The
Crimea
(ancient Tauris or Tauric Chersonese, called by the
Russians by the
Tatar name Krym or Crim, cyrillic Крым) is a
peninsula on the north side of the
Black_Sea in modern
Ukraine.
Geography
Crimea is connected to the rest of the mainland by the
Isthmus_of_Perekop (3-4 miles across). It measures 200
miles between 44° 23’ and 46° 10’ N., and 110 miles between 32° 30’ and 36° 40’ E. Its area is 9700 square miles.
The shores are broken by several bays and harbours—on the west side of the
Isthmus_of_Perekop by the
Bay_of_Karkinit; on the south-west by the open
Bay_of_Kalamita, on the shores of which the allies landed in
1854, with the ports of
Eupatoria,
Sevastopol and
Balaklava; by the
Bay_of_Arabat on the north side of the
Isthmus_of_Yenikale or
Kerch; and by the
Bay_of_Kaffa or
Feodosiya (
Theodosia), with the port of that name, on the south side of the same.
The south-east coast is flanked at a distance of 5 to 8 m. from the sea by a parallel range of mountains, the Yaila-Dagh, or Alpine Meadow mountains, and these are backed, inland, by secondary parallel ranges; but 75% of the remaining area consists of high arid prairie lands, a southward continuation of the Pontic
steppes, which slope gently north-westwards from the foot of the Yaila-Dagh. The main range of these mountains shoots up with extraordinary abruptness from the deep floor of the
Black_Sea to an altitude of 2000 to 2500 ft., beginning at the south-west extremity of the
peninsula,
Cape_Fiolente (anc. Parthenium), supposed to have been crowned by the temple of
Artemis in which
Iphigeneia officiated as priestess.
All over the
steppes are scattered numerous kurgans or burial-mounds of the ancient
Scythians.
The picture which lies behind the sheltering screen of the Yaila-Dagh is of an altogether different character. Here the narrow strip of coast and the slopes of the mountains are smothered with greenery. This Russian Riviera stretches all along the, south-east coast from
Cape_Sarych (extreme S.) to
Feodosiya (
Theodosia), and is studded with summer sea-bathing resorts—
Alupka,
Yalta,
Gursuv,
Alushta,
Sudak,
Theodosia. Numerous
Tatar villages, mosques, monasteries, palaces of the Russian imperial family and Russian nobles, and picturesque ruins of ancient Greek and medieval fortresses and other buildings are found.
History
The earliest inhabitants of whom we have any authentic traces were the Celtic Cimmenians, who were expelled by the
Scythians during the
7th century B.C. A remnant, who took refuge in the mountains, became known subsequently as the Tauri. In that same century
Greek colonists began to settle on the coasts, e.g. Dorians from
Heraclea at
Chersonesus, and
Ionians from
Miletus at
Theodosia and
Panticapaeum (also called
Bosporus).
Two centuries later (
438 B.C.) the archon or ruler of the last-named assumed the title of king of
Bosporus, a state which maintained close relations with
Athens, supplying that city with wheat and other commodities. The last of these kings, Paerisades V, being hard pressed by the
Scythians, put himself under the protection of Mithradates VI, king of
Pontus, in
114 B.C. After the death of this latter sovereign his son Pharnaces, as a reward for assistance rendered to the Romans in their war against his father, was (
63 B.C.) invested by
Pompey with the kingdom of
Bosporus. In
15 B.C. it was once more restored to the king of
Pontus, but henceforward ranked as a tributary state of
Rome.
During the succeeding centuries the Crimea was overrun or occupied successively by the
Goths (AD.
250), the
Huns (
376), the
Khazars (
8th_century), the
Byzantine Greeks (
1016), the
Kipchaks (
1050), and the
Mongols (
1237).
In the
13th_century the
Genoese destroyed or seized the settlements which their rivals the
Venetians had made on the Crimean coasts, and established themselves at
Eupatoria,
Cembalo (
Balaklava),
Soldaia (
Sudak), and
Kaffa (
Theodosia), flourishing trading towns, which existed down to the conquest of the peninsula by the
Ottoman_Turks in
1475.
Meanwhile the
Tatars had got a firm footing in the northern and central parts of the peninsula as early as the
13th_century, and after the destruction of the
Golden_Horde by
Timur they founded an independent khanate under a descendant of
Genghis_Khan, who is known as
Hadji_Ghirai. He and his successors reigned first at Solkhat (Eski-krym), and from the beginning of the
15th_century at
Bakhchi-Sarai. But from
1478 they ruled as tributary princes of the
Ottoman_Empire down to
1777, when having been defeated by the Russian general (future generalissimo)
Suvorov they became dependent upon
Russia, and finally in
1783 the whole of the Crimea was annexed to the
Russian_Empire.
The
Crimean_War took place in
1854-
1865.
Crimea was the scene of some of the most bloody battles in the
Great_Patriotic_War (
Second_World_War). The German invaders suffered heavy casualties as they tried to advance through the isthmus linking Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland at
Perekop in summer
1941. Once the Germans broke through, they occupied most of Crimea, with the exception of the city of
Sevastopol (
Hero_City). Sevastopol held out heroically from October
1941 until
July_4,
1942, when the Germans finally captured the city. Only in 1944 was Sevastopol liberated by Soviet troops.
In
1944 the
Tatar ethnic people were forcibly expelled by the
Soviet government.
In the
Soviet era Crimea was governed as part of
Russian_SFSR until, in 1955, it was transferred to the
Ukrainian_SSR to mark the tenth anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War. With the
collapse_of_the_Soviet_Union the Crimea therefore became part of the newly independent Ukraine, a situation resented by the majority of its population. With the
Black_Sea_Fleet based on the peninsula there were worries of armed conflict.
With the electoral defeat of the more radical
nationalist political forces in Ukraine tension slowly eased.
The Crimea proclaimed
independence on
May_5,
1992 but later it agreed to become an autonomous territory in the
Ukraine.
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