Year of the conquest of Crimea. What was Crimea used to be called: how the name of the peninsula’s territory changed

Just a year ago, the Crimean peninsula was an integral part of the state of Ukraine. But after March 16, 2014, he changed his “place of registration” and became part of the Russian Federation. Therefore, the increased interest in how Crimea developed is quite understandable. The history of the peninsula is very turbulent and eventful.

The first inhabitants of the ancient land

The history of the peoples of Crimea goes back several thousand years. On the peninsula, researchers discovered the remains of ancient people who lived back in the Paleolithic era. Near the sites of Kiik-Koba and Staroselye, archaeologists found the bones of people who inhabited this area at that time.

In the first millennium BC, Cimmerians, Taurians and Scythians lived here. By the name of one nationality, this territory, or rather its mountainous and coastal parts, is still called Tavrika, Tavria or Taurida. Ancient people engaged in farming and cattle breeding on this not very fertile land, as well as hunting and fishing. The world was new, fresh and cloudless.

Greeks, Romans and Goths

But for some ancient states, sunny Crimea turned out to be very attractive in terms of location. The history of the peninsula also has Greek echoes. Around the 6th-5th centuries, the Greeks began to actively populate this territory. They founded entire colonies here, after which the first states appeared. The Greeks brought with them the benefits of civilization: they actively built temples and theaters, stadiums and baths. At this time, shipbuilding began to develop here. It is with the Greeks that historians associate the development of viticulture. The Greeks also planted olive trees here and collected oil. We can safely say that with the arrival of the Greeks, the history of the development of Crimea received a new impetus.

But a few centuries later, powerful Rome set its sights on this territory and captured part of the coast. This takeover lasted until the 6th century AD. But the greatest damage to the development of the peninsula was caused by the Gothic tribes, who invaded in the 3rd and 4th centuries and thanks to whom the Greek states collapsed. And although the Goths were soon supplanted by other nationalities, the development of Crimea slowed down very much at that time.

Khazaria and Tmutarakan

Crimea is also called ancient Khazaria, and in some Russian chronicles this territory is called Tmutarakan. And these are not at all figurative names of the area where Crimea was located. The history of the peninsula has left in speech those toponymic names that at one time or another called this section of the earth's land. Starting from the 5th century, the entire Crimea came under strict Byzantine influence. But already in the 7th century the entire territory of the peninsula (except Chersonesus) was powerful and strong. That is why in Western Europe the name “Khazar” appears in many manuscripts. But Rus' and Khazaria compete all the time, and in 960 the Russian history of Crimea begins. The Kaganate was defeated, and all Khazar possessions were subordinated to the Old Russian state. Now this territory is called Tmutarakan.

By the way, it was here that the Kiev prince Vladimir, who occupied Kherson (Korsun), was officially baptized in 988.

Tatar-Mongol trace

Since the 13th century, the history of the annexation of Crimea again develops according to a military scenario: the Mongol-Tatars invade the peninsula.

Here the Crimean ulus is formed - one of the divisions of the Golden Horde. After the Golden Horde disintegrated, the peninsula emerged in 1443. In 1475, it completely fell under the influence of Turkey. It is from here that numerous raids on Polish, Russian and Ukrainian lands are carried out. Moreover, already at the end of the 15th century, these invasions became widespread and threatened the integrity of both the Moscow state and Poland. The Turks mainly hunted for cheap labor: they captured people and sold them into slavery in the slave markets of Turkey. One of the reasons for the creation of the Zaporozhye Sich in 1554 was to counter these seizures.

Russian history

The history of the transfer of Crimea to Russia continues in 1774, when the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty was concluded. After the Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774, the almost 300-year rule of the Ottoman Empire came to an end. The Turks abandoned Crimea. It was at this time that the largest cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol appeared on the peninsula. Crimea is developing rapidly, money is being invested here, industry and trade are beginning to flourish.

But Türkiye did not abandon plans to regain this attractive territory and was preparing for a new war. We must pay tribute to the Russian army, which did not allow this to happen. After another war in 1791, the Treaty of Jassy was signed.

The volitional decision of Catherine II

So, in fact, the peninsula has now become part of a powerful empire, whose name is Russia. Crimea, whose history included many changes from hand to hand, needed powerful protection. The acquired southern lands had to be protected by ensuring border security. Empress Catherine II instructed Prince Potemkin to study all the advantages and weaknesses of the annexation of Crimea. In 1782, Potemkin wrote a letter to the Empress, in which he insisted on making an important decision. Catherine agrees with his arguments. She understands how important Crimea is both for solving internal government problems and from a foreign policy perspective.

On April 8, 1783, Catherine II issues a Manifesto on the annexation of Crimea. It was a fateful document. It was from this moment, from this date, that Russia, Crimea, the history of the empire and the peninsula were closely intertwined for many centuries. According to the Manifesto, all Crimean residents were promised the protection of this territory from enemies, the preservation of property and faith.

True, the Turks recognized the fact of Crimea’s annexation to Russia only eight months later. All this time, the situation around the peninsula was extremely tense. When the Manifesto was promulgated, first the clergy swore allegiance to the Russian Empire and only then the entire population. On the peninsula, ceremonial celebrations, feasts were held, games and horse races were held, and cannon salutes were fired into the air. As contemporaries noted, all of Crimea passed into the Russian Empire with joy and jubilation.

Since then, Crimea, the history of the peninsula and the way of life of its population have been inextricably linked with all the events that took place in the Russian Empire.

A powerful impetus to development

The brief history of Crimea after its annexation to the Russian Empire can be described in one word - “heyday”. Industry and agriculture, winemaking and viticulture are beginning to develop rapidly here. Fishing and salt industries appear in the cities, and people are actively developing trade relations.

Since Crimea is located in a very warm and favorable climate, many rich people wanted to get land here. Nobles, members of the royal family, and industrialists considered it an honor to establish a family estate on the territory of the peninsula. In the 19th - early 20th centuries, a rapid flowering of architecture began here. Industrial magnates, royalty, and the Russian elite build entire palaces here and create beautiful parks that have survived on the territory of Crimea to this day. And following the nobility, people of art, actors, singers, painters, and theatergoers flocked to the peninsula. Crimea becomes the cultural Mecca of the Russian Empire.

Don’t forget about the healing climate of the peninsula. Since doctors proved that the air of Crimea is extremely favorable for the treatment of tuberculosis, a mass pilgrimage began here for those wishing to be cured of this deadly disease. Crimea is becoming attractive not only for bohemian holidays, but also for health tourism.

Together with the whole country

At the beginning of the 20th century, the peninsula developed along with the entire country. The October Revolution and the subsequent civil war did not escape him either. It was from Crimea (Yalta, Sevastopol, Feodosia) that the last vessels and ships on which the Russian intelligentsia left Russia left. It was in this place that a mass exodus of White Guards was observed. The country was creating a new system, and Crimea did not lag behind.

It was in the 20s of the last century that Crimea was transformed into an all-Union health resort. In 1919, the Bolsheviks adopted the “Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on healing areas of national importance.” Crimea is included in it with a red line. A year later, another important document was signed - the decree “On the use of Crimea for the treatment of workers.”

Until the war, the territory of the peninsula was used as a resort for tuberculosis patients. In Yalta in 1922, a specialized Institute of Tuberculosis was even opened. Funding was at the proper level, and soon this research institute became the country's main center for pulmonary surgery.

Epochal Crimean Conference

During the Great Patriotic War, the peninsula became the scene of massive military operations. Here they fought on land and at sea, in the air and in the mountains. Two cities - Kerch and Sevastopol - received the title of hero cities for their significant contribution to the victory over fascism.

True, not all the peoples inhabiting the multinational Crimea fought on the side of the Soviet Army. Some representatives openly supported the invaders. That is why in 1944 Stalin issued a decree on the deportation of the Crimean Tatar people outside the Crimea. Hundreds of trains transported an entire people to Central Asia in one day.

Crimea entered world history thanks to the fact that the Yalta Conference was held in the Livadia Palace in February 1945. The leaders of the three superpowers - Stalin (USSR), Roosevelt (USA) and Churchill (Great Britain) - signed important international documents in Crimea, according to which the world order was determined for the long post-war decades.

Crimea - Ukrainian

In 1954 a new milestone comes. The Soviet leadership decides to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR. The history of the peninsula begins to develop according to a new scenario. The initiative came personally from the then head of the CPSU Nikita Khrushchev.

This was done on a special occasion: that year the country celebrated the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Rada. To commemorate this historical date and demonstrate that the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are united, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. And now the pair “Ukraine - Crimea” has begun to be considered as both a whole and a part of the whole. The history of the peninsula is beginning to be described in modern chronicles from scratch.

Whether this decision was economically justified, whether it was worth taking such a step then - such questions did not even arise at that time. Since the Soviet Union was united, no one attached much importance to whether Crimea would be part of the RSFSR or the Ukrainian SSR.

Autonomy within Ukraine

When the independent Ukrainian state was formed, Crimea received autonomy status. In September 1991, the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Republic was adopted. And on December 1, 1991, a referendum was held in which 54% of Crimean residents supported the independence of Ukraine. In May of the following year, the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was adopted, and in February 1994, Crimeans elected the first President of the Republic of Crimea. It was Yuri Meshkov.

It was during the years of perestroika that disputes began to arise more and more often that Khrushchev illegally gave Crimea to Ukraine. Pro-Russian sentiment on the peninsula was very strong. Therefore, as soon as the opportunity arose, Crimea returned to Russia again.

Fateful March 2014

While a large-scale state crisis began to grow in Ukraine at the end of 2013 - beginning of 2014, in Crimea voices were increasingly heard that the peninsula should be returned to Russia. On the night of February 26-27, unknown people raised the Russian flag over the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea.

The Supreme Council of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopt a declaration of independence of Crimea. At the same time, the idea was voiced to hold an All-Crimean referendum. It was originally scheduled for March 31, but was then moved two weeks earlier to March 16. The results of the Crimean referendum were impressive: 96.6% of voters were in favor. The overall level of support for this decision on the peninsula was 81.3%.

The modern history of Crimea continues to take shape before our eyes. Not all countries have yet recognized the status of Crimea. But Crimeans live with faith in a bright future.

You and I are accustomed to approaching the concept “ Crimea“as the name of a place where you can have a great summer vacation, have a good rest on the seashore, making a couple of trips to attractions located nearby. But if you approach the issue globally, look at the peninsula from the distance of centuries and knowledge, then it becomes clear that Crimea is a unique historical and cultural territory, striking in its antiquity and diversity of natural and “man-made” values. Numerous Crimean cultural monuments reflect religion, culture and historical events of different eras and peoples. Story The peninsula is a plexus of West and East, the history of the ancient Greeks and the Golden Horde Mongols, the history of the birth of Christianity, the appearance of the first churches and mosques. For centuries, different peoples lived here, fought with each other, concluded peace and trade treaties, villages and cities were built and destroyed, civilizations appeared and disappeared. Inhaling the Crimean air, in addition to the notorious phytoncides, you can feel in it the taste of legends about life Amazons, Olympian gods, Tauri, Cimmerians, Greeks…

The natural conditions of Crimea and the geographical location, favorable for life, contributed to the fact that the peninsula became cradle of humanity. Primitive Neanderthals appeared here 150 thousand years ago, attracted by the warm climate and the abundance of animals, which were their main food supply. In almost every Crimean museum you can find archaeological finds from grottos and caves, which served as natural shelters for primitive man. The most famous sites of primitive man:

• Kiik-Koba ( Belogorsky district);
• Staroselye (Bakhchisarai);
• Chokurcho (Simferopol);
• Wolf Grotto (Simferopol);
• Ak-Kaya (Belogorsk).

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

Cimmerians

If before the first millennium BC historical data only lift the veil from different periods of human development, then information about a later time allows us to talk about specific cultures and tribes of the Crimea. In the 5th century BC, Herodotus, an ancient Greek historian, visited the Crimean shores. In his writings, he described the local lands and the peoples living on them. It is believed that among the first peoples who lived in the steppe part of the peninsula in the 15th-7th centuries BC were Cimmerians. Their warlike tribes were driven out of Crimea in the 4th - 3rd centuries BC by no less aggressive Scythians and were lost in the vast expanses of the Asian steppes. Only ancient names remind us of them:

• Cimmerian walls;
• Cimmerick.

Taurus

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

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

Scythians

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

Greeks

In the 7th century BC, strings of Greek colonists reached the Crimean shores. Choosing places convenient for living and sailing, Greeks city-states were founded on them - “policies”:

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

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

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

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

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

Romans, Huns, Byzantium

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

In 370, hordes of Huns came to the Crimean lands. They wiped out the Bosporan kingdom and the Scythian state from the face of the earth, destroyed Chersonesus, Panticapaeum and Scythian Naples. After the Crimea, the Huns went to Europe, bringing the death of the great Roman Empire. In the 4th century, the Roman Empire was divided into Western and Eastern (Byzantine). The southern part of Taurica entered the sphere of interests of the Eastern Empire. The main base of the Byzantines in Crimea became Chersonesus, which began to be called Cherson. This period became the time of penetration of Christianity into the peninsula. According to church tradition, its first messenger was Andrew the First-Called. The third bishop of Rome, Clement, exiled to Kherson in 94, also actively preached the Christian faith. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement appeared in Byzantium: all images of saints were destroyed - on icons, in temple paintings. The monks fled from persecution on the outskirts of the empire, including in the Crimea. In the mountains of the peninsula they founded cave monasteries and temples:

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

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

Slavs, Mongols, Genoese, Principality of Theodoro

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

In the 13th century, the Tatar-Mongols of the Golden Horde invaded the peninsula several times, thoroughly plundering the cities. From the middle of the 13th century they began to settle in the territory of Taurica. At this time, they captured Solkhat and turned it into the center of the Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde. It received the name Kyrym, which was later inherited by the peninsula.

During these same years, an Orthodox church appeared in the mountains of Crimea. Principality of Theodoro with its capital in Mangup. The Genoese had disputes with the Principality of Theodoro regarding the ownership of the disputed territories.

Turks

At the beginning of 1475, Kafa had a fleet Ottoman Empire. The well-fortified Kafa withstood the siege for only three days, after which it surrendered to the mercy of the winner. By the end of the year Turks captured all coastal fortresses: the rule of the Genoese in Crimea ended. Mangup held out the longest and surrendered to the Turks only after a six-month siege. The invaders treated the captured Theodorians cruelly: they destroyed the city, killed most of the inhabitants, and took the survivors into slavery.

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

Russia

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

In 1787, Empress Catherine II visited Crimea with a large retinue of high-ranking officials from foreign countries. She stayed in travel palaces specially built for this occasion.

Eastern War

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

Health resort of Russia

In the middle of the 19th century, the doctor Botkin recommended that the royal family purchase the Livadia estate as a place with an exceptionally healthy climate. This was the beginning of a new, resort era in Crimea. All along the coast, villas, estates, and palaces were built that belonged to the royal family, wealthy landowners and industrialists, and the court nobility. Over the course of several years, the village of Yalta turned into a popular aristocratic resort. The railways, which connected the largest cities of the region, further accelerated its transformation into a resort and dacha health resort of the empire.

At the beginning of the twentieth century, the peninsula belonged to the Tauride province and was economically an agricultural region with several industrial cities. These were mainly Simferopol and port Kerch, Sevastopol and Feodosia.

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

The Great Patriotic War

During the Second World War, the peninsula courageously fought the enemy. Sevastopol repeated its feat, surrendering after a 250-day siege. The pages of the heroic chronicle of those years are replete with such names as “Terra del Fuego Eltigen”, “Kerch-Feodosia Operation”, “Feat of Partisans and Underground Workers”... For their courage and perseverance, Kerch and Sevastopol were awarded the title of hero cities.

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

Post-war years

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

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

In 1991, during the coup in Moscow, the arrest of the USSR General Secretary M.S. Gorbachev at the state dacha in Foros. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became Autonomous Republic, which became part of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, after a pan-Crimean referendum, the Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and became one of the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. Started modern history of Crimea.

We know Crimea as a republic of relaxation, sun, sea and fun. Come to the Crimean land - let's write the history of this resort republic of ours together!

History of the Crimean Peninsula from ancient times to the present day.

Prehistoric period

Paleolithic and Mesolithic

The oldest traces of hominid habitation on the territory of Crimea date back to the Middle Paleolithic - this is a Neanderthal site in the Kiik-Koba cave, 100 thousand years old. Much later, during the Mesolithic era, the Cro-Magnons settled in Crimea (Murzak-Koba).

According to the Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, up to the 6th millennium BC. e. the territory of Crimea was not a peninsula, but was a fragment of a larger land mass, which included, in particular, the territory of the modern Sea of ​​​​Azov. Around 5500 BC e., as a result of the breakthrough of waters from the Mediterranean Sea and the formation of the Bosphorus Strait, significant territories were flooded in a fairly short period, and the Crimean Peninsula was formed. The flooding of the Black Sea roughly coincides with the end of the Mesolithic cultures and the onset of the Neolithic.

Neolithic and Chalcolithic

Unlike most of Ukraine, Crimea was not affected by the wave of Neolithic cultures that came from Anatolia through the Balkans during the Neolithic era. The local Neolithic was of a different origin, associated with the cultures of the Circumpontic zone (steppes and plains between the Black and Caspian seas).

In 4-3 thousand BC. e. Through the territories north of Crimea, migrations to the west of tribes, presumably speakers of Indo-European languages, took place. In 3 thousand BC. e. The Kemi-Oba culture existed on the territory of Crimea.

Bronze and early Iron Age

The first inhabitants of Crimea, known to us from ancient sources, were the Cimmerians (XII century BC). Their presence in Crimea is confirmed by ancient and medieval historians, as well as by information that has come down to us in the form of toponyms of the eastern part of Crimea: “Cimmerian crossings”, “Cimmeric”.

In the middle of the 7th century. BC e. Some of the Cimmerians were forced out by the Scythians from the steppe part of the peninsula to the foothills and mountains of Crimea, where they created compact settlements.

In the foothills and mountains of Crimea, as well as on the southern coast, there lived Tauris associated with the Kizil-Koba archaeological culture. The possible Caucasian origin of the Taurs is indicated by traces of the influence of the Koban culture. From the Taurians comes the ancient name of the mountainous and coastal part of Crimea - Tavrika, Tavria, Tavrida. The remains of the fortifications and dwellings of the Tauri, their ring-like fences made of vertically placed stones and Taurus tombs “stone boxes” have been preserved and studied to this day.

A new period in the history of Taurica begins with the capture of Crimea by the Scythians. This period is characterized by qualitative changes in the composition of the population itself. Archaeological data show that after this the basis of the population of northwestern Crimea were peoples who came from the Dnieper region.

Antiquity

In the VI-V centuries. Before the birth of Christ, when the Scythians dominated the steppes, immigrants from Hellas founded their trading colonies on the Crimean coast. Panticapaeum or Bosporus (the modern city of Kerch) and Theodosius were built by colonists from the ancient Greek city of Miletus; Chersonesus, located within the boundaries of present-day Sevastopol, was built by the Greeks from Heraclea Pontic.

In the first half of the 5th century. BC e. Two independent Greek states emerge on the shores of the Black Sea. One of them is the democratic slave-owning republic of Chersonese Tauride, which included the lands of western Crimea (Kerkinitida (modern Evpatoria), Kalos-Limeni, Black Sea). Chersonesus was located behind mighty stone walls. It was founded on the site of a Taurus settlement by Greeks from Heraclea Pontus. The other is the Bosporus, an autocratic state whose capital was Panticapaeum. The Acropolis of this city was located on Mount Mithridates, and the Melek-Chesmensky and Tsarsky mounds were excavated not far from it. Stone crypts, unique monuments of Bosporan architecture, were found here.

Greek colonists brought shipbuilding, viticulture, cultivation of olive trees and other crops to the shores of Chimeria-Taurica, and built temples, theaters, and stadiums. Hundreds of Greek settlements - policies - appeared in Crimea. The ancient Greeks created great historical and literary monuments about Crimea. Euripides wrote the drama “Iphigenia in Tauris” using Crimean material. The Greeks who lived in the Tauric Chersonese and the Cimmerian Bosporus know the Iliad and the Odyssey, in which Cimmeria is unreasonably characterized as “a sad region covered with ever-damp fog and clouds.” Herodotus in the 5th century BC e. wrote about the religious beliefs of the Scythians, about the Tauri.

Until the end of the 3rd century. BC e. The Scythian state was significantly reduced under the onslaught of the Sarmatians. The Scythians were forced to move their capital to the Salgir River (near Simferopol), where Scythian Naples arose, also known as Neapolis (Greek name).

In the 1st century, the Romans tried to settle in Crimea. They build the fortress of Charax, which was abandoned in the 3rd century. During the Roman period, Christianity began to spread in Crimea. One of the first Christians in Crimea was the exiled Clement I - the 4th Pope.

Middle Ages

The Scythian state in Crimea existed until the second half of the 3rd century. n. e. and was destroyed by the Goths. The stay of the Goths in the Crimean steppes did not last long. In 370, the Balamber Huns invaded Crimea from the Taman Peninsula. The Goths established themselves in the mountainous Crimea until the 17th century (Crimean Goths). By the end of the 4th century, only one ancient city of Tauride Chersonesos remained in Crimea, which became an outpost of Byzantine influence in the region. Under Emperor Justinian, the fortresses of Aluston, Gurzuf, Simbolon and Sudak were founded in Crimea, and the Bosporus was revived. In the 6th century, the Turks walked through Crimea. In the 7th century, nomadic Bulgarians settled here. At the beginning of the 8th century, Crimea was divided between Byzantium and Khazaria, from the latter the state structure remained on the peninsula (khan, beklerbek, kurultai), Crimean Armenians from the former Nestorians - first the Khazars, then the Polovtsians and Cossacks, the Cossacks, first mentioned here, the Crimean ethnic group . In connection with the resettlement of the Karaites from Egypt to the Crimea (Chufut-Kale), they adopted the language of the Crimeans. In the 8th century, an iconoclasm movement began in Byzantium; icons and paintings in churches were destroyed. Monks, fleeing persecution, moved to the outskirts of the empire, including Crimea. Here in the mountains they founded cave temples and monasteries: Uspensky, Kachi-Kalyon, Shuldan, Chelter and others.

In the VI-XII centuries in the South-Western Crimea, the development of feudal relations and the formation of fortified settlements on the cuestas of the Inner Ridge - “cave cities” - took place.

In the 9th century, Kirill, the creator of the Glagolitic alphabet, the first common Slavic alphabet, came to Crimea while passing through Sarkel. in the creation of which a significant role was played by his study of Russian letters in the Crimea from a local Rus merchant - “devil and rez”. In honor of Kirill, his letter was named “Cyrillic”. In the same century, the Pechenegs and Russes appeared in Crimea (Bravlin). At the beginning of the 10th century, Crimea became the scene of a battle between the armies of the Rus (Helgu) and the Khazars (Passover). After the murder of the ruling dynasty of Khagans of Khazaria by the Oghuz Turks, power passes to the rightful heir from another branch of the autochthonous dynasty of the South of Rus', possibly dating back to the Massagets, judging by the common aidar among the Khazars and Massagets - the Kiev prince Svyatoslav Igorevich. In 988, in Korsun (Chersonese), Grand Duke of Kiev Vladimir Svyatoslavovich was baptized and married the sister of the Byzantine emperor. Korsun at this time was in the possession of Rus'. During the period of feudal fragmentation of Rus', the Khazar part of Crimea came under the rule of the Russian Tmutarakan principality. Korchev became a significant city during this period.

After the weakening of Byzantium in its former Crimean possessions, the Gotalans (Crimean Goths) founded the Orthodox Christian principality of Theodoro with its capital in the largest “cave city” in the city of Mangup. The first Turkish landing in Sudak dates back to 1222, which defeated the Russian-Polovtsian army. Literally the next year, the Tatar-Mongols Jebe invade Crimea. The steppe Crimea becomes the possession of the Golden Horde - the Jochi ulus. The administrative center of the peninsula becomes the city of Crimea. The first coins issued in Crimea by Khan Mengu-Timur date back to 1267. Thanks to the rapid flourishing of Genoese trade and the nearby Kafa, Crimea quickly turned into a large trade and craft center. Karasubazar becomes another large city in the Crimean ulus. In the 13th century, significant Islamization of the formerly Christian Crimea took place.

In the 14th century, part of the territories of Crimea was acquired by the Genoese (Gazaria, Kaffa). By this time, the Polovtsian language was already widespread in Crimea, as evidenced by the Codex Cumanicus. In 1367, Crimea was subject to Mamai, whose power also relied on the Genoese colonies. In 1397, the Lithuanian prince Vytautas invades Crimea and reaches Kaffa. After the pogrom of Edigei, Chersonesus turns into ruins (1399).

Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire

After the collapse of the Golden Horde in 1441, the remnants of the Mongols in Crimea were Turkified. At this moment, Crimea is divided between the steppe Crimean Khanate, the mountain principality of Theodoro and the Genoese colonies on the southern coast. The capital of the Principality of Theodoro is Mangup - one of the largest fortresses of medieval Crimea (90 hectares) and, if necessary, takes under protection significant masses of the population.

In the summer of 1475, the Ottoman Turks, who had captured the territories of the former Byzantine Empire, landed a large force of Gedik Ahmed Pasha in the Crimea and the Azov region, capturing all the Genoese fortresses (including Tana on the Don) and Greek cities. In July Mangup was besieged. Having burst into the city, the Turks destroyed almost all the inhabitants, plundered and burned buildings. On the lands of the principality (and also the conquered Genoese colonies of the captaincy of Gothia), a Turkish kadilik (district) was created; The Ottomans maintained their garrisons and bureaucrats there and strictly collected taxes. In 1478, the Crimean Khanate became a protectorate of the Ottoman Empire.

In the 15th century, the Turks, with the help of Italian specialists, built the Or-Kapu fortress on Perekop. Since that time, the Perekop shaft has another name - Turkish. Since the end of the 15th century, the Tatars in Crimea gradually moved from nomadic forms of farming to settled agriculture. The main occupation of the Crimean Tatars (as they began to be called much later) in the south became gardening, viticulture, and tobacco cultivation. In the steppe regions of Crimea, livestock farming was developed, primarily the breeding of sheep and horses.

Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian state and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The main purpose of the raids was to capture slaves and resell them in Turkish markets. The total number of slaves who passed through the Crimean markets is estimated at three million.

The Russo-Turkish War of 1768-1774 ended Ottoman rule, and the Küçük-Kaynardzhi Peace Treaty of 1774 gave up the Ottomans' claims to Crimea.

Russian empire

Starting from November 14, 1779, Suvorov, fulfilling the decree of Catherine II, removed the entire Christian population from Crimea for a year. The Greeks, who inhabited mainly the western and southern shores of Crimea, were resettled by Suvorov on the northern shore of the Sea of ​​Azov, where they founded the city of Mariupol and 20 villages in the area. The Armenians, who inhabited mainly the eastern and southeastern shores of Crimea (Feodosia, Old Crimea, Surkhat, etc.), were resettled in the lower reaches of the Don, near the fortress of Dmitry of Rostov, where they founded the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don and 5 villages around it (on place of modern Rostov-on-Don). This resettlement was organized with the aim of weakening the economy of the Crimean Khanate, since the Armenians and Greeks, unlike the nomadic Crimean Tatars, were predominantly farmers and artisans who controlled all trade of the Crimean Khanate and the Khan's treasury was based on their taxes. With the exodus of Christians, the Khanate was drained of blood and devastated. On April 8, 1783, Catherine II issued a manifesto on the acceptance of the “Crimean Peninsula”, as well as the Kuban side, into the Russian Empire. Russian troops of Suvorov entered the territory of Crimea, and the city of Sevastopol was founded near the ruins of ancient Chersonesus, where Vladimir the Saint was baptized. The Crimean Khanate was abolished, but its elite (over 300 clans) joined the Russian nobility and took part in the local self-government of the newly created Tauride region. At first, the development of the Russian Crimea was in charge of Prince Potemkin, who received the title of “Tauride”. In 1783, the population of Crimea numbered 60 thousand people, mainly engaged in cattle breeding (Crimean Tatars). At the same time, under Russian jurisdiction, the Russian as well as the Greek population from among retired soldiers began to grow. Bulgarians and Germans come to explore new lands. In 1787, Empress Catherine made her famous trip to Crimea. During the next Russian-Turkish war, unrest began among the Crimean Tatars, due to which their habitat was significantly reduced. In 1796, the region became part of the Novorossiysk province, and in 1802 it was again separated into an independent administrative unit. At the beginning of the 19th century, viticulture (Magarach) and shipbuilding (Sevastopol) developed in Crimea, and roads were laid. Under Prince Vorontsov, Yalta begins to develop, the Vorontsov Palace is founded, and the southern coast of Crimea is turned into a resort.

Crimean War

In June 1854, the Anglo-French flotilla began shelling Russian coastal fortifications in the Crimea, and already in September the Allies (Great Britain, France, Ottoman Empire) began landing in Yevpatoria. Soon the Battle of Alma took place. In October, the siege of Sevastopol began, during which Kornilov died on Malakhov Kurgan. In February 1855, the Russians unsuccessfully tried to storm Evpatoria. In May, the Anglo-French fleet captured Kerch. In July, Nakhimov died in Sevastopol. On September 11, 1855, Sevastopol fell, but was returned to Russia at the end of the war in exchange for certain concessions.

Crimea at the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th centuries

In 1874, Simferopol was connected to Aleksandrovsk by railway. The resort status of Crimea increased after the summer royal residence of the Livadia Palace appeared in Livadia.

According to the 1897 census, 546,700 people lived in Crimea. Of these, 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.

Crimea in the Civil War

On the eve of the revolution, 800 thousand people lived in Crimea, including 400 thousand Russians and 200 thousand Tatars, as well as 68 thousand Jews and 40 thousand Germans. After the February events of 1917, the Crimean Tatars organized themselves into the Milli Firka party, which tried to seize power on the peninsula.

On December 16, 1917, the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee was established in Sevastopol, which took power into its own hands. On January 4, 1918, the Bolsheviks took power in Feodosia, knocking out the Crimean Tatar units from there, and on January 6 - in Kerch. On the night of January 8-9, the Red Guard entered Yalta. On the night of January 14, Simferopol was taken.

On April 22, 1918, Ukrainian troops under the command of Colonel Bolbochan occupied Yevpatoria and Simferopol, followed by the German troops of General von Kosch. According to an agreement between Kiev and Berlin, on April 27, Ukrainian units left Crimea, renouncing claims to the peninsula. The Crimean Tatars also rebelled, concluding an alliance with the new invaders. By May 1, 1918, German troops occupied the entire Crimean peninsula. May 1 - November 15, 1918 - Crimea de facto under German occupation, de jure under the control of the autonomous Crimean regional government (from June 23) Suleiman Sulkevich

• November 15, 1918 - April 11, 1919 - Second Crimean regional government (Solomon Crimea) under the patronage of the Allies;
• April-June 1919 - Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR;
• July 1, 1919 - November 12, 1920 - Governments of the South of Russia: VSYUR A. I. Denikin

In January-March 1920, 4 thousand soldiers of the 3rd Army Corps of the AFSR, General Ya. A. Slashchev, successfully defended the Crimea from attacks by two Soviet armies with a total number of 40 thousand soldiers with the help of the ingenious tactics of their commander, giving Perekop to the Bolsheviks over and over again , crushing them already in Crimea, and then expelling them from it back to the steppes. On February 4, the White Guard captain Orlov with 300 fighters rebelled and captured Simferopol, arresting several generals of the Volunteer Army and the governor of the Tauride province. At the end of March, the remnants of the white armies, having surrendered the Don and Kuban, were evacuated to the Crimea. Denikin's headquarters ended up in Feodosia. On April 5, Denikin announced his resignation and transfer of his post to General Wrangel. On May 15, the Wrangel fleet raided Mariupol, during which the city was shelled and some ships were withdrawn to the Crimea. On June 6, Slashchev's units began to quickly move north, occupying the capital of Northern Tavria - Melitopol - on June 10. On June 24, the Wrangel landing force occupied Berdyansk for two days, and in July, Captain Kochetov’s landing group landed at Ochakov. On August 3, the Whites occupied Aleksandrovsk, but the next day they were forced to leave the city.

On November 12, 1920, the Red Army broke through the defenses at Perekop and broke into Crimea. On November 13, the 2nd Cavalry Army under the command of F.K. Mironov occupied Simferopol. The main Wrangel troops left the peninsula through port cities. In the captured Crimea, the Bolsheviks carried out mass terror, as a result of which, according to various sources, from 20 to 120 thousand people died

At the end of the Civil War, 720 thousand people lived in Crimea.

Crimea within the USSR

Starvation in 1921-1922 claimed the lives of more than 75 thousand Crimeans. The total number of deaths in the spring of 1923 may have exceeded 100 thousand people, of which 75 thousand were Crimean Tatars. The consequences of the famine were eliminated only by the mid-1920s.

Crimea in the Great Patriotic War

In November 1941, the Red Army was forced to leave Crimea, retreating to the Taman Peninsula. Soon a counter-offensive was launched from there, but it did not lead to success and Soviet troops were again driven back across the Kerch Strait. In German-occupied Crimea, a general district of the same name was formed as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. The occupation administration was headed by A. Frauenfeld, but in fact the power belonged to the military administration. In accordance with Nazi policy, communists and racially unreliable elements (Jews, Gypsies, Krymchaks) were destroyed in the occupied territory, and along with the Krymchaks, the Karaites recognized by Hitler as racially reliable were also killed en masse. On April 11, 1944, the Soviet army began an operation to liberate Crimea, and Dzhankoy and Kerch were recaptured. By April 13, Simferopol and Feodosia were liberated. May 9 - Sevastopol. The Germans held out for the longest time at Cape Chersonesus, but their evacuation was disrupted by the death of the Patria convoy. The war sharply aggravated interethnic contradictions in Crimea, and in May-June 1944, Crimean Tatars (183 thousand people), Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians were evicted from the territory of the peninsula. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 493 of September 5, 1967 “On citizens of Tatar nationality living in Crimea” recognized that “after the liberation of Crimea from fascist occupation in 1944, facts of active cooperation with the German invaders of a certain part of the Tatars living in Crimea were unreasonably attributed to the entire Tatar population of Crimea."

As part of the Ukrainian SSR: 1954-1991

In 1954, due to the difficult economic situation on the peninsula caused by post-war devastation and labor shortage after the deportation of the Crimean Tatars, the Soviet leadership decided to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR with the following wording: “Taking into account the commonality of the economy, territorial proximity and close economic and cultural connections between the Crimean region and the Ukrainian SSR."

On February 19, 1954, the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR issued a Decree “On the transfer of the Crimean region from the RSFSR to the Ukrainian SSR.”

On January 20, 1991, a general Crimean referendum took place in the Crimean region of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The question was put to a general vote: “Are you in favor of re-establishing the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty?” The referendum questioned the decisions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR in 1954 (transferring the Crimean region to the Ukrainian SSR) and in 1945 (on the abolition of the Krasnodar Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic and the creation of the Crimean region in its place). 1 million 441 thousand 19 people took part in the referendum, which is 81.37% of the total number of citizens included in the lists to participate in the referendum. 93.26% of Crimean residents of the total number of those who took part in the vote voted for the re-establishment of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.

On February 12, 1991, based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law “On the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic”, and 4 months later made corresponding changes to the 1978 Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR. However, the second part of the question put to the referendum - on raising the status of Crimea to the level of a subject of the USSR and a party to the Union Treaty - was not taken into account in this law.

As part of independent Ukraine

On August 24, 1991, the Supreme Soviet of the Ukrainian SSR adopted the Act of Independence of Ukraine, which was subsequently confirmed at an all-Ukrainian referendum on December 1, 1991.

On September 4, 1991, an emergency session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Republic, which states the desire to create a legal democratic state within Ukraine.

On December 1, 1991, at the All-Ukrainian referendum, residents of Crimea participated in the vote on the independence of Ukraine. 54% of Crimeans spoke in favor of preserving the independence of Ukraine, a founding state of the UN. However, at the same time, Article 3 of the USSR Law “On the procedure for resolving issues related to the secession of a union republic from the USSR” was violated, according to which a separate (all-Crimean) referendum was to be held in the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic on the issue of its stay within the USSR or as part of the secession union republic - Ukrainian SSR.

On May 5, 1992, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the declaration “Act on the Declaration of State Independence of the Republic of Crimea,” but then, under pressure from Ukraine, canceled this decision. According to the recollection of Ukrainian President Kravchuk in an interview given to the Ukrainian program, at that time official Kyiv was considering the possibility of war with the Republic of Crimea.

At the same time, the Russian parliament voted to cancel the 1954 decision to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR.

On May 6, 1992, the seventh session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea. These documents contradicted the then legislation of Ukraine; they were canceled by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine only on March 17, 1995 after protracted conflicts in Crimea. Subsequently, Leonid Kuchma, who became President of Ukraine in July 1994, signed a number of decrees that determined the status of the authorities of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Also, on May 6, 1992, by decision of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, the post of President of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea was introduced.

In May 1994, the situation escalated when the Crimean parliament voted to restore the 1992 constitution, effectively making Crimea independent from Ukraine. However, the leaders of Russia and Ukraine prevented violence from breaking out.

Elections two months later, which installed the pro-Russian Leonid Danilovich Kuchma as Ukraine's president, dampened Crimea's desire for secession. However, the same presidential elections simultaneously increased the likelihood of the eastern part of the country separating from Ukraine, which was moving closer and closer to Russia.

In March 1995, by decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine, the 1992 Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was abolished and the presidency in Crimea was abolished.

On October 21, 1998, at the second session of the Verkhovna Rada of the Republic of Crimea, a new Constitution was adopted.

On December 23, 1998, President of Ukraine L. Kuchma signed a law, in the first paragraph of which the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided: “To approve the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.” Pro-Russian sentiments intensified in Crimea, since more than 60% of the population of the autonomy are Russians.

Political crisis of 2014. Joining the Russian Federation

On February 23, 2014, the Ukrainian flag was lowered over the Kerch city council and the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised. The mass removal of Ukrainian flags took place on February 25 in Sevastopol. The Cossacks in Feodosia sharply criticized the new authorities in Kyiv. Residents of Yevpatoria also joined the pro-Russian actions. After the new Ukrainian authorities dissolved Berkut, the head of Sevastopol, Alexei Chaly, issued an order.

On February 27, 2014, the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea was seized by armed people without insignia. The Ukrainian Ministry of Internal Affairs officers guarding the building were expelled, and the Russian flag was raised over the building. The captors allowed the deputies of the Supreme Council of Crimea inside, having previously taken away their mobile communications equipment. Deputies voted to appoint Aksenov as head of the new government of Crimea and decided to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea. According to the official statement of the VSK press service, 53 deputies voted for this decision. According to the speaker of the Crimean parliament Vladimir Konstantinov, V.F. Yanukovych (whom parliamentarians consider the President of Ukraine) called him and agreed on Aksenov’s candidacy over the phone. Such approval is required by Article 136 of the Constitution of Ukraine.

On March 6, 2014, the Supreme Council of Crimea adopted a resolution on the republic’s entry into the Russian Federation as a subject and scheduled a referendum on this issue.

On March 11, 2014, the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.

On March 16, 2014, a referendum was held in Crimea, in which, according to official data, about 82% of voters took part, of which 96% voted in favor of joining the Russian Federation. On March 17, 2014, according to the results of a referendum, the Republic of Crimea, in which the city of Sevastopol has a special status, asked to join Russia.

On March 18, 2014, an interstate Agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation. In accordance with the agreement, new entities are formed within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. On March 21, a federal district of the same name was formed in Crimea with its center in Simferopol. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the question arose about the fate of Ukrainian military units located on the territory of the peninsula. Initially, these units were blocked by local self-defense units, and then taken by storm, for example Belbek and the marine battalion in Feodosia. During the assaults on units, the Ukrainian military behaved passively and did not use weapons. On March 22, Russian media reported a rush among Crimeans who sought to obtain Russian passports. On March 24, the ruble became the official currency in Crimea (the circulation of the hryvnia was temporarily preserved).

On March 27, 2014, as a result of an open vote at the 80th plenary meeting of the 68th session of the UN General Assembly, resolution 68/262 was adopted, according to which the UNGA confirms the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders and does not recognize the legality of any there was no change in the status of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea or the city of Sevastopol based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum held on March 16, 2014, since this referendum, according to the resolution, has no legal force.

Population of Crimea in the 18th-21st centuries

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, a census was not carried out; the data of Shagin-Girey was used; there were six kaymakams on the territory (Bakhchisaray, Akmechet, Karasubazar, Kozlov, Kefin and Perekop).

Since April 2, 1784, the territory was divided into counties, there were 1,400 populated villages and 7 cities - Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Evpatoria, Alushta, Feodosia, Kerch.

In 1834, Crimean Tatars dominated everywhere, but after the Crimean War their resettlement began.

By 1853, 43 thousand people were Orthodox; in the Taurida province among the “non-believers” were Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, Armenian Catholics, Armenian Gregorians, Mennonites, Talmudic Jews, Karaites and Muslims.

At the end of the 19th century, according to ESBE, there were 397,239 people living in Crimea. With the exception of the mountainous region, Crimea was sparsely populated. There were 11 cities, 1098 villages, 1400 hamlets and villages. The cities have 148,897 inhabitants - about 37% of the total population. The ethnographic composition of the population was diverse: Tatars, Ukrainians, Russians, Armenians, Greeks, Karaites, Crimeans, Germans, Bulgarians, Czechs, Estonians, Jews, Gypsies. The Tatars made up the predominant part of the population (up to 89%) in the mountainous region and about half in the steppe region. The steppe Tatars are direct descendants of the Mongols, and the mountain Tatars, judging by their type, are the descendants of the original inhabitants of the southern coast (Greeks, Italians, etc.), who converted to Islam and the Tatar language. They introduced so many Turkish and corrupted Greek words into this language that it is often incomprehensible to the steppe Tatars. There are most Russians in Feodosia district; these are either peasants, or soldiers allocated land, or various newcomers who lived with landowners as tithes. Germans and Bulgarians settled in Crimea at the beginning of the 19th century, receiving vast and fertile lands; later, wealthy colonists began to buy land, mainly in Perekop and Evpatoria districts. Czechs and Estonians arrived in Crimea in the 1860s and took over some of the land left behind by the emigrating Tatars. The Greeks partly remained from the time of the Khanate, partly settled in 1779. Armenians entered Crimea back in the 6th century; in the 14th century there were about 150,000 Armenians in Crimea, which accounted for 35% of the population of the peninsula, including 2/3 of the population of Feodosia. The ethnic group formed as a result of mixing with the Christian Polovtsians managed to preserve the Armenian-Kipchak language and faith. Jews and Karaites, very ancient inhabitants of Crimea, retained their religion, but lost their language and adopted the Tatar costume and way of life. Otatari Jews, the so-called Krymchaks, live mainly in Karasubazar; Karaites lived under the khans in Chufut-Kale (near Bakhchisarai), and are now concentrated in Evpatoria. Some of the gypsies remained from the time of the Khanate (sedentary), some recently moved from Poland (nomadic).

On January 8, 1783, the Russian envoy extraordinary, Yakov Bulgak, received written consent from the Turkish Sultan Abdul Hamid to recognize Russian power over the Crimea, Kuban and Taman. This was a significant step towards the final annexation of the Crimean Peninsula to Russia. Today about the main milestones in the intricacies of the history of Russia and Crimea.

Crimean Tatars came to Rus' to rob and capture slaves

The Crimean Khanate broke away from the Golden Horde in 1427. Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Tatars made constant raids on Rus'. About once a year, bypassing the steppe posts, they went 100 - 200 km deep into the border region, and then turned back, sweeping away everything in their path in an avalanche, engaging in robberies and capturing slaves. The Tatars had a special tactic: they divided into several detachments and, trying to attract the Russians to 1-2 places on the border, attacked a place left unprotected. Quite often, the Tatars mounted stuffed people on horses to make their army seem larger.

The slave trade was the main source of income for the Crimean Khanate. Captives captured in Rus' were sold to the Middle East, Turkey and even to European countries. After the raids, 3-4 ships with Russian slaves arrived in Constantinople. And in just 200 years, more than 3 million people were sold in Crimean slave markets.

The fight against the Crimean Tatars was the main item of Russian military spending

A significant part of the Russian treasury was spent on military expenses necessary to fight the Tatars. It is worth noting that this struggle had varying degrees of success. At times the Russians managed to recapture the prisoners and defeat the Tatars. So, in 1507, Prince Kholmsky and his army defeated the Tatars on the Oka. In 1517, a Tatar detachment of 20 thousand people reached Tula, where it was defeated by the Russian army, and in 1527 the Crimeans were defeated on the Oster River. It is worth saying that it was very difficult to track the movement of the Crimean army, so most often the Tatars went to Crimea with impunity.

In 1571 the Tatars sacked Moscow

As a rule, the Tatars were unable to take any large city. But in 1571, Khan Davlet-Girey, taking advantage of the fact that the Russian army went to the Livonian War, destroyed and plundered Moscow.

Then the Tatars took away 60 thousand prisoners - almost the entire population of the city. A year later, the khan decided to repeat his raid, hatching ambitious plans to annex Muscovy to his possessions, but suffered a crushing defeat in the Battle of Molodi. In that battle, Davlet-Girey lost almost the entire male population of the Khanate. But at that time the Russians were unable to undertake a campaign against the Crimea to finish off the enemy, since the principality was weakened by a war on two fronts. For 20 years, until a new generation grew up, the Tatars did not disturb Rus'. In 1591, the Tatars again raided Moscow, and in 1592 Crimean troops plundered the Tula, Kashira and Ryazan lands.

Ivan the Terrible planned to secure Crimea for Russia

Ivan the Terrible understood that the only way to eliminate the Tatar threat was to seize the Tatar territories and assign them to Russia. This is what the Russian Tsar did with Astrakhan and Kazan. And Ivan the Terrible did not have time to “deal” with Crimea - the West imposed the Livonian War on Rus', which began to increase its power.

Field Marshal Minich was the first Russian to enter Crimea

On April 20, 1736, a Russian army of 50 thousand people, led by Minikh, set out from the town of Tsaritsynka. A month passed, and the army entered Crimea through Perekop. The Russians stormed the fortifications, advanced deeper into the peninsula, and 10 days later they took Gezlev, where a month's supply of food for the entire army was stored. At the end of June, the Russian army had already approached Bakhchisarai, and after two strong Tatar attacks, the Crimean capital was taken and completely burned along with the Khan's palace. The Russians stayed in Crimea for a month and returned back in the fall. Then the Russians lost 2 thousand people in combat and half the army from local conditions and diseases.

And again, after 2 decades, the Crimean raids resumed. The Russians, unlike many eastern peoples, never killed children and women in the enemy camp. In February 1737, the grown-up sons decided to avenge their murdered fathers. The Crimeans launched a retaliatory raid across the Dnieper, killed General Leslie and took many prisoners.

Prince Dolgorukov received a sword with diamonds and the title of Crimean for the Crimea

The next time the Russians went to Crimea was in the summer of 1771. Troops under the command of Prince Dolgorukov defeated a 100,000-strong army of Crimean Tatars at the Battle of Feodosia and occupied Arabat, Kerch, Yenikale, Balaklava and the Taman Peninsula. On November 1, 1772, the Crimean Khan signed an agreement, under the terms of which Crimea became an independent khanate under the protection of Russia, and the Black Sea ports of Kerch, Kinburn and Yenikale passed to Russia. The Russians freed more than 10 thousand Russian prisoners and left, leaving garrisons in the Crimean cities.

On July 10, 1775, Vasily Mikhailovich Dolgorukov received from the Empress a sword with diamonds, diamonds for the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and the title of Crimean.

Potemkin conquered Crimea for Russia bloodlessly

The final conquest of Crimea became possible only after the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace between Russia and Turkey in 1774. The main merit in solving this problem belongs to Grigory Potemkin.

« Crimea, with its position, is tearing apart our borders... Now assume that Crimea is yours, and that this wart on the nose is no longer there - suddenly the position of the borders is excellent: along the Bug the Turks border directly on us, therefore they must deal with us directly themselves, and not under the name of others... You are obliged to raise the glory of Russia...“,” Potemkin wrote at the end of 1782 in a letter to Catherine II. Having listened to the opinion of the favorite, on April 8, 1783, Catherine II issued a manifesto on the annexation of Crimea. In her manifesto, the empress promised to local residents “ sacredly and unshakably for ourselves and the successors of our throne to support them on an equal basis with our natural subjects, to protect and defend their persons, property, temples and their natural faith...».

Thus, thanks to the foresight of Grigory Potemkin, they bloodlessly “pacified the last nest of Mongol rule.”

Nikita Khrushchev donated Crimea to Ukraine

In the early years of the USSR, Crimea was part of the RSFSR. In 1954, Crimea was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR by decision. In 1990, after the collapse of the USSR and Ukraine gained independence, autonomy was formed in Crimea.

Yuri Meshkov became the president of the autonomous republic. He adhered to a pro-Russian orientation. But soon Meshkov was removed from power, and the autonomy of Crimea was significantly curtailed.

Brief history of Crimea

The history of the Crimean peninsula began in the Paleolithic era. This is evidenced by bones found near the Kiik-Koba grotto and on the outskirts of Bakhchisarai. Thousands of years ago, the peninsula was inhabited by tribes of Cimmerians and Scythians. A little later, the Tauri appeared, in honor of which the peninsula was called Taurica in ancient times. The main occupations of the ancient tribes were agriculture, hunting, and fishing.

In the 5th century BC. Taurica was divided into two independent states: Chersonese and Bosporus. The capital of the Bosporan state was Panticapaeum (now Kerch). During the same period, the first Greek colonies began to settle on the peninsula. They occupied the entire coastal area and began to develop shipbuilding. The Greeks also came up with the idea of ​​building temples and growing grapes.

In the 2nd century BC. The Scythians tried to capture the coastal areas, but were defeated. In the 1st century BC. power over the Crimean cities passed to the Roman Empire, and then to Byzantium. The power of Rome over the peninsula remained until the 5th-6th centuries. AD In the 3rd century, most of the Greek states collapsed due to Gothic invasions. The Goths themselves did not stay long in the steppes of the peninsula. They were soon driven out into mountainous areas inhabited by Scythians and Taurians.

From the 5th century the peninsula was under the influence of Byzantium, and from the 7th century it joined the Khazar Khaganate (all cities except Kherson). From this period, Crimea was called Khazaria. In the 10th century, rivalry broke out between Russia and the Kaganate. IN 960 year, the Khazar Kaganate was defeated, and all its territories henceforth belonged to the Old Russian state (Kievan Rus). IN 988 year, Prince Vladimir the Red Sun was baptized and baptized all of Rus'. Then he occupied Kherson.

In the 13th century, Crimea was captured by the Golden Horde. By the middle of the 15th century, the Horde collapsed, and the Crimean Khanate was formed on the peninsula, which became Turkey’s assistant in carrying out armed attacks on Eastern European lands. To counteract the Khanate, the Zaporozhye Sich was formed in the mid-16th century. Ottoman rule on the peninsula ended only in 1774 year, immediately after the Russian-Turkish war.

The end of the 18th century was marked by the rapid flourishing of trade and industry in Crimea. Simferopol and Sevastopol were built at the same time. In the 19th century, winemaking, salt and fisheries, and architecture rapidly developed on the peninsula. The first large palace and park ensembles appeared. The 20th century for Crimea was marked by a variety of events.

Of course, he was not spared by the First World War, and then the Second. All these armed conflicts have left their indelible mark. However, during the same period, the most important event for Crimea took place, that is, its active development as a resort. IN 1919 year the peninsula was recognized as a general health resort. The resorts of the South Coast were used as sanatoriums for tuberculosis patients. And in 1922 The Institute of Tuberculosis was opened here, on the basis of which pulmonary surgery developed.

March 11, 2014 a declaration of independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol was adopted, and March 18, 2014 year, an agreement was signed on their inclusion in Russia, which is not recognized by almost all countries of the world.