Simferopol, the capital of Crimea. Simferopol is the capital and the largest city of Crimea. It is the business, administrative and cultural center of the peninsula. It has about 360,000 inhabitants. Brief history Simferopol was the capital of the Scythian State, known as Scythian Naples, during the 3rd century BC. During the 1st century […]
Despite all the ethnic diversity of the Peninsula there has always been one people, the Crimean Tartars. In 1944 about 200,000 of them were expelled by Stalin and relocated in Central Asia republics, mostly Uzbekistan. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union Crimean Tartars have been returning home in large numbers. Three waves of […]
Crimea in my heart!. Putin’s annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014. Throughout centuries Crimea has been the “trophy” for many states and empires. Its history is a succession of bloody wars for the purpose of possessing this piece of land. The Crimean annexation of of 2014 reminds us of the Catherine was determined to […]
Catherine the Great was determined to expand the Russian Empire’s hegemony. Russian-Turkish War A decisive moment in the fate of Crimea was the outcome of the Russian-Turkish War that lasted from 1768 to 1774. Russians had been destabilizing Crimean tartars for years and an overstretched and weakened Ottoman Empire was easily defeated by Russian forces. […]
Russia against an alliance of European powers The Crimean War took place from October 1853 to February 1856. It was a conflict which involved Russia against an alliance of Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, Sardinia and the Austrian Empire. The Crimean War was fought mostly in the Crimean Peninsula. It began as Russia pursued an […]
Weather in Crimea is a combination of maritime and continental climates. Temperature and precipitation depend on elevation. Crimea has three climatic regions: mountain, plains and south coast. Mountain Climate in the mountains of Crimea is very variable depending on the altitude above sea level which causes large fluctuations in temperature and precipitation. Annual rain […]
Crimea is surrounded almost entirely by the Black Sea. It is connected to Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast in the North by the Isthmus of Perekop. The Kerch Strait separates Crimea from Russia. In the ancient world the peninsula was known as Tauris. Crimea covers an area of 10,000 sq miles/26,000 sq km, about the same […]
The Ruins of Chersonesos Chersonesos was a Greek colony founded around 200 to 300 BC. It is located in the south west of the Crimean Peninsula in the outskirts of the city of Sevastopol, in the bay now called Quarantine. The word Chersonesos derived from the Greek word “Hersonissos” meaning “peninsula”. Chersonesos had a democratic […]
Crimean Tartar Dancers in a traditional dance. According to the latest census in 2001 the population of Crimea was 2,024,056 and the population of Sevastopol 377,153 which brings the total population of the Crimean Peninsula to 2,401,209. The estimated 2013 population for the peninsula is 1,967,119 inhabitants. The Crimean population has been consistently decreasing […]
Important chronological events in the history of Crimea 1300-800 BC – Cimmerians, nomadic warrior people, lived on the banks of the Cimmerian Bosporus, modern Kerch Strait. 800 – 600 BC – In the ancient world the tribes of forest mountains of Crimea become known as “Tauris”. 600 – 300 BC – The Scythians, war nomads from the steppes of […]
