the end of the 2nd century. The camp was abandoned by the Romans in the mid-3rd century. This de facto province would have been controlled by the legatus

Legatus

A legatus was a general in the Roman army, equivalent to a modern general officer. Being of senatorial rank, his immediate superior was the dux, and he outranked all military tribunes...

of one of the Legions stationed in Charax.

Crimea in the Middle Ages

Throughout the later centuries, Crimea was invaded or occupied successively by the Goths

Crimean Goths

(AD 250), the Huns

Huns

(376), the Bulgars

Bulgars

The Bulgars were a semi-nomadic who flourished in the Pontic Steppe and the Volga basin in the 7th century.The Bulgars emerge after the collapse of the Hunnic Empire in the 5th century....

(4th–8th century), the Khazars

Khazars

(8th century), the state of Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus'

Kievan Rus was a medieval polity in Eastern Europe, from the late 9th to the mid 13th century, when it disintegrated under the pressure of the Mongol invasion of 1237–1240....

(10th–11th centuries), the Byzantine Empire

Byzantine Empire

(1016), the Kipchaks

Kipchaks

Kipchaks were a Turkic tribal confederation...

(the Kumans) (1050), and the Mongols

Mongols

(1237).

In the mid-10th century, the eastern area of Crimea was conquered by Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev

Sviatoslav I of Kiev

Sviatoslav I Igorevich ; , also spelled Svyatoslav, was a prince of Rus...

and became part of the Kievan Rus' principality of Tmutarakan

Tmutarakan

Tmutarakan was a Mediaeval Russian principality and trading town that controlled the Cimmerian Bosporus, the passage from the Black Sea to the Sea of Azov. Its site was the ancient Greek colony of Hermonassa . It was situated on the Taman peninsula, in the present-day Krasnodar Krai of Russia,...

. In 988, Prince Vladimir I of Kiev

Vladimir I of Kiev

Vladimir Sviatoslavich the Great Old East Slavic: Володимѣръ Свѧтославичь Old Norse as Valdamarr Sveinaldsson, , Vladimir, , Volodymyr, was a grand prince of Kiev, ruler of Kievan Rus' in .Vladimir's father was the prince Sviatoslav of the Rurik dynasty...

also captured the Byzantine town of Chersones (presently part of Sevastopol) where he later converted to Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

. An impressive Russian Orthodox

Russian Orthodox Church

The Russian Orthodox Church or, alternatively, the Moscow Patriarchate The ROC is often said to be the largest of the Eastern Orthodox churches in the world; including all the autocephalous churches under its umbrella, its adherents number over 150 million worldwide—about half of the 300 million...

cathedral marks the location of this historic event.

In the 13th century, the Republic of Genoa

Republic of Genoa

seized the settlements which their rivals, the Venetians

Republic of Venice

, had built along the Crimean coast and established themselves at Cembalo

Balaklava

Balaklava is a former city on the Crimean peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol which carries a special administrative status in Ukraine. It was a city in its own right until 1957 when it was formally incorporated into the municipal borders of Sevastopol by the Soviet government...

(now Balaklava), Soldaia

Sudak

Sudak or Sudaq is a small historic town located in Crimea, Ukraine situated to the west of Feodosiya and to the east of Simferopol, the capital of Crimea...

(Sudak), Cherco

Kerch

Kerch is a city on the Kerch Peninsula of eastern Crimea, an important industrial, transport and tourist centre of Ukraine. Kerch, founded 2600 years ago, is considered as one of the most ancient cities in Ukraine.-Ancient times:...

(Kerch) and Caffa (Feodosiya), gaining control of the Crimean economy and the Black Sea commerce for two centuries.

Crimean Khanate: 1441–1783

A number of Turkic peoples

Turkic peoples

The Turkic peoples are peoples residing in northern, central and western Asia, southern Siberia and northwestern China and parts of eastern Europe. They speak languages belonging to the Turkic language family. They share, to varying degrees, certain cultural traits and historical backgrounds...

, now collectively known as the Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

, have been inhabiting the peninsula since the early Middle Ages

Middle Ages

The Middle Ages is a periodization of European history from the 5th century to the 15th century. The Middle Ages follows the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476 and precedes the Early Modern Era. It is the middle period of a three-period division of Western history: Classic, Medieval and Modern...

. The ethnicity of the Crimean Tatars is quite complex as it absorbed both nomadic Turkic and European components (including, at first, the Goths

Crimean Goths

and the Genoese

Republic of Genoa

) which is still reflected in their appearance and language differences. A small enclave of the Karaims

Crimean Karaites

The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...

, possibly of Khazar (i.e. Turkic) descent but members of a Jewish sect, was founded in the 8th century. It existed among the Muslim Crimean Tatars, primarily in the mountainous Çufut Qale

Çufut Qale

Çufut Qale sometimes spelled as Chufut Kale is a historic fortress in Crimea, near Bakhchisaray. Its name is Crimean Tatar and Turkish for "Jewish Fortress" . Çufut Qale was historically a center for the Crimean Karaite community...

area.

In 1346, the bodies of Mongol warriors of the Golden Horde

Golden Horde

The Golden Horde was a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate that formed the north-western sector of the Mongol Empire...

who had died of plague were thrown over the walls of the besieged Kaffa (now Feodosiya). It has been speculated that this operation may have been responsible for the advent of the Black Death

Black Death

The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. Of several competing theories, the dominant explanation for the Black Death is the plague theory, which attributes the outbreak to the bacterium Yersinia pestis. Thought to have...

in Europe.

After the destruction of the Golden Horde by Timur

Timur

Timur , historically known as Tamerlane in English , was a 14th-century conqueror of West, South and Central Asia, and the founder of the Timurid dynasty in Central Asia, and great-great-grandfather of Babur, the founder of the Mughal Dynasty, which survived as the Mughal Empire in India until...

in 1441, the Crimean Tatars founded an independent Crimean Khanate

Crimean Khanate

under Hacı I Giray

Haci I Giray

Hacı I Giray Angel was the founder and the first ruler of the Crimean Khanate. He is sometimes referred to as Hacı Devlet Giray or Devlet Hacı Giray...

, a descendant of Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan

Genghis Khan , born Temujin and occasionally known by his temple name Taizu , was the founder and Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, which became the largest contiguous empire in history after his death....

. He and his successors reigned first at Qırq Yer

Çufut Qale

, and from the beginning of the 15th century, at Bakhchisaray

Bakhchisaray

Bakhchisaray is a town in Central Crimea, centre of the Bakhchisaray raion , best known as the former capital of the Crimean Khanate...

.

The Crimean Tatars controlled the steppes that stretched from the Kuban

Kuban

Kuban is a geographic region of Southern Russia surrounding the Kuban River, on the Black Sea between the Don Steppe, Volga Delta and the Caucasus...

and to the Dniester River, however, they were unable to take control over commercial Genoese

Genoa

Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....

towns. After the Crimean Tatars asked for help from the Ottomans

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, an Ottoman invasion of the Genoese towns led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha

Gedik Ahmed Pasha

Gedik Ahmed Pasha was an Ottoman grand vizier as well as an army and navy commander during the reigns of sultans Mehmed the Conqueror and Beyazid II....

in 1475 brought Kaffa and the other trading towns under their control.

After the capture of Genoese towns, the Ottoman Sultan held Meñli I Giray

Meñli I Giray

Meñli I Giray , also spelled as Mengli I Giray, was a khan of the Crimean Khanate and the sixth son of the khanate founder Haci I Giray....

captive, later releasing him in return for accepting Ottoman suzerainty over the Crimean Khans and allowing them rule as tributary princes of the Ottoman Empire

Vassal and tributary states of the Ottoman Empire

Vassal States were a number of tributary or vassal states, usually on the periphery of the Ottoman Empire under suzerainty of the Porte, over which direct control was not established, for various reasons.-Functions:...

. However, the Crimean Khans still had a large amount of autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, particularly, followed the rules they thought were best for them: Crimean Tatars introduced raids into Ukrainian lands, which were used to get slaves to be sold on markets. For example, from 1450 to 1586, eighty-six Tatar raids

Tatar invasions

The Mongol invasion of Europe from the east took place over the course of three centuries, from the Middle Ages to the early modern period.The terms Tatars or Tartars are applied to nomadic Turkic peoples who, themselves, were conquered by Mongols and incorporated into their horde...

were recorded, and from 1600 to 1647, seventy. In the 1570s close to 20,000 slaves a year were being sold in Kaffa.

In 1553–1554, Cossack

Cossack

Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic people who originally were members of democratic, semi-military communities in what is today Ukraine and Southern Russia inhabiting sparsely populated areas and islands in the lower Dnieper and Don basins and who played an important role in the...

Hetman

Hetman was the title of the second-highest military commander in 15th- to 18th-century Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which together, from 1569 to 1795, comprised the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, or Rzeczpospolita....

Dmytro Vyshnevetsky

Dmytro Ivanovych Vyshnevetsky was a Hetman of the Ukrainian Cossacks. He was also known as Baida in the Ukrainian folk songs.-Biography:...

gathered together groups of Cossacks, and constructed a fort designed to obstruct Tatar raids into Ukraine. With this action, he founded the Zaporozhian Sich, with which he would launch a series of attacks on the Crimean Peninsula and the Ottoman Turks. In 1774, the Crimean Khans fell under Russian influence with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca

Treaty of Kucuk Kaynarca

The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca was signed on 21 July 1774, in Küçük Kaynarca , Dobruja between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire after the Ottoman Empire was defeated in the...

. In 1778, numerous Greek Orthodox residents were deported from Crimea to the vicinity of Mariupol

Mariupol

Mariupol , formerly known as Zhdanov , is a port city in southeastern Ukraine. It is located on the coast of the Azov Sea, at the mouth of the Kalmius River. Mariupol is the largest city in Priazovye - a geographical region around Azov Sea, divided by Russia and Ukraine - and is also a popular sea...

by the Russian government. In 1783, the entire Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

Crimea in the Russian Empire: 1783–1917

The Taurida Oblast was created by a decree of Catherine the Great

Catherine II of Russia

Catherine II, also known as Catherine the Great , Empress of Russia, was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Prussia on as Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg...

on 2 February 1784. The center of the oblast

Oblast

Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...

was first in Karasubazar but was moved to Simferopol later in 1784. The establishment decree divided the oblast the area was divided into 7 uyezd

Uyezd

Uyezd or uezd was an administrative subdivision of Rus', Muscovy, Russian Empire, and the early Russian SFSR which was in use from the 13th century. Uyezds for most of the history in Russia were a secondary-level of administrative division...

s. However, by a decree of Paul I

Paul I of Russia

Paul I was the Emperor of Russia between 1796 and 1801. He also was the 72nd Prince and Grand Master of the Order of Malta .-Childhood:...

on 12 December 1796, the oblast was abolished and the territory, divided into 2 uyezds (Akmechetsky [Акмечетский] and Perekopsky [Перекопский]) was attached to the second incarantion of the Novorossiysk Governorate

Novorossiysk Governorate

The Novorossiysk Governorate was a governorate in the Russian Empire. Its capital at first was the city of Kremenchug and then Novorossiysk when it was reestablished in 1796.-Governors:* 1789 - 1794 Vasiliy Kakhovsky...

.

After 1799, the territory was divided into uyezds. At that time, there were 1,400 inhabited villages and 7 towns—Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Yevpatoria, Alushta, Feodosiya, and Kerch.

In 1802, in the course of Paul I's administrative reform of areas that were annexed from the Crimean Khanate, the Novorossiysk Governorate was again abolished and subdivided. Crimea was attached to a new Taurida Governorate

Taurida Governorate

established with its centre at Simferopol. The governorate included both the 25,133 km² Crimea as well as 38,405 km² of adjacent areas of the mainland.

By the late 19th century, Crimean Tatar

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

s continued to form a slight plurality of Crimea's still largely rural population but there were large numbers of Russians

Russians in Ukraine

Russians in Ukraine form the largest ethnic minority in the country, and the community forms the largest single Russian diaspora in the world. In the 2001 Ukrainian census, 8,334,100 identified themselves as ethnic Russians ....

and Ukrainians as well as smaller numbers of Germans

Crimea Germans

The Crimea Germans were ethnic German settlers who were invited to settle in the Crimea as part of the East Colonization.-History:From 1783 onwards, there was a systematic settlement of Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans to the Crimean Peninsula in order to weaken the Crimean Tatar population.The...

, Jews (including Krymchaks

Krymchaks

The Krymchaks are a Turkic people, community of Turkic languages and adherents of Rabbinic Judaism living in Crimea. They have historically lived in close proximity to the Crimean Karaites...

and Crimean Karaites

Crimean Karaites

The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...

), Bulgarians

Bulgarians in Ukraine

Ethnic Bulgarians have settlements in the southern regions of Ukraine where they make up a significant minority living primarily in the Odessa Oblast.- Location and number :...

, Belarussians, Turks

Turks in Ukraine

Turks in Ukraine are people of Turkish ethnicity living in Ukraine. This could mean roots linking back to Turkey, the island of Cyprus or other Turkish communities.- Demographics :- Religion :...

, Armenians

Armenians in Ukraine

Armenians in Ukraine are ethnic Armenians who live in Ukraine. They number 99,894 according to the 2001 Ukrainian census. However, the country is also host to a number of Armenian guest workers which has yet to be ascertained. The Armenian population in Ukraine has nearly doubled since the...

, and Greeks

Greeks in Ukraine

A Greek presence throughout the Black Sea area existed long before the beginnings of Kievan Rus. For most of their history in this area, the history of the Greeks in Russia and in Ukraine forms a single narrative, of which a division according to present-day boundaries would be an artificial...

and Gypsies.

The Tatars were the predominant portion of the population in the mountainous area and about half of the steppe population. Russians were concentrated most heavily in Feodosiya district. Germans and Bulgarians settled in the Crimea at the beginning of 19th century, receiving a large allotment and fertile land and later wealthy colonists began to buy land, mainly in Perekopsky and Evpatoria uyezds.

Crimean War

The Crimean War

Crimean War

The Crimean War was a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of the French Empire, the British Empire, the Ottoman Empire, and the Kingdom of Sardinia. The war was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining...

(1853–1856), a conflict fought between the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

and an alliance of the French Empire

Second French Empire

The Second French Empire or French Empire was the Imperial Bonapartist regime of Napoleon III from 1852 to 1870, between the Second Republic and the Third Republic, in France.-Rule of Napoleon III:...

, the British Empire

British Empire

The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

, the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

, the Kingdom of Sardinia

Kingdom of Sardinia

The Kingdom of Sardinia consisted of the island of Sardinia first as a part of the Crown of Aragon and subsequently the Spanish Empire , and second as a part of the composite state of the House of Savoy . Its capital was originally Cagliari, in the south of the island, and later Turin, on the...

, and the Duchy of Nassau, was part of a long-running contest between the major European powers for influence over territories of the declining Ottoman Empire

Decline of the Ottoman Empire

The Decline of the Ottoman Empire is the period that followed after the Stagnation of the Ottoman Empire in which the empire experienced several economic and political setbacks. Directly affecting the Empire at this time was Russian imperialism...

. While some of the war was fought elsewhere, the principal engagements were in Crimea.

Following action in the Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities

Danubian Principalities was a conventional name given to the Principalities of Moldavia and Wallachia, which emerged in the early 14th century. The term was coined in the Habsburg Monarchy after the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in order to designate an area on the lower Danube with a common...

and in the Black Sea, allied troops landed in Crimea in September 1854 and besieged the city of Sevastopol, home of the Tsar's Black Sea Fleet and the associated threat of potential Russian penetration into the Mediterranean. After extensive fighting throughout Crimea, the city fell on 9 September 1855.

The war devastated much of the economic and social infrastructure of Crimea. The Crimean Tatars had to flee from their homeland en masse, forced by the conditions created by the war, persecution and land expropriations. Those who survived the trip, famine and disease, resettled in Dobruja

Dobruja

Dobruja is a historical region shared by Bulgaria and Romania, located between the lower Danube river and the Black Sea, including the Danube Delta, Romanian coast and the northernmost part of the Bulgarian coast...

, Anatolia

Anatolia

Anatolia is a geographic and historical term denoting the westernmost protrusion of Asia, comprising the majority of the Republic of Turkey...

, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

. Finally, the Russian government decided to stop the process, as the agriculture began to suffer due to the unattended fertile farmland.

Crimea in the Russian Civil War: 1917–1921

Following the Russian Revolution of 1917

Russian Revolution of 1917

The Russian Revolution is the collective term for a series of revolutions in Russia in 1917, which destroyed the Tsarist autocracy and led to the creation of the Soviet Union. The Tsar was deposed and replaced by a provisional government in the first revolution of February 1917...

, the military and political situation in Crimea was chaotic like that in much of Russia. During the ensuing Russian Civil War

Russian Civil War

The Russian Civil War was a multi-party war that occurred within the former Russian Empire after the Russian provisional government collapsed to the Soviets, under the domination of the Bolshevik party. Soviet forces first assumed power in Petrograd The Russian Civil War (1917–1923) was a...

, Crimea changed hands numerous times and was for a time a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army

White movement

The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...

. It was in Crimea that the White Russians led by General Wrangel

Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel

Baron Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel or Vrangel was an officer in the Imperial Russian army and later commanding general of the anti-Bolshevik White Army in Southern Russia in the later stages of the Russian Civil War.-Life:Wrangel was born in Mukuliai, Kovno Governorate in the Russian Empire...

made their last stand against Nestor Makhno

Nestor Makhno

Nestor Ivanovych Makhno or simply Daddy Makhno was a Ukrainian anarcho-communist guerrilla leader turned army commander who led an independent anarchist army in Ukraine during the Russian Civil War....

and the Red Army

Red Army

The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army started out as the Soviet Union's revolutionary communist combat groups during the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the Soviet Union. By the 1930s the Red Army was among the largest armies in history.The "Red Army" name refers to...

in 1920. When resistance was crushed, many of the anti-Communist fighters and civilians escaped by ship to Istanbul

Istanbul

Istanbul , historically known as Byzantium and Constantinople , is the largest city of Turkey. Istanbul metropolitan province had 13.26 million people living in it as of December, 2010, which is 18% of Turkey's population and the 3rd largest metropolitan area in Europe after London and...

.
Crimea changed hands several times over the course of the conflict and several political entities were set up on the peninsula. These included:

Crimean People's Republic
Crimean People's Republic
The Crimean People's Republic existed during December, 1917, and January, 1918, in the Crimean peninsula, located in the south of the present-day Ukraine. The Republic was the first attempt in the Muslim world to establish a state that was both democratic and secular...

— December 1917–January 1918 — Crimean Tatar government
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic
Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic
The Taurida Soviet Socialist Republic was a short-lived Soviet Republic situated in Crimea and adjacent areas that were the former Taurida Governorate of the Russian Empire...

— 19 March 1918–30 April 1918 — Bolshevik government
German
German Empire
The German Empire refers to Germany during the "Second Reich" period from the unification of Germany and proclamation of Wilhelm I as German Emperor on 18 January 1871, to 1918, when it became a federal republic after defeat in World War I and the abdication of the Emperor, Wilhelm II.The German...

and Ukrainian People's Republic
Ukrainian People's Republic
The Ukrainian People's Republic or Ukrainian National Republic was a republic that was declared in part of the territory of modern Ukraine after the Russian Revolution, eventually headed by Symon Petliura.-Revolutionary Wave:...

occupation — May 1918–June 1918
First Crimean Regional Government
Crimean Regional Government
The Crimean Regional Government refers to two successive short-lived regimes in Crimea in 1918 and 1919.Following Russia's 1917 October Revolution, an ethnic Tatar government proclaimed the Crimean People's Republic...

— 25 June 1918–25 November 1918 — German puppet state under Lipka Tatar General Maciej (Suleyman) Sulkiewicz
Second Crimean Regional Government
Crimean Regional Government
The Crimean Regional Government refers to two successive short-lived regimes in Crimea in 1918 and 1919.Following Russia's 1917 October Revolution, an ethnic Tatar government proclaimed the Crimean People's Republic...

— November 1918–April 1919 — Anti-Bolshevik government under Crimean Karaite
Crimean Karaites
The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...

former Kadet
Constitutional Democratic party
The Constitutional Democratic Party was a liberal political party in the Russian Empire. Party members were called Kadets, from the abbreviation K-D of the party name...

member Solomon Krym
Solomon Krym
Solomon Krym was an agronomist and a Crimean Karaite politician.He was elected in 1906 to the First Duma as a Kadet ....
Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic
Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic
The Crimean Socialist Soviet Republic or the Soviet Socialist Republic of the Crimea was a state allied with Soviet Russia that existed in Crimea for several months in 1919 during the Russian Civil War...

— 2 April 1919–June 1919 — Bolshevik government
South Russian Government
South Russian Government
The South Russian Government was a Russian White movement government established by Armed Forces of South Russia commander Anton Denikin in Novorossiysk, Kuban, in March 1920 during the Russian Civil War....

— February 1920–April 1920 — Government of White movement
White movement
The White movement and its military arm the White Army - known as the White Guard or the Whites - was a loose confederation of Anti-Communist forces.The movement comprised one of the politico-military Russian forces who fought...

's General Anton Denikin
Government of South Russia
Government of South Russia
The Government of South Russia was a Russian White movement government established in Sevastopol, Crimea in April 1920.It was the successor to General Anton Denikin's South Russian Government set up in February 1920.General Pyotr Wrangel was the pravitel while the government itself was headed...

— April 1920 (officially, 16 August 1920)–16 November 1920 — Government of White movement's General Pyotr Wrangel
Bolshevik Revolutionary committee
Revolutionary committee
Revolutionary committees or revkoms were Bolshevik-led organizations in Soviet Russia and in areas of its activities established to serve as provisional governments and temporary Soviet administrations in territories under the control of the Red Army in 1918-1920, during the Russian Civil War and...

government — November 1920–18 October 1921 — Bolshevik government under Béla Kun
Béla Kun
Béla Kun , born Béla Kohn, was a Hungarian Communist politician and a Bolshevik Revolutionary who led the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1919.- Early life :...

(until 20 February 1921), then Mikhail Poliakov
Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic — 18 October 1921–30 June 1945 — Autonomous republic of the RSFSR in the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

Interbellum Soviet history

On October 18, 1921, the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic

Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created on October 18, 1921 as Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic of RSFSR in place of Taurida Governorate and within the Crimean Peninsula,...

was created as part of the Russian SFSR which, in turn, became part of the new Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. However, this did not protect the Crimean Tatars, who constituted about 25% of the Crimean population, from Joseph Stalin

Joseph Stalin

Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin was the Premier of the Soviet Union from 6 May 1941 to 5 March 1953. He was among the Bolshevik revolutionaries who brought about the October Revolution and had held the position of first General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union's Central Committee...

's repressions of the 1930s.

The Greeks

Greeks in Ukraine

were another cultural group that suffered. Their lands were lost during the process of collectivisation

Collective farming

Collective farming and communal farming are types of agricultural production in which the holdings of several farmers are run as a joint enterprise...

, in which farmers were not compensated with wages. Schools which taught Greek

Greek language

were closed and Greek literature

Greek literature

Greek literature refers to writings composed in areas of Greek influence, typically though not necessarily in one of the Greek dialects, throughout the whole period in which the Greek-speaking people have existed.-Ancient Greek literature :...

was destroyed, because the Soviets considered the Greeks as "counter-revolutionary" with their links to capitalist

Capitalism

Capitalism is an economic system that became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. There is no consensus on the precise definition nor on how the term should be used as a historical category...

state Greece

Greece

Greece , officially the Hellenic Republic , and historically Hellas or the Republic of Greece in English, is a country in southeastern Europe....

, and their independent culture.

Crimea experienced two severe famines in the 20th century, the Famine of 1921–1922

Russian famine of 1921

The Russian famine of 1921, also known as Povolzhye famine, which began in the early spring of that year, and lasted through 1922, was a severe famine that occurred in Bolshevik Russia...

and the Holodomor

Holodomor

The Holodomor was a man-made famine in the Ukrainian SSR between 1932 and 1933. During the famine, which is also known as the "terror-famine in Ukraine" and "famine-genocide in Ukraine", millions of Ukrainians died of starvation in a peacetime catastrophe unprecedented in the history of...

of 1932–1933.

World War II and ethnic deportations

During World War II

World War II

, Crimea was a scene of some of the bloodiest battles. The leaders of the Third Reich

Nazi Germany

were anxious to conquer and colonize the fertile and beautiful peninsula as part of their policy of resettling the Germans in Eastern Europe at the expense of the Slavs. The Germans suffered heavy casualties in the summer of 1941 as they tried to advance through the narrow Isthmus of Perekop

Isthmus of Perekop

The Isthmus of Perekop is the narrow, 5-7 km wide strip of land that connects the peninsula of Crimea to the mainland of Ukraine. The isthmus is located between the Black Sea to the west and the Azov Sea the east. The isthmus takes its name from the Tatar fortress of Perekop.The border between the...

linking Crimea to the Soviet mainland. Once the German army broke through (Operation Trappenjagd

Battle of the Kerch Peninsula

Battle of the Kerch Peninsula was a World War II offensive by German and Romanian armies against the Soviet Crimean Front forces defending the Kerch Peninsula, in the eastern part of the Crimea. It was launched on 8 May 1942 and concluded around 18 May 1942 with the near complete destruction of...

), they occupied most of Crimea, with the exception of the city of Sevastopol, which was later awarded the honorary title of Hero City

Hero City

Hero City is a Soviet honorary title awarded for outstanding heroism during the German-Soviet War of 1941 to 1945. It was awarded to twelve cities of the Soviet Union. In addition the Brest Fortress was awarded an equivalent title of Hero-Fortress...

after the war. The Red Army

Red Army

lost over 170,000 men killed or taken prisoner, and three armies (44th, 47th, and 51st) with twenty-one divisions.

Sevastopol held out from October 1941 until 4 July 1942 when the Germans finally captured the city. From 1 September 1942, the peninsula was administered as the Generalbezirk Krim (general district of Crimea) und Teilbezirk (and sub-district) Taurien by the Nazi Generalkommissar Alfred Eduard Frauenfeld (1898–1977), under the authority of the three consecutive Reichskommissar

Reichskommissar

Reichskommissar , in German history, was an official gubernatorial title used for various public offices during the period of the German Empire and the Nazi Third Reich....

e for the entire Ukraine. In spite of heavy-handed tactics by the Nazis and the assistance of the Romanian

Kingdom of Romania

The Kingdom of Romania was the Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...

and Italian

Kingdom of Italy (1861–1946)

The Kingdom of Italy was a state forged in 1861 by the unification of Italy under the influence of the Kingdom of Sardinia, which was its legal predecessor state...

troops, the Crimean mountains remained an unconquered stronghold of the native resistance (the partisans) until the day when the peninsula was freed from the occupying force.

In 1944, Sevastopol came under the control of troops from the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. The so-called "City of Russian Glory" once known for its beautiful architecture was entirely destroyed and had to be rebuilt stone by stone. Due to its enormous historical and symbolic meaning for the Russians, it became a priority for Stalin and the Soviet government to have it restored to its former glory within the shortest time possible.

On 18 May 1944, the entire population of the Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

were forcibly deported in the "Sürgün" (Crimean Tatar for exile) to Central Asia by Stalin's Soviet

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

government as a form of collective punishment

Collective punishment

Collective punishment is the punishment of a group of people as a result of the behavior of one or more other individuals or groups. The punished group may often have no direct association with the other individuals or groups, or direct control over their actions...

on the grounds that they had collaborated with the Nazi

Nazism

Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...

occupation forces. An estimated 46% of the deportees died from hunger and disease. On 26 June of the same year Armenian

Armenians

Armenian people or Armenians are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.The largest concentration is in Armenia having a nearly-homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian....

, Bulgarian

Bulgarians

The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

and Greek

Greeks

The Greeks, also known as the Hellenes , are a nation and ethnic group native to Greece, Cyprus and neighboring regions. They also form a significant diaspora, with Greek communities established around the world....

population was also deported to Central Asia. By the end of summer 1944, the ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing

Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....

of Crimea was complete. In 1967, the Crimean Tatars were rehabilitated, but they were banned from legally returning to their homeland until the last days of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished in 30 June 1945 and transformed into the Crimean Oblast

Crimean Oblast

The Crimean Oblast was an oblast of the former Russian SFSR and Ukrainian SSR , which was at the time part of the Soviet Union. Its capital was the city of Simferopol....

(province

Oblast

) of the Russian SFSR.

Post-war Soviet history

On 19 February 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet

Supreme Soviet

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...

of the USSR issued a decree on the transfer of the Crimean region of the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR. This Supreme Soviet

Supreme Soviet

The Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union was the Supreme Soviet in the Soviet Union and the only one with the power to pass constitutional amendments...

Decree states that this transfer was motivated by "the commonality of the economy, the proximity, and close economic and cultural relations between the Crimean region and the Ukrainian SSR".

In post-war years, Crimea thrived as a prime tourist destination, built with new attractions and sanatoriums for tourists. Tourists came from all around the Soviet Union and neighbouring countries, particularly from the German Democratic Republic

German Democratic Republic

The German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...

. Also, Crimea's infrastructure and manufacturing also developed, particularly around the sea ports at Kerch

Kerch

and Sevastopol

Sevastopol

and in the oblast's landlocked capital, Simferopol

Simferopol

-Russian Empire and Civil War:The city was renamed Simferopol in 1784 after the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to the Russian Empire by Catherine II of Russia. The name Simferopol is derived from the Greek, Συμφερόπολις , translated as "the city of usefulness." In 1802, Simferopol became the...

. Populations of Ukrainians

Ukrainians

Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

and Russians

Russians

The Russian people are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Russia, speaking the Russian language and primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries....

alike doubled, with more than 1.6 million Russians and 626,000 Ukrainians living on the peninsula by 1989.

Establishment of the Autonomous Republic: 1991–1998

With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became part of the newly independent Ukraine, a situation largely unexpected by its population. Independence was supported by a referendum

Ukrainian independence referendum, 1991

A referendum on the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine took place in Ukraine on December 1, 1991. The only question of the referendum was: "Do you support the Act of Declaration of Independence of Ukraine?" – with the text of the Declaration as a preamble to the question...

in all regions of Ukrainian SSR, including Crimea. 54% of the Crimean voters supported independence with a 60% turnout (in Sevastopol 57% supported independence). This new situation led to tensions between Russia and Ukraine. With the Black Sea Fleet

Black Sea Fleet

The Black Sea Fleet is a large operational-strategic sub-unit of the Russian Navy, operating in the Black Sea and the Mediterranean Sea since the late 18th century. It is based in various harbors of the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov....

based on the peninsula, worries of armed skirmishes were occasionally raised. In August 1991, Yuriy Meshkov

Yuriy Meshkov

Yuriy Olexandrovich Meshkov ; born October 25, 1945) is a former Ukrainian politician and Russian separatist in Crimea. Yuriy Meshkov served as the first and only President of Crimea from 1994 to 1995.-Biography:...

established the Republican Movement of Crimea which was registered on 19 November.

On 2 September 1991, the National Movement of Crimean Tatars appealed to the V Extraordinary Congress of People's Deputies in Russia demanding the program how to return the deported Tatar population back to Crimea. Based on the resolution of the Verkhovna Rada

Verkhovna Rada of Crimea

The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the 100-member unicameral parliament of the Ukrainian territory the Autonomous Republic of Crimea...

(the Crimean parliament) on 26 February 1992, the Crimean ASSR was renamed the Republic of Crimea. Crimea proclaimed self-government on May 5, 1992, and on the next day passed the first Crimean constitution.

On 19 May, Crimea agreed to remain as part of Ukraine and annulled their proclamation of self-government. By 30 June, Crimean Communists forced the Kiev

Kiev

Kiev or Kyiv is the capital and the largest city of Ukraine, located in the north central part of the country on the Dnieper River. The population as of the 2001 census was 2,611,300. However, higher numbers have been cited in the press....

government to expand on the already extensive autonomous status of Crimea. In the same period, Russian president Boris Yeltsin

Boris Yeltsin

Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...

and Ukraine's Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Kravchuk

Leonid Makarovych Kravchuk is a Ukrainian politician, the first President of Ukraine serving from December 5, 1991 until his resignation on July 19, 1994, a former Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada and People's Deputy of Ukraine serving in the Social Democratic Party of Ukraine faction.After a...

agreed to divide the former Soviet Black Sea Fleet between Russia and the newly formed Ukrainian Navy

Ukrainian Navy

The Ukrainian Naval Forces is the navy of Ukraine and part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It was established in 1992. It consists of 5 branches: surface forces, submarine forces, Navy aviation, coast rocket-artillery and marines...

. On 24 October, Meshkov re-registered his movement as the Republican Party of Crimea – Party of the Republican Movement of Crimea. On 11 December 1992, the President of Ukraine

President of Ukraine

Prior to the formation of the modern Ukrainian presidency, the previous Ukrainian head of state office was officially established in exile by Andriy Livytskyi. At first the de facto leader of nation was the president of the Central Rada at early years of the Ukrainian People's Republic, while the...

called the attempt of "the Russian deputies to charge the Russian parliament with a task to define the status of Sevastopol

Sevastopol

as an imperial disease". On 17 December 1992, the office of the Ukrainian presidential representative in Crimea was created, which caused wave of protests a month later. Among the protesters that created the unsanctioned rally were the Sevastopol branches of the National Salvation Front, the Russian Popular Assembly, and the All-Crimean Movement of the Voters for the Republic of Crimea. The protest was held in Sevastopol on 10 January at Nakhimov Square.

On 15 January 1993, Kravchuk and Yeltsin in the meeting in Moscow appointed Eduard Baltin as the commander of the Black Sea Fleet. At the same time the Union of the Ukrainian Naval Officers protested the Russian intervention into the Ukrainian internal affairs. Soon after that there were more anti-Ukrainian protests led by the Meshkov's party, the Voters for the Crimean Republic, Yedinstvo

Yedinstvo

Yedinstvo or Edinstvo was a faction within the Russian Social Democratic Labor Party between 1914 and 1917 and then a small independent party in 1917 and 1918. It was led by Georgi Plekhanov.-Background:...

, and the Union of Communists that demanded to turn Sevastopol

Sevastopol

under the Russian jurisdiction and followed by the interview given by the Sevastopol's Communist, Vasyl Parkhomenko, who said that the city's Communists request to recognize the Russian as the state language and restoration of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

. On 19 March 1993, the Crimean deputy and the member of the National Salvation Front, Alexander Kruglov, threatened the members of the Crimean Ukrainian Congress not allow into the building of the Republican Council. Couple of days after that Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

established an information center in Sevastopol

Sevastopol

. In April 1993, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence submitted an appeal to Verkhovna Rada

Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...

to suspend the Yalta Agreement of 1992 that divided the Black Sea Fleet that was followed by the request from the Ukrainian Republican Party to recognize the Fleet either fully Ukrainian or a fleet of a foreign country in Ukraine. Also over 300 Russian legislators called the planned Congress of Ukrainian Residents a political provocation.

On 14 April 1993, the Presidium of the Crimean parliament called for the creation of the presidential post of the Crimean Republic. A week later the Russian deputy, Valentin Agafonov, stated that Russia is ready to supervise the referendum on Crimean independence and include the republic as a separate entity in the CIS. On 28 July 1993, one of the leaders of the Russian Society of Crimea, Viktor Prusakov, stated that his organization is ready for an armed mutiny and establishment of the Russian administration in Sevastopol. In September, Eduard Baltin accused Ukraine of converting some of his fleet and conducting an armed assault on his personnel, and threatened to take countermeasures of placing the fleet on alert.

On 14 October 1993, the Crimean parliament established the post of President of Crimea

President of Crimea

The President of the Republic of Crimea was the head of the state of the Republic of Crimea, Ukraine from February 16, 1994 to the time of its liquidation on March 17, 1995...

and agreed on the quota of the Crimean Tatars representation in the Council to 14. The head of the Russian People's Council in Sevastopol, Alexander Kruglov, called it excessive. The chairman of the Tatar Mejlis

Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People

The Mejlis of the Crimean Tatar People is the central executive body of the Kurultai of Crimean Tatars, living in their homeland of Crimea, Ukraine...

, Mustafa Cemiloglu (Djemilev), used words "categorically against" in regards to the proposed election for Crimean president on 16 January. He stated that there cannot be two presidents in a single state. On 6 November, the Crimean Tatar leader, Yuriy Osmanov was murdered. Series of terrorist actions rocked the peninsula in the winter among them were the arson of the Mejlis apartment, the shooting of a Ukrainian official, several hooligan attacks on Meshkov, the bomb explosion in the house of a local parliamentary, the assassination attempt on a Communist presidential candidate, and others. On 2 January 1994, the Mejlis announced a boycott of the presidential elections, which were later canceled. The boycott itself was later taken on by other Crimean Tatar organizations. On 11 January, the Mejlis announced their representative, Mykola Bahrov, the speaker of the Crimean parliament, as the presidential candidate. On 12 January, some other candidates accused Bahrov of severe methods of agitation. At the same time, Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Vladimir Zhirinovsky

Vladimir Volfovich Zhirinovsky is a Russian politician, colonel of the Russian Army, founder and the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia , Vice-Chairman of the State Duma, and a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe....

called on the people of Crimea to vote for the Russian Sergei Shuvainikov.

On 30 January 1994, the pro-Russian Yuriy Meshkov

Yuriy Meshkov

was elected to the new post

Crimean presidential election, 1994

The first and only presidential elections were contested in the Republic of Crimea for the post of President of Crimea, at the time a republic within Ukraine. The office was created by the Verkhovna Rada of Crimea, the republic's unicameral parliament October 13, 1993...

but quickly ran into conflicts with parliament. On 8 September, the Crimean parliament degraded the President's powers from the head of state to the head of the executive power only, to which Meshkov responded by disbanding parliament and announcing his control over Crimea four days later. Amendments to the constitution eased the conflict, but on 17 March 1995, the parliament of Ukraine

Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...

intervened, scrapping the Crimean Constitution and removing Meshkov along with his office for his actions against the state and promoting integration with Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

. After an interim constitution lasting from 4 April 1996 to 23 December 1998, the current constitution was put into effect, changing the territory's name to the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Autonomous Republic of Crimea: 1999–present

Following the ratification of the May 1997 Treaty of Friendship, Cooperation, and Partnership on friendship and division of the Black Sea Fleet

Black Sea Fleet

, international tensions slowly eased off. With the treaty, Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

recognized Ukraine's borders and territorial integrity, and accepted Ukraine's sovereignty over Crimea and Sevastopol. In a separate agreement, Russia was to receive 80 percent of the Black Sea Fleet and use of the military facilities in Sevastopol on a 20-year lease

Lease

A lease is a contractual arrangement calling for the lessee to pay the lessor for use of an asset. A rental agreement is a lease in which the asset is tangible property...

.

However, other controversies between Ukraine and Russia still remain, including the ownership of a lighthouse

Lighthouse

A lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....

on Cape Sarych

Sarych

Sarych is a headland located on shore of the Black Sea on the Crimean Peninsula in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Ukraine.About 5 kilometers from the Sarych headland is the resort town of Foros. The city of Sevastopol is located about 30 km away and Yalta about 40 km...

. Because the Russian Navy controlled 77 geographical objects on the south Crimean Shore, the Sevastopol

Sevastopol

Government Court ordered the vacating of the objects, which the Russian military did not carry out. Since August 3, 2005, the lighthouse has been controlled by the Russian Army

Russian Ground Forces

The Russian Ground Forces are the land forces of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, formed from parts of the collapsing Soviet Army in 1992. The formation of these forces posed economic challenges after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and required reforms to professionalize the force...

. Through the years, there have been various attempts to return Cape Sarych to Ukrainian territory, all of which were unsuccessful.

In 2006, protests broke out

Crimean anti-NATO protests of 2006

The Crimean anti-NATO protests of 2006 were series of political protests in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea against United States military maneuvers during NATO's Sea Breeze 2006 military exercise and in order to prevent Ukraine's possible bid to join the North Atlantic Treaty...

on the peninsula after U.S. Marines

United States Marine Corps

The United States Marine Corps is a branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for providing power projection from the sea, using the mobility of the United States Navy to deliver combined-arms task forces rapidly. It is one of seven uniformed services of the United States...

arrived at the Crimean city of Feodosiya to take part in the Sea Breeze 2006 Ukraine

Ukraine

Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It has an area of 603,628 km², making it the second largest contiguous country on the European continent, after Russia...

-NATO military exercise

Military exercise

A military exercise is the employment of military resources in training for military operations, either exploring the effects of warfare or testing strategies without actual combat...

. Protesters greeted the marines with barricades and slogans bearing "Occupiers go home!" and a couple of days later, the Crimean parliament

Verkhovna Rada of Crimea

The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is the 100-member unicameral parliament of the Ukrainian territory the Autonomous Republic of Crimea...

declared Crimea a "NATO-free territory." After several days of protest, the U.S. Marines withdrew from the peninsula.

In September 2008, the Ukrainian Foreign Minister

Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Ukraine)

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine is the Ukrainian government ministry which oversees the foreign relations of Ukraine.-Historical overlook:...

Volodymyr Ohryzko accused Russia of giving out Russian passport

Russian passport

Russian passports are of two types: domestic passports issued to citizens of Russia for the purpose of certifying identity, international passports are issued for the purpose of international travel.- Internal passport :...

s to the population in the Crimea and described it as a "real problem" given Russia's declared policy of military intervention abroad to protect Russian citizens.

During a press conference in Moscow

Moscow

on 16 February 2009, the Mayor

Mayor

In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....

of Sevastopol

Sevastopol

Serhiy Kunitsyn claimed (citing recent polls) that the population of Crimea is opposed to the idea of becoming a part of Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

.

Although western newspapers like the Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal

The Wall Street Journal is an American English-language international daily newspaper. It is published in New York City by Dow Jones & Company, a division of News Corporation, along with the Asian and European editions of the Journal....

have speculated about a Russian coup in Sevastopol or another Crimean city in connection with the Russian-Georgian war

2008 South Ossetia war

The 2008 South Ossetia War or Russo-Georgian War was an armed conflict in August 2008 between Georgia on one side, and Russia and separatist governments of South Ossetia and Abkhazia on the other....

and the Recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia by Russia

International recognition of Abkhazia and South Ossetia

Abkhazia and South Ossetia are two breakaway republics in the Caucasus with disputed status over whether they are a part of Georgia or sovereign states. The Republic of Abkhazia and the Republic of South Ossetia were recognised following the 2008 South Ossetia War between Russia and Georgia, by six...

. Valentyn Nalyvaychenko, acting head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), stated on 17 February 2009, that he is confident that any “Ossetian

South Ossetia

South Ossetia or Tskhinvali Region is a disputed region and partly recognized state in the South Caucasus, located in the territory of the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast within the former Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic....

scenario” is impossible in Crimea. The SBU had started criminal proceedings against the pro-Russian association "People's front Sevastopol-Crimea-Russia" in January 2009.

On the 55th anniversary of the transfer of Crimea transfer of the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainian SSR

Ukrainian SSR

The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic or in short, the Ukrainian SSR was a sovereign Soviet Socialist state and one of the fifteen constituent republics of the Soviet Union lasting from its inception in 1922 to the breakup in 1991...

(on 19 February 2009) some 300 to 500 people took part in rallies to protest against the transfer.

On 24 August 2009, anti-Ukrainian demonstrations were held in Crimea by ethnic Russian residents. Sergei Tsekov (of the Russian Bloc

Russian Bloc (party)

Russian Bloc is a political party in Ukraine registered in March 2001.-History:During the Ukrainian parliamentary election, 2002 the party, then called "For Russian Unity" , was part of the Russian Bloc that got 0.73% of the votes and no seats. It did not participate in National elections since...

and then deputy speaker of the Crimean parliament) said then that he hoped that Russia would treat the Crimea the same way as it had treated South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Chaos in the Verkhovna Rada

Verkhovna Rada

The Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is Ukraine's parliament. The Verkhovna Rada is a unicameral parliament composed of 450 deputies, which is presided over by a chairman...

(the Ukrainian parliament) during a debate over the extension of the lease on a Russian naval base

Black Sea Fleet

erupted on 27 April 2010 after Ukraine’s parliament ratified the treaty

2010 Ukrainian–Russian Naval Base for Natural Gas treaty

The Russian Ukrainian Naval Base for Gas treaty, widely referred to as the Kharkiv Accords or the Kharkiv Pact in the Russian and Ukrainian media, is a treaty between Ukraine and Russia whereby the Russian lease on naval facilities in Crimea would be extended beyond 2017 by 25 years with an...

that extends Russia

Russia

Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...

’s lease on a military wharf and shore installations in the Crimean port Sevastopol

Sevastopol

until 2042. The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada

Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada

The Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is the speaker of the Verkhovna Rada, Ukraine's unicameral parliament. The speaker presides over the parliament and its procedures. They are elected by secret ballot from the parliament's deputy ranks...

Volodymyr Lytvyn

Volodymyr Mykhailovych Lytvyn is a Ukrainian politician and the current Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada, the Ukrainian parliament. Having previously served in that position from 2002 until 2006, he was re-elected in December 2008 after his party agreed to join the former coalition of Yulia...

had to be shielded by umbrellas as he was pelted with eggs, while smoke bombs exploded and politicians brawled. Along with the Verkhovna Rada the treaty was ratified by the Russian State Duma

State Duma

The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...

as well.

Demographic history

For over two hundred years, Crimea has been an ethnically diverse region. In the beginning of the 18th century, Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

formed a vast majority of the population of the peninsula. Although they continued to be a majority until the mid 19th century, many other groups migrated to the area. New populations of Russians, Ukrainians, Germans, and Jews mixed with the previous Crimean Tatar, Karaite, Greek, Armenian, Bulgarian, and Krymchak inhabitants.

By the late 19th century, Crimean Tatar

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

s continued to form a slight plurality of Crimea's still largely rural population but there were large numbers of Russians

Russians in Ukraine

and Ukrainians as well as smaller numbers of Germans

Crimea Germans

, Jews (including Krymchaks

Krymchaks

The Krymchaks are a Turkic people, community of Turkic languages and adherents of Rabbinic Judaism living in Crimea. They have historically lived in close proximity to the Crimean Karaites...

and Crimean Karaites

Crimean Karaites

The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...

), Bulgarians

Bulgarians in Ukraine

Ethnic Bulgarians have settlements in the southern regions of Ukraine where they make up a significant minority living primarily in the Odessa Oblast.- Location and number :...

, Belarussians, Turks

Turks in Ukraine

Turks in Ukraine are people of Turkish ethnicity living in Ukraine. This could mean roots linking back to Turkey, the island of Cyprus or other Turkish communities.- Demographics :- Religion :...

, Armenians

Armenians in Ukraine

, and Greeks

Greeks in Ukraine

Greeks

and 14 000 Bulgarians from the Crimea were deported to
Central Asia and Siberia, along with 200,000 Crimean Tatars and other nationalities. and, by the latter 20th century, Russians and Ukrainians made up almost the entire population. However, with the fall of the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

, exiled Crimean Tatars began returning to their homeland and, by the beginning of the 21st century were over 10% of the population.

Historical population statistics

First quarter of 18th century — 467,000 total inhabitants (95.1% Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group that originally resided in Crimea. They speak the Crimean Tatar language...

, 2.6% Greeks, 2.1% Armenians
Armenians in Crimea
- Background :The Armenian presence in the Crimea region dates back to the 8th century. The first wave of Armenian immigration into this area began during the mid-11th century and, over time, as political, economic and social conditions in Armenia proper failed to improve, newer waves followed them...

, 0.2% Krymchaks
Krymchaks
The Krymchaks are a Turkic people, community of Turkic languages and adherents of Rabbinic Judaism living in Crimea. They have historically lived in close proximity to the Crimean Karaites...

and Karaites
Crimean Karaites
The Crimean Karaites , also known as Karaim and Qarays, are a community of ethnic Turkic adherents of Karaite Judaism in Eastern Europe...

)

1760s and 1770s — 454,700 (92.6% Crimean Tatars, 4% Greeks, 3.1% Armenians, 0.3% Krymchaks and Karaites)

1795 — 156,400 (87.6 % Crimean Tatars, 4.3% Russians, 1.9% Greeks, 1.7% Gypsies, 1.5% Karaites, 1.3% Ukrainians
Ukrainians
Ukrainians are an East Slavic ethnic group native to Ukraine, which is the sixth-largest nation in Europe. The Constitution of Ukraine applies the term 'Ukrainians' to all its citizens...

, 0.8% Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

, 0.6% Armenians, 0.1% Germans
Crimea Germans
The Crimea Germans were ethnic German settlers who were invited to settle in the Crimea as part of the East Colonization.-History:From 1783 onwards, there was a systematic settlement of Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans to the Crimean Peninsula in order to weaken the Crimean Tatar population.The...

, 0.1% Bulgarians
Bulgarians
The Bulgarians are a South Slavic nation and ethnic group native to Bulgaria and neighbouring regions. Emigration has resulted in immigrant communities in a number of other countries.-History and ethnogenesis:...

)

1816 — 212,600 (85.9% Crimean Tatars, 4.8% Russians, 3.7% Ukrainians, 1.4% Karaites, 1.3% Armenians, 0.9% Jews, 0.8% Greeks, 0.7% Germans, 0.4% Bulgarians)

1835 — 279,400 (83.5% Crimean Tatars, 4.4% Russians, 3.1% Ukrainians, 2.4% Gypsies, 2% Greeks, 1.5% Armenians, 1.1% Karaites, 0.9% Jews, 0.7% Germans, 0.4% Bulgarians)

1850 — 343,500 (77.8% Crimean Tatars, 7% Ukrainians, 6.6% Russians, 2% Greeks, 1.9% Gypsies, 1.3% Karaites, 1% Armenians, 1% Germans, 0.9% Jews, 0.5% Bulgarians)

1858 — 331,300 (73% Crimean Tatars, 12.6% Russians, 4% Ukrainians, 2.4% Greeks, 2% Gypsies, 1.8% Jews, 1.5% Germans, 1.3% Armenians, 0.8% Karaites, 0.6% Bulgarians)

1864 — 198,700 (50.3% Crimean Tatars, 28.5% Russians and Ukrainians, 6.5% Greeks, 5.3% Jews, 2.9% Armenians, 2.7% Germans, 1.7% Karaites, 1.6% Bulgarians)

1897 — 546,700 (35.6% Crimean Tatars, 33.1% Russians, 11.8% Ukrainians, 5.8% Germans, 4.4% Jews, 3.1% Greeks, 1.5% Armenians, 1.3% Bulgarians, 1.2% Poles, 0.3% Turks
Turks in Ukraine
Turks in Ukraine are people of Turkish ethnicity living in Ukraine. This could mean roots linking back to Turkey, the island of Cyprus or other Turkish communities.- Demographics :- Religion :...

)

1917 — 749,800 (41.2% Russians, 28.7% Crimean Tatars, 8.6% Ukrainians, 6.4% Jews, 4.9% Germans, 2.9% Greeks, 1.6% Armenians, 1.4% Bulgarians, 0.8% Poles, 0.7% Turks)

1920 — 718,900 (44.1% Russians, 26% Crimean Tatars, 7.4% Ukrainians, 6.7% Jews, 5.9% Germans, 3.3% Greeks, 1.7% Armenians, 1.5% Bulgarians, 0.8% Karaites, 0.8% Poles)

1926 — 713,800 (42.2% Russians, 25.1% Crimean Tatars, 10.9% Ukrainians, 6.1% Germans, 5.5% Jews, 2.2% Greeks, 1.6% Armenians, 1.6% Bulgarians, 0.6% Karaites)

1934 — 832,000 (44% Russians, 23.8% Crimean Tatars, 10.9% Ukrainians, 8.1% Jews, 6.1% Germans, 1.7% Armenians, 1.4% Bulgarians)

1937 — 996,800 (47.7% Russians, 20.7% Crimean Tatars, 12.9% Ukrainians, 5.5% Jews, 5.1% Germans, 2.,2% Greeks, 1,5% Bulgarians, 0,3% Karaites)

1939 — 1,123,800 (49.6% Russians, 19.4% Crimean Tatars, 13.7% Ukrainians, 5.8% Jews, 4.5% Germans, 1.8% Greeks, 1.4% Bulgarians, 1.1% Armenians, 0.5% Poles)

1959 — 1,201,500 (71.4% Russians, 22.3% Ukrainians, 2.2% Jews, 0.1% Poles)

1979 — 2,135,900 (68.4% Russians, 25.6% Ukrainians, 1.1% Jews, 0.7% Crimean Tatars, 0.3% Poles, 0.2% Armenians, 0.2% Greeks)

1989 — 2,430,500 (67.1% Russians, 25.8% Ukrainians, 1.6% Crimean Tatars, 0.7% Jews, 0.3% Poles, 0.1% Greeks)

2001 — 2,024,056 (58.3% Russians, 24.3% Ukrainians, 12.1% Crimean Tatars, 1.4% Belarusians
Belarusians
Belarusians ; are an East Slavic ethnic group who populate the majority of the Republic of Belarus. Introduced to the world as a new state in the early 1990s, the Republic of Belarus brought with it the notion of a re-emerging Belarusian ethnicity, drawn upon the lines of the Old Belarusian...

, 0.5% Tatars
Tatars
Tatars are a Turkic speaking ethnic group , numbering roughly 7 million.The majority of Tatars live in the Russian Federation, with a population of around 5.5 million, about 2 million of which in the republic of Tatarstan.Significant minority populations are found in Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan,...

, 0.4% Armenians, 0.2% each of Jews, Poles, Moldovans
Moldovans
Moldovans or Moldavians are the largest population group of Moldova...

and Azeris
Azeris in Ukraine
Azerbaijan and Ukraine relations took through centuries and both countries used to be the part of Russian Empire and then Soviet Union. Currently there are over 45,000 Azerbaijanis in Ukraine. Most of them live in Donetsk Oblast , Kharkiv - , and Dnipropetrovsk -...

, 0.1% each of Uzbeks
Uzbeks
The Uzbeks are a Turkic ethnic group in Central Asia. They comprise the majority population of Uzbekistan, and large populations can also be found in Afghanistan, Tajikstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Pakistan, Mongolia and the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China...

, Koreans (Koryo-saram)
Koryo-saram
Koryo-saram is the name which ethnic Koreans in the post-Soviet states use to refer to themselves. Approximately 500,000 ethnic Koreans reside in the former Soviet Union, primarily in the now-independent states of Central Asia. There are also large Korean communities in southern Russia , the...

, Greeks, Germans, Mordvins, Chuvashes, Gypsies, Bulgarians, Georgians
Georgians
The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

and Maris, as well as Karaites, Krymchaks, and others)

Early history

Roman Crimea

Crimea in the Middle Ages

Crimean Khanate: 1441–1783

Crimea in the Russian Empire: 1783–1917

Crimean War

Crimea in the Russian Civil War: 1917–1921

Interbellum Soviet history

World War II and ethnic deportations

Post-war Soviet history

Establishment of the Autonomous Republic: 1991–1998

Autonomous Republic of Crimea: 1999–present

Demographic history

Historical population statistics

See also