The peoples of Crimea in ancient times. Who lived in Crimea before the appearance of the Tatars

Soldiers Civil War

Years of the Civil War 1917 - 1922

Beginning of the Civil War

In all honesty, one should, however, admit that the seizure of power by the Bolsheviks and the several months after that were a relatively peaceful time. Three or four hundred who died in the uprising in Moscow and several dozen during the dispersal of the Constituent Assembly are small things compared to the millions of victims of the “real” Civil War. So there is confusion about the start date of the Civil War. Historians call different

— 1917, October 25-26 (old style) - Ataman Kaledin announced non-recognition of the Bolshevik power

On behalf of the “Don Military Government” he dispersed the councils in the Don Army Region and declared that he did not recognize the usurpers and did not submit to the Council of People’s Commissars. Many dissatisfied with the Bolsheviks rushed to the Don Army Region: civilians, cadets, high school students and students..., generals and senior officers Denikin, Lukomsky, Nezhentsev...

The call sounded “to everyone who is ready to save the Fatherland.” On November 27, Alekseev voluntarily handed over command of the Volunteer Army to Kornilov, who had experience in combat operations. Alekseev himself was a staff officer. From that time on, the “Alekseevskaya Organization” officially received the name of the Volunteer Army

The Constituent Assembly opened on January 5 (Old Art.) in the Tauride Palace in Petrograd. The Bolsheviks had only 155 votes out of 410, so on January 6 Lenin ordered not to allow the opening of the second meeting of the Assembly (the first ended on January 6 at 5 a.m.)

Since 1914, the Allies have supplied Russia with weapons, ammunition, ammunition, and equipment. Cargoes traveled the northern route by sea. The ships were unloaded into warehouses. After the October events, the warehouses required protection so that they would not be captured by the Germans. When World War ended, the British went home. However, March 9 has since been considered the beginning of the intervention - the military intervention of Western countries in the Civil War in Russia

In 1916, the Russian command formed a corps of 40,000 bayonets from captured Czechs and Slovaks, former soldiers of Austria-Hungary. In 1918, the Czechs, not wanting to participate in the Russian showdown, demanded to be returned to their homeland in order to fight for the independence of Czechoslovakia from the power of the Habsburgs. Austria-Hungary's ally Germany, with which peace had already been signed, objected. They decided to send Chekhov to Europe via Vladivostok. But the trains moved slowly, or stopped altogether (50 of them were needed). So the Czechs rebelled, dispersed the councils along their route from Penza to Irkutsk, which was immediately taken advantage of by the forces opposing the Bolsheviks

Causes of the Civil War

— Dispersal by the Bolsheviks of the Constituent Assembly, the work and decisions of which, in the opinion of the liberal-minded public, could send Russia along a democratic path of development
— Dictatorial policies of the Bolshevik Party
— Change of elite

The Bolsheviks, putting into practice the slogan of destroying the old world to the ground, willingly or unwillingly, set about destroying the elite of Russian society, which had ruled the country for 1000 years since the time of Rurik.
After all, these are fairy tales that history is made by the people. The people are brute force, a stupid, irresponsible crowd, expendable material that is used for their own benefit by certain movements.
History is made by the elite. She comes up with ideology, shapes public opinion, sets the vector of development for the state. Having encroached on the privileges and traditions of the elite, the Bolsheviks forced it to defend itself and fight

— Economic policy of the Bolsheviks: establishment of state ownership of everything, monopoly of trade and distribution, surplus appropriation
— Elimination of civil liberties proclaimed
— Terror, repression against the so-called exploiting classes

Civil War participants

: workers, peasants, soldiers, sailors, part of the intelligentsia, armed detachments of national outskirts, mercenary, mainly Latvian, regiments. Tens of thousands of officers of the tsarist army fought as part of the Red Army, some voluntarily, some mobilized. Many peasants and workers were also mobilized, that is, they were forcibly drafted into the army
: officers tsarist army, cadets, students, Cossacks, intellectuals, and other representatives of the “exploiting part of society.” The Whites also did not hesitate to establish mobilization laws on the conquered territory. Nationalists advocating the independence of their peoples
: gangs of anarchists, criminals, unprincipled lumpen people who robbed and fought in a specific territory against everyone.
: defended against surplus appropriation

Every self-respecting person tries to study the past. Possessing such a wealth of knowledge, we can draw conclusions about the phenomena and processes that occurred in a certain territory. In addition, they say that a happy future can be built only after realizing the mistakes of our ancestors.

Understanding the life and activities of people who lived many years ago is also an incredibly exciting experience. All peoples, ethnic groups, and countries that have ever existed are interesting in their own way. A special place in science is occupied by the history of Crimea - a beautiful peninsula that has more than once become the cause of disagreements between different tribes and states.

Chronological information on ancient Crimea:

1) Paleolithic in the history of Crimea:
From 5 million years ago to the middle of the 9th millennium BC.
It includes:
Lower (early) Paleolithic periods:
- Olduvai, from 5-7 million years ago to 700 thousand years ago;
- Acheulian, about 700 - 100 thousand years ago.
Middle (Mousterian) Paleolithic: from 100 to 40 thousand years BC.
Upper (late) Paleolithic, from 35 thousand years to 9 thousand years BC.

2) Mesolithic in the history of Crimea: from the end of 9 to 6 thousand years BC.

3) Neolithic in the history of Crimea: from 5 to early 4 thousand years BC.

4) Chalcolithic in the history of Crimea: from the middle of 4 to 3 thousand years BC.

The history of the appearance of the first people
on the territory of ancient Crimea, their appearance and habitat

However, the question of the existence of the peninsula itself remains open. In 1996, American geologists from Columbia University published a scientifically based proposal that ancient Crimea was part of the land mass until approximately 5600 BC. e. They argued that the Great Flood described in the Bible was the result of a breakthrough Mediterranean Sea, after which 155,000 square meters were under water. km. territory of the planet, the Sea of ​​Azov and the Crimean Peninsula appeared. This version is either confirmed or refuted again. But it seems quite plausible.

Be that as it may, science knows that 300-250 thousand years ago Neanderthals already lived in Crimea. They chose the caves of the foothills. Unlike the Pithecanthropes, who apparently settled only on the South Coast, these people also occupied the eastern part of the present peninsula. To date, scientists have been able to study about ten sites that belonged to the Acheulean era (early Paleolithic): Chernopolye, Shary I-III, Tsvetochnoye, Bodrak I-III, Alma, Bakla, etc.

Among those Neanderthal sites of ancient Crimea that are known to historians, the most popular is Kiik-Koba, located near the river. Zuya. Its age is 150-100 thousand years.

There is another witness on the way from Feodosia to Simferopol early history Crimea - the Wolf Grotto site. It arose in the Middle Paleolithic era (Mousterian) and belonged to a type of man who was not yet Cro-Magnon, but also differed from Pithecanthropus.

Other similar dwellings are also known. For example, at Cape Meganom near Sudak, in Kholodnaya Balka, Chokurcha in the Simferopol region, a cave near Mount Ak-Kaya near Belogorsk, sites in the Bakhchisarai region (Staroselye, Shaitan-Koba, Kobazi).

The Middle Paleolithic period of the history of Crimea is characterized by the development of the southern coast of the territory of the modern peninsula, its mountainous part and foothills.

Neanderthals were short and had relatively short legs. When walking, they slightly bent their knees and spread their lower limbs. The brow ridges of people from the ancient Stone Age hung over their eyes. The presence of a heavy lower jaw, which almost no longer protruded, suggests the beginning of the development of speech.

After the Neanderthals, Cro-Magnons appeared in the Late Paleolithic era 38 thousand years ago. They were more similar to us, had a high forehead without an overhanging ridge, and a protruding chin, which is why they are called people of the modern type. There are Cro-Magnon sites in the river valley. Belbek, on Karabi-yayla and above the river. Kacha. Ancient Crimea of the Late Paleolithic era was a completely inhabited territory.

End of 9-6 thousand BC e. in history it is usually called the Mesolithic era. Then ancient Crimea acquires more modern features. Scientists know many sites that can be attributed to this time. In the mountainous part of the peninsula these are Laspi, Murzak-Koba VII, Fatma-Koba, etc.

Vishennoye I and Kukrek are the most famous historical monuments of the Mesolithic era in the Crimean steppe.

The Neolithic period occurs between 5500 and 3200 BC. BC e. The New Stone Age in ancient Crimea was marked by the beginning of the use of clay kitchen utensils. At the very end of the era, the first metal products appeared. To date, about fifty open-type Neolithic sites have been studied. During this period in the history of Crimea, there were much fewer dwellings located in grottoes. The most famous settlements are Dolinka in the steppe part of the peninsula and Tash-Air I in the mountains.

From the middle of 4 thousand BC. e. the ancient inhabitants of the peninsula began to use copper. This period is called the Chalcolithic. It was relatively short-lived, smoothly transitioned into the Bronze Age, but was marked by a number of mounds and sites (for example, Gurzuf, Laspi I in the south, Druzhnoe and the last layer of Fatma-Koba in the mountainous Crimea). The so-called “shell heaps”, which are located on the coastline from Sudak to the Black Sea, also belong to the Copper-Stone era. The area of ​​farmers of that time was the Kerch Peninsula, the valley of the river. Salgir, northwestern Crimea.

Tools and the first weapons in ancient Crimea

The people who inhabited ancient Crimea first used stone axes. 100-35 thousand years ago they began to make flint and obsidian flakes, and made objects from stone and wood, for example, axes. The Cro-Magnons realized that they could sew using crushed bones. Neoanthropes (people of the Late Paleolithic era) hunted with spears and pointed points, invented scrapers, throwing rods, and harpoons. A spear thrower appeared.

The greatest achievement of the Mesolithic was the development of the bow and arrow. Found to date a large number of microliths, which were used in this era as spearheads, arrows, etc. In connection with the advent of individual hunting, traps for animals were invented.

In the Neolithic, tools made of bones and flint were improved. Rock art makes it clear that pastoralism and agriculture prevailed over hunting. Ancient Crimea of ​​this period of history began to live a different life, hoes, plows, sickles with silicon inserts, tiles for grinding grain, and yokes appeared.

At the beginning of the Eneolithic, the ancient Crimeans were already thoroughly processing stone. At the dawn of the era, even copper tools repeated the shape of pre-existing stone products.

Life, religion and culture of the inhabitants of ancient Crimea

People of the Paleolithic era initially led a wandering lifestyle, they were like a primitive herd. The consanguineous community appeared in the Mousterian period. Each tribe had from 50 to 100 or more members. Active relationships within such social group gave rise to the development of speech. Hunting and gathering were the main activities of the first inhabitants of Crimea. In the Late Paleolithic, the driven method of hunting appeared, and neoanthropes began to fish.

Hunting magic gradually arose, and in the Middle Paleolithic the ritual of burying the dead arose.

From the cold climate we had to hide in caves. In Kiik-Kobe, scientists found ash that remained after a fire. There, right inside the primitive house, the burial of a woman and a one-year-old child was discovered. There was a spring nearby.

As the weather warmed, the usual cold-loving animals disappeared. Mammoths, woolly rhinoceros, steppe bison, musk ox, giant deer, lions, and hyenas were replaced by previously unknown small representatives of the fauna. The shortage of food forced us to think about new ways of obtaining food. As the mental abilities of the inhabitants of ancient Crimea developed, weapons that were revolutionary for that time appeared.

With the emergence of the Cro-Magnon man, the family structure of the inhabitants of ancient Crimea changed - the basis interpersonal relationships becomes a tribal matriarchal community. The descendants of the cave dwellers began to settle on the plains. New houses were built from bones and branches. They looked like huts and half-dugouts. Therefore, in case of bad weather, they often had to return to the caves, where cult worship was also held. Cro-Magnons still lived large births approximately 100 people each. Incest was prohibited; in order to get married, men went to another community. As before, the dead were buried in grottoes and caves, and things that were used during life were placed next to them. Red and yellow ocher were found in the graves. The dead were tied up. In the Late Paleolithic there was a cult of the female mother. Art immediately appeared. Rock paintings of animals and the ritual use of their skeletons indicate the emergence of animism and totemism.

Mastering the bow and arrow made it possible to go on individual hunts. The inhabitants of ancient Crimea of ​​the Mesolithic era began to engage in gathering more actively. At the same time, they began to domesticate dogs and built pens for young wild goats, horses and wild boars. Art manifested itself in rock art and miniature sculpture. They began to interred the dead, tying them up in a crouched position. The burials were oriented to the East.

In the Neolithic era, in addition to the main dwellings, there were temporary sites. They were built for the season, mainly in the steppe, and with the arrival of cold weather they hid in the caves of the foothills. The villages consisted of wooden houses, still similar to huts. Characteristic feature This period in the history of ancient Crimea is the emergence of agriculture and cattle breeding.

This process was called the “Neolithic revolution”. Since then, pigs, goats, sheep, horses and cattle have become domesticated animals. In addition, the ancestors of modern man gradually learned to sculpt pottery. It was rough, but it made it possible to fulfill basic economic needs. Already at the end of the Neolithic, thin-walled pots with ornaments appeared. Barter trade was born.

During the excavations, a burial was found, a real cemetery, where the dead were buried year after year, first sprinkled with red ocher, decorated with beads made of bones, and deer teeth. The study of funeral gifts made it possible to conclude that the patriarchal system was emerging: there were fewer objects in women’s graves. However, the Neolithic Crimean people still worshiped the female deities of the Virgin Huntress and the Goddess of Fertility.

With the advent of the Eneolithic, life in ancient Crimea changed radically - houses with adobe floors and fireplaces appeared. Stone was already used for their construction. Over time, cities grew and fortifications were erected. Wall art became more common, tricolors were found on boxes of that time in which ashes were buried geometric patterns. Mysterious vertical steles - menhirs - are a phenomenon of the Crimean Eneolithic, probably a cult place. In Europe this is how they worshiped the Sun.

Where are the archaeological finds representing ancient Crimea stored?

Many archaeological finds ancient Crimea are preserved in Simferopol in the form of exhibits of the Crimean Republican Museum of Local Lore.

In the Bakhchisarai Historical and Architectural Museum you can see world-famous flint products, molded utensils and tools from the Eneolithic period.

To explore the variety of artifacts of ancient Crimea, it is worth visiting Evpatoria local history museum, Kerch Historical and Archaeological Museum, museums of Yalta, Feodosia and others settlements peninsula.

The history of Crimea from the Paleolithic in the form of numerous tools, various dishes, clothing, weapons, monoliths and other ancient objects is a kind of journey into the world of our ancestors.

Be sure to visit the museums of Crimea!

INLIGHT

IN last years, after the return of the Tatars from deportation, interethnic and interregional relations on the Crimean Peninsula worsened. The basis of the conflict is a dispute: whose land is this and who is indigenous to Crimea? First, let's define who historical and ethnographic sciences classify as indigenous peoples. The Encyclopedia gives this answer:

An indigenous people is an ethnic group that has mastered a territory that was not inhabited by anyone before.

Now let’s trace the changes in Crimean ethnogenesis (the emergence of various peoples), although this will not be a complete picture, but nevertheless it is impressive. So, they lived in Crimea at different times.

About 300 thousand years ago – primitive people(Early Paleolithic); tools for labor and hunting were found at sites on the South Coast.

About 100 thousand years ago- primitive people ( Middle Paleolithic); more than 20 human sites are known: Kiik-Koba, Staroselye, Chokurcha, Shaitan-Koba, Akkaya, Zaskalnaya, Prolom, Kobazi, Wolf Grotto, etc.; religion - animism.

40-35 thousand years ago- People Upper Paleolithic; religion - totemism; 4 sites were found, including Suren I.

12th-10th millennium– people of the Mesolithic (Middle Stone Age); more than 20 sites were found throughout Crimea: Shankoba, Fatmakoba, Alimov canopy, Kachinsky canopy, etc.; religion - totemism.

8th millennium– Neolithic (New Stone Age) people; Kemi-Oba culture (Tashair); religion - totemism.

5th millennium (Bronze Age) – the arrival of the tribes of the “Catacomb” and “Srubnaya” cultures in Crimea (burials in mounds).

Existence different cultures did not pass without a trace for them - they undoubtedly influenced each other, changed and enriched, and perhaps merged, giving rise to new cultures. Perhaps this was the beginning of the culture of the Cimmerians (alien tribes) and the culture of the Taurians (local tribes):

3rd millennium BC(Iron Age) – Cimmeria, Cimmerians – warlike people, Indo-Aryans are people of the European type; their distribution area: the south of modern Russia, Ukraine, the North Caucasus, Crimea; religion – polytheism. They lived in the valleys. Most likely, they brought the ability to mine and process iron to Crimea.

X century BC- Tavria, Tavrika, Tauris, Taurians (they can only be called a single people with a certain stretch; rather, they are a conglomerate of various tribes: Arichs, Napei, Sinkhs, etc.) They lived in the mountains, were engaged in agriculture, cattle breeding, hunting, fishing; their burials have been preserved - dolmens and fortifications: Uch-Bash, on Cape Kharaks, on Mount Castel Seraus, Koshka, Karaul-oba, on the rocks of the Kachin Gate, Ai-Yori and in the Karalez Valley; religion - the cult of the Virgin and other gods.

These tribes were united by one name by the Greeks, who were already visiting the Crimean shores in those days. It is not clear why they called them that: either because of their ferocious disposition, or because of their countless herds (“tauros” is a bull from Greek), or this word meant “highlanders” (taurus-tur-mountain)…

VII-VI centuries BC- Greeks. Chersonese Tauride, Cimmerian Bosporus on the shores of the Pontus Euxine (Black Sea) and Maeotis (Sea of ​​Azov). The Greeks founded these two states, as well as hundreds of settlements along the coast; religion - polytheism, Pantheon of Olympian gods led by Zeus (Cronos); from the 1st century AD – gradual Christianization; The Greeks were the first in Crimea to begin trading local slaves “for export” (how, by the way, could the Tauri, and then the Scythians, treat them, because they didn’t even consider them people?)

VIII-VII centuries BC– Scythia, Scythians (Skolot), Sindians, Meotians, Sakas, Massagetae and other Indo-Iranian nomadic tribes, which practically displaced the Cimmerians from the Crimean expanses and gradually became settled in vast territories (the capital of Scythia was near modern Nikopol, and the second - in the Crimea (Simferopol) – Scythian Naples, built in the 3rd century BC) Religion – polytheism. Pantheon of gods led by Popeye.

An eternal and irresistible process mutual influence and the mixing of peoples led to the fact that in the first centuries of our era the Tauri were no longer separated from the Scythians, but were called Tauro-Scythians, and some of the Scythian settlements mixed with Greek ones (for example, the Tatars already in the 13th century found a wretched Greek village on the site of Naples, which was called Kermenchuk ). But let's continue the list.

2nd century BC Sarmatia. The Sarmatians pushed the related-speaking Scythians out of the Northern Black Sea region and the Azov region into the Crimea; religion - polytheism.

1st century BC– Jewish Diaspora – Semites. Religion – monotheism (god Yahweh); gravestones with seven-branched candlesticks and inscriptions in Hebrew were discovered on the Kerch and Taman peninsulas.

I century BC - I century AD– Pontic people (Pontic Bosporus); settled on the site of the Bosporan Cimmerian kingdom led by Mithridates VI Eupator (Kerch); religion - polytheism. Together with the Pontic people, Armenians appeared on the peninsula.

1st century BC – III century AD– the Romans and Thracians, after the defeat of the Pontic Kingdom, captured Crimea (now this is the easternmost outskirts of the Roman Empire); religion - polytheism, and from 325. – Christianity; The Romans introduced local residents to their culture and introduced them to the virtues of Roman law.

Until the 4th century AD– Eastern Slavs: Antes, Tivertsy (Artania) – known in the Northern Black Sea region since ancient times; pushed to the north during the Great Migration of Peoples, partially preserved in Taman - the future Tmutarakan; religion - polytheism.

III century AD– Germanic tribes: Goths and Heruli (Gothia, Captaincy of Gothia); came from the Baltic states, destroyed Scythia and created their own state of Gothia on the southern coast of Crimea. Later, they left the Huns to the west, some returned in the 7th century. The Goths were the impetus for the unification of the Slavs; religion - polytheism, and later - Christianity.

III century AD– Alans-Yas, related to the Sarmatians (distant ancestors of the Ossetians); together with the Sarmatians they settled among the Scythians; best known in Crimea for their settlement of Kyrk-Ork (until the 14th century, then Chufut-Kale), when they were pushed into the mountains by the Huns; religion – Christianity.

IV century– Huns, Xiongnu (Hun Principality) – the ancestors of today’s Tuvans; invaded from the Trans-Altai region, dealt a powerful blow to the Goths, drove away a significant part of the population, thereby marking the beginning of the Great Migration of Peoples; religion - paganism, later - Christianity.

IV century– Byzantium (East Roman Empire), Kherson theme; after the collapse of the Roman Empire, Taurica, as it were, was “inherited” by Byzantium; strongholds in Crimea - Kherson, Bosporus (Kerch), Gurzuvits (Gurzuf), Aluston (Alushta), etc. In 325. accept Christianity.

VI century– the Turks (Mongoloid Turkets) raided to the Crimea from Siberia, having established their Ashin dynasty in Khazaria (the lower reaches of the Volga and Terek), but did not gain a foothold on the peninsula; pagans.

VI century- Avars (obry) - created the Avar Kaganate in Transnistria, also raided the Crimea until they were defeated by the Bulgars; pagans.

7th century– Bulgars (Bulgarians). Some of them settled in the Crimea, becoming settled from nomadic, settling in foothill valleys and engaging in agriculture (in general, the Volga Bulgar-Turks moved to the West; another wave of them went north, creating the Kazan Khanate; in the Balkans they assimilated with the southern Slavs, founding Bulgaria and adopting Christianity ); pagans, and from the 9th century. - Orthodox Christians.

7th century– Greekized superethnos (Gothia, Doros) – formed the Greek-speaking basis of the population of the Mangup principality (Dori); Byzantium is strengthening, uniting multilingual peoples who lived in the mountainous Crimea and along the South Coast; religion – Christianity, as well as other religions.

VIII-X centuries– Khazar Khaganate, Khazars ( Turkic-speaking peoples Dagestan type); religion is paganism, later some converted to Islam, some to Judaism, and some to Christianity. Power in the Kaganate is first seized by the Turkets-Ashins, then by the Jews; Judean Khazaria captures part of the steppe and coastal Crimea, competes with Byzantium, and seeks to subjugate Rus' (destroyed by Prince Svyatoslav in 965).

VIII-X centuries– Karaites; came to Khazaria from Israel through Persia and the Caucasus; crossed with the Khazars; forced out by Rokhdanite Jews to the outskirts of Khazaria, including the Crimea; language – Kynchak dialect Turkic language, close to Crimean Tatar; religion – Judaism (only the Pentateuch – Torah is recognized).

VII-I centuries– Krymchaks (Crimean Jews) – remained in Crimea and Taman as fragments of the defeated Khazar Kaganate (known as residents of the Tmutarakan principality and Kievan Rus); the language is close to Karaite; religion – Orthodox Judaism-Rabbinism.

Late 9th – early 19th centuries.– Pechenegs-Bejans (Turkmens) – Turks from the Baraba steppes; defeated by the Polovtsians and Guzes; some dispersed to the Crimea, some to the Lower Dnieper region (Karakalpaks); were assimilated by the Eastern Slavs; religion – paganism.

X-XI centuries– Guz-Oghuz (Turkmen) – Turkic people. Leader - Oguz Khan; ousted the Pechenegs from the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea region, and then, together with the Pechenegs, opposed the Russes (Rugs), Slavs and Polovtsians; religion – paganism.

X-XIII centuries- Eastern Slavs (Tmutarakan Principality as part of Kievan Rus). This is the principality (Taman and Korchev-Kerch), founded by Prince Vladimir in 988, in 1222. together with the Polovtsians, they fought off the Turks; at the Battle of Kalka in 1223. Ataman Tmutarakan Plaskinya took the side of the Mongol-Tatars; religion – Christianity.

XI century– Polovtsians (Kypchaks, Cumans, Komans). They created the state of Odzhaklar in the Black Sea region and Crimea with its capital Sarkel (on the Don). They alternately fight with Russia and make alliances; together with four Russian princes Mstislav and Khan Katyan, they were defeated on the Kalka River in 1223; some went to Hungary and Egypt (Mamluks), the rest were assimilated by the Tatars, Slavs, Hungarians, Greeks, etc. Religion - paganism.

XI century– perhaps Armenians were settling in Crimea at this time (their homeland was being tormented by the Persians and Seljuk Turks). Mountain Taurica east of present-day Belogorsk has for some time been called Primorsky Armenia; in a wooded tract there emerges the Armenian monastery of Surb-Khach (holy cross), known even outside the Crimea; Belogorsk itself is a large and rich city - Solkhat (it is inhabited by Kipchaks, Alans and Rus, as well as Soldaya, Surozh (Sudak).

Ancient authors have many reports about the dews (Rus) who lived from the first centuries of our era in the Northern Azov region, the Black Sea region and in the Crimea. In Byzantine documents it was stated: “ Scythians, who are Russians" In the 9th century. The Black Sea was called the Russian Sea by the Arabs (previously it was the Rum Sea - “Byzantine”). In the 9th century. The enlightener Kirill saw books “written in Russian characters” in Taurica. The word "ros" means "light, white." The Tarkhankut Peninsula was designated as the “white coast”, and the Dews lived there. The Arabs called the Rus Slavs, the Greeks called Scythians, and the Cimmerian Bosporus was considered their homeland. There is a version that the Novgorod prince Bravlin, who went to the Greek settlements, was a local Tauro-Scythian leader, and the “Russian new town" - most likely Scythian Naples. In the 11th century. The Kerch Strait is called the Russian River, and on its Crimean shore, opposite Tmutarakan, stands the city of Rosia - White City(Kerch?). The Russian merchant Afanasy Nikitin in 1474, when returning from “Overseas,” visited the Crimea, where he saw many Russians and people of the Orthodox faith in general, as well as baptized Tatars (which he wrote about in his diaries).

XII-XV centuries- Venetians, Genoese, Pisans founded trading posts in Crimea: Kafa, Soldaya, Vosporo, Chembalo. They appeared in Crimea back in Byzantine times and participated in the Battle of Kulikovo in Mamai’s army. In 1475 Kafa (modern Feodosia) fell under the attacks of the Turks and Tatars. Religion – Catholicism.

XII-XV centuries– in Crimea, the multi-ethnic Mangup principality of Theodoro emerges, having connections with Constantinople, Europe, Moscow and numbering 200 thousand. people of the population (most of them are Greeks). It extended from Balaklava to Alushta, located in the mountainous Crimea; defeated by the Turks and Tatars in 1475. After 300 years, only 30 thousand remained in Crimea. Greeks, half of them Urums (Tatarized). In 1778, the Greeks left for the Azov region (Mariupol).

Beginning of the 13th century.– Crimea is inhabited by Tatars – Ulus of the Golden Horde. Eski-Crimea becomes the capital - Old Crimea(formerly Solkhat). The Transbaikalian tribes of the Tatars and Mongols, led by Genghis Khan, captured the Yenisei and Ob Kirghiz and conquered the peoples of Central Asia. At the beginning of the 13th century. Genghis Khan moved west towards the Kipchaks and Kievan Rus. In Crimea - since 1239; pagans, and from the 14th century - Sunni Muslims.

Crimean Khanate (Tatars) - from 1428. the capital moved from Solkhat to Bakhchisarai; formed after the collapse of the Golden Horde. Since 1475 to 1774 this state is a vassal of the Ottoman (Turkish) Empire; liquidated in 1783 Religion – Islam.

XIII century– Gypsies – known in Crimea since the time of the Crimean Khanate. They may have first appeared in Khazar times; religion - paganism, and then partly Christianity, partly Islam.

XV century – 1475-1774- Turks, Ottoman Empire (the first attempt to establish themselves in Crimea was in 1222) The Turks capture Kafa, Sudak, the cave cities of Mangup and Chufut-Kale, and the Sultan becomes the religious head Crimean Tatars. Religion – Islam.

XVIII - XX centuries.– Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians, Bulgarians, Germans, Czechs, Estonians, Moldovans, Kara Greeks, Wallachians, Georgians, Azerbaijanis, Kazan and Siberian Tatars, Koreans, Hungarians, Italians, Kazakhs, Kyrgyz, etc.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia in 1783. Turks and most of the Tatars go to Turkey, and the settlement of Crimea and the Novorossiysk region by Slavic and other peoples (including from abroad) begins. Religion – various religions and denominations.

Afterword

The article uses data from the article “Indigenous and local” (newspaper “Krymskaya Pravda” dated January 27, 2004), written by the candidate historical sciences, Honored Education Worker of Crimea, member of the Writers' Union Vasily Potekhin, who states:

None of the peoples currently living in Crimea are aboriginal - autochthonous, that is, indigenous. The principle of our peaceful multi-ethnic existence today is reflected on the coat of arms of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea in the form of the motto: “Prosperity in unity.” Nationalism inevitably leads to national fascism. Crimea was, is and will be a historical testing ground for the creation of multinational Eurasian culture.

Culture will save the world.

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

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

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

Cimmerians

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

• Cimmerian walls;
• Cimmerick.

Taurus

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

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

Scythians

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

Greeks

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

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

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

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

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

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

Romans, Huns, Byzantium

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

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

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

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

Slavs, Mongols, Genoese, Principality of Theodoro

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

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

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

Turks

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

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

Russia

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

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

Eastern War

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

Health resort of Russia

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

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

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

The Great Patriotic War

During the Second World War, the peninsula courageously fought the enemy. Sevastopol repeated its feat, surrendering after a 250-day siege. The pages of the heroic chronicle of those years are replete with such names as « Tierra del Fuego Eltigen", "Kerch-Feodosia operation", "Feat of partisans and underground fighters"... For their courage and perseverance, Kerch and Sevastopol were awarded the title of hero cities.

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

Post-war years

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

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

In 1991, during the coup in Moscow, an arrest took place Secretary General USSR M.S. Gorbachev at the state dacha in Foros. After the collapse Soviet Union Crimea has become Autonomous Republic , which became part of Ukraine. In the spring of 2014, after the all-Crimean referendum, the Crimean peninsula seceded from Ukraine and became one of the subjects Russian Federation. Started recent history Crimea.

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