Interest in the national culture of the Crimeans, in the history of representatives different nationalities and the peoples of Crimea is quite natural. We invite you to get acquainted with the peoples living on the peninsula in different eras.
You can familiarize yourself with the ethnic characteristics and composition of the population of Crimea in the article History of the Peoples of Crimea. Here we will talk about the peoples of Crimea who inhabited it throughout the history of the Crimean peninsula in chronological order.
Taurus. The Hellenic Greeks called Taurus the tribes that inhabited the mountainous foothills of the peninsula and the entire southern coast. Their self-name is unknown; perhaps the Tauri are descendants of the ancient indigenous population of the peninsula. Their most ancient monuments material culture on the peninsula date back to around the 10th century. BC e., although their culture can be traced earlier. The remains of several fortified settlements, sanctuaries, as well as burial grounds, the so-called “Taurian boxes,” were found. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, hunting, and occasionally engaged in sea piracy. With the beginning of the new era, a gradual merger of the Taurians with the Scythians began, as a result of which a new ethnonym appeared - “Tavro-Scythians”.
Cimmerians- the collective name of the warlike nomadic tribes that inhabited the X-UP centuries. BC e. Northern Black Sea region and the flat part of Taurica. There are mentions of this people in many ancient sources. There are very few monuments of their material culture on the peninsula. In the 7th century BC e. The Cimmerians, pushed back by the Scythians, left the Northern Black Sea region. However, the memory of them was preserved for a long time in geographical names (Cimmerian Bosporus, Cimmeric, etc.)
Scythians. Nomadic tribes of the Scythians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region and lowland Crimea in the 7th century. BC e., gradually moving to a sedentary lifestyle and absorbing part of the tribes who lived here. In the 3rd century. BC e. Under the onslaught of the Sarmatians, the Scythians lost their possessions on the mainland of the Black Sea region and the Sivash region and concentrated in the plain Crimea. A late Scythian state was formed here with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol), which fought with the Greek states for influence on the peninsula. In the 3rd century. it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians, and then the Goths and the Huns. The remainder of the Scythians mixed with the Tauri, Sarmatians and Goths.
Ancient Greeks (Hellenes). Ancient Greek colonists appeared in Crimea in the 6th century. BC e. Gradually populating the coast, they founded a number of cities and settlements (Pantikapaeus, Feodosia, Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, etc.). Later, the Greek cities united into the Chersonese state and the Bosporan kingdom. The Greeks founded settlements, minted coins, engaged in crafts, agriculture, winemaking, fishing, and traded with other peoples. For a long time they provided enormous cultural and political influence for all peoples living in Crimea. In the first centuries of the new era, the Greek states lost their political independence and became dependent on the Kingdom of Pontus, the Roman Empire, and then Byzantium. The Greek population is gradually merging with other Crimean ethnic groups, passing on their language and culture.
Sarmatians. Nomadic tribes of the Sarmatians (Roxolans, Iazygs, Aorses, Siraks, etc.) appeared in the Northern Black Sea region in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., crowding out the Scythians. They penetrated into Taurica from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e., either fighting the Scythians and Bosporites, or entering into military and political alliances with them. Probably, along with the Sarmatians, the Proto-Slavs also came to Crimea. The Sarmatians, gradually settling throughout the peninsula, mixed with the local Greco-Scythian-Taurian population.
Romans (Roman Empire). Roman troops first appeared on the peninsula (in the Bosporan kingdom) in the 1st century. before. n. e. after the victory over the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator. But the Romans did not stay in the Bosporus for long. In the second half of the 1st century AD. e. Roman troops, at the request of the Chersonesos, helped repel the onslaught of the Scythians. From this time on, Chersonesus and the Bosporan kingdom became dependent on Rome.
The Roman garrison and squadron were in Chersonesos intermittently for about two centuries, introducing some elements of their culture into the life of the city. The Romans built fortresses in other parts of the peninsula (Kharaks at Cape Ai-Todor, fortresses in Balaklava, Alma-Kermen, etc.). But in the 4th century, Roman troops were finally withdrawn from Taurica.
Alans- one of the large Sarmatian nomadic tribes. They began to penetrate Crimea in the 2nd century. Initially, the Alans settled in the southeastern Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hun threat, the Alans moved to the mountainous southwestern Crimea. Here, in contact with the local population, they settle down and accept Christianity. In the early Middle Ages, along with the Goths, the Goto Alans formed an ethnic community.
Goths. The Germanic tribes of the Goths invaded the Crimea in the 3rd century. Under their blows, the Poednescythian kingdom fell, and the Bosporus fell into a dependent position. Initially, the Goths settled in the plain Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hun threat, part of the Goths moved to the southwestern Crimea. The territory of their settlement subsequently received the name Gothia, and its inhabitants became federates of the Byzantine Empire. With the support of Byzantium, fortified settlements were built here (Doros, Eski-Kermen). After the Goths adopted Christianity, the Gothic diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is here. In the 13th century, on the territory of Gothia, the Principality of Theodoro was formed, which existed until 1475. Neighboring with the Alans and professing a common Christian faith, the Goths gradually merged with them, forming the ethnic community of “Goto-Alans”, which subsequently participated in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Greeks, and then the Crimean Tatars .
Huns. During the IV - V centuries. Crimea was repeatedly invaded by hordes of Huns. Among them were different tribes - Turkic, Ugric, Bulgarian. The Bosporan kingdom fell under their blows, and local residents took refuge from their raids in the foothills and mountainous part of the peninsula. After the collapse of the union of Hunnic tribes in 453, part of the Huns settled in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. For some time they were a threat to the inhabitants of mountainous Taurica, but then quickly disappeared among the local, more cultured population.
Byzantines (Byzantine Empire). The Greek-speaking Orthodox population of the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire is commonly called Byzantines. For many centuries, Byzantium played a leading role in Crimea, determining the politics, economy and culture of local peoples. Actually, there were few Byzantines in Crimea; they represented the civil, military and church administrations. Although a small number of residents of the empire periodically moved to live in Taurica when the metropolis was uneasy.
Christianity came from Byzantium to Taurida. With the help of the Byzantines, fortresses were built on the coast and in the mountainous Crimea, Chersonesos and Bosporus were fortified. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in the 13th century. Byzantine influence on the peninsula practically ceases.
Crimean Greeks. In the V-IX centuries. in the south-eastern and south-western Crimea, a new ethnic group was formed from the descendants of the ancient Greeks, Tauro-Scythians, Goto-Alans, and part of the Turks, which later became known as the “Crimean Greeks”. Combined these different peoples the adoption of Orthodox Christianity, as well as a common territory and way of life. In the 8th-9th centuries, the Greeks, who fled from Byzantine from the persecution of the iconocorans, joined it. In the 13th century. In southwestern Taurica, two Christian principalities were formed - Theodoro and Kyrk-Orskoe, the main language of which was Greek. from the 15th century. after the defeat of the Genoese colonies and the principality of Theodoro by the Turks, there was a natural Turkization and Islamization of the Crimean Greeks, but many of them retained the Christian faith (even having lost their native language) until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. A small part of the Crimean Greeks later returned to Crimea.
Khazars- a collective name for various nationalities of Turkic (Turkic-Bulgarians, Huns, etc.) and non-Turkic (Magyars, etc.) origin. By the 7th century a state was formed - the Khazar Kaganate, uniting several peoples. At the end of the 7th century. The Khazars invaded Crimea, capturing its southern part, except Chersonesos. In Crimea, the interests of the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire constantly clashed. There were repeated uprisings of the local Christian population against the rule of the Khazars. After the elite of the Kaganate adopted Judaism and the victories of the Kyiv princes over the Khazars, their influence in Crimea weakened. The local population, with the help of Byzantium, managed to overthrow the power of the Khazar rulers. However, for a long time the peninsula was called Khazaria. The Khazars who remained in Crimea gradually joined the local population.
Slavic-Russ (Kievan Rus). Kievan Rus, establishing itself on the world stage in the period from the 9th to the 10th centuries, was constantly in conflict with the Khazar Khaganate and the Byzantine Empire. Russian squads periodically invaded their Crimean possessions, capturing considerable booty.
In 988, the Kiev prince Vladimir and his squad adopted Christianity in Chersonesus. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the Kyiv prince at its head, which existed until the 11th - 12th centuries. After the fall of the Khazar Kaganate and the weakening of the confrontation between Kievan Rus and Byzantium, the campaigns of Russian squads in Crimea ceased, but trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.
Pechenegs, Polovtsians. The Pechenegs - Turkic-speaking nomads - quite often invaded Crimea in the 10th century. They did not have a significant impact on the local population due to the short duration of their stay in Crimea.
Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Komans)- Turkic-speaking nomadic people. Appeared on the peninsula in the 11th century. and began to gradually settle in southeastern Crimea. Subsequently, the Polovtsians practically merged with the newcomer Tatar-Mongols and became the ethnic basis of the future Crimean Tatar ethnos, since they numerically prevailed over the Horde and were a relatively sedentary population of the peninsula.
Armenians moved to Crimea in the 11th-13th centuries, fleeing the raids of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs. First, the Armenians concentrated in southeastern Crimea (Solkhat, Kafa, Karasubazar), and then in other cities. They were engaged in trade and various crafts. By the 18th century A significant part of the Armenians renounce, but Christian faith(Orthodoxy of the monophysical sense) does not lose, until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. Some of the Crimean Armenians subsequently returned to Crimea.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many Armenians from European countries moved here. At the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries, some Armenians, fleeing the Turkish genocide in Armenia, also moved to Crimea. In 1944, Crimean Armenians were deported from the peninsula. Currently, they are partially returning to Crimea.
Venetians, Genoese. Venetian merchants appeared in Crimea in the 12th century, and Genoese merchants in the 13th century. Gradually displacing the Venetians, the Genoese gained a foothold here. Expanding their Crimean colonies, they, according to an agreement with the Golden Horde khans, included the entire coastal territory - from Kafa to Chersonese. Actually, there were few Genoese - administration, security, merchants. Their possessions in Crimea existed until the capture of Crimea by the Ottoman Turks in 1475. The few Genoese who remained in Crimea after that (Crimean women's men) gradually disappeared among the local population.
Tatar-Mongols (Tatars, Horde). Tatars are one of the Turkic tribes conquered by the Mongols. Their name eventually passed on to the entire multi-tribal array of Asian nomads who set off on a campaign to the west in the 13th century. Horde is its more accurate name. Tatar-Mongols is a late term used by historians since the 19th century.
Horde(among them were Mongols, Turks and other tribes conquered by the Mongols, and they were numerically dominant Turkic peoples), united under the authority Mongol khans, first appeared in Crimea in the 13th century.
Gradually they began to settle in northern and southeastern Crimea. The Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde with its center in Solkhat was formed here. In the 14th century The Horde converted to Islam and gradually settled in the southwestern Crimea. The Horde, in close contact with the Crimean Greeks and Cumans (Kipchaks), gradually moved to sedentary life, becoming one of the ethnic cores for the Crimean Tatar ethnos.
Crimean Tatars. (Crimean Tatars - this is how these people are called in other countries; the self-name “kyrymly” means Crimeans, residents of Crimea.) The process of formation of the ethnic group, which later received the name “Crimean Tatars,” was long, complex and multifaceted. Turkic-speaking (descendants of the Turks, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Horde, etc.) and non-Turkic-speaking peoples (descendants of the Gotoalans, Greeks, Armenians, etc.) took part in its formation. The Crimean Tatars became the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries.
Among them, three subethnic groups can be distinguished. “Mountain Tatars” settled in the mountainous and foothill parts of the peninsula. Their ethnic core was mainly formed by the 16th century. from the descendants of the Horde, Kipchaks and Crimean Greeks who converted to Islam.
The ethnic group of “South Coast Tatars” was formed later on lands subject to the Turkish Sultan. Their ethnic basis was made up of the descendants of the local Christian population (Gotoalans, Greeks, Italians, etc.), who lived on these lands and converted to Islam, as well as the descendants of settlers from Asia Minor. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Tatars from other regions of Crimea began to settle on the southern coast.
In the steppe Crimea, the Black Sea region and the Sivash region, the Nogais roamed, who had mainly Turkic (Kipchak) and Mongolian roots. In the 16th century they accepted the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, and later joined the Crimean Tatar ethnic group. They began to be called “steppe Tatars”.
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the process of emigration of Crimean Tatars to Turkey and other countries begins. As a result of several waves of emigration, the number of the Crimean Tatar population decreased significantly and by the end of the 19th century it accounted for 27% of the population of Crimea.
In 1944, the Crimean Tatar people were deported from Crimea. During the deportation, there was an involuntary mixing of different subethnic groups that had previously hardly mixed with each other.
Currently, most of the Crimean Tatars have returned to Crimea, and the final formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnic group is taking place.
Turks (Ottoman Empire). Having invaded Crimea in 1475, the Ottoman Turks took possession, first of all, of the Genoese colonies and the Principality of Theodoro. A sanjak was formed on their lands - Turkish possessions in Crimea with its center in Kafe. They made up 1/10 of the peninsula, but these were the most strategically important territories and fortresses. As a result of the Russian-Turkish wars, Crimea was annexed to Russia and the Turks (mainly military garrisons and administration) left it. The Turks organizedly resettled immigrants from Turkish Anatolia on the Crimean coast. Over time, having mixed considerably with the local population, they all became one of the ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatar people and received the name “South Coast Tatars.”
Karaites (Karai)- a people of Turkic origin, possibly descendants of the Khazars. However, to this day their origin is the subject of heated scientific debate. This is a small Turkic-speaking people, formed on the basis of a religiously isolated sect that professed Judaism in a special form - Karaimism. Unlike Orthodox Jews, they did not recognize the Talmud and remained faithful to the Torah (Bible). Karaite communities began to appear in Crimea after the 10th century, and by the 18th century. they were already the majority (75%) in the Jewish population of Crimea.
Russians, Ukrainians. During the XVI-XVII centuries. Relations between the Slavs and Tatars were not easy. The Crimean Tatars periodically raided the outlying lands of Poland, Russia and Ukraine, capturing slaves and booty. In turn, the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and then the Russian troops, carried out military campaigns on the territory of the Crimean Khanate.
In 1783, Crimea was conquered and annexed to Russia. The active settlement of the peninsula by Russians and Ukrainians began, who by the end of the 19th century. became the predominant population here and continue to remain so.
Greeks and Bulgarians from lands controlled by Turkey, under the threat of reprisals, with the support of the Russian state, are moving to Crimea in late XVIII- beginning of the 20th century. Bulgarians settle mainly in the rural areas of southeastern Crimea, and Greeks (usually called modern Greeks) live in coastal cities and villages. In 1944 they were deported from Crimea. Currently, some of them have returned to Crimea and many have emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria.
Jews. Ancient Jews have appeared in Crimea since the beginning of our era, quickly adapting among the local population. Their numbers here increased significantly in the 5th-9th centuries, when they were persecuted in Byzantium. They lived in cities, engaged in crafts and trade,
By the 18th century some of them are strongly Turkified, becoming the basis for the Krymchaks - a Turkic-speaking ethnic group professing Judaism. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Jews always made up a significant proportion of the population of the peninsula (it was up to 8% by the beginning of the 20th century), since Crimea was part of the so-called “Pale of Settlement”, where Jews were allowed to settle.
Krymchaks- Turkic-speaking small people, formed by the 18th century. from the descendants of Jews who moved to Crimea at different times and from different places and were thoroughly Turkified, as well as Turks who converted to Judaism. They professed the Jewish religion of the Talmudic sense, which served to unite them into united people. A few representatives of this people still live in Crimea today.
Germans. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia at the beginning of the 19th century. German settlers, taking advantage of significant benefits, began to settle mainly in the steppe Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. They were mainly engaged in agriculture. Almost until the Great Patriotic War they lived in separate German villages and hamlets. By the beginning of the 20th century. Germans made up up to 6% of the peninsula's population. Their descendants were deported from Crimea in 1941. Currently, only a few of the Crimean Germans have returned to Crimea. Most emigrated to Germany.
Poles, Czechs, Estonians. Settlers of these nationalities appeared in Crimea in the middle of the 19th century and were mainly engaged in agriculture. By the middle of the 20th century. they practically disappeared among the predominant local Slavic population.
Ancient peoples of Crimea
During the Jurassic period of the Earth, when there was no man yet, the northern edge of the land was located on the site of the mountainous Crimea. Where the Crimean and southern Ukrainian steppes now lie, a huge sea overflowed. The appearance of the Earth gradually changed. The bottom of the sea rose, and where there were deep seas, islands appeared and continents moved forward. In other places on the island, the continents sank, and their place was taken by the vast expanse of the sea. Enormous cracks split continental blocks, reached the molten depths of the Earth, and gigantic streams of lava poured out to the surface. Piles of ash many meters thick were deposited in the coastal strip of the sea... The history of Crimea has similar stages.
Crimea in section
In the place where the coastline now stretches from Feodosia to Balaklava, at one time a huge crack passed through. Everything that was located to the south of it sank to the bottom of the sea, everything that was located to the north rose. Where there were sea depths, a low coast appeared, where there was a coastal strip, mountains grew. And from the crack itself, huge columns of fire burst out into streams of molten rocks.
The history of the formation of the Crimean relief continued when the volcanic eruptions ended, the earthquakes subsided and plants appeared on the land that emerged from the depths. If you look closely, for example, at the rocks of the Kara-Dag, you will notice that this mountain range is riddled with cracks, and some rare minerals are found here.
Over the years, the Black Sea has beaten the coastal rocks and thrown their fragments onto the shore, and today on the beaches we walk on smooth pebbles, we encounter green and pink jasper, translucent chalcedony, brown pebbles with layers of calcite, snow-white quartz and quartzite fragments. Sometimes you can also find pebbles that were previously molten lava; they are brown, as if filled with bubbles - voids or interspersed with milky-white quartz.
So today, each of us can independently plunge into this distant historical past of Crimea and even touch its stone and mineral witnesses.
Prehistoric period
Paleolithic
The oldest traces of hominid habitation on the territory of Crimea date back to the Middle Paleolithic - this is the Neanderthal site in the Kiik-Koba cave.
Mesolithic
According to the Ryan-Pitman hypothesis, up to 6 thousand BC. the territory of Crimea was not a peninsula, but was a fragment of a larger land mass, which included, in particular, the territory of the modern Sea of Azov. Around 5500 thousand BC, as a result of the breakthrough of waters from the Mediterranean Sea and the formation of the Bosporus Strait, significant territories were flooded in a fairly short period, and the Crimean Peninsula was formed.
Neolithic and Chalcolithic
In 4-3 thousand BC. Through the territories north of Crimea, migrations to the west of tribes, presumably speakers of Indo-European languages, took place. In 3 thousand BC. The Kemi-Oba culture existed on the territory of Crimea.
Nomadic peoples of the Northern Black Sea region of the 1st millennium BC.
At the end of the 2nd millennium BC. A tribe of Cimmerians emerged from the Indo-European community. This is the first people living on the territory of Ukraine, which is mentioned in written sources- Homer's Odyssey. The Greek historian of the 5th century told the greatest and most reliable story about the Cimmerians. BC. Herodotus. 
monument to Herodotus in Halicarnassus
We also find mention of them in Assyrian sources. The Assyrian name "Kimmirai" means "giants". According to another version from ancient Iranian - “a mobile cavalry detachment”.
Cimmerian
There are three versions of the origin of the Cimmerians. The first is the ancient Iranian people who came to the land of Ukraine through the Caucasus. Second, the Cimmerians appeared as a result of a gradual historical development Proto-Iranian steppe culture, and their ancestral home was the Lower Volga region. Third, the Cimmerians were the local population. 
Archaeologists find material monuments of the Cimmerians in the Northern Black Sea region, in the Northern Caucasus, in the Volga region, on the lower reaches of the Dniester and Danube. The Cimmerians were Iranian-speaking.
The early Cimmerians led a sedentary lifestyle. Later, due to the onset of an arid climate, they became a nomadic people and mainly bred horses, which they learned to ride.
The Cimmerian tribes united into large tribal unions, which were headed by a king-leader.
They had a large army. It consisted of mobile troops of horsemen armed with steel and iron swords and daggers, bows and arrows, war hammers and maces. The Cimmerians fought with the kings of Lydia, Urartu and Assyria.
Cimmerian warriors
The Cimmerian settlements were temporary, mainly camps and wintering quarters. But they had their own forges and blacksmiths who made iron and steel swords and daggers, the best at that time Ancient World. They themselves did not mine metal; they used iron mined by forest-steppe dwellers or Caucasian tribes. Their craftsmen made horse bits, arrowheads, and jewelry. They had a high level of development of ceramic production. Particularly beautiful were the goblets with a polished surface, decorated with geometric patterns.
The Cimmerians knew how to perfectly process bones. Their jewelry made from semi-precious stones was very beautiful. Stone gravestones with images of people made by the Cimmerians have survived to this day.
The Cimmerians lived in patriarchal clans, which consisted of families. Gradually, they have a military nobility. This was greatly facilitated by predatory wars. Their main goal was to rob neighboring tribes and peoples.
The religious beliefs of the Cimmerians are known from burial materials. Noble people were buried in large mounds. There were male and female burials. Daggers, bridles, a set of arrowheads, stone blocks, sacrificial food, and a horse were placed in men's graves. Gold and bronze rings, glass and gold necklaces, and pottery were placed in women's burials.
Archaeological finds show that the Cimmerians had connections with the tribes of the Azov region, Western Siberia and the Caucasus. Among the artefacts were women's jewelry, decorated weapons, stone steles without an image of a head, but with a carefully reflected dagger and a quiver of arrows.
Along with the Cimmerians, the central part of the Ukrainian forest-steppe was occupied by the descendants of the Belogrudov culture of the Bronze Age, bearers of the Chernoles culture, who are considered the ancestors of the Eastern Slavs. The main source of studying the life of the Chornolisci people are settlements. Both ordinary settlements with 6-10 dwellings and fortified settlements were found. A line of 12 fortifications built on the border with the steppe protected the Chornolistsiv from attacks by the nomids. They were located on areas closed by nature. The settlement was surrounded by a rampart on which a wall of wooden frames and a moat were built. The Chernolesk settlement, the southern outpost of defense, was protected by three lines of ramparts and ditches. During attacks, residents of neighboring settlements found protection behind their walls.
The basis of the economy of the Chornolists was arable farming and homestead cattle breeding. 
The metalworking craft has reached an extraordinary level of development. Iron was used primarily for the production of weapons. The largest sword with a steel blade in Europe at that time was found at the Subbotovsky settlement total length at 108 cm.
The need to constantly combat the attacks of the Cimmerians forced the Chornolists to create a foot army and cavalry. Many pieces of horse harness and even the skeleton of a horse, laid next to the deceased, were found in the burials. The finds of archaeologists have shown the existence of a Cimmerian day in the Forest-Steppe of a fairly powerful association of Proto-Slav farmers, which for a long time resisted the threat from the Steppe.
The life and development of the Cimmerian tribes were interrupted at the beginning of the 7th century. BC. the invasion of the Scythian tribes, with which the next stage of the ancient history of Ukraine is associated.
2. Tauri
Almost simultaneously with the Cimmerians, there lived in the southern part of Crimea indigenous people- Tauri (from the Greek word "Tavros" - tour). The name of the Crimean peninsula - Tauris - comes from the Tauris, introduced by the tsarist government after the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus in his book “History” said that the Tauris were engaged in cattle breeding on the mountain plateaus, farming in the river valleys, and fishing on the Black Sea coast. . They were also engaged in crafts - they were skilled potters, they knew how to spin, process stone, wood, bones, horns, and also metals.
From the second half of the 1st millennium BC. In the Taurians, like other tribes, property inequality appeared, and a tribal aristocracy was formed. The Tauri built fortifications around their settlements. Together with their neighbors, the Scythians, they fought against the Greek city-state of Chersonesus, which was seizing their lands.
modern ruins of Chersonesos
The further fate of the Taurians was tragic: first - in the 2nd century. BC. - They were conquered by the Pontic king Mithridates VI Eupator, and in the second half of the 1st century. BC. captured by Roman troops.
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In the Middle Ages, the Tauri were exterminated or assimilated by the Tatars, who conquered Crimea. The original culture of the Taurians was lost.
Great Scythia. Ancient city-states in the Northern Black Sea region
3.Scythians
From the 7th century to the 3rd century BC. horror on tribes and states of Eastern Europe and the Middle East were overtaken by the Scythian tribes, who came from the depths of Asia and invaded the Northern Black Sea region.
The Scythians conquered a huge territory at that time between the Don, Danube and Dnieper, part of Crimea (the territory of modern Southern and South-Eastern Ukraine), forming the state of Scythia there. Herodotus left a more detailed characterization and description of the life and way of life of the Scythians.
In the 5th century BC. he personally visited Scythia and described it. The Scythians were descendants of Indo-European tribes. They had their own mythology, rituals, worshiped gods and mountains, and made blood sacrifices to them.
Herodotus identified the following groups among the Scythians: the royal Scythians, who lived in the lower reaches of the Dnieper and Don and were considered the top of the tribal union; Scythian plowmen who lived between the Dnieper and Dniester (historians believe that these were the descendants of the Chernoles culture defeated by the Scythians); Scythian farmers who lived in the forest-steppe zone, and Scythian nomads who settled in the steppes of the Black Sea region. Among the tribes named by Herodotus as Scythians proper were the tribes of the royal Scythians and the Scythian nomads. They dominated over all other tribes.
Outfit of a Scythian king and military commander
At the end of the 6th century. BC. In the Black Sea steppes, a powerful state association was formed led by the Scythians - Greater Scythia, which included the local population of the steppe and forest-steppe regions (Skolot). Great Scythia, according to Herodotus, was divided into three kingdoms; one of them was headed by the main king, and the other two were junior kings (probably the sons of the main one).
Scythian state - the first political unification in south-Eastern Europe in the early Iron Age (the center of Scythia in the 5th-3rd centuries BC was the Kamenskoye settlement near Nikopol). Scythia was divided into districts (nomes), which were ruled by leaders appointed by the Scythian kings.
Scythia reached its highest rise in the 4th century. BC. It is associated with the name of King Atey. The power of Atey extended over vast territories from the Danube to the Don. This king minted his own coin. The power of Scythia did not waver even after the defeat from the Macedonian king Philip II (father of Alexander the Great).
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Philip II on campaign
The Scythian state remained powerful even after the death of 90-year-old Atey in 339 BC. However, at the border of the IV-III centuries. BC. Scythia is falling into decay. At the end of the 3rd century. BC. Great Scythia ceases to exist under the onslaught of the Sarmatians. Part of the Scythian population moved south and created two Lesser Scythia. One, which was called the Scythian kingdom (III century BC - III century AD) with its capital in Scythian Naples in Crimea, the other - in the lower reaches of the Dnieper.
Scythian society consisted of three main layers: warriors, priests, ordinary community members (farmers and cattle breeders. Each of the layers traced its origins to one of the sons of the first ancestor and had its own sacred attribute. For warriors it was an ax, for priests - a bowl, for community members - plow whitefish. Herodotus says that the Scythians held special honor among the seven gods; they were considered the ancestors of people and the creators of everything on Earth. 
Written sources and archaeological materials indicate that the basis of Scythian production was cattle breeding, since it provided almost everything necessary for life - horses, meat, milk, wool and felt for clothing. The agricultural population of Scythia grew wheat, millet, hemp, etc., and they sowed grain not only for themselves, but also for sale. Farmers lived in settlements (fortifications), which were located on the banks of rivers and fortified with ditches and ramparts.
The decline and then the collapse of Scythia were caused by a number of factors: worsening climatic conditions, drying out of the steppes, decline in the economic resources of the forest-steppe, etc. In addition, in the III-I centuries. BC. A significant part of Scythia was conquered by the Sarmatians.
Modern researchers believe that the first sprouts of statehood on the territory of Ukraine appeared precisely in Scythian times. The Scythians created a unique culture. Art was dominated by the so-called. "Animal" style.
The monuments of the Scythian era, mounds, are widely known: Solokha and Gaimanova Graves in Zaporozhye, Tolstaya Mogila and Chertomlyk in the Dnepropetrovsk region, Kul-Oba, etc. Royal jewelry (golden pectoral), weapons, etc. were found.
WITH Kifian gold pectoral and scabbard from Tolstoy Mogila
Silver amphora. Kurgan Chertomlyk
Chairman of Dionysus.
Kurgan Chertomlyk
Golden comb. Solokha Kurgan
Interesting to know
Herodotus described the burial ritual of the Scythian king: Before burying their king in the sacred territory - Guerra (Dnieper region, at the level of the Dnieper rapids), the Scythians took his embalmed body to all the Scythian tribes, where they performed a rite of memory over him. In Guerra, the body was buried in a spacious tomb along with his wife, closest servants, horses, etc. The king had gold items and precious jewelry. Huge mounds were built over the tombs - the more noble the king, the higher the mound. This indicates the stratification of property among the Scythians.
4. War of the Scythians with the Persian king Darius I
The Scythians were warlike people. They actively intervened in conflicts between the states of Western Asia (the struggle of the Scythians with the Persian king Darius, etc.).
Around 514-512 BC. The Persian king Darius I decided to conquer the Scythians. Having gathered a huge army, he crossed the floating bridge across the Danube and moved deep into Great Scythia. The army of Daria I, as Herodotus claimed, numbered 700 thousand soldiers, however, this figure is believed to be several times exaggerated. The Scythian army probably numbered about 150 thousand fighters. According to the plan of the Scythian military leaders, their army avoided open battle with the Persians and, gradually leaving, lured the enemy into the interior of the country, destroying wells and pastures along the way. Currently, the Scythians planned to gather forces and defeat the weakened Persians. This “Scythian tactic,” as it was later called, turned out to be successful. 
in Darius's camp
Darius built a camp on the shore of the Sea of Azov. Overcoming vast distances, the Persian army tried in vain to find the enemy. When the Scythians decided that the Persian forces had been undermined, they began to act decisively. On the eve of the decisive battle, the Scythians sent the king of the Persians strange gifts: a bird, a mouse, a frog and five arrows. His adviser interpreted the content of the “Scythian Gift” to Darius as follows: “If, Persians, you do not become birds and fly high into the sky, or mice and hide in the ground, or frogs and jump into the swamps, then you will not return to yourself, you will be lost by these arrows." It is not known what Darius I was thinking, despite these gifts and the Scythians who formed troops into battle. However, at night, leaving the wounded in the camp who could support the fires, he fled with the remnants of his army.
Skopasis
King of the Sauromatians, who lived in the 6th century BC. e., the father of history Herodotus mentions in his books. Having united the Scythian armies, Skopasis defeated the Persian troops under the command of Darius I, who came to the northern shores of Maeotis. Herodotus writes that it was Skopasis who regularly forced Darius to retreat to Tanais and prevented him from invading Great Scythia.
This is how the attempt of one of the most powerful owners of the then world to conquer Great Scythia ended shamefully. Thanks to the victory over the Persian army, which was then considered the strongest, the Scythians won the glory of invincible warriors.
5. Sarmatians
During the 3rd century. BC. - III century AD the Northern Black Sea region was dominated by the Sarmatians, who came from the Volga-Ural steppes.
Ukrainian lands in the III-I centuries. BC.
We do not know what these tribes called themselves. The Greeks and Romans called them Sarmatians, which translates from ancient Iranian as “girt with a sword.” Herodotus claimed that the ancestors of the Sarmatians lived east of the Scythians beyond the Tanais (Don) river. He also told a legend that the Sarmatians trace their ancestry to the Amazons, who were taken by the Scythian youths. However, they were unable to master the language of men well and therefore the Sarmatians speak a corrupted Scythian language. Part of the truth in the statements of the “father of history” is: the Sarmatians, like the Scythians, belonged to the Iranian-speaking group of peoples, and their women had a very high status. 
The settlement of the Black Sea steppes by the Sarmatians was not peaceful. They exterminated the remnants of the Scythian population and turned most of their country into desert. Subsequently, on the territory of Sarmatia, as the Romans called these lands, several Sarmatian tribal associations appeared - Aorsi, Siracians, Roxolani, Iazyges, Alans.
Having settled in the Ukrainian steppes, the Sarmatians began to attack the neighboring Roman provinces, ancient city-states and settlements of farmers - Slav, Lviv, Zarubintsy culture, forest-steppe. Evidence of attacks on the Proto-Slavs were numerous finds of Sarmatian arrowheads during excavations of the ramparts of Zarubinets settlements.
Sarmatian horseman
The Sarmatians were nomadic pastoralists. They received the necessary agricultural products and handicrafts from their sedentary neighbors through exchange, tribute, and ordinary robbery. The basis of such relations was the military advantage of the nomads.
Wars for pastures and booty were of great importance in the life of the Sarmatians.
Dress of Sarmatian warriors
Archaeologists have not found any Sarmatian settlements. The only monuments they left are mounds. Among the excavated mounds there are many female burials. They found magnificent examples of jewelry made in the “Animal” style. An indispensable accessory for male burials is weapons and equipment for horses. 
Fibula. Nagaichinsky mound. Crimea
At the beginning of our era, the rule of the Sarmatians in the Black Sea region reached its highest point. The Sarmatization of the Greek city-states took place, and for a long time the Sarmatian dynasty ruled the Bosporan kingdom.
In them, like the Scythians, there was private property livestock was the main wealth and the main means of production. A significant role in the Sarmatian economy was played by the labor of slaves, into whom they turned prisoners captured during continuous wars. However, the tribal system of the Sarmatians held on quite steadfastly.
The nomadic lifestyle of the Sarmatians and trade relations with many peoples (China, India, Iran, Egypt) contributed to the spread of various cultural influences among them. Their culture combined elements of the culture of the East, the ancient South and the West.
From the middle of the 3rd century. AD The Sarmatians lose their leading position in the Black Sea steppes. At this time, immigrants from Northern Europe- Goths. Together with local tribes, among whom were Alans (one of the Sarmatian communities), the Goths carried out devastating attacks on the cities of the Northern Black Sea region.
Genoese in Crimea
At the beginning of the 13th century, after the crusader knights captured Constantinople as a result of the fourth crusade (1202-1204), the Venetians who took an active part in organizing the campaign were able to freely penetrate into the Black Sea. 
storming of Constantinople
Already in the middle of the 13th century. they regularly visited Soldaya (modern Sudak) and settled in this city. It is known that the uncle of the famous traveler Marco Polo, Maffeo Polo, owned a house in Soldai.
Sudak fortress
In 1261, Emperor Michael Palaiologos liberated Constantinople from the crusaders. The Republic of Genoa contributed to this. The Genoese receive a monopoly on navigation in the Black Sea. In the middle of the 13th century. The Genoese defeated the Venetians in the six-year war. This was the beginning of the two-hundred-year stay of the Genoese in Crimea.
In the 60s of the 13th century, Genoa settled in Caffa (modern Feodosia), which became the largest port and shopping center in the Black Sea region. 
Feodosia
Gradually the Genoese expanded their possessions. In 1357, Chembalo (Balaklava) was captured, in 1365 - Sugdeya (Sudak). In the second half of the 14th century. the southern coast of Crimea was captured, the so-called. "Captainship of Gothia", which was previously part of the principality of Theodoro - Lupiko (Alupka), Muzahori (Miskhor), Yalita (Yalta), Nikita, Gorzovium (Gurzuf), Partenita, Lusta (Alushta). In total, there were about 40 Italian trading posts in the Crimea, Azov region and the Caucasus. The main activity of the Genoese in Crimea is trade, including the slave trade. Cafe in the XIV - XV centuries. was the largest slave market on the Black Sea. More than a thousand slaves were sold annually at the Kafa market, and the permanent slave population of Kafa reached five hundred people.
At the same time, by the middle of the 13th century, a huge Mongol empire was emerging, formed as a result of the aggressive campaigns of Genghis Khan and his descendants. The Mongol possessions extended from the Pacific coast to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region.
The cafe is actively developing at the same time. However, its existence was interrupted in 1308 by the troops of the Golden Horde Khan Tokhta. The Genoese managed to escape by sea, but the city and the pier were burned to the ground. Only after the new Khan Uzbek (1312-1342) reigned in the Golden Horde did the Genoese again appear on the shores of the Gulf of Feodosia. By the beginning of the 15th century. A new political situation is emerging in Taurica. At this time, it finally weakens and begins to fall apart. Golden Horde. The Genoese cease to consider themselves vassals of the Tatars. But their new opponents were the growing principality of Theodoro, which laid claim to coastal Gothia and Chembalo, as well as the descendant of Genghis Khan, Hadji Giray, who sought to create a Tatar state in Crimea independent of the Golden Horde.
The struggle between Genoa and Theodoro for Gothia lasted intermittently throughout almost the entire first half of the 15th century, and the Theodorites were supported by Hadji Giray. The largest military clash between the warring parties occurred in 1433-1434.
Hadji-Girey
On the approaches to Solkhat, the Genoese were unexpectedly attacked by the Tatar cavalry of Hadji Giray and were defeated in a short battle. After the defeat in 1434, the Genoese colonies were forced to pay an annual tribute to the Crimean Khanate, which was headed by Hadji Giray, who vowed to expel the Genoese from their possessions on the peninsula. Soon the colonies had another deadly enemy. In 1453 The Ottoman Turks captured Constantinople. The Byzantine Empire finally ceased to exist, and the sea route connecting the Genoese colonies in the Black Sea with the metropolis was taken under control by the Turks. The Genoese Republic found itself faced with a real threat of losing all of its Black Sea possessions.
The common threat from the Ottoman Turks forced the Genoese to draw closer to their other irreconcilable enemy. In 1471 they entered into an alliance with the ruler Theodoro. But no diplomatic victories could save the colonies from destruction. On May 31, 1475, a Turkish squadron approached the Cafe. By this time, the anti-Turkish bloc “Crimean Khanate - Genoese colonies - Theodoro” had cracked.
The siege of Kafa lasted from June 1 to June 6. The Genoese capitulated at a time when the means to defend their Black Sea capital had not been exhausted. According to one version, the city authorities believed the promises of the Turks to save their lives and property. One way or another, the largest Genoese colony fell to the Turks surprisingly easily. The new owners of the city took away the property of the Genoese, and they themselves were loaded onto ships and taken to Constantinople.
Soldaya offered more stubborn resistance to the Ottoman Turks than Kafa. And after the besiegers managed to break into the fortress, its defenders locked themselves in the church and died in a fire.
Population. Ethnic history of Crimea
The population of Crimea, including Sevastopol, is about 2 million 500 thousand people. This is quite a lot, its density exceeds the average, for example, for the Baltic republics by 1.5 - 2 times. But if you consider that in August there are up to 2 million visitors on the peninsula at the same time, that is, the population as a whole doubles and in some areas of the coast reaches the density of the most populated areas of Japan - over 1 thousand people per square kilometer.
Now the majority of the population consists of Russians, then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and share in the population are growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians, Gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. The small peoples of Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks - are small in number, but still noticeable in culture.
Russian continues to be the language of interethnic communication.
Ethnic history Crimea is very complex and dramatic. One thing can be said with confidence: the national composition of the peninsula has never been monotonous, especially in its mountainous and coastal areas.
Speaking about the population of the Tauride Mountains, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder noted in the 2nd century BC that 30 peoples live there. Mountains and islands often serve as a refuge for relict peoples, once great, and then left the historical arena for a peaceful and measured life. This was the case with the warlike Goths, who conquered almost all of Europe and then disappeared into its vastness at the beginning of the Middle Ages. And in Crimea, Gothic settlements remained until the 15th century.
The last reminder of them is the village of Kok-Kozy, that is, Blue Eyes (now the village of Sokolinoe).
The Karaites live in Crimea - a small people with an original and colorful history. You can get acquainted with it in the “cave city” of Chufut-Kale (which means Jewish fortress, Karaimism is one of the branches of Judaism). The Karaite language belongs to the Kipchak subgroup of Turkic languages, but the way of life of the Karaites is close to the Jewish one. In addition to our region, Karaites live in Lithuania, these are the descendants of the personal guard of the Lithuanian Grand Dukes, as well as in the west of Ukraine. The historical peoples of Crimea include the Krymchaks. This people was subjected to genocide during the years of occupation.
Jewish merchants appeared in Crimea as early as the 1st century AD. e., their burials in Panticapaeum (present-day Kerch) date back to this time. The Jewish population of the region endured severe trials during the war and suffered huge losses. Now in Crimea, mainly in cities and most of all in Simferopol, about 20 thousand Jews live.
The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. These were merchants and artisans. The earlier (in the 9th and 10th centuries) appearance of the squads of the Novgorod prince Bravlin and the Kyiv prince Vladimir was associated with military campaigns. at the end of the 19th century and the development of industry also caused an influx of Russian population.
In Soviet times, retired officers and people who worked in the North had the right to settle in Crimea, so in Crimean cities, as already noted, there are a lot of pensioners (of course, not only Russians).
After the collapse of the USSR, Russians in Crimea not only did not lose interest in their original culture, but, like other peoples inhabiting the peninsula, they created their own society - the Russian cultural community, and in every possible way maintain contact with their original historical homeland - Russia, incl. . and through the established Moscow-Crimea Foundation. The Foundation is located in Simferopol on the street. Frunze, 8. Exhibitions, meetings with compatriots, celebrations of dates that unite peoples - this is not a complete list of events held within the walls of a well-equipped building. Foundation Cell - Russian Cultural Center contributes to strengthening cultural ties between Crimea and Russia. “Pancake Week” – Maslenitsa – is widely celebrated in Crimea. Truly a celebration of Slavic cuisine - here are Russian and Belarusian pancakes, and Ukrainian mlintsi - with sour cream, honey, jam and even... with caviar.
Interest in Orthodoxy has revived, and churches are now both elegant and crowded. It’s just a pity that there are no Russian restaurants where the style is consistent in everything, and you simply won’t find a Russian oven. Ukrainians were combined with Russians in pre-war censuses. But in the censuses late XIX V. they take 3rd - 4th place. Ukraine has
close relations with the peninsula since the time of the Crimean Khanate, Chumatsky convoys with salt, mutual trade in peacetime and equally mutual raids in wartime - all this served to move and mix people, although, of course, the main stream of Ukrainian settlers went to Crimea only at the end of the 18th century ., and reached its maximum in the 50s of our century (after Khrushchev annexed Crimea to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic). Germans, including immigrants from Switzerland, settled in Crimea under Catherine II and were mainly engaged in agriculture. The building of the Lutheran church and its school in Simferopol (Karl Liebknecht St., 16), built with private donations, has been preserved. IN Soviet time
The Bulgarians settled on the peninsula, like the Greeks, from the islands of the Aegean Sea, fleeing the Turkish yoke during the wars of the last quarter of the 18th century. It was the Bulgarians who brought the Kazanlak rose to the peninsula, and now our Crimea is the world's leading producer of rose oil.
Poles and Lithuanians ended up in Crimea after the defeat of the national liberation uprisings of the 18th - 19th centuries. like exiles. Now there are about 7 thousand Poles, including descendants and later settlers.
A huge role in the history of Crimea was played by the Greeks, who appeared here in ancient times and founded colonies on the Kerch Peninsula, in the South-Western Crimea, in the Evpatoria region. The size of the Greek population on the peninsula changed in different eras. In 1897 there were 17 thousand people, and in 1939 - 20.6 thousand.
Armenians have a long history in Crimea. In the Middle Ages, they, together with the Greeks of Asia Minor, who also left their homeland under the onslaught of the Turks, constituted the main population of the South-Western Crimea, as well as cities in the Eastern Crimea. However, their descendants are now settled in the Azov region. In 1771, 31 thousand Christians (Greeks, Armenians and others) accompanied by Russian troops left the Crimean Khanate and founded new cities and villages on the northern shore of the Sea of Azov. This is the city of Mariupol, the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don (part of Rostov). Monuments of Armenian architecture - the Surb-Khach monastery in the Old Crimea region, the church in Yalta and others can be visited with a tour or on your own. Armenian stone-cutting art had a noticeable influence on the architecture of mosques, mausoleums, and palaces of the Crimean Khanate.
After the annexation of our region to Russia, Armenians lived mostly in Eastern Crimea; The region of Feodosia and Old Crimea is called Crimean Armenia. By the way, famous artist I.K. Aivazovsky, the best of marine painters, as well as composer A.A. Spendiarov - Crimean Armenians.
It is curious that the Crimean Armenians adopted Christianity from the Italians and therefore were Catholics, and their colloquial differed little from the Crimean Tatar. Naturally, mixed marriages have never been uncommon, and most native Crimeans are related to half the world.
There, in the Eastern Crimea, in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch, even before the revolution, curious fragments of the Middle Ages were preserved - communities of the Crimean "wife-breeders" (Genoese), descendants of those same sailors, merchants and soldiers of Italian Genoa who once dominated the Mediterranean, Black and Seas of Azov and left the towers in Feodosia.
You can also see these ruins; it’s all so romantic, picturesque, inaccessible, and most importantly - authentic that there are no words. You just need to go and climb around, feel this fortress with your hands and feet.
You can often see Koreans in the markets of Crimea.
They are good farmers, hardworking and lucky. They have only recently been in Crimea, literally for the last 30 years, but the Crimean land responds to their work with rich gifts. There are more and more fruits in the markets grown by the Crimean Tatars, reviving the glory of gardeners, gardeners and shepherds of the peninsula. Crimean Tatars like
ethnic community
formed on the basis of the gradual merger of a number of ancient tribes of Taurica and several waves of steppe nomadic peoples (Khazars, Pechenegs, Kipchak priests and others). This process, in essence, has not even been completed yet: there are differences in the language, appearance and way of life of the southern coastal, mountain and steppe Tatars.
The cordiality and simplicity of the Crimean Tatars were noted by the first Russian researchers, for example, P.I. Sumarokov. Their hard work and ingenuity in farming are respected by peasants of any nationality.
In 1944, indigenous gypsies were deported from Crimea along with other peoples. It is believed that in a foreign land they became ethnically close to the Crimean Tatars and are now inseparable from them. However, at train stations and bazaars, gypsies are conspicuous (almost literally). But this is a modern, post-war wave of settled life. The city of Dzhankoy is even shown in many atlases of the world as a center of gypsies: a large railway junction, gullible holidaymakers heading south, and finally, the gentle Crimean sun makes it possible to preserve the traditional values of camp life. In addition to guessing “will there be an earthquake?” and “who will you love at the resort?”, petty trade with “profit” and currency exchange with elements of transformation of banknotes into
colored paper
, the gypsies also do ordinary work: they build houses, work in enterprises in Dzhankoy and other cities. Date of publication: 08/03/2016 Thanks to its unique geographical location and unique nature, the Crimean Peninsula has become home to many peoples since ancient times. Farmers found here fertile lands that yield good harvests, traders found convenient trade routes, and nomadic pastoralists were attracted by mountain and lowland pastures. That is why National composition The Crimean population has always been multinational and remains the same today. The population of the peninsula, including Sevastopol, is about 2 million 400 thousand people, but during the holiday season more than 2 million vacationers still come to Crimea. In 1783, after the Crimean Peninsula entered the
Russian Empire
Most of the Tatars and Turks left the peninsula and began to move to Turkey, but Slavs are increasingly settling in Crimea, mostly Russians and Ukrainians. Peoples who live in Crimea today that exist in Crimea are Russians (58% of the population), Ukrainians (24%). But the Crimean Tatars themselves are 232.3 thousand people, 10.6% of the population, they belong to the indigenous population of the Crimean peninsula. They speak the Crimean Tatar language, are Sunni Muslims by religion and belong to the Hanafi madhhab. At the moment, only 2% called themselves native Tatars. Other nationalities make up up to 4%. Of these, the largest number are Belarusians - 21.7 thousand (1%), and about 15 thousand Armenians. The following national groups also live in Crimea: Germans and immigrants from Switzerland, who began to settle in Crimea under Catherine II; Greeks began to appear here even when the colony was founded on the Kerch Peninsula in Southwestern Crimea; as well as Poles, Gypsies, Georgians, Jews, Koreans, Uzbeks; their number ranges from 1 to 5 thousand people.
There are 535 Karaites and 228 Krymchaks. Also in Crimea live people of the following nationalities: Bashkirs, Ossetians, Mari, Udmurts, Arabs, Kazakhs and only 48 Italians. It is difficult to imagine the peninsula without the gypsies, who from ancient times called themselves “urmachel”, lived for many centuries among the indigenous population and converted to Islam. They became so close to the native Tatars that when the Crimean Tatar population was deported in 1944, the Roma were also deported. Due to its multinational population in Crimea, everyone has their own native language.
What languages do the peoples speak and live in Crimea?
Based on the fact that the national composition in Crimea is quite diverse, the question arises: what language does the population of the peninsula speak? With the latest events taking place on the peninsula and the entry of Crimea into the Russian Federation, according to the adopted Constitution, three state languages were proclaimed: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar.
To easily rent a hotel room in Crimea, just go.
According to the latest population survey, 81% of the population called Russian their native language, 9.32% indicated the Crimean Tatar language, and only 3.52% Ukrainian, the rest named Belarusian, Moldavian, Turkish, Azerbaijani and others. There is no less diversity of religions on the Crimean peninsula: Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians and Greeks profess Orthodoxy, and the Crimean Tatars themselves are Sunni Islam, and along with them are Uzbeks and Tatars; There are also Catholics, Jews, and Protestants. Despite the fact that the population on the peninsula is multinational, all peoples live quite peacefully and amicably. There is enough space for everyone on this small peninsula; both tourists and new residents are always welcome here.
The fertile climate, picturesque and generous nature of Taurida create almost ideal conditions for human existence. People have inhabited these lands for a long time, so the eventful history of Crimea, dating back centuries, is extremely interesting. Who owned the peninsula and when? Let's find out!
History of Crimea since ancient times
Numerous historical artifacts, found by archaeologists here, suggest that the ancestors modern man began to inhabit fertile lands almost 100 thousand years ago. This is evidenced by the remains of Paleolithic and Mesolithic cultures discovered in the site and Murzak-Koba.
At the beginning of the 12th century BC. e. Tribes of Indo-European nomads, the Cimmerians, appeared on the peninsula, whom ancient historians considered the first people who tried to create the beginnings of some semblance of statehood.
At the dawn of the Bronze Age, they were forced out of the steppe regions by the warlike Scythians, moving closer to the sea coast. The foothill areas and the southern coast were then inhabited by Tauris, who, according to some sources, came from the Caucasus, and in the north-west of the unique region they settled Slavic tribes who migrated from modern Transnistria.
Ancient heyday in history
As the history of Crimea testifies, at the end of the 7th century. BC e. The Hellenes began to actively develop it. Immigrants from Greek cities created colonies, which over time began to prosper. The fertile land gave excellent harvests of barley and wheat, and the presence of convenient harbors contributed to the development of maritime trade. Crafts actively developed and shipping improved.
The port cities grew and became richer, uniting over time into an alliance that became the basis for the creation of the powerful Bosporan kingdom with its capital in, or present-day Kerch. The heyday of an economically developed state, which had a strong army and an excellent fleet, dates back to the 3rd-2nd centuries. BC e. Then an important alliance was concluded with Athens, half of whose need for bread was provided by the Bosporans; their kingdom includes the lands of the Black Sea coast beyond the Kerch Strait, Feodosia, Chersonesos, flourish. But the period of prosperity did not last long. The unreasonable policies of a number of kings led to the depletion of the treasury and the reduction of military personnel.
The nomads took advantage of the situation and began to ravage the country. At first he was forced to enter the Pontic kingdom, then he became a protectorate of Rome, and then of Byzantium. Subsequent invasions of barbarians, among which it is worth highlighting the Sarmatians and Goths, weakened it even more. Of the necklace of once magnificent settlements, only the Roman fortresses in Sudak and Gurzuf remained undestroyed.
Who owned the peninsula in the Middle Ages?
From the history of Crimea it is clear that from the 4th to the 12th centuries. Bulgarians and Turks, Hungarians, Pechenegs and Khazars marked their presence here. The Russian prince Vladimir, having taken Chersonesos by storm, was baptized here in 988. The formidable ruler of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Vytautas, invaded Taurida in 1397, completing his campaign in. Part of the land is part of the state of Theodoro, founded by the Goths. By the middle of the 13th century, the steppe regions were controlled by the Golden Horde. In the next century, some territories were redeemed by the Genoese, and the rest were conquered by the troops of Khan Mamai.
The collapse of the Golden Horde marked the creation of the Crimean Khanate here in 1441, 
independently existed for 36 years. In 1475, the Ottomans invaded the area, to whom the khan swore allegiance. They expelled the Genoese from the colonies, took by storm the capital of the state of Theodoro - the city, exterminating almost all the Goths. The khanate with its administrative center was called the Kafa eyalet in the Ottoman Empire. Then it is finally formed ethnic composition population. The Tatars are moving from a nomadic lifestyle to a sedentary one. Not only cattle breeding begins to develop, but also agriculture and gardening, and small tobacco plantations appear.
The Ottomans, at the height of their power, complete their expansion. They move from direct conquest to a policy of hidden expansion, also described in history. The Khanate becomes an outpost for conducting raids on the border territories of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Looted jewelry regularly replenishes the treasury, and captured Slavs are sold into slavery. From the XIV to the XVII centuries. Russian tsars undertake several campaigns to the Crimea through the Wild Field. However, none of them leads to pacification of the restless neighbor.
When did the Russian Empire come to power in Crimea?
An important stage in the history of Crimea. TO early XVIII V. it becomes one of its main strategic goals. Possessing it will not only secure the land border from the south and make it internal. The peninsula is destined to become the cradle of the Black Sea Fleet, which will provide access to the Mediterranean trade routes.
However, significant success in achieving this goal was achieved only in the last third of the century - during the reign of Catherine the Great. An army led by Chief General Dolgorukov captured Taurida in 1771. The Crimean Khanate was declared independent, and Khan Giray, a protégé of the Russian crown, was elevated to its throne. Russian-Turkish War 1768-1774 undermined the power of Turkey. Combining military force with cunning diplomacy, Catherine II ensured that in 1783 the Crimean nobility swore allegiance to her.
After this, the infrastructure and economy of the region begins to develop at an impressive pace. Retired Russian soldiers settle here. 
Greeks, Germans and Bulgarians come here in large numbers. In 1784, a military fortress was founded, which was destined to play a prominent role in the history of Crimea and Russia as a whole. Roads are being built everywhere. Active grape cultivation contributes to the development of winemaking. The southern coast is becoming increasingly popular among the nobility. turns into a resort town. Over the course of a hundred years, the population of the Crimean peninsula has increased almost 10 times, and its ethnic type has changed. In 1874, 45% of Crimeans were Great Russians and Little Russians, approximately 35% were Crimean Tatars.
Russian domination of the Black Sea has seriously worried a number of European countries. A coalition of the decrepit Ottoman Empire, Great Britain, Austria, Sardinia and France unleashed. The mistakes of the command, which caused the defeat in the battle on , and the lag in the technical equipment of the army led to the fact that, despite the unprecedented heroism of the defenders shown during the year-long siege, the allies captured Sevastopol. After the end of the conflict, the city was returned to Russia in exchange for a number of concessions.
At Civil War In Crimea, many tragic events occurred that were reflected in history. Since the spring of 1918, German and French expeditionary forces, supported by the Tatars, operated here. The puppet government of Solomon Samoilovich Crimea was replaced by the military power of Denikin and Wrangel. Only the Red Army troops managed to take control of the peninsular perimeter. After this, the so-called Red Terror began, as a result of which from 20 to 120 thousand people died.
In October 1921, it was announced the creation of the Autonomous Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic in the RSFSR from the regions of the former Tauride province, renamed in 1946 the Crimean region. The new government paid great attention to it. The policy of industrialization led to the emergence of the Kamysh-Burun ship repair plant and, in the same place, a mining and processing plant was built, and a metallurgical plant.
Further equipment was prevented by the Great Patriotic War.
Already in August 1941, about 60 thousand ethnic Germans who lived on a permanent basis were deported from here, and in November Crimea was abandoned by the Red Army. There were only two centers of resistance to the fascists left on the peninsula - the Sevastopol fortified area and, but they also fell by the fall of 1942. After the retreat of the Soviet troops, partisan detachments began to actively operate here. The occupation authorities pursued a policy of genocide against “inferior” races. As a result, by the time of liberation from the Nazis, the population of Taurida had decreased almost threefold.
The occupiers were expelled from here. After this, facts of massive cooperation with the fascists of the Crimean Tatars and representatives of some other national minorities were revealed. By decision of the USSR government, more than 183 thousand people of Crimean Tatar origin, a significant number of Bulgarians, Greeks and Armenians were forcibly deported to remote regions of the country. In 1954, the region was included in the Ukrainian SSR at the suggestion of N.S. Khrushchev.
Recent history of Crimea and our days
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, Crimea remained in Ukraine, gaining autonomy with the right to have its own constitution and president. After lengthy negotiations, the basic law of the republic was approved by the Verkhovna Rada. Yuri Meshkov became the first president of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in 1992. Subsequently, relations between official Kyiv worsened. The Ukrainian parliament decided in 1995 to abolish the presidency on the peninsula, and in 1998 
President Kuchma signed a Decree approving the new Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, with the provisions of which not all residents of the republic agreed.
Internal contradictions that coincided with serious political aggravations between Ukraine and Russian Federation, in 2013 they split society. One part of the residents of Crimea was in favor of returning to the Russian Federation, the other was in favor of remaining in Ukraine. On this issue, a referendum was held on March 16, 2014. The majority of Crimeans who took part in the plebiscite voted for reunification with Russia.
Even during the times of the USSR, many were built in Taurida, which was considered an all-Union health resort. had no analogues in the world at all. The development of the region as a resort continued both in the Ukrainian and Russian periods of the history of Crimea. Despite all the interstate contradictions, it still remains a favorite vacation spot for both Russians and Ukrainians. This region is infinitely beautiful and is ready to warmly welcome guests from any country in the world! In conclusion, we offer a documentary film, enjoy watching!
