Summary: Autonomous Republic of Crimea. Crimean peninsula. Geography, mountains and steppes of Crimea - My geography

Svyatoslav and Vladimir created the Tmutarakan principality on the territory of Taman and Kerch Peninsula. Tmutarakan arose on the site of the Khazar settlement of Tamatarhi. Korchevo became a significant city during this period. Since that time, the Slavs began to gradually settle in the Crimea.

However, the Kyiv princes, directing forces and energy to unite the Slavic lands of the Dnieper region and fight against the nomads, gradually lost their positions in Taurica. If under Vladimir the Red Sun Crimea, according to Karl Marx, belonged to Rus', then in the XII century. most of the peninsula became Polovtsian (Kypchak). The name of the Kipchaks in the XIX century. worn by 23 Crimean villages. The name of the mountain Ayu-Dag (Bear Mountain) is attributed by many researchers to the Polovtsians. From there - the famous Artek (on behalf of Artyk or Artuk - the son of the Polovtsian Khan).

After the weakening of Byzantium in its former Crimean possessions, the Gotalans (Crimean Goths) founded the Orthodox Christian principality of Theodoro with its capital in the largest "cave city" of the city of Mangup.

The first Turkish landing in Sudak dates back to 1222, which defeated the Russian-Polovtsian army. Literally the next year, the Tatar-Mongols of Jebe invade Crimea. They destroyed Sudak, which at that time was the richest of the Crimean trading centers, and in 1239 the Crimea was completely conquered by the Mongol troops led by Batu Khan and became part of the Golden Horde. The Polovtsy, who lived on the territory of the peninsula, were destroyed; those who survived subsequently joined the Crimean Tatar people.

During this period, a Turkic-speaking ethnic community developed on the peninsula, which became the core of the future Crimean Khanate - the Crimean Tatars. Many peoples participated in the formation of the ethnos: Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Avars, Seljuks, who came from Asia Minor, and others. They were united by a nomadic lifestyle and type of management. The Crimean Tatars emerged after the peninsula was annexed to the Golden Horde as a new ulus. At the beginning of the 14th century, the Crimean Tatars converted to Islam.

At the head of the Crimean ulus, which occupied the steppe part of the peninsula, was the governor of the great Khan of the Golden Horde. The city became the capital of the ulus Crimea (translated from Mongolian as "strengthening") in the valley of the river Churuk-Su, commercial and administrative center. It was this city that gave its name to the entire peninsula.

The steppe Crimea becomes the possession of the Golden Horde - the ulus of Jochi. The city of Crimea becomes the administrative center of the peninsula. The situation of the conquered peoples of the peninsula became extremely difficult. The Golden Horde conquerors overlaid them with an exorbitantly heavy tribute - yasak, exported slaves and sold them to other countries.

The first coins issued in the Crimea by Khan Mengu-Timur date back to 1267. Thanks to the flourishing of the Genoese trade and the nearby Kafa, Crimea quickly turns into a major trade and craft center. Karasubazar becomes another large city of the Crimean ulus. In the 13th century, significant Islamization of the formerly Christian Crimea took place.

In the brilliant and multilingual Solkhat ( Old Crimea) a mosque was built, and by the middle of the century Solkhat became the political center and center of oriental culture on the peninsula. Here was the headquarters of the governor of the Golden Horde Khan, from here came the spread of Islam among the Tatars in the Crimea. After the collapse of the Golden Horde, the remnants of the Tatar-Mongols in the Crimea were influenced by Turkic speech and were Turkified. Then Mangup was the capital of the largest state of medieval Taurica - the Principality of Theodoro.

In the 13th century (1270), part of the Crimean territories was acquired by the Genoese (Gazaria, Kaffa). Almost the entire coast of Crimea was part of the Genoese colonies; they owned Sudak (Soldaya), as well as Cherkio (Kerch). The Genoese possessions were united in the so-called "captainship of Gothia" - a military-administrative institution headed by the consul of Kaffa, appointed from Genoa. Kaffa (Feodosia) became the main city and the main port of the Genoese. Their garrisons stood in Balaklava, Gurzuf, Alushta, Sudak. In the middle of the XIV century they settled in the immediate vicinity of Kherson - in the Bay of Symbols, having founded the fortress of Chembalo (Balaklava) there. The ruins of the Genoese fortresses in these cities remind us of this page in the history of the peninsula.

In the 14th-15th centuries, the Genoese waged a struggle with the Principality of Theodoro for lands on the southern coast of Crimea. During this period, Armenians and Circassians appeared on the peninsula.

By this time, the Polovtsian language was already widespread in the Crimea, as evidenced by the Codex Cumanicus. In 1367, Crimea was subordinate to Mamai, whose power also relied on the Genoese colonies. In 1380, Mamai was defeated in a battle with the army of Dmitry Donskoy, and power in the Horde passed to Tokhtamysh, who appointed a governor in the Crimea and concluded an agreement with the Genoese consul in Cafe. Under this agreement, the Tatars returned the territories in the Sudak region, taken by Mamai (the so-called "captainship of Gothia"), and the Genoese in the Cafe promised to be loyal to the khan.

In 1395 Tokhtamysh was defeated by Timur. Then he ruined the Golden Ora, destroyed its capital Saray, and in the Crimea, which had previously been the personal possession of Tokhtamysh, he approved Khan Tashtimur, but already in 1396 Tokhtamysh regained the peninsula. In 1397, the Lithuanian prince Vitovt invaded the Crimea and reached Kaffa. After the pogrom of Yedigei, Chersonesus turns into ruins (1399).

From that moment on, the Crimean beys become powerful enough to show independence in the Horde.

In the 15th century, the Golden Horde broke up into several independent political communities. In 1438, the Nogai, who led a nomadic lifestyle and maintained relative independence, and the Crimean Khanate separated from it.

The collapse of the Golden Horde in 1441 allowed the Ottoman Empire to seize the Crimea, defeat the eternal enemies of the Genoese, and make the Crimean Khanate its protectorate. At this point, Crimea was divided between the steppe Crimean Khanate, the mountain principality of Theodoro and the Genoese colonies on the southern coast. The capital of the Principality of Theodoro was Mangup - one of the largest fortresses of the medieval Crimea (90 hectares), which, if necessary, took under the protection of significant masses of the population.

In July 1475, Mangup was besieged by the Ottoman Turks. The well-fortified city was able to hold out in the siege for only three days and surrendered to the mercy of the winner. Bursting into the city, the Turks exterminated almost all the inhabitants, looted and burned Mangup. On the lands of the principality, a Turkish kadylyk (district) was formed. Mangup was located on the top of the mountain of the same name in the Bakhchisarai region. In addition to the citadel, battle cave casemates, remnants of powerful defensive walls and towers, the prince's palace, residential estates, and a large temple have been preserved on the site. This is a grandiose monument.

Capturing coastal fortresses one by one, the Turks put an end to Genoese rule in the Crimea. Decent resistance was met by the Turkish army at the walls of the capital Theodoro. Capturing the city after a six-month siege, they ravaged it, killed the inhabitants or took them into slavery. The Crimean Khan became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan.

For the next three centuries, the Black Sea became the Turkish "inland lake".

Mengli-Girey became the khan, who in 1478 recognized the supreme power of the Turkish sultan on the following conditions: only a representative of the Girey family could become a khan; the khan had the right to appoint officials, but he could not start a war and conclude peace himself, the sultan appointed the highest clergy; the sultan could send the khan and his army to war, providing maintenance; the khan kept a personal guard, the sultan kept his garrison in Evpatoria.

The Genoese colonies and the principality of Theodoro disappeared from the map of the peninsula, and a Turkish military-administrative body, the sanjak, was formed on their territory. The sanjak was ruled by a Turkish pasha, who had a residence in Kef - the current Feodosia.

Captured in the XV century. Taurica, the Turks, with the help of Italian specialists, created a powerful Or-Kapa fortress at Perekop. Since that time, the Perekop shaft had a second name - Turkish. From the end of the XV century. Turks and Tatars in the Crimea are gradually moving from nomadic forms of economy to settled agriculture.

From the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian state, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and the Commonwealth. The main purpose of the raids is the capture of slaves and their resale in Turkish markets. The total number of slaves who passed through the Crimean markets is estimated at three million people. The main population during this period consists of settled Tatars.

It took several centuries to eliminate this center of captivity for Russians, Ukrainians, Poles and Lithuanians.

The main occupation of the Crimean Tatars (as they began to be called much later) in the south was horticulture, viticulture, and tobacco growing. IN steppe regions In the Crimea, they had especially developed animal husbandry, especially the breeding of sheep and horses, leather production.

The relations of the Crimean Khanate with the Russian state were contradictory: the Crimean Tatars often raided Russian lands, but in the fight against the Great Horde, the Moscow prince and the Crimean Khan acted as allies. In 1462, Grand Duke Ivan III Vasilyevich and the Crimean Khan Hadji Giray exchanged letters of commendation. In 1485 and 1487, Ivan III sent troops to participate in the struggle of the Crimean Khan against the Horde. In 1502, Mengli Giray defeated the Horde, which then ceased to exist.

The Crimean Khanate constantly experienced internal strife in the course of the struggle for power. Throughout the existence of the khanate, there was a constant struggle for power between the clans of Shirin and Mansur. At the same time, relations with Ottoman Turkey remained unstable.
In 1532, Sahib Giray I came to power, who ruled until 1550 and carried out a number of reforms during this time.
In the 1550s, the Crimean khans fought with Ivan IV for the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates. Devlet Girey I made several trips to Rus', in 1571-1572 he reached Moscow and burned it down.

Back in 1475, Gyozlev was built (the Tatar name is Kezlev, then Evpatoria). It became the only seaport through which the Crimean Khanate traded on the Black Sea. Sahib Giray contributed to the development of the city. Later, Khan Gazi-Girey II moved there with his court, and in 1591 set off from there on a campaign against Moscow. The defense of Moscow was led by Boris Godunov. The city was ready for an attack, and the Khan's campaign ended in failure.
In the 17th century, differences in the life of the steppe and mountain-coastal Tatars took shape: the raids involved mainly steppe dwellers and Crimean Nogais. Military booty (in particular, the slave trade) was for them the most important source of enrichment. Mountain-coastal Tatars were more engaged in agriculture.
The southern coast of Crimea, the Kerch Peninsula, the northern slopes of the Crimean mountains from Inkerman to Feodosia were the possessions of the Turkish Sultan.
In 1641 Mohammed Giray IV became khan. He moved the capital and the mint from Gyozlev to Bakhchisarai, where he built a palace. Bakhchisaray became a cultural, administrative and political center for the mountain Tatars. Here lived the nobility, which was guided by Turkey.
In 1648, Bogdan Khmelnitsky appeared in the Crimea with a proposal to conclude an alliance of the Cossacks and Tatars against the Poles. Islam Giray III and Bohdan Khmelnitsky organized a number of campaigns against Polish lands. But a few years later, Bogdan Khmelnitsky handed over the Zaporozhian Sich to Russia, thereby putting the Crimean Khanate in a difficult political situation: after the annexation of Ukraine, the Russian borders were moved far to the south.

Now the khans began to draw closer to the Commonwealth and concluded an agreement on mutual assistance with it. But in the 1660s, the situation changed: Poland wanted to recapture the Ottoman Transdanubian possessions, Russia sought to conquer the Crimea. Periods of hostility gave way to truces. In 1681 Turkey and Russia concluded a truce in Bakhchisarai for 20 years. The agreement contained a condition that the Cossacks would not oppose Russia on the side of the Tatars. Nevertheless, Russia was still going to fight against Turkey and Crimea. Russia, Poland and Austria entered into an alliance, in 1686 Russia undertook to break the Bakhchisakhari peace treaty. In fact, Russia for the first time openly declared its intentions to conquer the Crimea. In 1687, the army of Prince V.V. Golitsyn moved to the Crimea, but the campaign ended in failure.
The policy of the Russian Empire in relation to the Crimea was dictated by reasons of both a strategic and socio-economic nature: Russia sought to free itself from the constant threat of Tatar raids, gain access to the Black Sea, strengthen its position in the confrontation with Turkey (including in the Caucasus and in Transcaucasia), to master comfortable trading ports, expand trade ties and capture new markets.
The Azov campaigns of Peter I (1695-1696), which did not solve the Black Sea problem, once again emphasized the importance of the Crimean direction. The capture of the Crimean peninsula became one of the most important foreign policy tasks of the Russian Empire in the 18th century.

During the Russian-Turkish war (1735-1739), the Russian Dnieper army, numbering 62 thousand people and under the command of Field Marshal Burchard Christopher Munnich, stormed the Ottoman fortifications near Perekop on May 20, 1736, crossed Sivash, and occupied Bakhchisarai on June 17. The Crimea was completely conquered, but the lack of food and the outbreak of the epidemic forced the Russians to leave the Crimea.
In July 1737, an army led by Field Marshal Peter Lassi invaded the Crimea, inflicting a number of defeats on the army of the Crimean Khan and capturing Karasubazar. But she was soon forced to leave the Crimea due to lack of supplies.
In 1769, the Crimean Khan Kaplan Giray raided the southern regions of Russia. The attack was repulsed. This was the last raid of the Crimean Tatars in the history of relations between Russia and Crimea. After several important victories won by the Russian troops, the entire territory between the Dniester and the Danube was cleared of the Turks. Successfully for Russia were hostilities at sea (including the famous Chesme battle of 1770).

Despite the attempts of the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire to prevent the Russian colonization of the Northern Black Sea region by armed force, it actually began even before the army of General-General V. M. Dolgorukov captured Crimea in 1771, for which he subsequently received a sword from Empress Catherine II with diamonds, diamonds for the Order of St. Andrew the First-Called and the title of Crimean. Prince Dolgorukov forced the Crimean Khan Selim to flee to Turkey and installed in his place a supporter of Russia, Khan Sahib II Giray, who signed an alliance agreement with Russia, having received the promise of Russian military and financial assistance.
The Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774 (under the command of Count P.A. Rumyantsev) put an end to Ottoman domination over the Crimea, and according to the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty of 1774, the Ottomans officially renounced their claims to the peninsula. The fortresses of Kerch and Yenikale retreated to Russia, blocking the exit from the Azov to the Black Sea. The Kerch Strait became Russian, which was of great importance for the southern trade of Russia. The Crimean Khanate was declared independent from Turkey. The former Ottoman possessions on the peninsula (Southern and South- Eastern Crimea). The historical task of Russia's access to the Black Sea was half solved.

It took, however, a lot of time, money and efforts (both military and diplomatic) before Turkey came to terms with the withdrawal of the Crimea and the Northern Black Sea coast from its influence. The Turkish sultan, being the Supreme Caliph, kept in his hands the religious power and the right to approve new khans, which left him the possibility of real pressure on the Crimean Khanate. As a result, the Crimean nobility was divided into two groups - Russian and Turkish orientation, clashes between which reached real battles, and the attempts of the newly established khans to establish themselves on the Crimean throne led to the intervention of Russian troops on the side of Russian proteges.
Having achieved the declaration of independence of the Crimea, Catherine II did not give up the idea of ​​joining it to Russia. This was required by the vital interests of Russia, for the Crimea was of great military-political and economic importance for the Russian state. Without Crimea, it was impossible to have free access to the Black Sea. But Sultan Turkey, in turn, did not think of abandoning the Tauride Peninsula. She resorted to various tricks to restore her influence and dominance in the Crimea. Thus, despite the presence of the Kyuchuk-Kaynardzhi peace treaty, the struggle between Russia and Turkey over the Crimea did not weaken.

The last Crimean Khan was Shahin Giray, who received the throne in 1777 thanks to Russian support. Having studied in Thessaloniki and Venice, who knew several languages, Shahin Giray ruled, ignoring the national Tatar customs, tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize administration according to the European model, equalize the rights of the Muslim and non-Muslim population of Crimea, and soon turned into a traitor for his people and an apostate.
In March 1778, Alexander Suvorov was appointed commander of the Russian troops of the Crimea and Kuban, who radically strengthened the defense of the peninsula from the Turkish attack and forced the Turkish fleet to leave the Crimean waters.
In 1778, Suvorov, at the direction of Prince Potemkin, who at that time held the post of vicegerent (governor-general) of the Novorossiysk, Azov, Astrakhan and Saratov provinces, facilitated the transition to Russian citizenship and the resettlement of the Christian population of Crimea (Armenians, Greeks, Volokhov, Georgians) to new the lands of the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov and the mouth of the Don (the project was originally proposed to Catherine II in March 1778 by Field Marshal Count Rumyantsev). On the one hand, this was due to the need to accelerate the settlement of the fertile lands of the Northern Black Sea region (primarily the lands of the liquidated Zaporizhzhya Sich, which were deserted due to the departure of part of the Zaporizhzhya Cossacks across the Danube and the eviction of the rest to the Kuban). On the other hand, the withdrawal of the Armenians and Greeks from the Crimea was aimed at the economic weakening of the Crimean Khanate and strengthening its dependence on Russia.

Suvorov's actions provoked the fury of Shahin Giray and the local Tatar nobility, since with the departure of the economically active part of the population, the treasury lost significant sources of income. As compensation "for the loss of subjects", the khan, his brothers, beys and murzas were paid 100 thousand rubles from the Russian treasury. From May to September 1778, 31 thousand people were resettled from the Crimea to the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and Novorossia. The Greeks, who inhabited mainly the western and southern coasts of Crimea, were settled by Suvorov on the northern coast of the Sea of ​​Azov, where they founded the city of Mariupol and 20 villages. The Armenians, who inhabited mainly the eastern and southeastern regions of Crimea (Feodosia, Stary Krym, Surkhat, etc.), were settled in the lower reaches of the Don, near the fortress of Dmitry Rostov, where they founded the city of Nakhichevan-on-Don and 5 villages around him (on the site of modern Rostov-on-Don). With the exodus of Christians, the khanate was bled and ruined.
March 10, 1779 Russia and Turkey signed the Aynaly-Kavak Convention, according to which Russia was to withdraw its troops from the Crimean peninsula and, like Turkey, not interfere in the internal affairs of the khanate. Turkey recognized Shahin Giray as the Crimean Khan, confirmed the independence of the Crimea and the right of free passage through the Bosporus and the Dardanelles for Russian merchant ships. Russian troops, leaving a six thousandth garrison in Kerch and Yenikal, left the Crimea and Kuban in mid-June 1779.

In the autumn of 1781 another uprising, provoked by Turkey, took place in the Crimea. In the summer of 1782, Catherine II instructed Prince Potemkin to send Russian troops to help the deposed Khan Shahin Giray, while risking an open conflict with Turkey. In September, with the help of Russian troops, Khan Shahin Giray regained the throne.
The remaining, however, threat from Turkey (for which the Crimea was a possible springboard in the event of an attack on Russia) forced the construction of powerful fortified lines on the southern borders of the country and diverted forces and means from the economic development of the border provinces. Potemkin, as the governor of these regions, seeing the complexity and instability of the political situation in the Crimea, came to the final conclusion about the need to annex it to Russia, which would complete the territorial expansion of the empire to the south to the natural borders and create a single economic region - the Northern Black Sea region. In December 1782, returning from Kherson, Potemkin turned to Catherine II with a memorandum in which he expressed his point of view in detail.

The basis for the implementation of this plan, which lay in line with the so-called Greek project, which provided for the restoration of the Byzantine Empire with its capital in Constantinople and a Russian protege on the throne, was prepared by all of Potemkin's previous work on the settlement of Novorossia, the construction of fortresses and economic development. It was he, therefore, who played the main and decisive role in the annexation of the peninsula to Russia.
On December 14, 1782, the Empress sent Potemkin a "most secret" rescript, in which she announced her will to "appropriate the peninsula." In the spring of 1783, it was decided that Potemkin would go south and personally supervise the annexation of the Crimean Khanate to Russia. On April 8 (21), the Empress signed the manifesto "On the Acceptance of the Crimean Peninsula, Taman Island and the entire Kuban side under the Russian state", on which she worked together with Potemkin. This document was to be kept secret until the annexation of the khanate became a fait accompli. On the same day, Potemkin went south, but on the way he received unexpected news about the renunciation of Shahin Giray from the Khanate. The reason for this was the open hatred of the subjects regarding the reforms and policies of Shahin Giray, the actual financial bankruptcy of the state, mutual distrust and misunderstanding with the Russian authorities.
At the end of February 1783, the last Crimean khan from the Girey family - Shagin-Girey - signed his abdication and left Bakhchisarai. A significant part of the Muslim population emigrated to Turkey.

Believing that the greatest difficulties could arise in the Kuban, Potemkin gave orders to Alexander Suvorov and his relative P. S. Potemkin to push troops to the right bank of the Kuban. Having received the orders of the prince, Suvorov occupied the fortifications of the former Kuban line with troops and began to prepare to swear in the Nogais on the day appointed by Potemkin - June 28, the day of Catherine II's accession to the throne. At the same time, the commander of the Caucasian Corps, PS Potemkin, was to take the oath in the upper reaches of the Kuban.
Russian troops under the command of Lieutenant-General Count De Balmain were also introduced into the territory of Crimea. In June 1783, in Karasubazar, Prince Potemkin took an oath of allegiance to Russia to the Crimean nobility and representatives of all segments of the Crimean population. The Crimean Khanate ceased to exist, but its elite (over 300 clans) joined the Russian nobility and took part in the local self-government of the newly created Tauride region.
By order of Catherine II, urgent measures were taken to select a harbor for the future Black Sea Fleet on southwest coast. Captain II rank I. M. Bersenev on the frigate "Cautious" recommended using the bay near the village of Akhtiar, not far from the ruins of Chersonesus-Tauride. Catherine II, by her decree of February 10, 1784, ordered to establish here "a military port with an admiralty, a shipyard, a fortress and make it a military city." At the beginning of 1784, a port-fortress was laid, which Catherine II gave the name of Sevastopol.
At first, the arrangement of the Russian Crimea was in charge of Prince Potemkin, who received the title of "Taurian".

The highest ranks and titles of the Russian state began to come to Crimea to rest and live: Potemkin, Vorontsov, Yusupov, Alexander III and many others. We all know the magnificence of Livadia, Vorontsovsky, Massandra and dozens of other palaces and temples built by them.
In 1783, the population of Crimea numbered 60,000 people, who were mainly engaged in cattle breeding (Crimean Tatars). At the same time, under Russian jurisdiction, the Russian, as well as the Greek population from among retired soldiers began to grow. Bulgarians and Germans come to develop new lands.
In 1787, Empress Catherine made her famous journey to Crimea.
In 1787, Turkey began a new Russian-Turkish war of 1787-1791 with the aim of regaining the Crimea and other territories. The war ended with the Treaty of Yassy in 1792 (concluded on January 9, 1792 in Yassy), which confirmed the annexation of the Crimea and Kuban to Russia and established the Russian-Turkish border along the river. Dniester.

In May 1791, Catherine II solemnly entered the Crimea, accompanied by the Austrian Emperor Joseph II, the English and French ambassadors, and representatives of other powers. The arrival of the empress in Bakhchisaray was the culmination of a journey undertaken to show foreign powers the newly acquired Taurida, the military power of the Russian Empire, its victorious fleet on the Black Sea. The annexation of Crimea ended the age-old struggle of Russia for access to the Black Sea, and finally secured the southern borders of the Russian state. In a new way administrative division the capital of the Crimean district was the new city of Simferopol (founded in 1784 on the site of the Tatar village of Ak-Mechet).
From April 2, 1784, the territory was divided into counties, there were 1400 inhabited villages and 7 cities - Simferopol, Sevastopol, Yalta, Evpatoria, Alushta, Feodosia, Kerch.
In 1796, the region became part of the Novorossiysk province, and in 1802 it was again separated into an independent administrative unit. At the beginning of the 19th century, viticulture (Magarach) and shipbuilding (Sevastopol) developed in Crimea, roads were laid. Under Prince Vorontsov, Yalta begins to be equipped, the Vorontsov Palace is being laid, and the southern coast of Crimea is turning into a resort.
By 1853, 43,000 people were Orthodox, in the Tauride province, among the "Gentiles" were Roman Catholics, Lutherans, Reformed, Armenian Catholics, Armenian Gregorians, Mennonites, Talmudic Jews, Karaites and Muslims.
In June 1854, the Anglo-French flotilla began shelling the Russian coastal fortifications in the Crimea, and already in September, the allied landings (Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire) began in Evpatoria. Soon the Battle of the Alma took place. In October, the siege of Sevastopol began, during which Kornilov died on Malakhov Hill. In February 1855, the Russians unsuccessfully tried to storm Evpatoria. In May, the Anglo-French fleet captured Kerch. In July 1855, Admiral Nakhimov, the main inspirer of the defense, died in Sevastopol. On September 11, 1855, Sevastopol fell, but was returned to Russia at the end of the war in exchange for certain concessions.

In 1874, Simferopol was connected to Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporozhye) by a railroad.
In 1892, the movement began railway Dzhankoy-Kerch, which led to a significant acceleration of the economic development of the Crimea. By the beginning of the 20th century, 25 million poods of grain were exported from the Crimean peninsula annually. At the same time, especially after the royal family bought Livadia in 1860, Crimea turned into a resort peninsula. On the southern coast of Crimea, the highest Russian nobility began to rest, for which magnificent palaces in Massandra, Livadia, Miskhor.
According to the 1897 census, 546,700 people lived in Crimea. Of these, 35.6% Crimean Tatars, 33.1% Great Russians, 11.8% Little Russians, 5.8% Germans, 4.4% Jews, 3.1% Greeks, 1.5% Armenians, 1.3% Bulgarians , 1.2% Poles, 0.3% Turks.
By the end of the 19th century, the Taurida province consisted of Berdyansk, Dnieper, Perekop, Simferopol, Feodosia and Yalta counties. The center of the province was the city of Simferopol.
On the eve of the revolution, 800,000 people lived in Crimea, including 400,000 Russians and 200,000 Tatars, as well as 68,000 Jews and 40,000 Germans. After the February events of 1917, the Crimean Tatars organized themselves into the party of Milli Firka, who tried to seize power on the peninsula.

On December 16, 1917, the Bolshevik Military Revolutionary Committee was established in Sevastopol, which took power into its own hands. On January 4, 1918, the Bolsheviks took power in Feodosia, knocking out the Crimean Tatar formations from there, and on January 6 - in Kerch. On the night of January 8-9, the Red Guard entered Yalta. On the night of January 14 they took Simferopol. In the Crimea, the system of the Taurida SSR was established.
On April 22, 1918, Ukrainian troops under the command of Colonel Bolbochan occupied Evpatoria and Simferopol, followed by the German troops of General von Kosch. According to an agreement between Kiev and Berlin, on April 27, Ukrainian units left the Crimea, abandoning their claims to the peninsula. The Crimean Tatars also rebelled, making an alliance with the new invaders. By May 1, 1918, German troops occupied the entire Crimean peninsula. May 1 - November 15, 1918 - Crimea de facto under German occupation, de jure under the control of the autonomous Crimean regional government (since June 23) Suleiman Sulkevich
November 15, 1918 - April 11, 1919 - Second Crimean Regional Government (Solomon Crimea) under the patronage of the Allies;
In April-June 1919 - the Crimean Soviet Socialist Republic as part of the RSFSR;
July 1, 1919 - November 12, 1920 - Government of the South of Russia: VSYUR A. I. Denikin.

In January-March 1920, 4 thousand soldiers of the 3rd Army Corps of the All-Union Socialist Republic of General Ya. A. Slashchev successfully defended the Crimea from the attacks of two Soviet armies with a total number of 40 thousand fighters using the ingenious tactics of their commander, over and over again giving Perekop to the Bolsheviks, smashing they are already in the Crimea, and then driving them back to the steppes. On February 4, the White Guard captain Orlov and 300 fighters mutinied and captured Simferopol, arresting several generals of the Volunteer Army and the governor of the Taurida province. At the end of March, the remnants of the White armies, having surrendered the Don and Kuban, were evacuated to the Crimea. Denikin's headquarters ended up in Feodosia. On April 5, Denikin announced his resignation and the transfer of his post to General Wrangel. On May 15, the Wrangel fleet raided Mariupol, during which the city was shelled and some ships were withdrawn to the Crimea. On June 6, units of Slashchev began to rapidly move north, occupying the capital of Northern Tavria, Melitopol, on June 10. On June 24, the Wrangel landing force occupied Berdyansk for two days, and in July the landing group of Captain Kochetov landed at Ochakov. On August 3, the Whites occupied Aleksandrovsk, but the next day they were forced to leave the city.
On November 12, 1920, the Red Army broke through the defenses at Perekop and broke into the Crimea. On November 13, the 2nd Cavalry Army under the command of F.K. Mironov occupied Simferopol. The main Wrangel troops through port cities left the peninsula. In the occupied Crimea, the Bolsheviks perpetrated mass terror, as a result of which, according to various sources, from 20 to 120 thousand people died.
At the end civil war 720 thousand people lived in Crimea.

The famine of 1921-1922 claimed the lives of more than 75 thousand Crimeans. The total death toll in the spring of 1923 may have exceeded 100,000. The consequences of the famine were eliminated only by the mid-1920s.
On August 18, 1941, by order of Stalin, 60,000 Crimean Germans were deported from the peninsula.
In November 1941, the Red Army was forced to leave the Crimea, retreating to the Taman Peninsula. Soon a counter-offensive was launched from there, but it did not lead to success and the Soviet troops were again driven back across the Kerch Strait.
In the German-occupied Crimea, a general district of the same name was formed as part of the Reichskommissariat Ukraine. A. Frauenfeld headed the occupation administration, but in fact the power belonged to the military administration. In accordance with the Nazi policy, communists and racially unreliable elements (Jews, Gypsies, Krymchaks) were destroyed in the occupied territory, and along with the Krymchaks, the masses also killed the Karaites recognized by Hitler as racially trustworthy.
On April 11, 1944, the Soviet army launched an operation to liberate the Crimea, Dzhankoy and Kerch were recaptured. By April 13, Simferopol and Feodosia were liberated. May 9 - Sevastopol. The Germans held out for the longest time at Cape Khersones, but their evacuation was disrupted by the death of the Patria convoy.
The war sharply exacerbated ethnic conflicts in the Crimea, and in May-June 1944, Crimean Tatars (183 thousand people), Armenians, Greeks and Bulgarians were evicted from the territory of the peninsula. Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR No. 493 of September 5, 1967 “On citizens of Tatar nationality living in Crimea” recognized that “after the liberation of Crimea from fascist occupation in 1944, the facts of active cooperation with the German invaders of a certain part of the Tatars living in Crimea were unreasonably attributed to the entire Tatar population of Crimea.”
In February 1945, a conference of the heads of the three powers - the USSR, the USA and Great Britain took place in the Livadia Palace. At the Crimean (Yalta) conference, decisions were made related to the end of the war with Germany and Japan, and the establishment of a post-war world order.

In 1954, "taking into account the common economy, territorial proximity and close economic and cultural ties between the Crimean region and the Ukrainian SSR," Khrushchev transferred Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR.

On January 20, 1991, an all-Crimean referendum was held in the Crimean region of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. The question was submitted to the general vote: “You are for the restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic as a subject USSR and a member of the Union Treaty? The referendum called into question the decisions of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of 1954 (on the transfer of the Crimean region to the Ukrainian SSR), and of 1945 (on the abolition of the Krasnodar ASSR, and on the creation of the Crimean region instead). 1 million 441 thousand 19 people took part in the referendum, which is 81.37% of the total number of citizens included in the lists for participation in the referendum. 93.26% of the inhabitants of Crimea voted for the restoration of the Crimean ASSR of the total number of those who took part in the vote.
On February 12, 1991, based on the results of the all-Crimean referendum, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted the law “On the Restoration of the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic”, and 4 months later made appropriate changes to the constitution of the Ukrainian SSR in 1978. However, the second part of the question submitted to the referendum - on raising the status of Crimea to the level of a subject of the USSR and a member of the Union Treaty - was not taken into account in this law.
On September 4, 1991, the extraordinary session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Declaration on the State Sovereignty of the Republic.
On December 1, 1991, at the All-Ukrainian referendum, the inhabitants of Crimea participated in the vote on the independence of Ukraine. 54% of Crimeans supported the preservation of the independence of Ukraine - the founding state of the UN. However, this violated Article 3 of the USSR Law “On the Procedure for Resolving Issues Related to the Secession of a Union Republic from the USSR”, according to which a separate (all-Crimean) referendum was to be held in the Crimean ASSR on the issue of its stay in the USSR or as part of the seceding Union Republic - Ukrainian SSR.
May 5, 1992 The Supreme Council The Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted a declaration "Act on the Declaration of State Independence of the Republic of Crimea".
At the same time, the Russian parliament also voted to cancel the decision to transfer Crimea to the Ukrainian SSR in 1954.

May 6, 1992 The seventh session of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea adopted the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea. These documents contradicted the then legislation of Ukraine, they were canceled by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine only on March 17, 1995. Subsequently, Leonid Kuchma, who became president of Ukraine in July 1994, signed a number of decrees that determined the status of the authorities of the ARC.
Also May 6, 1992 the decision of the Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea introduced the post of President of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea
February 4, 1994 Yury Meshkov was elected President of the Republic of Crimea.
March 27, 1994 in Crimea, a referendum was held simultaneously with elections to the regional parliament (English) and with elections to the Ukrainian parliament.
March 1995 By decision of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the President of Ukraine, the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea of ​​1992 was repealed, and the presidency in Crimea was abolished.
October 21, 1998 At the second session of the Verkhovna Rada of the Republic of Crimea, a new Constitution was adopted.
December 23, 1998 The President of Ukraine Leonid Kuchma signed a law, in the first paragraph of which the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine decided: “To approve the Constitution of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea”, pro-Russian sentiments intensified in Crimea.
February 23, 2014 The Ukrainian flag was lowered over the city council of Kerch and the state flag of the Russian Federation was raised. The mass removal of Ukrainian flags took place on February 25 in Sevastopol. The Cossacks in Feodosia sharply criticized the new authorities in Kyiv. Residents of Evpatoria also joined the pro-Russian actions.
February 27, 2014 and the building of the Supreme Council of Crimea was seized by armed men without insignia. Employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, guarding the building, were expelled, the Russian flag was raised over the building. The captors let the deputies of the Supreme Council of Crimea inside, having previously taken away their funds mobile communications. The deputies voted for the appointment of Aksyonov as head of the new Crimean government and decided to hold a referendum on the status of Crimea. According to the official statement of the press service of the VSK, 53 deputies voted for this decision. According to the speaker of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, V. F. Yanukovych (whom the parliamentarians consider the President of Ukraine) called him, and agreed on the candidacy of Aksyonov over the phone. Such coordination is required by Article 136 of the Constitution of Ukraine.
March 6, 2014 The Supreme Council of Crimea adopted a resolution on the entry of the republic into the Russian Federation as its subject and called a referendum on this issue.
March 11, 2014 The Supreme Council of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted the Declaration of Independence of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.
On March 16, 2014, a referendum was held in Crimea, in which, according to official data, about 82% of voters took part, of which 96% voted for joining the Russian Federation. On March 17, 2014, according to the results of the referendum, the Republic of Crimea, in which the city of Sevastopol has a special status, applied to join Russia.

On March 18, 2014, an interstate agreement was signed between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on the admission of the Republic of Crimea to the Russian Federation. In accordance with the agreement, new subjects are formed within the Russian Federation - the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. On March 21, a federal district of the same name was formed in Crimea with the center in Simferopol. After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, the question arose about the fate of the Ukrainian military units located on the territory of the peninsula. Initially, these units were blocked by local self-defense units, and then taken by storm. During the assaults on the units, the Ukrainian military behaved passively and did not use weapons. On March 22, Russian media reported on the excitement among the Crimeans who sought to get Russian passports. On March 24, the ruble became the official currency in Crimea (the circulation of the hryvnia was temporarily preserved).

The modern history of Crimea continues to take shape before our eyes. Not all countries have yet recognized the status of Crimea. But Crimeans live with faith in a brighter future.

Crimea today is the blessed land of the Crimean peninsula, washed by the Black and Azov seas. In the north it stretches a plain, in the south - the Crimean mountains with a necklace near the coastal strip of seaside resort towns.

The natural museum is called the nature of the Crimea. There are few places in the world where diverse, comfortable and picturesque landscapes would be so originally combined. In many ways, they are due to the peculiarity of the geographical location, geological structure, relief, climate of the peninsula. The Crimean mountains divide the peninsula into two unequal parts. Large - northern - is located in the extreme south of the temperate zone, southern - the Crimean sub-Mediterranean - belongs to the northern outskirts of the subtropical zone.

Crimean peninsula secured big amount heat not only in summer but also in winter. In December and January, 8-10 times more heat is received here per unit of the earth's surface per day than, for example, in St. Petersburg. The largest number Crimea receives solar heat in summer, especially in July. Spring here is cooler than autumn. And autumn is the best season of the year. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm.

As of January 1, 2015, the population of Crimea was 2,294,888 permanent residents, including 1,895,915 permanent residents in the Republic of Crimea and 398,973 permanent residents in Sevastopol.

Who has not heard about Crimea, has not seen paintings, photographs dedicated to Crimea?

Who has not read poems about him?

Who has not dreamed of visiting this fertile sunny land?

It is not for nothing that Crimea is called a pearl. Foreign guests compare it with world-famous picturesque corners Italy and France.

In Crimea, about 250 days a year is warm, sunny weather. Here autumn is like spring. Grass turns green all year round, daisies and pansies bloom in flower beds. Almonds, peaches, apricots, grapes, feijoa, persimmons and figs grow and bear fruit here.

An inquisitive tourist in the Crimea expanse.

Where is this fertile land located?

The Crimean peninsula protrudes deeply into the Black Sea, from the east it is washed by the Sea of ​​Azov. Dimensions from west to east (between the capes Kara-Mrun and Lantern) - 324 km, from north to south (from the Isthmus of Perekop to Cape Sarych) - 207 km. The area is about 26,860 km². The banks are accumulatively aligned. Length coastline over 1 thousand km. The largest bays on the Black Sea coast: Karkinitsky, Kalamitsky, Feodosia. On the coast of the Sea of ​​Azov: Sivash, Kazantip and Arabat. In the east of Crimea is the Kerch Peninsula, in the west - the Tarkhankut Peninsula. According to the nature of the relief, it is divided into 2 parts: platform-flat (70% of the territory) and folded-mountain. In the south of Crimea - the Crimean mountains. The highest point of the peninsula is a mountain Roman-Kosh tall 1545 m

Crimea area

The surface area of ​​the peninsula is about 27 thousand km², of which 72% are plains, 20% are mountains and 8% are lakes and other water bodies. It is washed in the west and south by the Black Sea and in the east by the Sea of ​​Azov. In the north, it connects with the continent by a narrow (up to 8 km) Perekop Isthmus. In the east of Crimea, between the Black and Azov Seas, is the Kerch Peninsula, in the west, the tapering part of Crimea forms the Tarkhankut Peninsula..

The relief of the peninsula

The Crimean Mountains stretch in three ridges from Sevastopol to Feodosia with a length of 150 kilometers. The southern slopes that make up the Main Range separate the subtropical South Coast from the rest of the peninsula. The lower ridges form foothills, divided into separate sections by picturesque river valleys, and the Main ridge resembles a continuous barrier, the height of which almost everywhere exceeds a kilometer. The highest point of the Crimean mountains is Roman-Kosh - 1545 meters. In contrast to the Mountainous, the entire Northern, Western and Eastern Crimea is a plain interspersed with low hills.

They are very picturesque and do not look like others. They are like frozen huge waves, throwing up their crests to the sky. The main ridge, the slopes of which are gently sloping to the north, cut off by high steep walls to the south, has other features: it does not have the usual pointed peaks, but undulating upland plateaus. In Crimea, they are called yayls (translated from the Crimean Tatar - summer pasture).

But already in Alushta, the main ridge is divided into separate arrays - Babugan, Chatyr-Dag, Demerdzhi. The sloping Dolgorukovskaya yayla goes to the north, and the largest Karabi-yayla in terms of area goes to the east. It connects with Demerdzhinskaya only by a "bridge" in the form of the Table Mountain. Then the Main Ridge disintegrates completely, only separate mountain ranges, peaks and volcanic massifs, of which the most interesting, unusual is Karadag. Karadag, this is the farewell surprise of the Main mountain range, its dangerous Mesozoic fireworks with real fire and lava frozen under water.

Two hundred million years ago, there was the primary ocean Tethys, the mother of all the current seas and oceans. Then the Crimean and Caucasian mountains were born at its bottom, in order to germinate and rise 7-8 million years ago, dividing a single water basin into two seas - the Black and the Caspian.

In many places on the East Bank, the ancient "Taurian platform" protrudes directly from the ground, forming an unusually shaped elevation with landslides, cracks, and ravines. Further, to the east of Feodosia, roads and paths lead to sparsely populated land, the relief of which is called the Kerch hilltop. To the north and north-west of the Feodosia Bay, almost the entire small Crimea was occupied by the huge, in comparison with the coastal resort strip, the Crimean steppe. So our "Cimmeria" (sometimes called "Kimtavria") is a land of contrasts - mountains, coast, flat hills, steppe.

We will tell you about the coldest cave, the deepest karst well (on the widest Crimean plateau Karabi); here is the most full-flowing waterfall Dzhur-Dzhur and the most dry place in Crimea - Kapselskaya valley. Most wine is produced in Sudak, the best Crimean beaches are on the warmest Sea of ​​Azov, and the only Mesozoic volcano that erupted into the sea with real lava is Karadag. And, finally, on the western tip of the peninsula - the most fishy, ​​the most ancient, the most interesting for archaeologists Crimean "city of three seas" - Kerch ...

The climate of the peninsula

The southern coast of Crimea from Cape Aya in the west to Mount Kara-Dag in the east is called the sub-Mediterranean Sea for the proximity of the main features of its climate (sunshine, air temperature, precipitation), flora and fauna to the coast mediterranean sea, subtropics. The northern, flat part of Crimea has a temperate continental climate.
Summer in Crimea is hot and sunny everywhere, dry - only sometimes with short refreshing rains. Its borders can be considered the middle of May and the end of September; autumn pampers with quiet sunny days (even weeks), and somewhere from mid-October it will treat with rain. Winter differs little from autumn, but in the mountains it's just a miracle: dry frosty air, pure fluffy snow - many Crimeans go for the weekend to the Angarsk Pass and Ai-Petri Mountains. In spring, the Black Sea warms up near Yalta and Alushta more slowly than on the western or eastern coast of Crimea. Therefore, March and April, with their lush flowering, are especially good on the west coast and in the Foothills.
Relative humidity in the Crimea is almost always and everywhere low - within 65 - 80%, it is easy to breathe here even in the heat. The Yalta region, according to long-term data, has the lowest relative humidity in Europe. Passion for exotic, tourism in countries with a humid tropical climate has recently taken on a literally unhealthy character, especially for the cardiovascular system. It is worth recalling that for Europeans it is the dry subtropics that are the healthiest climate. In the Crimea, the sanatorium and resort direction is actively developing.
rare plants and animals, unique landscapes, which the peninsula is so rich in, are under protected protection. Their total area is about 700 square kilometers, which is more than 2.5% of the territory of Crimea, one of the highest rates of reserved saturation for Ukraine and the CIS. Many of the protected sites are visited by tourists, here you will need a particularly careful attitude towards nature.

The rivers of the peninsula

Depending on the direction of surface water runoff, the division of the Crimean rivers into three groups is accepted: the rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean mountains, the rivers of the southern coast of Crimea, the rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean mountains. The beams of the flat Crimea and the Kerch Peninsula are especially distinguished. The watersheds between groups of rivers run along the surface of the Yayla and along the Simferopol Upland. On the Kerch Peninsula, the watershed forms the Parpach ridge. The longest rivers of the Sea of ​​Azov basin, the most abundant are on the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains, and the shortest are on the South Coast.
All the rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains flow almost parallel to each other. Approximately up to the middle of their course, they look like typical mountain streams, receiving many tributaries here. In places where the limestone rocks of the Inner and Outer cuesta ridges of the foothills break through, they form canyon-like gorges. Within the Alma Plain, rivers flow in deep river valleys, their speeds become relatively low. The area of ​​the basins of the main rivers is within 500-600 km2, the length is 40-60 km. The main territory of their feeding is located on the limestone slopes of the Main Mountain Range at an altitude of 1300-1400 m. The tributaries here are stormy after heavy rains and low-water during periods between floods. River valleys in the middle and lower reaches have terraces. The widest first above-floodplain (garden) terrace. The rest have been preserved from erosion only in places in the form of flat remnant ridges. In the lower reaches of the Chernaya and Belbek rivers, the bottom of the valleys is swamped due to the shallow occurrence of groundwater. The largest rivers of this group are Alma, Kacha, Belbek and Chernaya.
Alma is the longest Crimean river after the Salgir. The river valley in the middle and lower reaches has long been famous for its orchards. The name Alma (more precisely Alma) means an apple. The source of the river is located in the Central Basin on the territory of the Crimean reserve and hunting economy. It is formed by three mountain rivers: Sary-Su, Babuganka and Savlykh-Su. The source of Savlykh-Su is located on the territory of the Kozmodemyanovsky monastery. Its water enters a special bath in the form of a chapel and is considered healing by pilgrims and tourists. Downstream, relatively large tributaries flow into the Alma: on the left, Dry Alma and Bodrak, and on the right, Kosa, Mavlya and Sablyn-ka. Partizanskoye and Alma reservoirs were created on Alma.
Kacha is shorter, but more full-flowing than Alma. It is formed from the confluence of the rivers - Biyuk-Uzen and Pisara. A little lower on the left, a tributary of the Donga flows into Kacha. The forested watersheds of these rivers are among the most beautiful corners of the mountainous Crimea. Even lower, Kaspana and Stilya flow into the river on the left, and on the right - Marta (with tributaries Yanyker and Finares) and Churuk-Su, which flows through Bakhchisaray. Zagorsk and Bakhchisaray reservoirs were built on Kacha.
Belbek - the most abounding river Crimea. It is formed from the confluence of two rivers - Biyuk-Uzenbash and Managotra. Below, the Kokkozka tributary flows into Belbek on the left, which in turn is formed from the confluence of the Sary-Uzen and Auzun-Uzen rivers, originating in the picturesque grand canyon Crimea. In the upper reaches of the Belbek, a large hydraulic structure was created. On the tributary of the Managotra, the Schastlivenskoye reservoir was built, the water of which, together with the waters of Kuchuk-Uzenbash and Biyuk-Uzenbash intercepted by special structures, is directed to the tunnel (more than seven kilometers long, punched in the South Coast, at the base of the Yalta mountain range).
Chernaya is the second river in Crimea in terms of water consumption after Belbek. It begins in the Baydarskaya Valley, where many turbulent rivers run down from the surrounding mountains. The length of the valley is 16-17, and the width is 7-8 km. The upper reaches of the Chernaya river forms. Uzundzha, fed by the waters of the Suuk-Su spring. In the summer, the water flow does not always reach the Baydarskaya valley, therefore, as it were, the second birth of the river. Chernoy takes place near the village. Rodnikovsky, where a powerful karst source Skelsky (the second largest in the mountainous Crimea) flows out in the right bank of its channel. In the center of the Baidarskaya valley there is a large Chernorechenskoye reservoir. Many tributaries of the Chernaya also direct their waters into the valley: Bosa, Armanka, Upper Baga, Lower Baga, Kaydarka, Urkusta, etc. Below the river. The Chernaya flows in an amazingly beautiful canyon about 16 km long. Escaping from it, the river forms a wide Inkerman valley, the lower reaches of which are flooded by the sea. Here, two large tributaries flow into the Chernaya - the Ai-Todorka and the Dry River.
The rivers of the southern coast of Crimea are short, have very steep slopes of the channels, a stormy temper in floods at relatively low water flows. In the west, apart from the usually dry ravines and Khastabash stream, the largest is the Uchan-Su river.
Uchan-Su (Waterfall), rapidly descending to the sea, forms waterfalls in four places. The uppermost and largest of them is Wuchang-Su ("flying water"). On the right, the mountain rivers Barbala and Kuhna flow into the river, and on the left - Yauzlar, which also has a cascade of waterfalls. Mudflows are observed on Wuchang-Su. The water of the river, directed through pipes, feeds the Mogabinsky reservoir (volume 300 thousand m3).
Derekoika (Fast) is the most abundant river in the South Coast. It cuts through the picturesque Uch-Kosh gorge, visible from Yalta. Near the village of Vasilievka, it is called Bala, even lower than Guva, and after the confluence with the river. Muddle - already within the city - Derekoykoy.
Ulu-Uzen is formed from the rivers Sofu-Uzen, originating on the southern slope of Chatyrdag, and Uzen-Bash, flowing down from Babugan-yayla. Uzen-Bash in the picturesque gorge of Yaman-Dere falls down like a cascade of waterfalls. The largest of them is called the Golovkinsky waterfall. Water falls here from a height of twelve meters. On Ulu-Uzen in the Alushta region, the Izobilnensky reservoir was created.
Demerdzhi is one of the shallow rivers of the South Coast. The main food is from the sources of the southeastern part of Chatyrdag and the western part of the Demerdzhi massif. Of the tributaries, the largest are the right-bank gully Shuiskaya and the left-bank - Alages.
Eastern Ulu-Uzen begins in the deep Khapkhal gorge, cut into the Tyrke massif. The river flows into the Black Sea at the village. Solnechnogorsky. The riverbed in the upper reaches descends in huge steps formed by strong carbonate sandstones, which are interbedded with thin layers of shale. Especially picturesque here powerful waterfall Dzhur-Dzhur ("noisy"). Water, rushing down from a height of almost 15 m, crashes with a roar at the foot of a limestone ledge.
In addition to the listed rivers, there are many more small rivers within the South Coast: At-Bash, Avunda, Uskut, Shelen, Voron, etc. Most of them are very similar to those described above. The main features of the rivers Uskuta, Shelena, Vorona and its tributary Ai-Serez is that in the past they were relatively often flooded with mudflows, which brought great harm to the economy. The danger of their descent remains to this day.
The rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains differ from the rivers of other groups in that they deviate to the east outside the mountains and flow into the Sivash - the lagoon of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov. In the upper reaches of the river there is always water, and within the plains there is almost no flow in low water.
Salgir is the longest river in Crimea. Together with its tributary, the Biyuk-Karasu represents the largest water system in the Crimea. The upper reaches of the Salgir form the Angara and Kizil-Koba rivers. Angara originates on the slopes of Chatyrdag at the Angarsk pass, and Kizil-Koba - at the famous Red Caves (Kizil-Koba). At s. Zarechny flows into the Salgir major tributary Ayan. It is fed by a powerful spring of the same name, which collects groundwater from almost the entire Chatyrdag massif. We have long paid attention to the excellent mountain water Ayan source as a replenishment reserve water resources Simferopol. But only in 1928 was the Ayan reservoir and water conduit built, as a result of which the city began to receive 16 times more water than in 191335. There are only about 500 springs in the Salgir basin. Downstream, the river flows into Salgir. Tavel with a tributary Tavelchuk. Before regional center Salgir fills so far the largest in the Crimea Simferopol reservoir, built in 1951-1955. Before its construction, destructive floods often swept through the Salgir valley in the city. In December 1933, the largest known flow of water in the river happened - 118 m3 / s. Within the city limits, Small Salgir flows into Salgir on the right. Below Simferopol, the river receives right tributaries - the rivers Beshterek, Zuya, Burulcha, and 27 km from Sivash - Biyuk-Karasu. This river is relatively high-water; Black. The high water content of Biyuk-Karasu is connected with its feeding by the waters of the largest karst spring in the Crimea, Karasu-Bashi, which is located at the foot of the northern slopes of the Karabi massif. Below the confluence of the river Biyuk-Karasu Salgir has almost no surface runoff in summer. Water is contained only in its loose deposits. The Taigan and Belogorsk reservoirs were built on Biyuk-Karasu.
Wet Indol (Su-Indol) begins in the eastern part of the mountainous Crimea, where there are no powerful karst sources. The source of the river is in a dry ravine, under Mount Karakol. Below, a number of springs and especially flood waters feed the Indole. Right at the Grushevka flows into the river. Sala. Nevertheless, Indole remains low in water.
Chorokh-Su (Churuk-Su) is already almost completely a steppe river. Its source is formed by the Starokrymskaya and Monastyrskaya beams. The river is partly fed by the karst waters of the Agarmysh massif. The Old Crimean Reservoir was built on it.
Common to many rivers of the mountainous Crimea is their mudflow hazard, primarily due to deforestation in the past and plowing of the slopes of their watersheds.
The beams of the Crimean plains are formed by melt and storm waters briefly flowing through them, but for a long geological time. Large of them look like real river valleys, and therefore they are often called dry rivers.
Chatyrlyk is the main dry river of Crimea. In length, it is second only to Salgir. By extensive network its "tributaries" - side beams - water flows from the entire central part of the flat Crimea. Now dams have been built in the mouth part of the dry river. In the created ponds with an area of ​​more than 2000 hectares, fish are bred. The densest network of gullies and dry rivers is on the Tarkhankut Upland Plain. The largest of them are Samarchik, more than 50 km long, Agar-Su (45 km), Bakalskaya (20 km), Donuzlavskaya (19 km). The deepest is Big Castel, located in the extreme west of the peninsula. In 1969 it was reserved as a natural monument. A number of dry rivers and beams flow into the Sivash - Pobednaya, Mironovskaya, Inaccurate, Steel, Green, etc.
The beams of the Kerch Peninsula are longer in its northern and northeastern parts. The longest of them are Samarli (51 km), Ali-Bai, Saraiminskaya, etc. With a significant degree of conventionality, only one river can be named here - Melek-Chesme, in the valley of which Kerch is located. The river only has water for a few months of the year.
The water regimes of the Crimean rivers have been greatly modified due to the creation of regulating reservoirs and water intake devices for irrigation in their different parts.
Usually, two periods are distinguished in the annual fluctuation of the water level in the rivers of the Crimea. The first is from December to April, when there are generally higher levels and their frequent sharp rises due to thaws with simultaneous rains. The second - from May to November - with low low water (before drying out), which is periodically interrupted by short-term, intense, sometimes catastrophic level rises due to showers.
The spring flood is not clearly distinguished, since it often rains during the snowmelt. Summer flash floods are most common in June and July. Cold period floods often exceed summer ones and can also be catastrophic. The highest water levels are observed non-simultaneously on the rivers of different groups. On the rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains, they can be in any month from December to July, on the rivers of the South Bank - most often from December to April, on the rivers of the northern slopes of the Crimean Mountains - in February - April, and on rivers and beams steppe Crimea - in the summer, after the rains. The water level rises in the rivers during floods are from 2 to 6 m. They are highest on the rivers of the northwestern slopes of the Crimean Mountains, especially on Belbek and Chernaya.
The lowest water levels in the rivers are usually observed in July - September. At the same time, many rivers generally dry up for 2-3, and sometimes for all 12 months.

It was formed as the Crimean region on June 30, 1945, received the status of a republic in 1991. Its area is 26.1 thousand square meters. km (4.3% of the territory of Ukraine). Population - 2134.7 thousand people (4.3% of the population of Ukraine), including urban population - 1338.3 thousand people (62.7%), rural - 796.4 thousand people (37.3% ). Population density - 81.8 people. per sq. km.

It is located on the Crimean peninsula and is the southernmost region of Ukraine. In the west and south it is washed by the Black Sea, in the east by the Sea of ​​Azov. The Kerch Strait is separated from Russia. The length of the autonomous republic from north to south is 210 km, from west to east - about 325 km. By land it borders on the Kherson region. Crimea is connected to the mainland by a narrow (8 km) Perekop isthmus, along which the railway and motor roads pass. The second transport exit from the territory of Crimea is along an artificial embankment through the Sivash. Also valid ferry crossing"Kavkaz" between Kerch and Taman Peninsula Russia.

Administratively, the republic includes 14 administrative regions, 16 cities, including 11 cities of regional subordination, 56 urban-type settlements, 957 rural settlements.

The administrative center is the city of Simferopol, the first mention dates back to the 16th century, it has been a city since 1784. The population of the city is 338.9 thousand people.

The territory of Crimea is distinguished by significant natural diversity. The Crimean mountains, located in the southern part of the peninsula, determine the division of the territory into the northern - flat (the so-called Steppe Crimea) and the southern mountainous (Mountain Crimea). Along the southern foot of the Crimean Mountains stretches a narrow pebble strip of the southern coast of Crimea. Mineral resources are represented by iron ores, natural gas deposits on the Azov shelf, as well as deposits of building materials. In the Karadag region there are deposits of semi-precious stones. The southern coast of Crimea is one of the most important resort areas of the CIS (climatotherapy, sea bathing from June to October, mud, grape therapy).

The climate of the northern part is temperate continental, dry; southern - subtropical Mediterranean type.

The rivers of Crimea are small and shallow (R. Salgir, Belbek, Chernaya, Kacha, etc.), on the largest of them reservoirs have been created that serve as sources of water supply for cities. The largest water artery is the North Crimean Canal, whose waters irrigate the fields. There are a large number of estuary salt lakes in Crimea (lake Sasyk, Krasnoe, Sakskoe, etc.).

The Crimean peninsula has been a Slavic land since ancient times (the Slavs penetrated and settled here already in the 8th century). The most ancient inhabitants of the peninsula are the Cimmerians, who mainly lived in the Northern Black Sea region and settled in the Crimea. During the Middle Ages, part of the Crimean XII centuries). The S-peninsula was part of the ancient Russian Tmutarakan principality (X 1475 to 1774, it was a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.

In 1783 Crimea became part of Russia. In 1784, the Tauride region was formed, which included the Crimean peninsula, Taman and the lands north of Perekop to the Dnepropetrovsk governorship. After 12 years, its territory became part of the Novorossiysk province. At the end of the 18th century, Crimea began to be intensively populated by immigrants from the central regions of Russia. On October 18, 1921, the Crimean ASSR was formed. In 1944, Crimean Tatars and representatives of other non-Slavic peoples were evicted from Crimea. After the end of the war, the resettlement of the population from the territories of the USSR began here, which were especially hard hit. In June 1945, the Crimean ASSR was transformed into the Crimean region. In 1954, the Crimean region from the RSFSR was transferred to the Ukrainian SSR. In 1991, the Crimean region was transformed into the Republic of Crimea, which is part of Ukraine.

Crimea is a prime example complex multinational and multicultural social system. During the 1990s, a stable trend of population decline was recorded in Crimea as a whole. The decline in the population of the region is determined by both natural decline and migration outflow, and their ratio in Crimea is almost equal.

The age composition of the republic's population is characterized by a higher proportion of people of working age compared to the average Ukrainian indicators and a slightly increased proportion of younger age groups.

Historically, a complex ethnic structure of the population has developed in Crimea. The Ukrainian regional community of Crimea is the smallest in Ukraine. The largest share of the population of Crimea is represented by Russians (in total, they accounted for more than 2/3 of the total population), while Ukrainians made up just over a quarter of its inhabitants. During the 1990s, there were some changes in the ethnic structure of the Crimean population. They are associated, firstly, with the migration influx of Crimean Tatars and the outflow of representatives of other ethnic groups (primarily Russians) outside the republic. The largest number of Crimean Tatars was recorded in the central and western regions of the republic, in some of them the share of Crimean Tatars is more than 25%.

Among religious organizations, communities of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church Moscow Patriarchate, Muslim organizations also have a fairly noticeable influence.

The area is extremely unevenly populated. At medium density population 81.8 people. per sq. km on the territory of the resort southern coastal city councils, it rises to 100 people. per sq. km. The Crimean peninsula is characterized by a specific structure of settlement. It is based on several basic elements. First, these are two major centers Simferopol and Sevastopol and, secondly, two "resort" group forms of settlement - South Coast and Saki-Evpatoria. A relatively uniform and rather extended homogeneous network of settlement is observed in the steppe part of the peninsula. The two centers of settlement of Crimea and the settlements gravitating towards them in total are home to about a third of the entire population of Crimea. In total, almost more than 17% of the total population of the republic, or almost 15% of the entire population of the peninsula, including Sevastopol, is concentrated within the South Coast ribbon-like group of city councils. In the western resort area, which includes the cities of Saki and Evpatoria, as well as nearby settlements, the total actual population is approximately 9% of the population of the republic.

The natural and climatic conditions of the peninsula determined the leading development of the sanatorium and resort economy, which has international importance. To a large extent, this area of ​​activity is associated with the specialization of other branches of the service sector. In the sectoral structure of the industrial complex, the leading place is occupied by the food industry, focused on the processing of local raw materials. Among its branches of all-Ukrainian importance are wine-making (Massandra), fish processing (Kerch, Yalta), canning (Simferopol), essential oils (Simferopol, Bakhchisarai, Alushta, Sudak) and tobacco-fermentation (Yalta, Simferopol, Feodosia). A chemical complex operates in Crimea, which is represented by the Simferopol Plastics Plant, the Saki Chemical Plant and others.

Agriculture is diversified. However, the leading role belongs to grain farming. Rice and industrial crops are cultivated on irrigated lands. Horticulture and viticulture, the cultivation of essential oil crops are developed.

Main attractions: the State Architectural and Historical Reserve "Sudatskaya Fortress" in Sudak, the State Historical and Architectural Reserve in Bakhchisarai, Alupka State Palace and Park Museum-Reserve.

The favorable economic and geographical position of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is due to the fact that the autonomy occupies the territory of the Crimean Peninsula, located in the south of Eastern Europe between 46°15’–44°23’ north latitude and 32°29’–36°39’ east longitude. The area of ​​the Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies 26.1 thousand km2, which is 4.3% of the territory of Ukraine.

Crimea is located in the latitudinal belt of the globe, which is at equal distances from the equator and the North Pole.

In the north, the peninsula is connected to the mainland by a narrow (7-23 km) Perekop isthmus. From the west and south, the peninsula is washed by the Black Sea, from the east - by the Kerch Strait, and from the northeast - by the waters of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov and its Sivash Bay.

Black Sea- a very deep (up to 2245 m), almost closed, oval-shaped reservoir. In terms of its water surface area (413,488 km2), this flat-bottomed basin is more than 15 times larger than the area of ​​the Crimean peninsula.

Sea of ​​Azov on the contrary, it is very shallow. Its greatest depth does not exceed 13.5 m. It is much inferior to the Black Sea and in area (37,600 km2).

From north to south, the peninsula stretches for 180 km, and from west to east - for 360 km. It borders on the Kherson and Zaporozhye regions of Ukraine, the Krasnodar Territory of the Russian Federation. Sea borders prevail in Crimea, the length of the coastline is about 1500 km.

The wealth of Crimea is its mild, close to the Mediterranean, climate, which is characterized by an abundance of sun, heat and light.

The climate of Crimea is determined by its geographic location, relief and influence of the seas washing the peninsula. It is characterized by a large number of hours of sunshine, but at the same time, for most areas - a lack of moisture. Abundance of sunny days (2180-2470 hours per year), warm sea, moderately humid air saturated with sea salts, beautiful mineral springs, effective healing mud- all this makes your stay on the peninsula unforgettable. The climate of the northern flat part of the Crimea is temperate continental with short winters with little snow and moderately hot dry summers.

In terms of the amount of heat and moisture, Crimea is one of the relatively favorable regions for the development of agriculture. There is an active vegetation of wheat, corn, most fruit crops and grapes.

Crimea is rightly called the natural pearl of Europe. Here, at the junction of temperate and subtropical latitudes, there is a wide variety of natural landscapes: mountains and plains, ancient volcanoes and modern mud hills, seas and lakes, forests and steppes, the nature of the Crimean sub-Mediterranean and semi-deserts of the Sivash region ...

It is no coincidence that this corner of the unique land has long attracted the attention of people, and in recent decades has become a real "Mecca" for millions of holidaymakers and tourists.

From a bird's eye view, or when looking at the physical map of the Crimea, one can well imagine the main features of the geography of the peninsula. Like the ancient crown of the backbone of Taurida, the Mountainous Crimea rises in the south. Plains stretch to the north of it, in the east lies the Kerch hills. The Crimean mountains, with a gigantic stone scar, cut off the sub-Mediterranean southern coast of Crimea, pressed against the Black Sea, and to the north of them, along the edges of cuesta ridges, the forest-steppe foothills extend.

The Crimean mountains break like a sheer wall towards the sea coast, and their opposite slopes are flat. The highest peaks are Roman-Kosh (1545 m), Ai-Petri (1232 m), Chatyr-Dag (1527 m), Northern Demerdzhi (1356 m), Sheer walls, 200 to 400 meters high, stretch along the coast from the cape Aya to the village of Gurzuf.

257 rivers with a length of more than 5 km flow through the territory of the republic. The largest is Salgir, 220 km long, and the most full-flowing is Belbek (water flow rate up to 150 liters per second).

On the peninsula, mainly along the coasts, there are more than 50 salt lakes used to obtain salts and therapeutic mud: Saki, Sasyk, Donuzlav, Bakal, Old Lake, Red Lake, Aktash, Chokrak, Uzunlar and others.

Every year more and more vacationers and tourists flock to Crimea: over the past 70 years, the flow of recreants has increased 100 times! Under these conditions, the natural reserve fund of the Crimea is of particular value and scientific and environmental interest.

The reserve fund accounts for more than 135,000 hectares of the peninsula, which is 5.2% of its area. The reserve fund plays a significant role in preserving the creations of inanimate and animate nature, and stabilizes the ecological situation on the peninsula.

Crimea is a unique region of Ukraine, where 152 objects of the natural reserve fund are located in a relatively small area, including: 6 nature reserves, 30 reserves, 69 natural monuments, 2 botanical gardens, 1 dendrological park, 31 park-monument gardening art, 8 reserved tracts, 1 zoo.

More than 200 mineral deposits are known in Crimea. Of national importance are iron ores (Kerch iron ore basin), salts of Sivash and coastal lakes (Staroe, Krasnoye, etc.), natural gas (Black Sea deposits), flux limestones (Balaklavskoye, Kerch deposits, etc.), cement marls (Bakhchisaray), pottery and bleaching clays (foothills). For therapeutic and recreational purposes, therapeutic mud and mineral springs (Saki, Evpatoria, Feodosia, etc.), sandy and pebble beaches(western and southern coast, Sea of ​​Azov).

The climatic conditions of the Crimea are very diverse. Crimea is surrounded by a water basin, crossed by a mountain plateau, with gentle slopes to the north and steeper slopes to the south (towards the Black Sea), which is protected from the influence of northern winds. The mountains are cut by valleys. At different heights above sea level, there are different conditions that affect the nature of the climate.

Each slope of the Crimean mountains has its own climatic conditions, because it is more or less influenced by certain prevailing winds. The warmest part of the South Coast is the space from Cape Aya to Cape Ai-Todor, since this part of the coast is, as it were, in the wind shadow from cold north and northeast winds. From Ai-Todor, the influence of eastern winds is already becoming noticeable and, thus, the second place in terms of warmth is occupied by the part of the South Coast from Ai-Todor to Alushta, and the third place in terms of warmth - from Alushta to Koktebel, and the degree of gradual transition from a warm climate to a more cold, as it were, follows in parallel with the gradual lowering of the heights of the mountains from Alushta to Feodosia. Feodosia is already open to the north and northeast winds, and its climate, which has its own local features, closer to the climate of the Kerch Peninsula.

Warm air coming to the Crimea from the south penetrates relatively freely through the low Crimean mountains into the steppe regions of the peninsula. When the cold dense Arctic air invades, the mountains prevent its penetration into the South Coast. In this regard, it is very indicative to compare the average January air temperature in the central part of the flat Crimea (Krasnogvardeyskoye township) and in Yalta - respectively -2°С and +4°С. If there were no mountains in Crimea, then the Southern coast would not differ much from the steppe coast of the Black and Azov Seas. At the same time, the role is not so much the height of the Crimean Mountains, but their general direction - from west to east, parallel to the coast.

Crimea is one of the sunniest regions of the European part of the CIS. The annual duration of sunshine here varies within 2180 - 2470 hours. It is especially great on the sea coast, where the breeze prevents the formation of clouds. Of the annual amount of radiation, Crimea receives about 10% in winter, 30% in spring, 40% in summer and 20% in autumn. The peninsula also receives the greatest amount of solar heat in summer. The minimum number is in mountainous areas, and the maximum is in West Coast. But be that as it may, in December and January, 8–10 times more heat is received per unit of the earth's surface per day than, for example, in St. Petersburg.

Over the winter southern part The European territory of the CIS in the latitudinal direction often establishes an axis of high atmospheric pressure, and over the Black Sea - a zone of low pressure. As a result, cold and dry continental air of temperate latitudes or arctic air often invade Crimea. Associated with this are sharp drops in temperature and strong northeasterly winds. In the same season, cyclones from the Mediterranean Sea come here relatively often, bringing the warm air of the tropics. Mediterranean cyclones, as a rule, linger in the northwestern part of the Black Sea. As a result, warm air primarily affects southwestern part mountainous Crimea. That is why the winter in Crimea is wet with frequent precipitation and low evaporation. However, in winter precipitation falls almost three times less than in summer.

Frequent thaws in winter lead to big fluctuations temperature and instability and thinness of the snow cover.

Spring in Crimea flows quickly due to the increase in the height of the sun and the length of the day, the decrease in cloudiness and the influx of southern warm air. In the interior of the Crimea, there is a significant increase in temperature already from February to March. Spring is the driest and windiest season of the year with frequent "cold returns", with night frosts, morning frosts, especially in the hollows and river valleys of the foothills, which negatively affects early-flowering stone fruit trees and heat-loving grapes.

In summer, clear, hot and low-wind weather prevails in Crimea, with the manifestation of local breezes, mountain-valley and inclined winds. Due to the fact that the continental air of temperate latitudes is transformed here into local tropical air, dry weather prevails on the peninsula.

Marine air masses and Atlantic cyclones bring precipitation at this time of the year. Heavy, intense, but most often short-term rains fall. Summer in Crimea lasts 4-5 months.

Autumn is the best season here. The weather is calm, sunny and moderately warm. Autumn is warmer than spring by 2–3°С in central regions and by 4–5°С in coastal regions. A sharp change in weather occurs, as a rule, in the second half of November.

In Crimea, the annual temperature change almost coincides with the change in solar radiation inflow. Average monthly air temperatures mainly change from north to south, with the exception of the South Coast, where changes occur to the east and west. Most often, the coldest month is January or February. The lowest average temperature(-4°С) in January is observed in the mountains, and the highest (about +5°С) is observed in the South Coast. The highest average monthly temperature is most often in July, when it reaches +23+24°С, in the mountains - 16°С.

During the day, the lowest temperatures are observed before sunrise, and the highest - at 12 - 14 hours. Breeze winds reduce the daytime temperature and increase the nighttime temperature, as a result of which the daily amplitude on the sea coast is less than away from it. The absolute minimum of air temperature occurs mainly in January-February and is up to -37°C in the foothills.

In Crimea, 80-85% of the annual precipitation falls as rain. The number of days with rain varies from 80-130 in the steppe regions to 150-170 in the mountains. In the summer in Crimea, there are no more than 5-10 days with rain per month.

The highest air temperature observed in the Crimea, 38.1° in the shade, was noted in Sevastopol. The lowest temperature -30° was observed in the Crimea in the area of ​​Simferopol and Krasnoperekopsk. Thus, the temperature in the Crimea varies within 68.1°, having annual average values ​​from 10° to 13°.

As of November 1, 2009, 1966.4 thousand people lived in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. During 2009, the population decreased, mainly due to natural decline. Due to intra-regional migration in 2009, the urban population increased at the expense of the rural population.

The population of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is distributed unevenly across the peninsula. With an average population density of 75.4 people/km2, the density in the flat part of Crimea exceeds 30 people/km2, in the mountains - about 10 people/km2, in the foothills - about 150 people/km2, and on the coast - more than 300 person/km2. On the coast of Crimea, which is the most valuable territory in terms of recreation, 50% of the population of the republic lives. And if mountains and foothills are also classified as recreationally valuable territories, then the figure will increase to 75%.

Crimea is characterized by an increase in the number of cities, as well as urban-type settlements and the relative stability of rural settlements. Due to the expansion of the network of recreational enterprises (sanatoriums, rest houses, boarding houses, etc.), the number of urban-type settlements on the coast has more than doubled in 50 years.

Rural settlements are distributed unevenly across Crimea. With a total number of 950 rural settlements and an average density of 4 settlements per 100 km2, the density of rural settlements in the Simferopol region is 6, and in the Chernomorsky region it is 2.2 settlements per 100 km2.

Territory and number of present population by regions of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as of 01.11.2010

Composition of the population of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea according to the results of the 2001 All-Ukrainian Population Census.

A feature of the national composition of the population of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea is its multinationality. According to the data of the All-Ukrainian population census, representatives of more than 125 nationalities and nationalities live in the territory of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea.

Data on the most numerous nationalities in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea are given below:

The table includes data on nationalities whose share in the total permanent population of the ARC is at least 0.1%.

Physically and geographically, the territory of the Crimean peninsula is clearly divided into two parts. Plain Crimea - part of the East European Plain - according to landscape-geographical zoning constitutes a separate Crimean Territory, which belongs to the South-steppe subzone of the steppe zone. The climate here is steppe, moderately arid, and the amount of annual precipitation increases in the direction from Sivash to the Crimean mountains.

The Crimean mountains, in contrast to the flat Crimea, are part of the sub-Mediterranean mountain belt. The climate there, especially on the south-macroslope, has noticeable features of the Mediterranean, and the vegetation is also Mediterranean (more precisely, sub-Mediterranean, where there are almost no evergreen trees characteristic of the Mediterranean), as somewhat depleted.

The peninsula is separated from mainland Ukraine by a system of shallow, highly saline bays - the Sivash (Rotten Sea). However, even in ancient times, Sivash did not exist in its modern form. In the western part there were freshwater reservoirs (Lake Buk of ancient sources), the banks of which were covered with forest. The fact that there are quite large forest areas, at least to the north of Sivash, is confirmed by archeological data, according to which settlements of ancient metallurgists were located here in the era of the late and final Bronze Age. The latter, as you know, sought to settle near forests, requiring a large amount of charcoal. But they imported ore.

In the eastern part of modern Sivash, there was a bay of the Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov (Meotian Lake). According to geomorphologists, the Arabat Spit did not exist in ancient times, and later, but archaeologists discovered the remains of ancient settlements on the arrow, which makes us more cautious about paleogeographic reconstructions of this part of Sivash.

As the areas of forests were destroyed, the openness of the peninsula to penetration from the north gradually increased, and the salinization of local water bodies also salted the soils, resulting in the depopulation of the local steppe and meadow vegetation. Some geographers even consider the Sivash region as a semi-desert zone, although, unlike real semi-deserts, the nature of the local vegetation is determined not by climatic, but by edaphic (ground) factors.

In addition to the Sivash-Crimean lowland region, three more regions are distinguished as part of the Crimean steppe region: the Central Crimean highland, the Tarkhankut highland and the Kerch hilly-ridged one.

The steppes of the central Crimea in terms of vegetation composition are generally similar to the steppes of the Black Sea lowland. In the north of the region, mainly cereal steppes are distributed, in the south, closer to the foothills, mixed herbs and cereals are richer in composition of vegetation. This area is quite favorable for the development of a nomadic economy. And indeed, nomads and alcoholics lived here almost from the very beginning of the nomadic society and until its death. And only occasionally and mainly on the periphery of the region did farmers settle. The most famous area where farmers settled for a long time was the Saki-Evpatoria coast. However, the lack of natural boundaries that could protect against the invasion of nomads led to the fact that agricultural settlements were destroyed over and over again, and the traditions of a settled economy were interrupted.

Much less favorable for nomads were the regions of the Tarkhankut and Kerch peninsulas. The Tarkhankut Peninsula, located in the north-west of Crimea, has a rather mosaic relief: the plain here is dissected by numerous beams and hollows, with limestone outcrops. The vegetation of the region also has its own specifics: petrophytic (stony) steppes and vegetation of carbonate deposits are common here. The vegetation contains many Mediterranean plants. There is every reason to believe that in ancient times, tree-shrub vegetation was widespread in local ravines, later almost completely reduced by man (its remains still exist in the Bolshoy Kastel gully). Unlike Central Crimea, where nomadic cattle breeding completely dominated for thousands of years, agricultural settlements arose on the Tarkhankut Peninsula in ancient times: Greek - on the coast and Scythian - in the depths of the peninsula. However, here, too, the agricultural tradition was interrupted from time to time under the pressure of the nomads.

The most separated and the most landscape-specific steppe region is the Kerch hilly-Pasmovoy region. It combines landscape complexes characteristic of the Sivash region, Tarkhankut and the foothills of the Crimean Mountains, and there are also mud hills. It was the geographical isolation of the region that contributed to the long-term establishment of agricultural civilizations here. Traditions of agriculture were brought mainly from the Mediterranean - from ancient Greece to late medieval Italy. Many settled here and nomads. It is worth noting that, unlike the Western Crimea, despite numerous attacks by nomads, agricultural traditions on the Kerch Peninsula never completely disappeared. At the same time, it should be emphasized that local soils, among which a large percentage are saline, are not so favorable for agriculture. Fertile lands are located mainly in small massifs: in the northern part of the coast Kerch Strait, in the Crimean Sea of ​​\u200b\u200bAzov, in the Bagerovo Valley and the like.

If the steppe Crimea, at least in its central part, played the role of a kind of corridor that connected the peninsula with the mainland, and how new and new peoples came to Crimea, then the mountainous Crimea always played the role of a kind of refuge. Here, tribes and peoples could hide from enemies and preserve, at least temporarily, their culture and ethnic identity. Suffice it to recall the ethnic group of the Crimean Goths, who came to mountainous Crimea even during the Great Migration of Nations, in the middle of the III century. BC, and were able to maintain their language and culture until the 16th century.

In the lower part of the northern macroslope of the Crimean Mountains, facing the Steppe Crimea, there is a belt of forest-steppe. Here alternate (or alternated in the past) sections oak forests(from downy oak) and real (and not meadow, as in the flat Ukrainian forest-steppe) steppes. Above, in the middle zone, forests grew: oak (from sessile oak), ash and hornbeam, in the upper zone maple forests are added to them. On plateau-like peak surfaces - yayla - there is a belt of alpine meadows and mountain steppes.

Here, on the north macroslope, where steppe and forest areas were combined, processes of settling on the land of nomads regularly took place - from the Scythians to the Crimean Tatars. It was here that the first purely local state arose (unlike the policies of the Greek colonists, they brought their statehood from the metropolis) - the Late Scythian kingdom. Here was the center of the Crimean yurt, then - the Crimean Khanate; the capitals of these states were located here - Scythian Naples on the outskirts of modern Simferopol, Solkhat (Old Crimea), Kirk'er (Chufut-Kale) and Bakhchisaray. The inhabitants of the northern foothills gradually moved south, assimilating their predecessors. So, the late Scythians assimilated the Taurians, and the Crimean Tatars - ready.

The southern coast of the Crimean Mountains is located in the sub-Mediterranean climate zone with mild winters and hot summers. In the lower belt, in the past, forests of fluffy oak and pistachio, typical of sub-Mediterranean areas, as well as light forests of high juniper and Stankevich pine, prevailed. Now this vegetation is largely destroyed by man. Above grew oak and pine forests (of sessile oak and Crimean pine), and in the upper belt - pine and beech forests.

The southern slopes of the Crimean Mountains are quite plentiful, the soils here are rocky, the coastal strip is not wide (the only exception is the Sudak Valley). All these factors in the past did not contribute to the socio-economic development of this region. Neither the Greeks, nor the Byzantines or the Genoese paid much attention to the development of the southern coast of Crimea, except that they founded fortified points with ship moorings for the normal passage of ships along the coast from Chersonesos, Kherson or Cembalo in the direction of the Feodosia Gulf and the Kerch Peninsula. The only exception, of course, was the Sudak Valley, which began to be settled back in ancient times and where one of the most important cities of the Crimea of ​​the Middle and Early Modern Ages arose.

We can state that, despite its not very large size, the Crimean peninsula has a complex and variegated landscape structure. As a result of the historical development of its individual parts, it had quite significant differences, and ethnic composition has always been pretty slick.

SUBSCRIBE:

3.1. Features of the use of retrospective landscape analysis to study changes in nature in the past.

Historical-physical-geographical stage in the Crimea. Research materials, problematic issues.

3.2. The main factors of changes in nature in the Holocene.

3.2.1 . Natural processes of dynamics and development of nature in the Holocene.

Neotectonic and modern vertical movements of the earth's crust. Fluctuations in the level of the World Ocean, the Black and Azov seas; rates of geomorphological processes, climate change, water content of rivers and lakes, soil-forming and phytocenological processes. Formation of the animal world (4 hours).

Seminar. Natural processes of dynamics and development of the Crimean nature in the second half of the Holocene. Their significance for solving a number of problematic issues of the physical geography of the peninsula.

3.2.2 . Diachronic analysis of development of Crimean regions. The history of settlement and economic development of regions in the Eneolithic and Bronze Ages, Early Iron Age and Greek colonization, in the Middle Ages and after joining Russia (1783-February, 1917) in the Soviet period. Agricultural use, forestry, hunting and other trades and their impact on natural geosystems. Types of development of territories in different historical eras. Modern development of the landscapes of the Crimean regions (4 hours).

Seminar. Analysis of the development of the regions of Crimea. The role of the anthropogenic factor in the past dynamics and development of natural geosystems and their subsystems.

4. Features of using the principles and methods of historical physical geography to develop a forecast of the dynamics and development of landscapes

Geographical and landscape forecasts, their significance. Conjugation of diachronic and synchronic, or historical-dynamic and structural-morphological, analyzes of natural geosystems for the development of a physical-geographical forecast. Construction of a series of landscape maps (for a given period) reflecting the situation under the condition of the existing, new and removed use of natural geosystems.

SEMINAR PLANS

1. Historical geography and its place in the system of sciences

Topic 1. Stages of development of historical and geographical ideas in the historical and geographical sciences.

The purpose of the workshop. To deeply understand the idea of ​​the need to study the dynamics and development of nature is associated with the history of society, the position of K. Marx and F. Engels that nature and history are not two “things” isolated from each other, a person “always has a historical nature and natural history." Find out the essence of the relevance of the system analysis of the structure of interaction between nature and society in the past. To clarify the reasons why in pre-revolutionary Russian historical geography there was a clear desire to include in this science the problems of historical change in nature. Understand why V. K. Yatsunsky (during the Soviet period) narrowed down the tasks of historical geography. Find out the evolution of views on the definition of its subject by representatives of geographical science.

Questions:

The relevance of a systematic analysis of the interaction between nature and society on present stage and significance with this historical geography.

Determination of the subject and chronological boundaries by representatives of historical science in the pre-revolutionary and Soviet period, the reasons for the differences.

What is the essence of the reason for the narrowing of the task of historical geography by V. K. Yatsunsky?

Determination of the subject and chronological boundaries by representatives of the geographical science of our country. Differences in approaches in works on historical economic geography by historians and geographers. Understanding of historical geography by representatives of physical geography.

Views of foreign scientists on the subject of historical geography.

The main scientific directions in the system of historical and geographical sciences.

The idea of ​​the position of historical geography in the system of sciences and their justification.

Problematic situation.

The founders of Russian historical geography - V. N. Tatishchev, M. V. Lomonosov and their followers studied geographical objects in spatio-temporal aspects. The historian V. K. Yatsunsky, who successfully developed historical geography in our country, considered it an auxiliary discipline of historical science that studies the specific geography of past eras. The works, mainly by V. V. Dokuchaev, L. S. Berg, S. V. Kalesnik, formed a natural-scientific approach to the definition of the subject of historical geography. V. S. Zhekulin emphasizes the importance of the integral approach in connection with the need for a synchronous study of natural and social processes, the interaction of which determines the current state of natural complexes. Along with this, P. D. Podgorodetsky points out that historical physical geography belongs to the group of natural sciences and the bifurcation of historical geography as a branch of knowledge.

What is the subject and place in the system of sciences of historical geography (geographical)?

Methodological advice.

Studying and summarizing the works of K. Marx and F. Engels, it is necessary to pay special attention to their statement that it is impossible to approach the understanding of history, "excluding from the historical movement the theoretical and practical relationship of man to nature, natural science and industry."

Answers to the questions of the seminar can be obtained by studying the works of V. S. Zhekulin, P. D. Podgorodetsky.

By the seminar, you need to study by writing out the definitions of historical geography from the "Encyclopedic Dictionary of Geographical Terms" and "interaction of society and nature" from explanatory dictionary"Landscape Protection".