Read the history of Crimea from ancient times to the present day. Crimea: history of the peninsula. How did Crimea develop and what is the history of its people? Who gave the peninsula to Ukraine

History of Crimea

Since ancient times, the name Tavrika was assigned to the peninsula, which came from the name of the ancient Taurian tribes that inhabited the southern part of Crimea. The modern name “Crimea” began to be widely used only after the 13th century, presumably from the name of the city “Kyrym”, which, after the capture of the Northern Black Sea region by the Mongols, was the residence of the governor of the Khan of the Golden Horde. It is also possible that the name "Crimea" came from the Perekop Isthmus (the Russian word "perekop" is a translation of the Turkic word "qirim", which means "ditch"). Since the 15th century, the Crimean peninsula began to be called Tavria, and after its annexation to Russia in 1783 - Tavrida. The entire Northern Black Sea region - the northern coast of the Black and Azov Seas with the adjacent steppe territories - received this name.

History of Crimea

The oldest known population of the mountainous and southern coastal part of Crimea are the Taurians.

From the 12th century BC e. The steppe Crimea was inhabited by peoples conventionally called Cimmerians.

VIII-IV centuries BC e. - Penetration of Greek colonists into the Crimea, the founding of Panticapaeum (7th century BC), Feodosia, Chersonesus (5th century BC), the steppe part of the peninsula is populated by Scythians.

III-II centuries BC e. - The center of the Scythian state, under pressure from the Sarmatians who migrated from the east, moves from the Dnieper region to Crimea. The capital is Scythian Naples (in the territory of present-day Simferopol).

63 BC e. - The Pontic kingdom was conquered by the Roman Empire, the Crimean cities came under the control of the Romans. The beginning of the rule of the Roman Empire in Crimea.

The history of Crimea is very rich. Who was there on the lands of the peninsula, what historical events did not affect it! That is why they say that when you start studying the history of Crimea, you will inevitably study World History.

Crimea - the history of the peninsula in dates

80-40 thousand years ago- on the territory of the peninsula

15th-8th centuries BC e. - live in Crimea - a nomadic people mentioned by Homer and in the Old Testament, and who were considered by ancient authors to be pirates sacrificing seafarers to the goddess Virgin.

7th century BC e. - the Tauri were replaced by nomads from the north, who gradually switched to a sedentary lifestyle and founded powerful states.

6-5 centuries BC uh . — the first settlements were founded on the coast (Kerkinitida, Panticapaeum...). The colonists minted coins, engaged in crafts, agriculture, fishing, and traded with other peoples. The Greeks had a great influence on the culture of their neighbors.

70s AD — the Romans came to the peninsula after defeating the Pontic king Mithridates the Sixth Eupator. In particular, they founded the Kharaks fortress on Cape Ai-Todor and built the first mountain road from it to Chersonesus.

4th-7th centuries AD — The Great Migration of Peoples. New tribes are coming to Crimea - Alans. The ethnogenesis of the future Crimean population is taking place.

6th-12th centuries AD - education, the largest of which is the formation of an influential Christian

988 - having captured the city of Kherson (Korsun), the Kiev prince Vladimir marries the Byzantine princess Anna and; Christianization of Rus' takes place.

13th century - Venetian and then Genoese colonization of the Crimean coast. They were actively engaged in trade and, to protect their cities, they built powerful fortresses on almost the entire southern coast.

1239 - the campaign of the Mongol Khan Batu to Crimea, in 1242 the peninsula with its capital in Solkhat (), became part of the Golden Horde.

14th century - Karai, a people of Turkic origin, possibly descendants of the Khazars, who professed Judaism in a special form - Karaimism, began to settle in the destroyed and deserted cave cities. Unlike the Jews, they did not recognize the Talmud and remained faithful to the Torah.

1394 - destruction of Chersonesus by the Lithuanian prince Olgerd.

1420-1466 - the founder of the dynasty of the Crimean khans, Hadji Giray, proclaims the Crimean Khanate independent and moves the capital to.

1475 - Crimea is attacked by the Ottoman Empire. The Turks capture and destroy Genoese fortresses, conquer the Principality of Theodoro, and subjugate the Crimean Khanate.

1735-1739 - Russia, in alliance with Austria, wages war against Turkey and occupies Crimea twice.

1768-1774 - The first Russian-Turkish war, as a result of which the Crimean Khanate was declared independent from Turkey. Kerch becomes a Russian city, and Russian garrisons appear in all ports.

1783 - . - base of the Russian and (1784) - capital of the Tauride province.

1787 - the visit to Crimea of Empress Catherine II and Emperor Joseph II of Austria became one of the most expensive trips in the entire history of mankind.

1853-1856 - Eastern War (Crimean War since 1954). Russia is fighting against the coalition forces of England, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia, acting on the side of Turkey. Battles take place in the European part of Russia, on the Black Sea and Kamchatka. lasts 349 days.

1787-1791 - Second Russian-Turkish War, recognition by Turkey of the annexation of Crimea to Russia.

1875 - a railway line and a highway were brought to Sevastopol. Summer residences of the imperial family are being built on the South Bank. Crimea is becoming an aristocratic resort.

1918-1920 - after the revolution, Crimea is one of the last strongholds of the White Army under the command of General Wrangel. After fierce fighting, the Red Army wins, after which V.I. Lenin issues a decree “On the use of Crimea for the treatment of workers” - all palaces and dachas are given over to sanatoriums for workers, collective farmers and party workers.

1941-1942 - the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The main blow of the German troops falls on. For the steadfastness and courage of the defenders, two Crimean cities - Sevastopol and Kerch - were awarded the title “Hero City”.

1944 - mass deportation of the peoples of Crimea for “collaboration with the occupiers”, among the victims were Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Bulgarians and Greeks.

February 4-11, 1945— . The heads of government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain decided on the division of Germany and reparations, on the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan and on the membership of the Soviet Union in the UN, a new international organization.

1954 - by decision of the Secretary General of the CPSU N.S. Khrushchev, Crimea is transferred from the jurisdiction of the RSFSR to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian SSR and becomes a region within Ukraine.

1991 - coup in Moscow and arrest of M.S. Gorbachev on his. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became an Autonomous Republic within Ukraine.

March 16, 2014 - a referendum on the status of the republic was held in Crimea, as a result of which the majority of Crimeans voted in favor of joining Russia. Two days later, an agreement was signed on the entry of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into the Russian Federation as subjects.

History of Crimea briefly in dates on video

Brief chronological outline of historical events

300-350 thousand years ago (Acheulean era) - the appearance of the first people of the Neanderthal type in the Crimean lands. Crimea is located in the south of Europe, its territory was almost not affected by the glacier, it has a wide connection with the East European Plain and a general slope of the surface from north to south, along which high-water rivers flow. The dry, warm climate, rich vegetation and abundance of diverse animals created good conditions for hunting and gathering. Sheer cliffs and narrow valleys made it easier to drive hunt for mammoth, antelope, deer, bison and other animals. Parking in grottoes and rock overhangs in the Foothills.

50-40 thousand years ago - the appearance and residence on the territory of the peninsula of a person of the Cro-Magnon type.

30 thousand years ago - the emergence of modern people. In the grottoes and caves of the Foothills, as well as at the springs, traces of the life of many generations were found - tools and cult drawings.

XV-VIII centuries BC e. - The Cimmerians are associated with Crimea - a nomadic warlike people mentioned by Homer and in the Old Testament. The birth of Achilles, the hero of the Trojan War, is associated with the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Kerch Strait).

IX-VIII centuries BC e. - the tribes of the mountain-forest Crimea became known to the ancient world under the collective name “Taurs”. The South Coast Tauris are mentioned by 50 ancient authors as pirates who sacrificed seafarers to their goddess the Virgin.

VII century BC e. - in the Steppe, and then in the Foothill Crimea, warlike nomads appear - the Scythians.

513 BC e. - the unsuccessful campaign of the ancient Persian king Darius I (previously invincible) against the Scythians. This campaign went down in history because not a single battle was fought. Having resorted to the “scorched earth” tactic, the Scythians, without engaging in battles, escaped from the troops of the formidable king, destroying sources of fresh water and burning out grass cover.

VI-V centuries BC e. - foundation of the first ancient Greek colonies on the coast (Kerkinitida, Chersonesos, Panticapaeum and others). Sailing to the shores of Scythia, the “father of history” Herodotus.

IV-III centuries BC e. - the submergence of shelf territories in the north-west of the Black Sea, the formation of the Sea of Azov, the formation of the Crimean Peninsula in its modern form. The appearance of a chain of ancient Greek colonies and Scythian fortifications on the new coast. Formation of Scythia Minor with its capital in Naples-Scythian.

I century BC e. - wars of Mithridates VI Eupator against the Roman Empire.

70s n. e. - the foundation by the Romans of the Kharaks fortress on Cape Ai-Todor and the construction of the first mountain road from it to Kherson (on the site of present-day Sevastopol).

End of the 3rd century n. e. - Scythian fortresses are stormed by the Goths; formation of the Gothic-Alan tribal union; spread of Christianity.

End of the 4th century n. e. - almost all the settlements of Crimea were plundered and burned by the Huns.

527-565 - almost all the settlements of Crimea were plundered and burned by the Huns.

VI-XII centuries - development of feudal relations in the South-Western Crimea and the formation of fortified settlements on the cuestas of the Inner Ridge - “cave cities”. The largest of them, Mangup, became by the 12th century. the center of the influential Christian principality of Theodoro.

VIII century - the fight against icon worshipers in Byzantium causes their mass flight to Crimea and the development of cave monasteries on its territory.

988 - capture of Kherson by Prince Vladimir of Kyiv (on the site of present-day Sevastopol); alliance with Byzantium and Christianization of Rus'.

1061 - Polovtsian invasion.

XIII century - Venetian and then Genoese colonization of the Crimean coast.

1223 - the first raid of the Mongol-Tatars on Sugdeya (Sudak).

1239 - the campaign of the Mongol Khan Batu, and in 1242 - the formation of the Crimean ulus of the Golden Horde with its capital in Solkhat (Old Crimea).

1420-1466 - the founder of the dynasty of Crimean khans, Hadji-Devlet-Girey, creates an independent state (1443) with the capital in Bakhchisarai, encourages the transition of the population to sedentarism, the development of gardening and crafts, the construction of temples and monasteries of Islam and Christianity. Military alliance with the Polish-Lithuanian state.

1467-1515 - Mengli-Girey I, in a military alliance with the Muscovite kingdom, expands his influence to the north and east of the Crimea.

1475 - Ottoman Türkiye captures Genoese fortresses on the Crimean coast and the Principality of Theodoro in Southwestern Crimea; The Crimean Khanate becomes a vassal of Turkey, coastal cities turn into the largest slave trading centers in Europe.

XV-XVIII centuries - military raids of the Crimean Khanate on Moscow and the Zaporozhye Sich, collection of tribute from the Russian kingdom (until 1713); Cossack raids on Turkish fortresses and Tatar settlements, military campaigns of Russian and Ukrainian troops in Crimea: Mikhail Golitsyn, Ivan Sirko, Ivan Leontyev, Peter I, Burdhard Minich, Lassi.

1735-1739 - Russia, in alliance with Austria, is waging war against Turkey and occupies Crimea twice.

1768-1774 - The Russian-Turkish War, as a result of which the Crimean Khanate was declared independent from Turkey, Kerch became a Russian city, and Russian garrisons appeared in all ports.

1778 - 31 thousand Christians of Crimea (Greeks and Armenians), including from the villages of the Southern Coast, are moving to the coast of the Azov Sea at the call of Russia. A year later, another 27 thousand Christians were resettled. The economy of the South Coast has fallen into disrepair for many years.

1783 - annexation of Crimea to Russia with recognition of the rights of the Russian nobility for all noble families of the Khanate. Construction of the cities of Sevastopol as the center of the Russian Black Sea Fleet and Simferopol (1784) as the center of the Tauride province.

1787 - the trip to Crimea of the Russian Empress Catherine II and the Emperor of Austria-Hungary Joseph I is the most expensive tour of all times.

1787-1791 - II Russian-Turkish War, Turkey’s recognition of the annexation of Crimea by Russia.

1853-1856 - Crimean War. Sevastopol becomes the site of heroic battles on land and sea: Russia fights against England, France and the Kingdom of Sardinia, saving Turkey's influence on the Black Sea.

1875 - the completion of the railway to Sevastopol and the main highways opens up a vast Russian and European market for agricultural products, wines and confectionery. Rapid development of entrepreneurship, trade and industry. The construction of summer residences for the imperial family and grand dukes on the South Bank is turning it into an aristocratic resort.

1918-1921 - Crimea becomes the scene of brutal battles of the Civil War and the intervention of Kaiser Germany, which ended with the incorporation of Crimea into the Soviet Union (1922) with the formation of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Russian Federation.

1941-1944 - bloody battles of the Great Patriotic War.

February 4-11, 1945 - The Crimean (Yalta) Conference of the Heads of Government of the USSR, USA and Great Britain determined the post-war structure of the world: it made decisions on the division of Germany into occupation zones and reparations, on the participation of the USSR in the war with Japan, on the post-war system of international security and on the creation of the UN.

1954 - Thanks to the valentary decision of the CPSU Secretary General Nikita Khrushchev, Crimea is transferred from the jurisdiction of the Russian Federation (RSFSR) to the jurisdiction of the Ukrainian SSR and becomes a region within Ukraine.

1971-1982 - Crimean meetings of the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee L.I. Brezhnev with the leaders of fraternal parties and countries; rapid development of resorts and tourism; the development of heavy industry and chemicalization of agriculture creates environmental problems.

1974 - an official visit by US President Richard Nixon, which opened the way to economic cooperation with the Soviet Union, for example in the construction of airfields and highways, as well as the production of Pepsi-Cola.

1991 - “putsch” in Moscow and the arrest of M.S. Gorbachev at his dacha in Foros. Collapse of the Soviet Union; Crimea becomes an Autonomous Republic within Ukraine, and Greater Yalta becomes the summer political capital of Ukraine and the countries of the Black Sea region.

Since 1991 - the growth of nationalist sentiments among the Tatar population returning after deportation. Active seizure of territories, first in the steppe part of Crimea, and more recently, attempts to seize territories on the southern coast of Crimea. All this is happening with the silent connivance of Ukrainian officials and the most powerful financial and ideological support of the Turkish authorities. Apparently the former want to drown out pro-Russian sentiments among the local population of Crimea in this way, while the latter cherish the dream of a new revival of the great Ottoman Empire...

2005 - ... - History has not yet been written. Whose Crimea will you be?...

March 11, 2014 - On March 11, by resolution of the Supreme Council of Crimea, the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol was adopted, according to which, if a decision is made at the referendum on March 16, 2014 to join Russia, Crimea will be declared an independent and sovereign state with a republican form of government. According to the document, Crimea will be a democratic, secular and multinational state that undertakes to maintain peace, interethnic and interfaith harmony on its territory. Crimea, as an independent and sovereign state, in the event of appropriate results of the referendum, will turn to the Russian Federation with a proposal to admit the Republic of Crimea, on the basis of an appropriate interstate agreement, into the Russian Federation as a new subject of the Russian Federation.

March 16, 2014 - A historic referendum in Crimea on the issue of its future fate - on the status of the republic. Two questions were put to the vote: “Are you for the reunification of Crimea with Russia as a subject of the Russian Federation?” and “Are you for restoring the 1992 constitution of the Republic of Crimea and for the status of Crimea as a part of Ukraine?” The turnout for the fateful referendum was 83.1%. 96.77% of Crimeans who came to the referendum voted for the annexation of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea to Russia.

March 18, 2014 - A historic day for Crimea and Russia! On this day, the Treaty on the entry of the Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol into the Russian Federation was signed.
Historical justice has finally triumphed!

Brief history of Crimea

On the Crimean peninsula, as in a huge museum, many monuments of material culture from different eras have been preserved. Due to the abundance and diversity of material culture monuments, Crimea can serve as a kind of laboratory for studying human living conditions at different stages of its development.

Who owned Crimea?

1200 BC Cimmerians

650 BC Scythians

520 BC Greeks

450 BC Bosporan Kingdom

63 BC The Roman Empire

250 Goths

375 Gunas

400 Byzantium

717 Khazar Koganate

882 Pechenegs

988 Rus' (Tmutarakan Principality)

1091 Cumans

1239 Golden Horde

1441 Crimean Khanate

1475 Ottoman Empire

1783 Russian Empire

1917 Crimean People's Republic

1918 Soviet Socialist Republic of Tauris (RSFSR)

1918 German troops
1918 Crimean regional government
1918 Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic (RSFSR)
1919 White troops
1920 Red Army
1921 Crimean ASSR (USSR)

1941 German troops
1944 Crimean ASSR (USSR)

1946 Crimean region (RSFSR)
1954 Crimean region (Ukrainian SSR)
1991 Ukraine
2014 Russian Federation

Photos of beautiful places in Crimea

Only fragmentary finds indicate the presence of primitive man on the South Coast. These are primitive flint tools from hunting camps and cave sites of Paleolithic, Mesolithic and Neolithic people, the burial grounds of Gaspra, the Koshka Mountains near Simeiz and others dating back to the Early Iron Age. Scientists believe that the habitats of primitive people in Crimea were part of a vast zone of the current southern regions of Ukraine and Russia, where the formation of a person of the modern physical type took place and from where he settled around.

In the 11th-9th centuries BC, the coastal and mountainous parts of the peninsula were inhabited by pastoral-agricultural tribes of the Taurians, whose origin is not clear. Their main occupation was cattle breeding; in river valleys they were engaged in hoe farming, in coastal areas - fishing, and they used bronze and stone tools. A typical type of burial structures are stone boxes. The ancient Greek historian Herodotus was one of the first to give information about the Tauri and the area where they lived: “From here comes a mountainous country lying along the same sea. It extends into Pontus and is inhabited by the Tauri tribe up to the so-called Rocky Chersonesus... The Tauri live in part of Scythia...” Speaking about the customs of the Taurians, Herodotus gives a story about how “they sacrifice to the Virgin the shipwrecked sailors and all the Hellenes who are captured on the open sea...”. They threw them from the steep cliff on which the sanctuary stood.

This legend, dating back to ancient times, when Greek colonies were founded on the coast in the 6th-5th centuries BC, formed the basis of the world-famous ancient Greek myth about Iphigenia, sacrificed by her father Agamemnon to the goddess-hunter Artemis, so that under her patronage to begin the campaign against Troy. But the goddess on the altar replaced Iphigenia with a doe, and transported her on a cloud from Hellas to Tauris and made her her priestess here. The myth served as the plot for the tragedies of Euripides, the works of the Italian poet Giovanni Ruccellai, the French playwright Jean Racine, the German poet Johann Wolfgang Goethe, the German composer Christoph Gluck, and the Ukrainian poetess Lesya Ukrainka.

Archaeological scientists have been searching for centuries in Tauris for the place where, according to legend, Iphigenia served at the temple of the goddess Artemis. Researchers of the ancient history of Crimea name at least three places where the temple of the Virgin Artemis could have stood. This is, firstly, Partenit - a settlement near Ayudag. Its name is similar in sound and meaning to the name of Cape Perteniy (Maiden), on which, presumably, the temple of the Virgin stood. Secondly, the area near the former St. George Monastery, where an ancient stone column was once found. And, finally, such a place could be Chersonesus - a major economic, cultural and political center of the Northern Black Sea region in ancient times, the ruins of which are located today within the city of Sevastopol.

A female deity, personifying fertility, appears at an early stage of development among almost all peoples, including the Taurians. In ancient Chersonesus, the identification and religious syncretism (mixing) of the cult of the Greek goddess Artemis and Iphigenia with the cult of the local Taurus goddess probably took place. This goddess was called the Virgin in Chersonese, temples, statues and altars were built for her, special holidays were dedicated to her, she was declared the main patroness, and later the queen of the city. On the coins of Chersonesus, the goddess is depicted with the characteristic attributes of Artemis - a doe and a bow and the signature “Virgin”. To prove this assumption, scientists use a lot of graffiti found on black-glazed vessels from ancient Chersonesos. This important written source for the first time suggested that, along with the cult of the Virgin, an independent cult of Artemis existed in Chersonesos at the end of the 5th century BC. It was widespread in many cities of Asia Minor, from where it could penetrate into the Greek colonies of Crimea, as well as into areas of mainland and island Greece.

Careful studies of graffiti have led scientists to a new understanding of the creative history of the famous tragedy of Euripides. Until now, it was believed that the plot of Iphigenia’s transfer to Tauris was the poetic conjecture of the great tragedian. Now we can assume that the localization of events in Tauris was taken by Euripides from real life. The similarity between the name of the Tauri tribe and the nickname of Artemis - Tauropolis - could have played a certain role for Euripides. This seemed to connect the goddess with the Tauris of Crimea and explained why her temple was located here. On the other hand, when creating “Iphigenia in Tauris,” Euripides, as in other tragedies, could also be guided by current political and economic tasks.

When the Romans established themselves on the southern coast, they created fortified points on the coast to protect Chersonesus. Of the Roman fortifications, the largest was Charax on Cape Ai-Todor (now there is a lighthouse next to the Swallow's Nest). The fortification of Charax (in Greek “pillar”, “stake”, that is, “fenced place”) was founded in the 70s of the 1st century AD under the Roman emperor Vespasian. At the end of the century, there was a garrison of sailors from the Ravenna squadron; in the 2nd century, soldiers of the 1st Italian Legion were stationed here. The last Roman garrison of the fort consisted of soldiers of the XI Claudian Legion (late 2nd - first half of the 3rd century). These three periods in the history of Charax are evidenced by marks on bricks and tiles. After the Tauri, Scythians, Greeks and Romans, during the period of late antiquity and the Middle Ages, devastating invasions of the Crimea were carried out by the Huns, Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsians, Mongol-Tatars, Turks...These invasions are associated with increased movement of tribes, called the Great Migration. It began in Europe in the 3rd century and contributed to the collapse of the slave-owning Roman Empire. The main reason for this was the development of productive forces, which increased the need for pasture and arable land among European tribes, whose primitive communal system had entered the stage of decay.

The most noticeable and expressive monuments of that time are the Devil's Staircase, Gorzuvity, Ayudag, Aluston, Funa, Sudak. Here we find traces of not one, but several historical periods, and now tourists and excursionists can trace a long period of the history of Crimea.

The Devil's Staircase, or Shaitan-Merdven, is one of the few convenient passes across the Main Range of the Crimean Mountains, located 9 km west of the village of Opolznevoye. It is believed that the staircase passed through all the peoples who ever lived on the South Bank, including the Neolithic people, and existed as a road until the 40s of the 19th century, until the highway was built. “We climbed the mountain stairs on foot, holding our Tatar horses by the tail. This amused me extremely and seemed like some kind of mysterious Eastern rite,” Pushkin wrote, remembering the road from the South Bank to Bakhchisarai. A written memory of the Devil's Staircase was left by P.S. Pallas and F. Dubois de Montpere, A.S. Griboyedov and V.A. Zhukovsky, I.A. Bunin and N.G. Tarin-Mikhailovsky, Lesya Ukrainka and V.Ya. Bryusov...

The Byzantine historian of the 6th century, Procopius of Kessari, talks about the strengthening of Gorzuvita (Gurzuf) in his treatise “On Buildings”. “He erected two fortifications there, the so-called Alusta and in Gorzuviti,” the historian pays tribute to his contemporary, Emperor Justinian 1, who took care of the construction of the necessary fortresses “on the edge of the borders of the Roman state.”

Ayudag is translated as “Bear Mountain”. But in those distant times it was called Aya, which means “holy” in Greek. The bloody events of the Middle Ages drove people up the steep mountain. It is known that from the second half of the 8th century, icon worshipers, persecuted by the iconoclast government, began to move to the peninsula from the eastern regions of Byzantium. The appearance of a large number of monasteries in Taurica, around which settlements were grouped, is most likely associated with their activities. People who considered the mountain holy could be distant descendants of the Tauro-Scythians, who were first “Sarmatized” and then mixed with the descendants of the Greeks, Goths and Alans.

Aluston (Alusta) - this was the name of the seaside fortification in ancient times, the remains of which in the form of two stone towers were preserved in the center of modern Alushta. The fortification appeared under the Byzantine Emperor Justinian 1 in the middle of the 6th century and was intended to protect the coast and roads to the central part of the peninsula.

Another fortress of the Alushta Valley - Funa (in Greek, “smoky”) - is nestled near the Demerdzhi rocks, two kilometers from the present village of Luchistoye. It arose at the end of the 10th or beginning of the 11th century and served travelers to the sea on their way “to the Greeks.” An outstanding monument of Italian medieval architecture of the 13th-15th centuries is the Sudak fortress in the east of the South Coast, associated with the history of the struggle with Byzantium of the two largest Italian trading republics - Venice and Genoa - for the Black Sea trade routes and markets. The fortress was founded by the Byzantines; the settlement also played a big role in the international trade of Rus'.

In the 13th century, after the invasion of Crimea by the Mongol-Tatar hordes, the conquest of its steppe inhabitants, the Cumans (Kipchaks), and the destruction of urban settlements on the coast, Taurica became an ulus of the Golden Horde. The administrative center was the city of Crimea (now Old Crimea). Since the 14th century, the name Crimea spread to the entire peninsula, replacing the former name Tavrika. The northern, flat part of the peninsula was inhabited mainly by nomads. On the southern, coastal coast, a sedentary population dominated. The colonial cities and Genoese feudal castles scattered along the shores (there were about 40 of them) were the trading gates of the Golden Horde, where goods from many regions of Europe and Asia flocked. An important item of Genoese export was slaves. According to written sources, Italian merchants annually brought thousands of slaves to Cairo from Crimea. The Genoese stimulated predatory campaigns against Ukrainian, Russian and Polish lands, contributing to their devastation by nomads.

In the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate was founded. However, after the invasion of Crimea by Turkish troops in 1475, it lost its independence. Turkish aggression contributed to the fall of the Genoese colonies in Crimea, which resulted in the relocation of trade routes connecting the countries of the East with Western Europe. By the end of the 15th century, the main flow of eastern goods to Europe and European goods to Asia went through Egypt. The Black Sea lost its former significance as an important area of international trade for a long time.

Only the inclusion of Crimea into Russia in 1783 opened up new paths for economic and cultural development for the region. The 300-year vassal dependence of the Crimean Khanate on Turkey ended, all its possessions were annexed “under the Russian power,” which at the end of 1783 Turkey was forced to recognize. Russia established itself on the shores of the Black Sea.

On January 3, 1787, the train of Empress Catherine II left St. Petersburg for a long journey. Surrounded by a brilliant retinue and foreign envoys, the empress set off on an unusual journey for those times: she had to cover several thousand miles to reach the southern edges of the state, personally inspect the lands recently annexed to Russia, and then return to the capital. There were also very important political motives, for the sake of which Catherine the Great, forgetting about the difficulties and dangers of the long journey, about her already failing health, undertook the journey. It was necessary to demonstrate to the noble foreign guests and to the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, who then joined the royal train in Kherson - a wavering ally in the fight against Turkey - the increased power of Russia.

Türkiye did not want to accept the loss of undivided dominance in the Black Sea and was intensively preparing for a new war; The Russian government decided to urgently move two armies closer to the Turkish borders. And Catherine explained this most important purpose of her journey in the secret “Rescript of October 1786”: “The journey we are undertaking provides a very plausible opportunity to conceal for the time being the direct reasons for the movement of our troops.” And indeed, under the cover of the empress’s luxuriously arranged trip around the country, countless meetings and celebrations in her honor, a major redeployment of troops was secretly carried out, preparing Russia for the last war in the 18th century with Turkey, which ended in 1791 with the famous Treaty of Iasi.

At the direction of His Serene Highness Prince Grigory Alexandrovich Potemkin, preparations for the meeting of the Empress in Crimea began in October 1786. Along its entire route - Perekop - Bakhchisarai - Sevastopol - Baydary - Simferopol - Karasubazar - Eski - Crimea - Feodosia - Perekop - roads were improved, palaces were built, felt camping tents made there were expected from the Don. On May 17, 1787, we finally arrived at Perekop, and the journey across Crimea began, which Catherine the Great would later call the most precious pearl in the crown of the Russian Empire.

History has preserved invaluable evidence of Catherine II's stay in Tauris - this grandiose demonstration of Russia's determination to prevent the revival of the Crimean Khanate. The French envoy Count Segur wrote then: “We saw a formidable fleet in the harbor in battle order, built, armed and fully equipped in two years. The Empress was greeted with a volley of cannons, and their roar seemed to announce to Pontus Euxine that he had a mistress and that in no more than 30 hours Her ships could stand in front of Constantinople, and the banners of her army would flutter on its walls... It seemed incomprehensible to us how Thus, 2,000 miles from the capital, in the newly acquired region, Potemkin found the opportunity to build such a city, create a fleet, a fortified harbor and settle so many inhabitants, it was truly a feat of extraordinary activity.”

We must pay tribute to the objectivity of Joseph II. Being an observant man with a sharp mind and serious military knowledge, the Austrian emperor meticulously examined the new possessions of the Russian empress. He described his impressions of what he saw - sometimes very unflattering - in letters to Field Marshal Lassi. His opinion about Sevastopol, recorded after the parade of Russian military courts, is interesting: “It must be admitted that it was such a spectacle, which it would be difficult to wish for more beautiful. Sevastopol is the most beautiful port I have ever seen... Many houses, shops, barracks have already been built, and if they continue in this way in the next three years, then, of course, this city will become very prosperous. All this is very out of character for the French envoy, and he looks terribly puzzled... Judge, my dear marshal, to what unpleasant thoughts all this should lead my brother - the Commander of the Faithful, who can never be sure that these fellows will not appear, not now tomorrow, destroy his windows with cannon shots... The Empress is in an enthusiastic state about everything she sees, and at the thought of the new degree of greatness and power to which this is elevating the Russian empire. Prince Potemkin is currently omnipotent, and he is honored beyond all imagination.”

Indeed, Catherine fully appreciated the significance of the acquisition of Crimea and predicted prosperity for the new region. In addressed to P.D. She wrote to Eropkin in a letter from Bakhchisarai: “Those who disgraced the acquisition of this region with humiliation know very little about the value of things: both Kherson and Taurida will not only pay off over time, but one can hope that if St. Petersburg brings an eighth of the income of the empire, then the above-mentioned places will surpass barren places in fruits... With this acquisition, the fear of the Tatars disappears, whom Bakhmut, Ukraine and Elisavetgrad still remember with these thoughts to this day, and with considerable consolation, having written this to you, I go to bed today, seeing with my own eyes that I not the cause of harm, but the greatest benefit of his empire.”

So, by the end of the 18th century, Russia received wide access to the southern seas and the opportunity to explore and economically develop new lands. The Russian Academy of Sciences immediately organized several expeditions to Crimea, the task of which was to study the natural resources and climatic conditions of the new region, and the possibilities of its development.

However, initially the settlement of the region proceeded slowly: impassability, the desert of the southern coast of Crimea, the unusual climate and, most importantly, the hostile attitude of the local population hampered it. The latter was noted by the Austrian Emperor Joseph 1: “Whatever the empress does for the local population and what benefits she does not provide them, there is not a single one, especially among the elderly, who would not be glad to leave under the new government.”

Resettlement to the southern coast of Crimea on the initiative of Prince G.A. Potemkin of the so-called “Archipelago Greeks”, the formation of the Balaklava battalion from them quickly stabilized the situation. These Orthodox inhabitants of the islands of the Aegean Sea, who invariably supported Russia in its struggle against Turkish rule, were distinguished by their extraordinary fearlessness and steadfastness against a numerically superior enemy. In gratitude for their faithful service to the Russian crown, Catherine II generously endowed them with lands on the South Coast and provided all sorts of benefits, as she was convinced that only they would be able to guard the shores of Crimea in a mountainous area crowded with hostile Muslims.

The “Archipelagians” guarded the Southern Coast from Balaklava to Feodosia; some of the beautiful palace and park ensembles that later became famous, estates were built on lands acquired from officers and soldiers of the Balaklava battalion. These are, for example, Lower and Upper Oreanda, Livadia, Kuchuk-Lambat and others. For the purpose of economic development of the coast and the entire region, the tsarist government distributed to Russian landowners “about 350 thousand acres of land that previously belonged to the Sultan, khans and beys and murzas who fled to Turkey. Serious steps were taken to populate Crimea, build roads, cities and fortresses, and develop sheep breeding, gardening, viticulture, and winemaking. In 1804 in Sudak, and in 1828 in Magarach near Yalta, state educational institutions of winemaking and viticulture were opened, and in 1812 the Nikitsky Botanical Garden was founded. Salt and fisheries arose. The study of the history of Crimea and its nature began.

In Yalta, Livadia, Gaspra, Koreiz, Miskhor, Alupka, Simeiz, in Karasansky Park, in Utes, in the Workers' Corner, ancient palaces and villas have been preserved - architectural monuments of the past and the beginning of this century, erected by large land and industrial magnates of Russia. The hands of talented serf craftsmen, Russian, Ukrainian and Tatar folk craftsmen created magnificent palaces and laid out magnificent gardens and parks. The interiors of the mansions were also furnished with extraordinary luxury. Furniture and paintings, tapestries and sculpture, porcelain and bronze created a unique style of Russian estate culture. Many palaces and dachas were built according to the designs of famous architects and were countryside residences for the nobility.

The economic development of the coast required the construction of a pass road to the South Coast. It began to be built in 1824 in Simferopol and two years later it was brought to Alushta. In the 30s, the highway connected Alushta with Yalta, and in 1843 it reached the Baydar Valley. A unique monument to the builders of the road is the Baydar Gate, built in 1848.

At the end of the 18th century, estates of the Russian nobility appeared on the South Coast: N. Mordvinov in Yalta, M. Borozdin in Partenit, G. Potemkin in Foros, E. Richelieu in Gurzuf and others. Then the development of the Southern Coast began, which continued until the Crimean War. It was then that the huge estates of Count M.S. were built. Vorontsov in Alupka and Massandra, Count L.S. Pototsky in Livadia, princes Golitsyn in Koreiz and Gaspra.

Of the Romanovs, Emperor Alexander 1 was the first to acquire an estate on the South Bank. During a visit to the south of Russia in the tragic autumn of 1825 for him, shortly before his death in Taganrog, he wished to visit the governor of the Novorossiysk region M.S. in Crimea. Vorontsova. On the way from Yalta to the count's estate in Alupka, the emperor stopped in a place with the charming name Oreanda, where he “had lunch with many guests in a simple hut.” Oreanda charmed Alexander 1, he immediately decided to purchase a large plot of land for himself and, since it had long been decided to retire from business, settle here in Crimea, and lead a simple, secluded life. By his nature, not destined for the great mission of being the head of a huge and complex state, Alexander 1, as some of his biographers noted, was internally burdened by his fate. The great events and wars that then engulfed Europe shocked him, and after 1814 he increasingly fell into extreme religiosity and mysticism.

Part of Oreanda, acquired by Alexander personally for himself, later became known as Lower Oreanda, and Upper Oreanda was an estate he bought as a gift to his friend, Field Marshal General Count I.I. Dibich-Zabalkansky. There was another Oreanda - the so-called Oreanda-Vitta - a small piece of land below Mount Khachla-Kayasy, next to Upper Oreanda. In the early 1830s, the plot was acquired by Count I. I. Vitt, from whom it then passed to Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the wife of Nicholas 1’s younger brother, Grand Duke Mikhail Pavlovich.After the death of Alexander 1 and his wife, the estate of Nizhnyaya Oreanda (hereinafter Oreanda) was inherited by Nicholas 1.Further development of the Southern Coast of Crimea should be mainly associated with the purchase in 1860 of the large estate “Livadia” from the heiresses of Count Potocki for Alexander II. The very fact of the founding of a large summer royal residence near Yalta played a big role in the development of the city and the entire coast as a first-class all-Russian resort.

After the Crimean War of 1853-1856, the court nobility, senior tsarist officials, landowners and capitalists rushed to the south. Over the course of two or three decades, the entire South Coast is covered with palaces and dachas. Plots of coastal land are turning into objects of speculation. Representatives of the nobility considered it a sign of “higher class” to vacation in Crimea at a time when the Tsar was vacationing there. Large capitalists and merchants tried to keep up with the princes and barons.

With the reforms of the 60-70s of the 19th century, many energetic and enterprising people appeared in the country who found themselves in construction, trade, and industry. Crimea attracted them not only with the opportunity to find application for their abilities, but also to subsequently settle in this fertile region.

The 19th and early 20th centuries were the time when magnificent palace and park ensembles appeared on the South Coast. The talent of outstanding architects, builders and gardeners, combined with the exquisite taste of customers, created Oreanda, Livadia, Dulber, Kharaks, Ai-Todor, Chair, which once belonged to the reigning Romanov dynasty. Leading people of Russia - pioneers of climate therapy V.N. Dmitriev, F.T. Shtangeev, A.A. Bobrov, P.V. Izergin, A.N. Aleksin - believed in the great future of Crimea as a resort. Clinician Botkin predicted: “As a hospital station, Crimea, in my opinion, has a great future... Over time, Crimea will become significantly higher than the Swiss resort of Montreux.”

Soviet power in Crimea was established in December 1917 - January 1918. Sevastopol became the first Crimean city where a new government was established on December 16. Following this, the counter-revolutionary forces were defeated and Soviet power was established in Feodosia, Kerch, Yalta, Alushta, and Simferopol. This happened January 2-16, 1918. But already in April 1918, German troops occupied the peninsula. Power passed back into the hands of the Military Revolutionary Committee in April 1919. But the position of the newly born republic was complicated by the acute military-political situation in the south of the country. In June 1919, the White Guards landed from Sudak from English and French warships, and a few days later Crimea fell under the rule of the White Guards and interventionists, who were ended only in November 1920.

On April 4, 1919, the “Decree of the Council of People’s Commissars on medicinal areas of national importance” was signed, according to which “medical areas or resorts, wherever they are located on the territory of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and whoever belongs to them, with all structures, structures and movable property, previously served the resort and are located on lands annexed and registered to the resort, constitute the property of the Republic and are used for medicinal purposes.” This was the first document that announced the nationalization of resorts and predetermined the basic principles of organizing sanatorium-resort care and recreation in the country for many years. He first proclaimed the right to health care in the most difficult days for the republic, at the height of the civil war, devastation, epidemics and famine.

On December 21, 1920, the decree “On the use of Crimea for the treatment of workers” was signed. The main headquarters of the large organizational work on the creation of Crimean resorts was the Central Administration of Resorts of Crimea (CDCC). It determined where and what kind of health resorts to open, how to equip them, and took care of the supply of food, fuel, and transportation of the sick.Efforts to form a health resort were closely related to the development of the national economy of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic created on the peninsula in October 1921 (Crimean Region in 1945-1991; autonomous republic recreated in February 1991).

The network of south coast resorts grew from year to year. Already in 1924, over 37 thousand people were treated and rested here. In 1925, in Livadia, on the former royal estate, the country's first peasant sanatorium with 300 beds was opened, under Bear Mountain - the All-Union sanatorium pioneer camp "Artek". The newly built sanatoriums “Dolossy”, “Kurpaty”, “Golden Beach”, “Sosnyak” came into operation.

Until the Great Patriotic War, the South Coast was primarily a resort for tuberculosis patients. In 1922, the State Institute of Tuberculosis was opened in Yalta, which became one of the centers where the foundations of pulmonary surgery were laid. In research conducted within the walls of this scientific institution and at the Institute of Physical Methods of Treatment named after I.M. Sechenov, created in 1914 in Sevastopol and then transferred to Yalta, reflected the main stages of development and successes of physiotherapy and balneology. The institutes studied natural factors and their effects on the body, developed the most rational methods of their use for the treatment and prevention of pulmonary, nervous, cardiovascular, kidney and other diseases, and provided organizational, methodological, advisory and scientific assistance to the country's sanatorium and resort institutions.

By the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, the southern coastal resorts faced the question of moving to a higher level of medical care. Plans were prepared for resort renovations and new construction. The war prevented their implementation.

Crimea became the scene of fierce battles with the Nazis on land, in the air and at sea. At the beginning of November 1941, the invaders occupied the South Coast. The heroic defense of Sevastopol lasted 250 days. In the east of Crimea in the winter of 1941-1942, a large Kerch-Feodosia landing operation of Soviet troops was carried out. The immortal feat was written into the chronicle of the Great Patriotic War on Crimean soil by the defenders of the underground garrison of the Adzhimushkai quarries near Kerch.

In 1943-1944, battles broke out on Perekop, the shores of Sivash and the Kerch Peninsula. Crimea was liberated from fascist invaders in the spring of 1944. The troops of the 2nd Guards Army and the 51st Army of the 4th Ukrainian Front advanced from Perekop and Sivash, and the Separate Primorsky Army struck from a small bridgehead on the Kerch Peninsula.

On the morning of April 2, Kerch was liberated, and on the same day, bombers and attack aircraft of the Black Sea Fleet appeared over Yalta, striking at fascist transport. On April 13, Soviet troops liberated Simferopol, Feodosia, reached the Sudak region, and on April 16, developing an offensive along the coast, captured Alushta, Gurzuf, Yalta, Alupka and approached the Sevastopol line.

Through the mountains to the sea with a light backpack. Route 30 passes through the famous Fisht - this is one of the most grandiose and significant natural monuments of Russia, the highest mountains closest to Moscow. Tourists travel lightly through all the landscape and climatic zones of the country from the foothills to the subtropics, spending the night in shelters.

From time to time, so-called hot spots arise in world geopolitics. The history of such confrontations sometimes goes into such depth and is overgrown with myths and speculations, on which certain political forces begin all kinds of speculation.
The events that took place in Ukraine just a few days ago created another such pain point - Crimea.

Crimea in ancient and ancient times

According to ancient sources, the very first inhabitants of Crimea were the Cimmerians. The memory of them is preserved in the toponymy of some names of the eastern part of the peninsula.
In the middle of the 7th century BC. The Cimmerians were supplanted by the Scythians.
The Tauri lived in the foothills and mountains of Crimea, as well as along the southern coast of the sea. This nationality gave the name to this territory - Tavria.
Since the 5th century BC. The Crimean coast was explored by the Greeks. They settled the Greek colonies, built city-states - Kerch, Feodosia.
The Sarmatians began to penetrate more and more from the steppes into the territory of Crimea, who significantly displaced the Scythian state, which in the 3rd century. already AD was destroyed by the Gothic tribes advancing from the western regions.
But in the 4th century, the Goths were swept away by a mighty wave of the Huns and went to the mountainous regions of Crimea. Gradually they mixed with the descendants of the Tauri and Scythians.

Crimea - possessions of Byzantium

Since the 6th century, Crimea came under the influence of Byzantium. The Byzantine emperors began to strengthen the existing fortresses and build up new ones in Taurida in order to protect themselves from the raids of the nomadic steppes. This is how Alushta, Gurzuf and other fortifications appear.
Starting from the 2nd half of the 7th century and until the middle of the 9th century, the territory of Crimea, without Chersonesos, is called Khazaria in all Western European sources.
In the 9th century, the weakened Byzantium tried to maintain its influence in Crimea, transforming it into its own theme, but was unable to exercise real control over the entire territory. Hungarian tribes and later Pechenegs invade Crimea.
In the 10th century, the Khazar Khaganate ceased to exist as a result of the victory of the Russian squads and became part of the Old Russian state. The Kiev prince Vladimir occupies Chersonesos, which will henceforth be called Korsun, and accepts Christianity from the hands of the Byzantine Church.
Until the 12th century, Crimea was officially considered Byzantine territory, although most of it had already been captured by the Cumans.

Crimea and the Golden Horde

From the 13th century to the mid-15th century, the peninsula was actually under the influence of the Golden Horde. The Mongols call it Crimea. The population is divided into nomadic, living in the steppe regions, and sedentary, who have mastered the mountainous part and the southern coast. Former Greek city-states turned into centers of Genoese trade.
The Golden Horde khans founded the city of Bakhchisarai as the capital of the Crimean Khanate.

Crimea and the Ottoman Empire

The collapse of the Golden Horde allowed the Ottoman Empire to capture Crimea, defeat the eternal enemies of the Genoese, and make the Crimean Khanate its protectorate.
From now on, the Crimean peninsula is a constant source of threats to the Moscow, later Russian state and Ukraine. The main population during this period consisted of sedentary Tatars, who would later be called Crimean Tatars.
It took several centuries to eliminate this center of infestation of Russian and Ukrainian people. The result of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-74 was the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace Treaty of 1774, according to which the Turks renounced their claims to Crimea. The Crimean peninsula became part of the Russian Empire.

Annexation of Crimea to Russia

The annexation of Crimea to Russia took place according to the Manifesto of Empress Catherine II of April 8, 1783. After 8 months, the Ottoman Porte agreed to the fact of annexation. The Tatar nobility and clergy took a solemn oath of allegiance to Catherine. A large number of the Tatar population moved to Turkey, and Crimea began to be populated by immigrants from Russia, Poland, and Germany.
The rapid development of industry and trade in Crimea begins. New cities of Sevastopol and Simferopol are being built.

Crimea as part of the RSFSR

The Russian Civil War makes Crimea a stronghold for the White Army and a territory where power periodically passes from one government to another.
In November 1917, the Crimean People's Republic was proclaimed.
It was replaced for only two months by the Soviet Socialist Republic of Taurida as part of the RSFSR.
In April 1918, German troops, parts of the UPR army, and Tatar police liquidated Soviet power.
During the occupation of Crimea by German troops, the autonomous Crimean regional government of Suleiman Sulkevich operated.
It was replaced by a government formed by the governments of the Entente.
The short-term Soviet government, just three months, created the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic.
She was replaced from July 1919 to November 1920 by the Government of the South of Russia.
The victory of the Red Army in 1920 included Crimea into the RSFSR.
During the Great Patriotic War, Crimea was occupied by German troops. After its liberation by the Red Army in 1944, interethnic contradictions sharply worsened. Crimean Tatars, Armenians, Greeks, and Bulgarians were evicted due to the fact that a large number of representatives of these peoples participated voluntarily on the side of the German occupiers.

Ukrainian Crimea

On February 19, 1954, in honor of the 300th anniversary of the annexation of Ukraine to Russia, the Crimean region was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR.
According to the results of the referendum of January 20, 1991 on the re-establishment of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic, the overwhelming majority, 93.26%, voted positively.
On this basis, on February 12, 1991, the Supreme Council of Ukraine adopted the law “On the restoration of the Crimean ASSR” and amended the 1978 Constitution of the Ukrainian SSR.
On September 4, 1991, the Supreme Council of Crimea adopted the Declaration of the state sovereignty of the republic as a legal democratic state within the Ukrainian SSR.
The referendum on Ukrainian independence, held on December 1, 1991, was supported by 54% of Crimean residents. Legally, this referendum was held in violation of the article of the USSR Law on the withdrawal of a union republic from the USSR. The Crimean ASSR had to hold its own referendum on the issue of staying in the USSR or the Ukrainian SSR.
In May 1992, the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea was adopted and the post of president was introduced. As Leonid Kravchuk, the then president of Ukraine, later recalled, official Kyiv did not rule out military action against the Republic of Crimea.
In March 1995, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine abolished the 1992 constitution and institution of the President of the Republic of Crimea.
In 1998, the Verkhovna Rada of the Republic of Crimea adopted a new Constitution.

Modern events

As a result of the victory of Euromaidan, separatist sentiments intensified in Crimea.

On February 23, 2014, instead of the Ukrainian flag, the Russian flag was raised over the city hall of Kerch. This was followed by the massive removal of Ukrainian flags in other cities of Crimea.
On February 26, a mass rally took place in Simferopol, which ended in a brawl between representatives of the Russian and Tatar communities of Crimea.
The Cossacks of Feodosia sharply criticized the new government of Kyiv. They were supported by the residents of Evpatoria.
The people's head of Sevastopol refused to comply with Kyiv's order to dissolve Berkut.
On February 27, 2014, a meeting of the Crimean parliament was held, which dismissed former Prime Minister Anatoly Mogilev and elected the head of the Russian Unity party, Sergei Aksenov, as Prime Minister of Crimea.
On February 28, 2014, the new government of Crimea was introduced. The government considers the main task to be holding a referendum on expanding autonomy.