Crimea: urban population and ethnic composition. The most ancient population of Crimea

Interest in national culture Crimeans, the history of representatives of various nationalities and peoples of the Crimea is quite natural. Get to know the peoples living on the peninsula in different eras we offer you too.

WITH ethnicity and the composition of the population of Crimea you can find in the article History of the peoples of Crimea. Here we will talk about the peoples of Crimea who inhabited it throughout history. Crimean peninsula in chronological order.

Taurus. The Greeks-Hellenes called Taurus tribes that inhabited the mountain-foothill part of the peninsula and the entire southern coast. Their self-name is unknown, perhaps the Taurus are the descendants of the ancient indigenous population of the peninsula. The most ancient monuments of them material culture on the peninsula date back to about the X 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 "Taurus boxes", were found. They were engaged in cattle breeding, agriculture, hunting, and occasionally hunted by sea piracy. With the beginning new era the gradual merging 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 NS. Northern Black Sea region and the plain part of Taurica. There are references to this people in many ancient sources. There are very few monuments of their material culture on the peninsula. In the VII century. BC NS. the Cimmerians, driven 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, Cimmerik, etc.)

Scythians... The nomadic tribes of the Scythians appeared in the Northern Black Sea region and the lowland Crimea in the 7th century. BC e., gradually moving to a sedentary lifestyle and absorbing part of the tribes living here. In the III century. BC NS. 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 flat Crimea. Here a late Scythian state was formed with its capital in Scythian Naples (Simferopol), which fought against the Greek states for influence on the peninsula. In the III century. it fell under the blows of the Sarmatians, and then the Goths and the Huns. The rest of the Scythians mixed with the Taurus, Sarmatians and Goths.

Ancient Greeks (Hellenes)... Ancient Greek colonists appeared in the Crimea in the 6th century. BC NS. Gradually settling the coast, they founded a number of cities and settlements (Panticapaeum, Feodosia, Chersonesos, Kerkinitida, etc.). Later, the Greek cities merged into the Chersonesos state and the Bosporan kingdom. The Greeks founded settlements, minted coins, were engaged in crafts, agriculture, winemaking, fishing, and traded with other peoples. For a long time, they have provided a tremendous cultural and political influence to all the peoples who lived in the Crimea. In the first centuries of the new era, the Greek states lost their political independence, became dependent on the Pontic kingdom, the Roman Empire, and then Byzantium. The Greek population is gradually merging with other Crimean ethnic groups, passing on their language and culture.

Sarmatians... The nomadic tribes of the Sarmatians (Roxolans, Yazygs, Aors, Siraks, etc.) appear in the Northern Black Sea region in the 4th - 3rd centuries. BC e., crowding the Scythians. They penetrate into Taurica from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC e., then fighting the Scythians and Bosporites, then entering into military and political alliances with them. Probably, together with the Sarmatians, the Proto-Slavs got to the Crimea. The Sarmatians, gradually settling across the peninsula, mix with the local Greco-Scythian-Taurian population.

Romans (Roman Empire)... Roman troops first appeared on the peninsula (in the Bosporus kingdom) in the 1st century. before. n. NS. 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 A.D. NS. Roman troops, at the request of the Chersonesites, helped repel the onslaught of the Scythians. From that time on, Chersonesos and the Bosporus kingdom fell into dependence on Rome.

The Roman garrison and squadron were in Chersonesos with interruptions for about two centuries, bringing some elements of their culture into the life of the city. The Romans also built fortresses in other parts of the peninsula (Kharaks on Cape Ai-Todor, fortresses in Balaklava, Alma-Kermen, etc.). But in the IV century, Roman troops were finally withdrawn from Taurica.

Alans- one of the largest Sarmatian nomadic tribes. They began to penetrate into the Crimea in the II century. At first, the Alans settled in the southeastern Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hunnic threat, the Alans moved to the mountainous southwestern Crimea. Here, in contact with the local population, they move to settled life, accept Christianity. V early middle ages, along with the Goths, form ethnic community"Gotalans".

Goths... The Germanic tribes of the Goths invaded the Crimea in III century. At first, the Goths settled in the lowland Crimea and on the Kerch Peninsula. Then, due to the Hunnic threat, part of the Goths moved to the southwestern Crimea. The territory of their settlement subsequently received the names Gothia, and its inhabitants became federates of the Byzantine Empire. Fortified settlements were built here with the support of Byzantium (Doros, Eski-Kermen). After the adoption of Christianity by the Goths, the Gothic Diocese of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is here. In the XIII century, the principality of Theodoro was formed on the territory of Gothia, which existed until 1475. Neighboring the Alans and professing a single Christian faith, the Goths gradually merge with them, forming the ethnic community "Gotoalans", which subsequently participates in the ethnogenesis of the Crimean Greeks, and then the Crimean Tatars ...

Huns... During the IV - V centuries. hordes of the Huns repeatedly invaded Crimea. Among them were different tribes - Turkic, Ugric, Bulgarian. Under their blows, the Bosporus kingdom fell, and the local inhabitants took refuge from their raids in the foothill-mountainous part of the peninsula. After the collapse of the union of the Hunnic tribes in 453, part of the Huns settled in the steppe Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula. For a time they were a threat to the inhabitants of the mountainous Taurica, but then they quickly disappeared among the local, more cultured population.

Byzantines (Byzantine Empire)... Byzantines are customary to call the Greek-speaking Orthodox population of the East Roman (Byzantine) Empire. For many centuries, Byzantium played a leading role in the Crimea, determining the politics, economy and culture of local peoples. Actually, the Byzantines in Crimea were few, they represented the civil, military and church administration. Though not a large number of the inhabitants of the empire periodically moved to live in Tavrika, when the metropolis was restless.

Christianity came from Byzantium to Taurica. With the help of the Byzantines, fortresses were built on the coast and in the mountainous Crimea, Chersonesos and the Bosporus were strengthened. After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in the XIII century. the influence of Byzantium on the peninsula practically ceases.

Crimean Greeks... In the V-IX centuries. in the southeastern and southwestern Crimea from descendants ancient Greeks, Tavro-Scythians, Gotoalans, part of the Turks, a new ethnos is formed, which later received the name "Crimean Greeks". The adoption of these different peoples united Orthodox Christianity as well as the community of territory and way of life. In the VIII-IX centuries, Greeks who fled from Byzantine from the persecution of the iconoclasts joined it. In the XIII century. in southwestern Taurica, two Christian principalities were formed - Theodoro and Kyrk-Orsk, in which Greek was the main language. since the 15th century after the defeat of the Genoese colonies and the principality of Theodoro by the Turks, there is a natural Turkization and Islamization of the Crimean Greeks, but many of them retained the Christian faith (even having lost native language) until the resettlement from the Crimea in 1778. most of Crimean Greeks later returned to the Crimea.

Khazars- collective name different nationalities Turkic (Turkic-Bulgarians, Huns, etc.) and non-Turkic (Magyars, etc.) origin. By the VII century. a state was formed - the Khazar Kaganate, which united several peoples. At the end of the VII century. the Khazars invaded Crimea, capturing its southern part, except for Chersonesos. In Crimea, the interests of the Khazar Kaganate and the Byzantine Empire constantly clashed. Repeatedly there were uprisings of the local Christian population against the rule of the Khazars. After the top of the Kaganate adopted Judaism and the victories of the Kiev princes over the Khazars, their influence in the 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 the Crimea gradually merged into the local population.

Slavic-Rus (Kievan Rus)... Kievan Rus, establishing itself on the world stage in the period from the 9th to the 10th centuries, constantly clashed with the Khazar Kaganate and Byzantine Empire... Russian squads periodically invaded their Crimean possessions, capturing considerable booty.

In 988 the Kiev prince Vladimir and his squad adopted Christianity in Chersonesos. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with the prince of Kiev at the head, which existed until the XI - XII 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 the Crimea ceased, and trade and cultural connections between Tavrika and Kievan Rus continued to exist.

Pechenegs, Cumans... 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 shortness of their stay in Crimea.

Polovtsy (Kipchaks, Komans)- Turkic-speaking nomadic people... They appeared on the peninsula in the XI century. and began to gradually settle in the 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 the Crimea in the XI-XIII centuries, fleeing the raids of the Seljuk Turks and Arabs. First, the Armenians concentrated in the 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 renounced, but Christian faith(Orthodoxy of the monophysical sense) does not lose, until the resettlement from Crimea in 1778. Part of the Crimean Armenians later returned to the Crimea.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, many Armenians from European countries moved here. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, part of the Armenians, fleeing the Turkish genocide in Armenia, also moved to Crimea. In 1944, the Crimean Armenians were deported from the peninsula. Currently, they are partially returning to Crimea.

Venetians, Genoese... The Venetian merchants appeared in the Crimea in the XII century, and the Genoese - in the XIII century. Gradually displacing the Venetians, the Genoese settled here. Expanding their Crimean colonies, they, under an agreement with the Golden Horde khans, include in them the entire coastal territory - from Kafa to Chersonesos. Actually there were few Genoese - administration, guards, merchants. Their possessions in the Crimea existed until the capture of the Crimea by the Ottoman Turks in 1475. The few Genoese (Crimean women of women) who remained after that in Crimea 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 out on a campaign to the west in the 13th century. The Horde is a more accurate name for it. Tatar-Mongols is a late term used by historians since the 19th century.

Horde(among them were the Mongols, Turks and other tribes conquered by the Mongols, and the Turkic peoples predominated numerically), united under the rule Mongol khans, first appeared in the Crimea in the XIII century.

Gradually, they began to settle in the northern and southeastern Crimea. The Crimean yurt of the Golden Horde with its center in Solkhat was formed here. In the XIV century. The Horde converts to Islam and are gradually settling in the southwestern Crimea. The Horde, in close contact with the Crimean Greeks and Cumans (Kipchaks), are gradually moving to a settled way of life, becoming one of the ethnic nuclei for the Crimean Tatar ethnos.

Crimean Tatars... (Crimean Tatars - this is what this people is called in other countries, the self-name "kyrymly" - Crimeans, residents of Crimea.) Crimean Tatars”Was long, complex and multifaceted. Its formation was attended by the Turkic-speaking (descendants of the Turks, Pechenegs, Polovtsy, Horde, etc.) and non-Turkic-speaking peoples (descendants of the Gotoalans, Greeks, Armenians, etc.). Crimean Tatars became the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries.

Among them, three sub-ethnic 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 "South Coast Tatars" was formed later on the lands subject to Turkish Sultan... Their ethnic basis was made up of the descendants of the local Christian population (Gotoalans, Greeks, Italians, etc.), who lived in these lands and converted to Islam, as well as descendants of settlers from Asia Minor. In the XVIII - XIX centuries. Tatars from other regions of the Crimea also 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 XVI century. they accepted the citizenship of the Crimean Khan, and later joined the Crimean Tatar ethnos. 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 was 27% of the Crimean population.

In 1944, the Crimean Tatar people were deported from Crimea. During the deportation, there was an involuntary mixing of different sub-ethnic groups, which before that almost did not mix with each other.

Currently, most of the Crimean Tatars have returned to Crimea, and the final formation of the Crimean Tatar ethnos is taking place.

Turks ( Ottoman Empire) ... Having invaded the Crimea in 1475, the Ottoman Turks took possession, first of all, of the Genoese colonies and the principality of Theodoro. On their lands, sanjak was formed - Turkish possessions in the Crimea with the center in the Cafe. 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 settled on the Crimean coast in an organized way immigrants from Turkish Anatolia. Over time, pretty much mixed with the local population, they all became one of the ethnic groups of the Crimean Tatar people and received the name "South Coast Tatars".

Karaites (karai)- nationality Turkic origin possibly descendants of the Khazars. However, to this day, their origin is a subject of heated scientific disputes. 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... Throughout the XVI-XVII centuries. relations between Slavs and Tatars were not easy. Crimean Tatars periodically raided the outlying lands of Poland, Russia and Ukraine, capturing slaves and prey. In turn, the Zaporozhye Cossacks, and then the Russian troops, made military campaigns on the territory of the Crimean Khanate.

In 1783 the 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 be so.

Greeks and Bulgarians from the lands subject to Turkey, under the threat of reprisals, with the support Of the Russian state move to Crimea in late XVIII- the beginning of the XX century. Bulgarians settle mainly in the countryside of the southeastern Crimea, and the Greeks (they are usually called the New Greeks) - in seaside towns and villages. In 1944 they were deported from Crimea. Currently, some of them have returned to the Crimea, and many have emigrated to Greece and Bulgaria.

Jews... Ancient Jews in Crimea have been appearing since the beginning of our era, quickly adapting among the local population. Their number here significantly increased in the 5th-9th centuries, when they were persecuted in Byzantium. Lived in cities, doing handicrafts and trade,

By the 18th century. some of them are strongly Turkified, becoming the basis for the Krymchaks - a Turkic-speaking ethnos professing Judaism. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, Jews always constituted 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- a small Turkic-speaking nationality, formed by the 18th century. from the descendants of Jews who moved to Crimea at different times and from different places and were thoroughly Turkic, as well as the Turks who converted to Judaism. They professed the Jewish religion of the Talmudic sense, which served to unite them into a single people. Few representatives of this people live in Crimea today.

Germans... After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in early XIX v. 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 lived in separate German villages and farms. By the beginning of the XX century. Germans accounted for up to 6% of the population of the peninsula. Their descendants were deported from Crimea in 1941. At present, only a few of the Crimean Germans have returned to Crimea. Most emigrated to Germany.

Poles, Czechs, Estonians... Migrants of these nationalities appeared in Crimea in mid XIX in., were mainly engaged in agriculture. By the middle of the XX century. they practically disappeared into the environment of the predominant local Slavic population.

Crimea is one of the most amazing corners of the Earth. Due to its geographical position, it was at the junction of the habitation of different peoples, stood in the way of their historical movements. The interests of many countries and entire civilizations collided in such a small area. The Crimean peninsula has repeatedly become an arena of bloody wars and battles, was part of several states and empires.

Diverse natural conditions attracted the peoples of the most different cultures and traditions For nomads there were vast pastures, for farmers - fertile lands, for hunters - forests with a lot of game, for sailors - convenient bays and bays, a lot of fish. Therefore, many peoples settled here, becoming part of the Crimean ethnic conglomerate and participants in all historical events on the peninsula. In the neighborhood lived people whose traditions, customs, religions, way of life were different. This led to misunderstandings and even bloody clashes. Civil strife ceased when it was understood that it was possible to live well and prosper only in peace, harmony and mutual respect.

For a long time, the peoples living on the territory of the Crimean peninsula participated in the formation of ethnic societies. These processes were counted for centuries. In the time BC, this area was inhabited by the Taurus, nomadic Cimmerian, Scythian and Sarmatian tribes. In the Middle Ages, the Greeks, Tatars, Alans, Goths, Turks left their mark. Tatar-Mongols, intertwining with the Greeks and Polovtsians, formed the core ethnic group, called the Crimean Tatars, which represented the main population of the Crimean Khanate, which existed from the 15th to the 18th centuries. After the conquest of the Crimea, from 1783 there was a gradual resettlement to these lands of Russians, Ukrainians, Bulgarians, Greeks, Jews.

By our time, a modern multinational community of peoples has developed. This ethnic symbiosis includes representatives of about 125 nationalities. The largest groups are Russians (65%), Ukrainians (16%) and Crimean Tatars (12%). Taking into account such a structure of the population in Crimea, they are applied and fixed on legislative level as state, three languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. Other nationalities are not so widely represented, but they all take their place in the national palette and influence the culture of this region. According to the statistics of the population census, 2.3 million people permanently reside in Crimea (including the city of Sevastopol). The Russian language is the most widespread and is used in all spheres of life, and is also universal for interethnic communication.

Russians

The representation of the Russian people in Crimea has been quite significant since ancient times. During the period of the Crimean Khanate, prisoners from Russia, Russian diplomats, merchants, and monks stayed there. They were part of the local population for centuries and after the conquest of Crimea remained there as Russian subjects. The mass settlement of the Russian people began after the annexation of the Crimea to Russia in 1783. The settlers were the military, who received preferences from the state for calling their relatives for permanent place residence on the peninsula. The widows came and unmarried girls to create families. An additional impetus was the departure of the Crimean Tatars to the territory of modern Turkey and the liberation of fertile lands for the start of a new life for the settlers. The migration of Russians to Crimea continued throughout the 19th century. Favorable climate and nature south coast attracted many tourists for treatment and recreation. It was at this time that magnificent palaces began to appear for reigning and influential persons, which today act as attractions and places of pilgrimage for vacationers. The result of these processes was the predominance of the Russian ethnos in the Crimea at the beginning of the last century.

Ukrainians

After the revolutions and wars in Russia in the 1920s and 1930s, Ukrainians also began to move to Crimea. The mass resettlement of Little Russians began after the annexation of the Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954. Fulfilling the government's plans, settlers from the western regions of Ukraine, officials and employees flocked to the collective farms of the Crimean region.

Crimean Tatars

Crimean Tatars are the third largest ethnic group on the Crimean peninsula. This people is complex and dramatic fate, an ethno-cocktail from a mixture of different peoples, formed over several centuries. The emergence of a special Turkic ethnic group was facilitated by living in a separate area, the predominance of Islam and a common language. Initially, the Tatars lived in the steppe Crimea, but the spread of Islam expanded their zone of influence. They were joined by residents of mountainous regions and south coast taking new religion... The annexation of Crimea to Russia contributed to the outflow of indigenous people from the peninsula, and the resettlement Slavic peoples reduced the share of Tatars in the population. Another dramatic exodus of the Crimean Tatars happened during their deportation from Crimea in 1944.But at the end of the twentieth century, the reverse process of the Tatars returning to their historical land and last years there is a steady increase in the number of this ethnic group. The main population density of the Crimean Tatars falls on countryside in the steppe part of the peninsula.

Other peoples

Apart from these three large nations, on the territory of Crimea, there is still a large number of medium and small ethnic groups, whose roots have firmly grown together with the Crimean land. These are Crimean Greeks, Crimean Armenians, Jews, Karaites and Krymchaks, Gypsies, Azerbaijanis, Moldovans, Poles, Germans, Bulgarians. Crimea is a multinational, multilingual and professing many religions peninsula, so small in area and so big in warmth and friendship.

0

Our Motherland - Crimea
... There is no other country within Russia that would have lived so long and so intense historical life, involved in the Hellenic Mediterranean culture in all centuries of its existence ...
M. A. Voloshin

The Crimean peninsula is a "natural pearl of Europe" - due to its
geographical location and unique natural conditions since ancient times
was the crossroads of many sea transit roads connecting various
states, tribes and peoples. The most famous "The Great Silk Road"
passed through the Crimean peninsula and connected the Roman and Chinese empires.
Later, he connected together all the uluses of the Mongol-Tatar empire.
and played a significant role in the political and economic life of peoples,
inhabiting Europe, Asia and China.

Science claims that about 250 thousand years ago, humans first appeared on the territory of the Crimean peninsula. And from that time, in different historical eras different tribes and peoples lived on our peninsula, replacing each other, there were different state formations.

Many of us had to deal with the names "Tavrika", "Tavrida", which were and continue to be used in relation to the Crimea. The appearance of these geographical names is directly related to the people who can rightfully be considered a Crimean aborigine, since its entire history from beginning to end is inextricably linked with the peninsula.
The ancient Greek word "tauros" is translated as "bulls". On this basis, it was concluded that the Greeks called this local residents because they had a cult of the bull. It was suggested that the Crimean mountaineers called themselves some kind of unknown word consonant Greek word bulls. The Greeks called Taurus mountain system in Asia Minor. Mastering the Crimea, the Greeks, by analogy with Asia Minor, called the Crimean Mountains Taurus. The people who lived in them (Taurus), as well as the peninsula (Taurica), on which they were located, received their name from the mountains.

Ancient sources brought to us scanty information about the ancient inhabitants of the Crimea - the Cimmerians, Taurus, Scythians, Sarmatians. The main population of the Crimea, especially the mountainous part, the ancient authors call the Taurus. The most ancient people, recorded in writing in the Crimea and the Black Sea steppes, were the Cimmerians; they lived here at the turn II-I millennia BC, and some scholars consider the Taurus to be their direct descendants. Approximately in the VII-VI Art. BC. The Cimmerians were ousted by the Scythians, then the Scythians were ousted by the Sarmatians, while the remains of the Cimmerian, then Taurian and Scythian tribes, as researchers think, retreat to the mountains, where they keep their ethnocultural identity for a long time. Around 722 BC NS. the Scythians were expelled from Asia and founded a new capital, Scythian Naples, in the Crimea on the Salgir River (within the boundaries of modern Simferopol). The "Scythian" 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 the northwestern Crimea was made up of peoples who came from the Dnieper region. In the VI - V centuries BC. BC, when the Scythians ruled the steppes, the Greeks founded their trading colonies on the Crimean coast.

The settlement of the Black Sea region by the Greeks took place gradually. Populated mainly sea ​​coast, and in some places the density of the location of small settlements was quite high. Sometimes the settlements were in line of sight from one another. Ancient cities and settlements were concentrated in the region of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Peninsula) with the most major cities Panticapaeum (Kerch) and Feodosia; in the region of Western Crimea - with the main center Chersonesos (Sevastopol).

During the Middle Ages, a small Turkic people - the Karaites - appeared in Tavrika. Self-name: karai (one Karaite) and karaylar (Karaites). Thus, instead of the ethnonym "Karaim" it is more correct to say "Karai". Their material and spiritual culture, language, way of life and customs are of great interest.
Analyzing the available anthropological, linguistic and other data, a significant part of scientists sees the Karaites as descendants of the Khazars. This people settled mainly in the foothill and mountainous Taurica. The settlement Chufut-Kale was a peculiar center.

With the penetration of the Mongol-Tatars into Tavrika, a number of changes took place. First of all, this concerned the ethnic composition of the population, which was undergoing great changes. Along with the Greeks, Russians, Alans, Polovtsy, the Tatars appeared on the peninsula in the middle of the 13th century, and the Turks in the 15th century. In the 13th century, a mass resettlement of Armenians began. At the same time, Italians are actively rushing to the peninsula.

988 Prince Vladimir of Kiev and his retinue adopted Christianity in Chersonesos. On the territory of the Kerch and Taman peninsulas, the Tmutarakan principality was formed with a Kiev 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 the Crimea ceased, and trade and cultural ties between Taurica and Kievan Rus continued to exist.

The first Russian communities began to appear in Sudak, Feodosia and Kerch in the Middle Ages. They were merchants and artisans. The mass resettlement of serfs from central Russia began in 1783 after the annexation of the Crimea to the empire. Disabled soldiers and Cossacks received land for free settlement. Construction railroad v late XIX v. and the development of industry also caused an influx of the Russian population.
Now representatives of more than 125 nations and nationalities live in Crimea, the main part is made up of Russians (more than half), then Ukrainians, Crimean Tatars (their number and share in the population is growing rapidly), a significant proportion of Belarusians, Jews, Armenians, Greeks, Germans, Bulgarians , gypsies, Poles, Czechs, Italians. Small in number, but still noticeable in the culture of the small peoples of the Crimea - the Karaites and Krymchaks.

The centuries-old experience of nationalities leads to the conclusion:
Let's live in peace!

Anatoly Matyushin
I will not reveal any secrets
There is no ideal society
If the world consisted of aesthetes,
Maybe there would be an answer.

Why is the world so restless
A lot of anger and all enmity,
We are neighbors in a huge apartment
We would not slide into trouble.

Taking up arms is not the case,
For all the oppressed sorrow,
Do not try to remake others,
Can you just improve yourself?

In order to improve something,
I would like to convince people
The world would have gotten a little better
You just have to be friends together !!.

Ancient peoples of Crimea

Most ancient people, who inhabited the Black Sea steppes and the Crimea and whose name has come down to us - the Cimmerians: they lived here at the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC. NS. Herodotus, who visited the Northern Black Sea region in the 5th century. BC e., the Cimmerians, of course, did not find, and transmitted information that remained in the memory of the local population, referring to the surviving geographical names- Bosporus Cimmerian, on the banks of which there were settlements Cimmerian and Cimmerian, Cimmerian walls, etc. Asia Minor... However, the rest mixed with the winners: in the light of the data of archeology, anthropology, linguistics, the Cimmerians and Scythians are related peoples, representatives of the North Iranian ethnos, so it is obviously not by chance that Greek authors sometimes confused or identified them.2 The question of archaeological culture corresponding to the historical Cimmerians, considered one of the hardest. Some researchers considered the Taurus to be the direct descendants of the Cimmerians. Meanwhile, the accumulated archaeological material led to the isolation of a special culture, named Kizilkoba after the place of the first finds in the area of ​​the Red Caves - Kizil-Koba. Its carriers lived in the same place as the Taurus - in the foothills, at the same time - from the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. NS. to the III-II century. BC e., were engaged in agriculture and pasture cattle breeding. However, there were significant differences in the culture - for example, among the Kizilkobins, ceramics are decorated geometric ornament, it is usually absent in Tavrs; The funeral rite was also different - the first buried the dead in small mounds, in catacomb-type graves, in an extended position on their back, with their head usually to the west; the second - in stone boxes, sprinkled with earth, in a crouched position on the side, with their head usually to the east. Today Kizilkobins and Taurus are considered as two different people who lived during the 1st millennium BC. NS. in the mountainous part of Crimea.

Whose descendants are they? Obviously, the roots of both cultures go back to the Bronze Age. Comparison of ceramics and funeral rite suggests that most likely the Kizilkoba culture goes back to the so-called late Catacomb culture, of which many researchers consider the Cimmerians.

As for the Taurus, their most likely predecessors can be considered the carriers of the Kemioba culture (named after the Kemi-Oba mound near Belogorsk, excavated by A.A. half of the 2nd millennium BC NS. It was the Kemiobians who erected the first burial mounds in the Crimean steppes and foothills, surrounded by stone fences at the base and crowned with anthropomorphic steles. These large stone slabs, hewn in the form of a human figure, where the head, shoulders, and belt are highlighted, represented the first attempt to create an image of a person in the monumental art of the Black Sea region at the end of the 3rd - beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. NS. A true masterpiece among them is the one and a half meter diorite stele from Kazanki, found near Bakhchisarai. 4

The problem of the origin of anthropomorphic steles, found not only in the Black Sea region, but also in the south of France, is directly related to the spread of megalithic structures - stone fences, stone boxes, pillar-like menhirs. Noting their great similarity with the monuments of the northwestern Caucasus, researchers prefer to talk not about the influence of the latter, but about a single culture widespread in the Bronze Age from Abkhazia in the east to the Crimean mountains in the west. Much brings the Kemioba culture closer to the later Taurus culture. The Taurus, the true heirs of the megalithic tradition, reproduced its structures, albeit on a somewhat reduced scale.5

Notes (edit)

1. Herodotus. History in 6 books / Per. and comments. G.A. Stratanovsky. - L .: Science, 1972. - Book. IV, 12.

2. Leskov A.M. Barrows: finds, problems. - M ... 1981. - p. 105.

3. Shchetsinsky A.A. Red caves. - Simferopol, 1983 .-- p. 50.

4. Leskov A.M. Decree. Op. - with. 25.

5. Shchepinsky A.A. Decree. Op. - with. 51.

This historical reconstruction cultures along the lines "Late Catacomb culture - Cimmerians - Kizilkobins" and "Kemiobins - Taurus", according to its author, should not be presented straightforwardly; it still contains a lot that is unclear and unexplored.

T.M. Fadeeva

Photo beautiful places Crimea