Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...

Ukraine Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inva ...

, on the northern coast of the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a population of 2.4 million. The peninsula is almost entirely surrounded by the Black Sea and the smaller

Sea of Azov The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Ker ...

. The Isthmus of Perekop connects the peninsula to

Kherson Oblast Kherson Oblast ( uk, Херсо́нська о́бласть, translit=Khersónsʹka óblastʹ, ), also known as Khersonshchyna ( uk, Херсо́нщина, ), is an oblast (province) in southern Ukraine, currently claimed and partly occupied ...

in mainland Ukraine. To the east, the

Crimean Bridge The Crimean Bridge ( rus, Крымский мост, r=Krymskiy most, p=ˈkrɨmskʲij most), also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning t ...

, constructed in 2018, spans the

Strait of Kerch The Kerch Strait, uk, Керченська протока, crh, Keriç boğazı, ady, Хы ТӀуалэ is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west f ...

, linking the peninsula with

Krasnodar Krai Krasnodar Krai (russian: Краснода́рский край, r=Krasnodarsky kray, p=krəsnɐˈdarskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (a krai), located in the North Caucasus region in Southern Russia and ...

in Russia. The

Arabat Spit The Arabat Spit ( uk, Арабатська коса; russian: Арабатская коса) or Arabat Arrow is a spit (landform), barrier spit that separates the large, shallow and very salty Syvash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. The spit runs ...

, located to the northeast, is a narrow strip of land that separates the Sivash lagoons from the Sea of Azov. Across the Black Sea to the west lies Romania and to the south is Turkey. Crimea (called the Tauric Peninsula until the early modern period) has historically been at the boundary between the

classical world Classical antiquity (also the classical era, classical period or classical age) is the period of cultural history between the 8th century BC and the 5th century AD centred on the Mediterranean Sea, comprising the interlocking civilizations ...

and the

steppe In physical geography, a steppe () is an ecoregion characterized by grassland plains without trees apart from those near rivers and lakes. Steppe biomes may include: * the montane grasslands and shrublands biome * the temperate gras ...

Greeks The Greeks or Hellenes (; el, Έλληνες, ''Éllines'' ) are an ethnic group and nation indigenous to the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea regions, namely Greece, Cyprus, Albania, Italy, Turkey, Egypt, and, to a lesser extent, ot ...

colonized its southern fringe and were absorbed by the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: * Rome, the capital city of Italy * Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lett ...

and

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

Empires and

successor Successor may refer to: * An entity that comes after another (see Succession (disambiguation)) Film and TV * ''The Successor'' (film), a 1996 film including Laura Girling * ''The Successor'' (TV program), a 2007 Israeli television program Musi ...

states while remaining culturally Greek. Some cities became trading colonies of

Genoa Genoa ( ; it, Genova ; lij, Zêna ). is the capital of the Italian region of Liguria and the sixth-largest city in Italy. In 2015, 594,733 people lived within the city's administrative limits. As of the 2011 Italian census, the Province of ...

, until conquered by the

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University ...

. Throughout this time the interior was occupied by a changing cast of

steppe nomads The Eurasian nomads were a large group of nomadic peoples from the Eurasian Steppe, who often appear in history as invaders of Europe, Western Asia, Central Asia, Eastern Asia, and South Asia. A nomad is a member of people having no permanent a ...

. In the 14th century it became part of the

Golden Horde The Golden Horde, self-designated as Ulug Ulus, 'Great State' in Turkic, was originally a Mongol and later Turkicized khanate established in the 13th century and originating as the northwestern sector of the Mongol Empire. With the fragmen ...

; the

Crimean Khanate The Crimean Khanate ( crh, , or ), officially the Great Horde and Desht-i Kipchak () and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary ( la, Tartaria Minor), was a Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441 to 1783, the long ...

emerged as a successor state. In the 15th century, the Khanate became a dependency of the Ottoman Empire. Russia was often the target of

slave raids Slave raiding is a military raid for the purpose of capturing people and bringing them from the raid area to serve as slaves. Once seen as a normal part of warfare, it is nowadays widely considered a crime. Slave raiding has occurred since ant ...

during this period. In 1783, the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

annexed Crimea after an earlier war with Turkey. Crimea's strategic position led to the 1854

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

and many short lived regimes following the 1917

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

. When the

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

s secured Crimea it became an autonomous soviet republic within

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

, Crimea was downgraded to an

oblast An oblast (; ; Cyrillic (in most languages, including Russian and Ukrainian): , Bulgarian: ) is a type of administrative division of Belarus, Bulgaria, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, and Ukraine, as well as the Soviet Union and the Kingdo ...

. In 1944

Crimean Tatars , flag = Flag of the Crimean Tatar people.svg , flag_caption = Flag of Crimean Tatars , image = Love, Peace, Traditions.jpg , caption = Crimean Tatars in traditional clothing in front of the Khan's Palace ...

were ethnically cleansed and deported under the orders of

Joseph Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet Union, Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as Ge ...

, in what has been described as a cultural genocide. The USSR

transferred Crimea The transfer of the Crimean Oblast in the Soviet Union in 1954 was an administrative action of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union that transferred the government of the Crimean Peninsula from the Russian SFSR to the Ukrainia ...

on the 300th anniversary of the Pereyaslav Treaty in 1954. After Ukrainian independence in 1991 the central government and

Crimea Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a p ...

clashed, with the region being granted more autonomy. The Soviet fleet in Crimea was also in contention but a 1997

treaty A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal per ...

allowed Russia to continue basing its fleet in Sevastopol. In 2014, the

Russians , native_name_lang = ru , image = , caption = , population = , popplace = 118 million Russians in the Russian Federation (2002 '' Winkler Prins'' estimate) , region1 = , pop1 ...

occupied ' ( Norwegian: ') is a Norwegian political thriller TV series that premiered on TV2 on 5 October 2015. Based on an original idea by Jo Nesbø, the series is co-created with Karianne Lund and Erik Skjoldbjærg. Season 2 premiered on 10 Octobe ...

the peninsula and organized an illegal

referendum A referendum (plural: referendums or less commonly referenda) is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate on a proposal, law, or political issue. This is in contrast to an issue being voted on by a Representative democr ...

in support of Russian annexation, but most countries recognize Crimea as Ukrainian territory.

Name

The classical name for Crimea, '' Tauris'' or ''Taurica'', is from the Greek Ταυρική (''Taurikḗ''), after the peninsula's Scytho-Cimmerian inhabitants, the Tauri. Today, the Crimean Tatar name of the peninsula is ''Qırım'', while the Russian is Крым (''Krym''), and the Ukrainian is Крим (''Krym'').

Strabo Strabo''Strabo'' (meaning "squinty", as in strabismus) was a term employed by the Romans for anyone whose eyes were distorted or deformed. The father of Pompey was called " Pompeius Strabo". A native of Sicily so clear-sighted that he could s ...

(''Geography'' vii 4.3, xi. 2.5),

Polybius Polybius (; grc-gre, Πολύβιος, ; ) was a Greek historian of the Hellenistic period. He is noted for his work , which covered the period of 264–146 BC and the Punic Wars in detail. Polybius is important for his analysis of the mixed ...

, (''Histories'' 4.39.4), and

Ptolemy Claudius Ptolemy (; grc-gre, Πτολεμαῖος, ; la, Claudius Ptolemaeus; AD) was a mathematician, astronomer, astrologer, geographer, and music theorist, who wrote about a dozen scientific treatises, three of which were of importanc ...

(''Geographia''. II, v 9.5) refer variously to the

as the Κιμμερικὸς Βόσπορος (''Kimmerikos Bosporos'', romanized spelling, ''Bosporus Cimmerius''), its easternmost part as the Κιμμέριον Ἄκρον (''Kimmerion Akron'', Roman name: Promontorium Cimmerium), as well as to the city of Cimmerium and thence the name of the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (Κιμμερικοῦ Βοσπόρου). The city '' Staryi Krym'' ('Old Crimea'), served as a capital of the Crimean province of the

. Between 1315 and 1329 CE, the Arab writer Abū al-Fidā recounted a political fight in 1300–1301 CE which resulted in a rival's decapitation and his head being sent "to the Crimea", apparently in reference to the peninsula, although some sources hold that the name of the capital was extended to the entire peninsula at some point during Ottoman suzerainty (1441–1783). The origin of the word ''Qırım'' is uncertain. Suggestions argued in various sources include: # a corruption of ''Cimmerium'' (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

, ''

Kimmerikon Kimmerikón (Greek , la, Cimmericum) was an ancient Greek city in Crimea, on the southern shore of the Kerch Peninsula, at the western slope of Mount Opuk, roughly 40 kilometres southwest of modern Kerch. It was situated with its acropolis on the ...

'', Κιμμερικόν). # a derivation from the Turkic term ''qirum'' ("fosse, trench"), from ''qori-'' ("to fence, protect"). Other suggestions either unsupported or contradicted by sources, apparently based on similarity in sound, include: # a derivation from the

''Cremnoi'' (Κρημνοί, in post-classical

Koiné Greek Koine Greek (; Koine el, ἡ κοινὴ διάλεκτος, hē koinè diálektos, the common dialect; ), also known as Hellenistic Greek, common Attic, the Alexandrian dialect, Biblical Greek or New Testament Greek, was the common supra-reg ...

pronunciation, ''Crimni'', i.e., "the Cliffs", a port on

Lake Maeotis The Sea of Azov ( Crimean Tatar: ''Azaq deñizi''; russian: Азовское море, Azovskoye more; uk, Азовське море, Azovs'ke more) is a sea in Eastern Europe connected to the Black Sea by the narrow (about ) Strait of Kerch, ...

(Sea of Azov) cited by

Herodotus Herodotus ( ; grc, , }; BC) was an ancient Greek historian and geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society ...

in ''The Histories'' 4.20.1 and 4.110.2). However, Herodotus identifies the port not in Crimea, but as being on the west coast of the Sea of Azov. No evidence has been identified that this name was ever in use for the peninsula. # The Turkic term (e.g., in ) is related to the Mongolian appellation ''kerm'' "wall", but sources indicate that the Mongolian appellation of the Crimean peninsula of ''Qaram'' is phonetically incompatible with ''kerm/kerem'' and therefore deriving from another original term. The spelling "Crimea" is the Italian form, i.e., ''la Crimea'', since at least the 17th century and the "Crimean peninsula" becomes current during the 18th century, gradually replacing the classical name of ''Tauric Peninsula'' in the course of the 19th century. In English usage since the early modern period the Crimean Khanate is referred to as ''Crim Tartary''. The omission of the definite article in English ("Crimea" rather than "the Crimea") became common during the later 20th century. The classical name was used in 1802 in the name of the Russian

Taurida Governorate The Taurida Governorate (russian: Тавріическая губернія, modern spelling , ; crh, script=Latn, Tavrida guberniyası, ) or the Government of Taurida, was a historical governorate of the Russian Empire. It included the Crime ...

. While it was replaced with ''Krym'' ( uk, Крим; russian: Крым) in the Soviet Union and has had no official status since 1921, it is still used by some institutions in Crimea, such as the Taurida National University, the Tavriya Simferopol football club, or the Tavrida federal highway.

History

Sevastopol Chersonesus Basilica of 1935 IMG 0669 1725

Ancient history

The recorded history of the

Crimean Peninsula Crimea, crh, Къырым, Qırım, grc, Κιμμερία / Ταυρική, translit=Kimmería / Taurikḗ ( ) is a peninsula in Ukraine, on the northern coast of the Black Sea, that has been occupied by Russia since 2014. It has a pop ...

begins around the fifth century BCE when several

Greek colonies Greek colonization was an organised colonial expansion by the Archaic Greeks into the Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea in the period of the 8th–6th centuries BC. This colonization differed from the migrations of the Greek Dark Ages in that i ...

were established along its coast, the most important of which was

Chersonesos Chersonesus ( grc, Χερσόνησος, Khersónēsos; la, Chersonesus; modern Russian and Ukrainian: Херсоне́с, ''Khersones''; also rendered as ''Chersonese'', ''Chersonesos'', contracted in medieval Greek to Cherson Χερσών; ...

near modern-day

Sevastopol Sevastopol (; uk, Севасто́поль, Sevastópolʹ, ; gkm, Σεβαστούπολις, Sevastoúpolis, ; crh, Акъя́р, Aqyár, ), sometimes written Sebastopol, is the largest city in Crimea, and a major port on the Black Sea ...

, with

Scythians The Scythians or Scyths, and sometimes also referred to as the Classical Scythians and the Pontic Scythians, were an ancient Eastern * : "In modern scholarship the name 'Sakas' is reserved for the ancient tribes of northern and eastern Centra ...

and Tauri in the hinterland to the north. The Tauri gave the name the Tauric Peninsula which Crimea was called into the early modern period. The southern coast gradually consolidated into the

Bosporan Kingdom The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (, ''Vasíleio toú Kimmerikoú Vospórou''), was an ancient Greco-Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus, ...

which was annexed by

Pontus Pontus or Pontos may refer to: * Short Latin name for the Pontus Euxinus, the Greek name for the Black Sea (aka the Euxine sea) * Pontus (mythology), a sea god in Greek mythology * Pontus (region), on the southern coast of the Black Sea, in modern ...

and then became a

client kingdom A client state, in international relations, is a state that is economically, politically, and/or militarily subordinate to another more powerful state (called the "controlling state"). A client state may variously be described as satellite state, ...

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

from 63 BCE to 341 CE.

Medieval history

The south coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years including under Roman successor states, the

Byzantine Empire The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

(341–1204 CE), the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461 CE), and the independent

Principality of Theodoro The Principality of Theodoro ( el, Αὐθεντία πόλεως Θεοδωροῦς καὶ παραθαλασσίας), also known as Gothia ( el, Γοτθία) or the Principality of Theodoro-Mangup, was a Greek principality in the southern pa ...

(ended 1475 CE). In the 13th century, some Crimean port cities were controlled by the Venetians and by the

Genovese Genovese is an Italian surname meaning, properly, someone from Genoa. Its Italian plural form '' Genovesi'' has also developed into a surname. People * Alfred Genovese (1931–2011), American oboist * Alfredo Genovese (born 1964), Argentine ar ...

, but the interior was much less stable, enduring a long series of conquests and invasions. In the medieval period, it was partially conquered by

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

whose

prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

was baptized at

starting the

Christianization of Kievan Rus' Christianization ( or Christianisation) is to make Christian; to imbue with Christian principles; to become Christian. It can apply to the conversion of an individual, a practice, a place or a whole society. It began in the Roman Empire, conti ...

Mongol Conquest (1238–1449)

The north and centre of Crimea fell to the

Mongol The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal member ...

, although the south coast was still controlled by the Christian

and

Genoese colonies The colonies of the Republic of Genoa were a series of economic and trade posts in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Some of them had been established directly under the patronage of the republican authorities to support the economy of the local ...

. The

Genoese–Mongol Wars The Genoese–Mongol Wars were a series of conflicts fought between the Republic of Genoa, the Mongol Empire and its successor states, most notedly the Golden Horde and Crimean Khanate. The wars were fought over control of trade and political inf ...

were fought between the 13th and 15th centuries for control of south Crimea.

Crimean Khanate (1443–1783)

In the 1440s the

formed out of the collapse of the horde but quite rapidly itself became subject to the

, which also conquered the coastal areas which had kept independent of the Khanate. A major source of prosperity in these times were frequents raids into Russia for slaves.

Russian Empire (1783–1917)

In 1774, the Ottoman Empire was

defeated Defeated may refer to: * "Defeated" (Breaking Benjamin song) * "Defeated" (Anastacia song) *"Defeated", a song by Snoop Dogg from the album ''Bible of Love'' *Defeated, Tennessee, an unincorporated community *''The Defeated ''The Defeated'', al ...

by Catherine the Great with the

Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca ( tr, Küçük Kaynarca Antlaşması; russian: Кючук-Кайнарджийский мир), formerly often written Kuchuk-Kainarji, was a peace treaty signed on 21 July 1774, in Küçük Kaynarca (today Kayn ...

making the Tatars of the Crimea politically independent. Catherine the Great's incorporation of the Crimea in 1783 into the Russian Empire increased Russia's power in the Black Sea area. which would later see Russia's frontier expand westwards to the

Dniester The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and th ...

. From 1853 to 1856, the strategic position of the peninsula in controlling the Black Sea meant that it was the site of the principal engagements of the

, where Russia lost to a French-led alliance.

Russian Civil War (1917–1921)

During the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

, Crimea changed hands many times and was where Wrangel's anti-Bolshevik

White Army The White Army (russian: Белая армия, Belaya armiya) or White Guard (russian: Бѣлая гвардія/Белая гвардия, Belaya gvardiya, label=none), also referred to as the Whites or White Guardsmen (russian: Бѣлогв� ...

made their last stand. Many anti-Communist fighters and civilians escaped to

Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...

but up to 150,000 were killed in Crimea.

Soviet Union (1921–1991)

In 1921 the

Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic During the existence of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, different governments existed within the Crimean Peninsula. From 1921 to 1936, the government in the Crimean Peninsula was known as the Crimean Autonomous Socialist Soviet Republic ...

was created as part of the

Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR or RSFSR ( rus, Российская Советская Федеративная Социалистическая Республика, Rossíyskaya Sovétskaya Federatívnaya Soci ...

. It was occupied by Germany from 1942 to 1944 during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. After the Soviets regained control in 1944, they deported the Crimean Tartars and several other nationalities to elsewhere in the USSR. The autonomous republic was dissolved in 1945, and Crimea became an oblast of the Russian SFSR. It was transferred to the

Ukrainian SSR The Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic ( uk, Украї́нська Радя́нська Соціалісти́чна Респу́бліка, ; russian: Украи́нская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респ ...

in 1954, on the 300th anniversary of the

Treaty of Pereyaslav The Pereiaslav AgreementPereyaslav Agreement

Ukraine (1991–present)

With the dissolution of the Soviet Union and Ukrainian independence in 1991 most of the peninsula was reorganized as the

Republic of Crimea The Republic of Crimea, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; uk, Республіка Крим, translit. ''Respublika Krym'' ; crh, , is an unrecognized federal subject ( republic) of Russia, located in the Crimean Peninsula. Its territory ...

,''National Identity and Ethnicity in Russia and the New States of Eurasia'' edited by Roman Szporluk (page 174) although in 1995 the Republic was forcibly abolished by Ukraine with the Autonomous Republic of Crimea established firmly under Ukrainian authority. A 1997 treaty partitioned the

Soviet Black Sea Fleet Chernomorskiy flot , image = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Great emblem of the Black Sea fleet , dates = May 13, ...

, allowing Russia to continue basing its fleet in Sevastopol, with the lease extended in 2010.

Russian occupation (2014–present)

In 2014, Crimea saw intense demonstrations against the removal of the Russia-leaning

Ukrainian president The president of Ukraine ( uk, Президент України, Prezydent Ukrainy) is the head of state of Ukraine. The president represents the nation in international relations, administers the foreign political activity of the state, condu ...

Viktor Yanukovych Viktor Fedorovych Yanukovych ( uk, Віктор Федорович Янукович, ; ; born 9 July 1950) is a former politician who served as the fourth president of Ukraine from 2010 until he was removed from office in the Revolution of D ...

in Kyiv. Protests culminated in Russian forces occupying strategic points in Crimea and the Russian-organized

declared independence from Ukraine following an illegal and internationally unrecognized

supporting reunification. Russia then claimed to have annexed Crimea, although most countries still recognize Crimea as part of Ukraine.

Geography

Covering an area of , Crimea is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea and on the western coast of the

; the only land border is shared with Ukraine's

on the north. Crimea is almost an island and only connected to the continent by the Isthmus of Perekop, a strip of land about wide. Much of the natural border between the Crimean Peninsula and the Ukrainian mainland comprises the Sivash or "Rotten Sea", a large system of shallow lagoons stretching along the western shore of the Sea of Azov. Besides the isthmus of Perekop, the peninsula is connected to the Kherson Oblast's

Henichesk Raion Henichesk Raion ( uk, Генічеський район) is one of the 5 administrative raions (districts) of Kherson Oblast in southern Ukraine. Its administrative centre is located in the city of Henichesk. Population: On 18 July 2020, as pa ...

by bridges over the narrow Chonhar and

Henichesk Henichesk ( uk, Гені́чеськ, Heniches’k, ; rus, links=on, Гени́ческ, r=Genichesk, p=ɡʲɪˈnʲit͡ɕɪsk) is a port city along the Sea of Azov in the Kherson Oblast of southern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative centre ...

straits and over Kerch Strait to the

. The northern part of

is administratively part of Henichesk Raion in Kherson Oblast, including its two rural communities of

Shchaslyvtseve Shchaslyvtseve ( uk, Щасливцеве) is a village in southern Ukraine. The community is located on the Arabat Spit and is geographically in Crimea, but administered as part of Henichesk Raion, Kherson Oblast. It belongs to Henichesk urban h ...

and

Strilkove Strilkove ( ua, Стрілкове; russian: Стрелковое; crh, Çoqraq) is a Ukrainian village in Henichesk raion of Kherson oblast. It belongs to Henichesk urban hromada, one of the hromadas of Ukraine. In 2001 its population was 1,37 ...

. The eastern tip of the Crimean peninsula comprises the

Kerch Peninsula The Kerch Peninsula is a major and prominent geographic peninsula located at the eastern end of the Crimean Peninsula, Ukraine. This peninsula stretches eastward toward the Taman peninsula between the Sea of Azov and the Black Sea. Most of the pe ...

, separated from

Taman Peninsula The Taman Peninsula (russian: Тама́нский полуо́стров, ''Tamanskiy poluostrov'') is a peninsula in the present-day Krasnodar Krai of Russia, which borders the Sea of Azov to the North, the Strait of Kerch to the West and the ...

on the Russian mainland by the

Kerch Strait The Kerch Strait, uk, Керченська протока, crh, Keriç boğazı, ady, Хы ТӀуалэ is a strait in Eastern Europe. It connects the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov, separating the Kerch Peninsula of Crimea in the west f ...

, which connects the Black Sea with the Sea of Azov, at a width of between . Geographers generally divide the peninsula into three zones: steppe, mountains and southern coast.

Places

Given its long history and many conquerors, most towns in Crimea have several names. West: The Isthmus of Perekop /

Perekop Perekop (Ukrainian & Russian: Перекоп; ; ) is an urban-type settlement located on the Perekop Isthmus connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland. It is known for the fortress Or Qapi that served as the gateway to Crimea. ...

Or Qapi Or Qapi Fortress is a ruined fort located near the settlement of Perekop on the Perekop isthmus connecting the Crimean peninsula to the Ukrainian mainland. History The Or Qapi fort was built in the 15th century by Mengli Girai and his ...

, about wide, connects Crimea to the mainland. It was often fortified and sometimes garrisoned by the Turks. The

North Crimean Canal The North Crimean Canal ( uk, Північно-Кримський канал, translit=Pivnichno-Krymskyi kanal, russian: Северо-Крымский канал, in the Soviet Union: North Crimean Canal of the Lenin's Komsomol of Ukraine) is a l ...

now crosses it to bring water from the Dnieper. To the west Karkinit Bay separates the

Tarkhankut Peninsula The Tarkhankut Peninsula ( uk, Тарханкутський півострів, russian: Тарханкутский полуостров, ) is the peninsula which constitutes the western extremity of Crimea into the Black Sea. Its northern shore ...

from the mainland. On the north side of the peninsula is Chernomorskoe/Kalos

Limen In physiology, psychology, or psychophysics, a limen or a liminal point is a sensory threshold of a physiological or psychological response. It is the boundary of perception. On one side of a limen (or threshold) a stimulus is perceivable, on the ...

. On the south side is the large

Donuzlav Lake Donuzlav ( rus, Донузлав) also referred to as Donuzlav Bay is the deepest lakeOliferov, A.M. Donuzlav (ДОНУЗЛА́В)'. Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine. of Crimea () and biggest in Chornomorske Raion (). It is a protected landsc ...

Bay and the port and ancient Greek settlement of

Yevpatoria Yevpatoria ( uk, Євпаторія, Yevpatoriia; russian: Евпатория, Yevpatoriya; crh, , , gr, Ευπατορία) is a city of regional significance in Western Crimea, north of Kalamita Bay. Yevpatoria serves as the administrativ ...

/Kerkinitis/Gözleve. The coast then runs south to

Chersonesus Chersonesus ( grc, Χερσόνησος, Khersónēsos; la, Chersonesus; modern Russian and Ukrainian: Херсоне́с, ''Khersones''; also rendered as ''Chersonese'', ''Chersonesos'', contracted in medieval Greek to Cherson Χερσών; ...

, a good natural harbor, great naval base and the largest city on the peninsula. At the head of

Sevastopol Bay Sevastopol Bay ( uk, Севастопольська бухта; russian: Севастопольская бухта) is a city harbor that includes a series of smaller bays carved out its shores. The bay of Sevastopol splits the city of Sevastopo ...

stands

Inkermann Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is ''de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but ''de jure'' within Ukraine. It lies ...

/Kalamita. South of Sevastopol is the small Heracles Peninsula. South: In the south, between the

Crimean Mountains The Crimean Mountains ( uk, Кримські гори, translit. ''Krymski hory''; russian: Крымские горы, translit. ''Krymskie gory''; crh, Qırım dağları) are a range of mountains running parallel to the south-eastern coast o ...

and the sea runs a narrow coastal strip which was held by the Genoese and (after 1475) by the Turks. Under Russian rule it became a kind of

riviera ''Riviera'' () is an Italian word which means "coastline", ultimately derived from Latin , through Ligurian . It came to be applied as a proper name to the coast of Liguria, in the form ''Riviera ligure'', then shortened in English. The two areas ...

. In Soviet times the many palaces were replaced with

dacha A dacha ( rus, дача, p=ˈdatɕə, a=ru-dacha.ogg) is a seasonal or year-round second home, often located in the exurbs of post-Soviet countries, including Russia. A cottage (, ') or shack serving as a family's main or only home, or an outbu ...

s and health resorts. From west to east are: Heracles Peninsula;

Balaklava Balaklava ( uk, Балаклáва, russian: Балаклáва, crh, Balıqlava, ) is a settlement on the Crimean Peninsula and part of the city of Sevastopol. It is an administrative center of Balaklava Raion that used to be part of the Cri ...

/Symbalon/Cembalo, a smaller natural harbor south of Sevastopol; Foros, the southernmost point;

Alupka Alupka (Ukrainian and Russian: Алу́пка; crh, Alupka; gr, Ἀλώπηξ, Alòpex) is a resort city located in the Crimean peninsula, a territory of Ukraine currently annexed by Russian Federation (see 2014 Crimean crisis). It is located t ...

with the

Vorontsov Palace (Alupka) The Vorontsov Palace ( uk, Воронцовський палац; russian: link=no, Воронцо́вский дворе́ц) or the Alupka Palace; russian: link=no, Алупкинский дворец) name was contrived during Soviet times ...

;

Gaspra Gaspra ( uk, Гаспра, officially transliterated Haspra; russian: Гаспра; crh, Gaspra, from Greek hàspra, άσπρα, white) is a spa town, an urban-type settlement in Yalta Municipality in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. It is loc ...

;

Yalta Yalta (: Я́лта) is a resort city on the south coast of the Crimean Peninsula surrounded by the Black Sea. It serves as the administrative center of Yalta Municipality, one of the regions within Crimea. Yalta, along with the rest of Cri ...

;

Gurzuf Gurzuf or Hurzuf ( uk, link=no, Гурзуф, russian: Гурзу́ф, crh, Gurzuf, gr, link=no, Γορζουβίται) is a resort-town (urban-type settlement) in Yalta Municipality of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized b ...

;

Alushta Alushta ( uk, Алушта; crh, Aluşta; ) is a city of regional significance on the southern coast of the Crimean peninsula which is within the Republic of Crimea, an internationally recognized ''de jure'' part of Ukraine, but since 2014 a ''de ...

. Further east is

Sudak Sudak (Ukrainian & Russian: Судак; crh, Sudaq; gr, Σουγδαία; sometimes spelled Sudac or Sudagh) is a town, multiple former Eastern Orthodox bishopric and double Latin Catholic titular see. It is of regional significance in Crimea, ...

/Sougdia/Soldaia with its Genoese fort. Further east still is Theodosia/Kaffa/

Feodosia uk, Феодосія, Теодосія crh, Kefe , official_name = () , settlement_type= , image_skyline = THEODOSIA 01.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Genoese fortress of Caffa , image_shield = Fe ...

, once a great slave-mart and a kind of capital for the Genoese and Turks. Unlike the other southern ports, Feodosia has no mountains to its north. At the east end of the

Kerch Kerch ( uk, Керч; russian: Керчь, ; Old East Slavic: Кърчевъ; Ancient Greek: , ''Pantikápaion''; Medieval Greek: ''Bosporos''; crh, , ; tr, Kerç) is a city of regional significance on the Kerch Peninsula in the east of t ...

Panticapaeum Panticapaeum ( grc-gre, Παντικάπαιον , from Scythian , "fish-path") was an ancient Greek city on the eastern shore of Crimea, which the Greeks called Taurica. The city lay on the western side of the Cimmerian Bosporus, and was found ...

, once the capital of the

Bosporian Kingdom The Bosporan Kingdom, also known as the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus (, ''Vasíleio toú Kimmerikoú Vospórou''), was an ancient Greco-Scythian state located in eastern Crimea and the Taman Peninsula on the shores of the Cimmerian Bosporus ...

. Just south of Kerch the new Crimean Bridge (opened in 2018) connects Crimea to the

. Sea of Azov: There is little on the south shore. The west shore is marked by the

. Behind it is the

Syvash The Syvash or Sivash (Russian and Ukrainian: ; , Cyrillic: Сываш, "dirt"), also known as the or (, ''Gniloye More''; , ''Hnyle More''; , Cyrillic: Чюрюк Денъиз), is a large area of shallow lagoons on the west coast of the Sea ...

or "Putrid Sea", a system of lakes and marshes which in the far north extend west to the Perekop Isthmus. Road- and rail-bridges cross the northern part of Syvash. Interior: Most of the former capitals of Crimea stood on the north side of the mountains.

Mangup , settlement_type = Historic settlement , image_skyline = Mangup Fortress2.jpg , imagesize = 250px , image_caption = Ruins of the Gate of the Citadel at Mangup , pushpin_map = Crimea , pushpin_re ...

/Doros (Gothic, Theodoro).

Bakhchisarai Bakhchysarai ( crh, Bağçasaray, italic=yes; russian: Бахчисара́й; ua, Бахчисара́й; tr, Bahçesaray) is a town in Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and annexed by Russia as the Re ...

(1532–1783). Southeast of Bakhchisarai is the cliff-fort of

Chufut-Kale __NOTOC__ Chufut-Kale ( crh, Çufut Qale, italic=yes ; Russian and Ukrainian: Чуфут-Кале - ''Chufut-Kale''; Karaim: Кала - קלעה - ''Kala'') is a medieval city-fortress in the Crimean Mountains that now lies in ruins. It is a nati ...

/Qirq Or which was used in more warlike times.

Simferopol Simferopol () is the second-largest city in the Crimean Peninsula. The city, along with the rest of Crimea, is internationally recognised as part of Ukraine, and is considered the capital of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea. However, it is ...

/Ak-Mechet, the modern capital.

Karasu-Bazar Bilohirsk (until 1944 – Karasubazar, uk, Білогірськ, translit=Bilohirsk; russian: Белого́рск, translit=Belogorsk, crh, Qarasuvbazar/Къарасувбазар) is a town and the administrative centre in Belohirsk Raion, o ...

/Bilohorsk was a commercial center. Solkhat/ Staryi Krym was the old Tatar capital. Towns on the northern steppe area are all modern, notably

Dzhankoi Dzhankoi or Jankoy is a town of regional significance in the northern part of Crimea, an internationally recognized ''de jure'' part of Ukraine, but since 2014 a ''de facto'' federal subject of the Russian Federation. It also serves as administrat ...

, a major road- and rail-junction. Rivers: The longest is the

Salhyr The Salhyr or Salgir ( Cyrillic: Салгир; ) is the longest river of the Crimean Peninsula. Its length is 204 km, and its drainage basin is 3,750 km². The average discharge of the water is 2 m³/s.Alma Alma or ALMA may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Alma'' (film), a 2009 Spanish short animated film * ''Alma'' (Oswald de Andrade novel), 1922 * ''Alma'' (Le Clézio novel), 2017 * ''Alma'' (play), a 1996 drama by Joshua Sobol about Alma ...

flows west to reach the Black Sea between Yevpatoria and Sevastopol. The shorter Chornaya flows west to Sevastopol Bay. Nearby: East of the Kerch Strait the Ancient Greeks founded colonies at

Phanagoria Phanagoria ( grc, Φαναγόρεια, Phanagóreia; russian: Фанагория, translit=Fanagoriya) was the largest ancient Greek city on the Taman peninsula, spread over two plateaus along the eastern shore of the Cimmerian Bosporus. The ...

(at the head of

Taman Bay The Taman Bay ( Russian: Таманский залив) is a shallow bay or gulf on the east coast of the Strait of Kerch shaped on the southern side by the Tuzla Spit and to the north by the Chushka Spit. It dips into the Taman Peninsula of Kras ...

Hermonassa Tmutarakan ( rus, Тмутарака́нь, p=tmʊtərɐˈkanʲ, ; uk, Тмуторокань, Tmutorokan) was a medieval Kievan Rus' principality and trading town that controlled the Cimmerian Bosporus, the passage from the Black Sea to the Se ...

(later Tmutarakan and

Taman Taman may refer to: Places *Taman Peninsula, a peninsula in southern Russia **Taman Bay, an inlet of the Strait of Kerch off the peninsula **Taman, Russia, a rural locality located on the peninsula ** Port of Taman, a seaport on the Peninsula * ...

Gorgippia Anapa (russian: Ана́па, ) is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. Population: History The area around Anapa was settled in antiquity. It was originally a major seaport (Sin ...

(later a Turkish port and now Anapa). At the northeast point of the Sea of Azov at the mouth of the Don River were

Tanais Tanais ( el, Τάναϊς ''Tánaïs''; russian: Танаис) was an ancient Greek city in the Don river delta, called the Maeotian marshes in classical antiquity. It was a bishopric as Tana and remains a Latin Catholic titular see as Tana ...

, Azak/

Azov Azov (russian: Азов), previously known as Azak, is a town in Rostov Oblast, Russia, situated on the Don River just from the Sea of Azov, which derives its name from the town. Population: History Early settlements in the vicinity The mout ...

and now

Rostov-on-Don Rostov-on-Don ( rus, Ростов-на-Дону, r=Rostov-na-Donu, p=rɐˈstof nə dɐˈnu) is a port city and the administrative centre of Rostov Oblast and the Southern Federal District of Russia. It lies in the southeastern part of the East Eu ...

. North of the peninsula the Dnieper turns westward and enters the Black Sea through the east–west Dnieper-Bug Estuary which also receives the Bug River. At the mouth of the Bug stood Olvia. At the mouth of the estuary is

Ochakiv Ochakiv, also known as Ochakov ( uk, Оча́ків, ; russian: Очаков; crh, Özü; ro, Oceacov and ''Vozia'', and Alektor ( in Greek), is a small city in Mykolaiv Raion, Mykolaiv Oblast (region) of southern Ukraine. It hosts the admini ...

Odessa Odesa (also spelled Odessa) is the third most populous city and municipality in Ukraine and a major seaport and transport hub located in the south-west of the country, on the northwestern shore of the Black Sea. The city is also the administrativ ...

stands where the coast turns southwest. Further southwest is

Tyras Tyras ( grc, Τύρας) was an ancient Greek city on the northern coast of the Black Sea. It was founded by colonists from Miletus, probably about 600 BC. The city was situated some 10 km from the mouth of the Tyras River, which is no ...

/Akkerman/ Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi.

Crimean Mountains

The southeast coast is flanked at a distance of from the sea by a parallel range of mountains: the Crimean Mountains. These mountains are backed by secondary parallel ranges. The main range of these mountains rises with extraordinary abruptness from the deep floor of the Black Sea to an altitude of , beginning at the southwest point of the peninsula, called . Some Greek myths state that this cape was supposedly crowned with the temple of

Artemis In ancient Greek mythology and religion, Artemis (; grc-gre, Ἄρτεμις) is the goddess of the hunt, the wilderness, wild animals, nature, vegetation, childbirth, care of children, and chastity. She was heavily identified wit ...

where

Iphigeneia In Greek mythology, Iphigenia (; grc, Ἰφιγένεια, , ) was a daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra, and thus a princess of Mycenae. In the story, Agamemnon offends the goddess Artemis on his way to the Trojan War by hunting ...

officiated as priestess. Uchan-su, on the south slope of the mountains, is the highest waterfall in Crimea.

Hydrography

There are 257 rivers and major streams on the Crimean peninsula; they are primarily fed by rainwater, with snowmelt playing a very minor role. This makes for significant annual fluctuation in water flow, with many streams drying up completely during the summer. The largest rivers are the

(Альма), and the Belbek (Бельбек). Also important are the Kokozka (Kökköz or Коккозка), the Indole (Indol or Индо́л), the Chorna (Çorğun, Chernaya or Чёрная), the Derekoika (Dereköy or Дерекойка), the Karasu-Bashi (Biyuk-Karasu or Биюк-Карасу) (a tributary of the Salhyr river), the Burulcha (Бурульча) (also a tributary of the Salhyr), the Uchan-su, and the Ulu-Uzen'. The longest river of Crimea is the Salhyr at . The Belbek has the greatest average discharge at . The Alma and the Kacha are the second- and third-longest rivers. Nord-Krim-Kanal

There are more than fifty salt lakes and salt pans on the peninsula. The largest of them is Lake Sasyk (Сасык) on the southwest coast; others include Aqtas, Koyashskoye, Kiyatskoe, Kirleutskoe, Kizil-Yar, Bakalskoe, and

. The general trend is for the former lakes to become salt pans. Lake Syvash (Sıvaş or Сива́ш) is a system of interconnected shallow

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

s on the north-eastern coast, covering an area of around . A number of dams have created reservoirs; among the largest are the Simferopolskoye, Alminskoye, the Taygansky and the Belogorsky just south of Bilohirsk in

Bilohirsk Raion Bilohirsk Raion (, , ) is one of the 25 regions of Crimea, currently occupied by Russian Federation Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest ...

. The North Crimea Canal, which transports water from the

Dnieper } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine and ...

, is the largest of the man-made irrigation channels on the peninsula.Tymchenko, Z.
North Crimean Canal. History of construction
'. (Russian)

Ukrayinska Pravda ''Ukrainska Pravda'' ( uk, Українська правда, lit=Ukrainian Truth) is a Ukrainian online newspaper founded by Georgiy Gongadze on 16 April 2000 (the day of the Ukrainian constitutional referendum). Published mainly in Ukrai ...

. 13 May 2014 (Krymskiye izvestiya. November 2012) Crimea is facing an unprecedented

water shortage Water scarcity (closely related to water stress or water crisis) is the lack of fresh water resources to meet the standard water demand. There are two types of water scarcity: physical or economic water scarcity. Physical water scarcity is wher ...

crisis.

Steppe

Seventy-five percent of the remaining area of Crimea consists of semiarid

prairie Prairies are ecosystems considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and a composition of grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the ...

lands, a southward continuation of the Pontic–Caspian steppe, which slope gently to the northwest from the foothills of the Crimean Mountains. Numerous

kurgan A kurgan is a type of tumulus constructed over a grave, often characterized by containing a single human body along with grave vessels, weapons and horses. Originally in use on the Pontic–Caspian steppe, kurgans spread into much of Central As ...

s, or

burial mound Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

s, of the ancient

Scythia Scythia (Scythian: ; Old Persian: ; Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ) or Scythica (Ancient Greek: ; Latin: ), also known as Pontic Scythia, was a kingdom created by the Scythians during the 6th to 3rd centuries BC in the Pontic–Caspian steppe. Hi ...

ns are scattered across the Crimean steppes.

Crimean Riviera

The terrain that lies south of the sheltering Crimean Mountain range is of an altogether different character. Here, the narrow strip of coast and the slopes of the mountains are smothered with greenery. This "riviera" stretches along the southeast coast from capes Fiolente and Aya, in the south, to Feodosia. It is studded with summer sea-bathing resorts such as

, and

. During the years of Soviet rule, the resorts and

s of this coast served as prime perquisites of the politically loyal. In addition, vineyards and fruit orchards are located in the region. Fishing, mining, and the production of essential oils are also important. Numerous Crimean Tatar villages, mosques,

monasteries A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, and palaces of the Russian imperial family and nobles are found here, as well as picturesque ancient Greek and medieval castles. The Crimean Mountains and the southern coast are part of the

Crimean Submediterranean forest complex The Crimean Submediterranean forest complex is an ecoregion on the Black Sea coast of Russia and Ukraine. It is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome. Geography The ecoregion consists of two coastal enclaves on northern coast of the ...

ecoregion. The natural vegetation consists of scrublands, woodlands, and forests, with a climate and vegetation similar to the Mediterranean Basin.

Climate

Crimea is located between the

temperate In geography, the temperate climates of Earth occur in the middle latitudes (23.5° to 66.5° N/S of Equator), which span between the tropics and the polar regions of Earth. These zones generally have wider temperature ranges throughout ...

and subtropical climate belts and is characterized by warm and sunny weather. It is characterized by diversity and the presence of microclimates. The northern parts of Crimea have a moderate continental climate with short but cold winters and moderately hot dry summers. In the central and mountainous areas the climate is transitional between the continental climate to the north and the

Mediterranean climate A Mediterranean climate (also called a dry summer temperate climate ''Cs'') is a temperate climate sub-type, generally characterized by warm, dry summers and mild, fairly wet winters; these weather conditions are typically experienced in the ...

to the south. Winters are mild at lower altitudes (in the foothills) and colder at higher altitudes. Summers are hot at lower altitudes and warm in the mountains. A subtropical, Mediterranean climate dominates the southern coastal regions, is characterized by mild winters and moderately hot, dry summers. The climate of Crimea is influenced by its geographic location, relief, and influences from the

Black sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Roma ...

. The Crimean coast is shielded from cold air masses coming from the north and, as a result, has milder winters. Maritime influences from the Black Sea are restricted to coastal areas; in the interior of the peninsula the maritime influence is weak and does not play an important role. Because a high-pressure system is located north of Crimea in both summer and winter, winds predominantly come from the north and northeast year-round. In winter these winds bring in cold, dry continental air, while in summer they bring in dry and hot weather. Winds from the northwest bring warm and wet air from the Atlantic Ocean, causing precipitation during spring and summer. As well, winds from the southwest bring very warm and wet air from the subtropical latitudes of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean sea and cause precipitation during fall and winter. Mean annual temperatures range from in the far north (

Armiansk Armiansk ( uk, Армянськ, russian: Армянск, hy, Արմյանսկ, crh, Ermeni Bazar) is a town of regional significance in the northern Crimean peninsula which is ''de facto'' within the Republic of Crimea, a federal subject of th ...

) to in the far south (

). In the mountains, the mean annual temperature is around . For every increase in altitude, temperatures decrease by while precipitation increases. In January mean temperatures range from in Armiansk to in Myskhor. Cool-season temperatures average around and it is rare for the weather to drop below freezing except in the mountains, where there is usually snow. In July mean temperatures range from in

Ai-Petri Ai-Petri (, russian: Ай-Петри, uk, Ай-Петрі, sep=comma) is a peak in the Crimean Mountains. For administrative purposes it is in the Yalta municipality of Crimea. The name is of Greek origin, and translates as St. Peter ( el, Άγ ...

to in the central parts of Crimea to in Myskhor. The frost-free period ranges from 160 to 200 days in the steppe and mountain regions to 240–260 days on the south coast. Precipitation in Crimea varies significantly based on location; it ranges from in Chornomorske to at the highest altitudes in the Crimean mountains. The Crimean mountains greatly influence the amount of precipitation present in the peninsula. However, most of Crimea (88.5%) receives of precipitation per year. The plains usually receive of precipitation per year, increasing to in the southern coast at sea level. The western parts of the Crimean mountains receive more than of precipitation per year. Snowfall is common in the mountains during winter. Most of the peninsula receives more than 2,000 sunshine hours per year; it reaches up to 2,505 sunshine hours in Karabi–Yayla in the Crimean mountains. As a result, the climate favors recreation and tourism. Because of its climate and subsidized travel-packages from Russian state-run companies, the southern Crimean coast has remained a popular resort for Russian tourists.

Strategic value

The Black Sea ports of Crimea provide quick access to the Eastern Mediterranean,

Balkans The Balkans ( ), also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographical area in southeastern Europe with various geographical and historical definitions. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the who ...

and Middle East.

Historically History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...

, possession of the southern coast of Crimea was sought after by most empires of the greater region since antiquity (

, Ottoman,

Russian Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including: *Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries *Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...

, British and French,

Nazi German Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nation ...

). The nearby

Dnieper River } The Dnieper () or Dnipro (); , ; . is one of the major transboundary rivers of Europe, rising in the Valdai Hills near Smolensk, Russia, before flowing through Belarus and Ukraine to the Black Sea. It is the longest river of Ukraine an ...

is a major waterway and transportation route that crosses the European continent from north to south and ultimately links the Black Sea with the

Baltic Sea The Baltic Sea is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that is enclosed by Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, Sweden and the North and Central European Plain. The sea stretches from 53°N to 66°N latitude and from ...

, of strategic importance since the historical

trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks The trade route from the Varangians to the Greeks was a medieval trade route that connected Scandinavia, Kievan Rus' and the Eastern Roman Empire. The route allowed merchants along its length to establish a direct prosperous trade with the Empir ...

. The Black Sea serves as an economic thoroughfare connecting the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

region and the

Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...

to central and Eastern Europe. According to the International Transport Workers' Federation, there were at least 12 operating merchant seaports in Crimea.

Economy

In 2016 Crimea had Nominal GDP of

US$ The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

7 billion and

3,000 per capita. The main branches of the modern Crimean economy are agriculture and fishing oysters pearls, industry and manufacturing, tourism, and ports. Industrial plants are situated for the most part in the southern coast (Yevpatoria, Sevastopol, Feodosia, Kerch) regions of the republic, few northern (Armiansk, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoi), aside from the central area, mainly Simferopol okrug and eastern region in Nizhnegorsk (few plants, same for Dzhankoj) city. Important industrial cities include

, housing a major railway connection,

Krasnoperekopsk Krasnoperekopsk (russian: Краснопереко́пск, uk, Яни Капу, Краснопереко́пськ, crh, Yañı Qapı, Krasnoperekopsk) is a town of regional significance that was, following the 2014 annexation of Crimea, incorpo ...

and

, among others. After the Russian annexation of Crimea in early 2014 and subsequent sanctions targeting Crimea, the tourist industry suffered major losses for two years. The flow of holidaymakers dropped 35 percent in the first half of 2014 over the same period of 2013. The number of tourist arrivals reached a record in 2012 at 6.1 million. According to the Russian administration of Crimea, they dropped to 3.8 million in 2014, and rebounded to 5.6 million by 2016. The most important industries in Crimea include food production, chemical fields, mechanical engineering, and metalworking, and fuel production industries. Sixty percent of the industry market belongs to food production. There are a total of 291 large industrial enterprises and 1002 small business enterprises. In 2014, the republic's annual GDP was $4.3 billion (500 times smaller than the size of Russia's economy). The average salary was $290 per month. The

budget deficit Within the budgetary process, deficit spending is the amount by which spending exceeds revenue over a particular period of time, also called simply deficit, or budget deficit; the opposite of budget surplus. The term may be applied to the budget ...

was $1.5 billion.

Agriculture

Agriculture in the region includes cereals, vegetable-growing, gardening, and

wine-making Winemaking or vinification is the production of wine, starting with the selection of the fruit, its fermentation into alcohol, and the bottling of the finished liquid. The history of wine-making stretches over millennia. The science of wine and w ...

, particularly in the Yalta and

Massandra Massandra or Masandra ( crh, Massandra; russian: Массандра; uk, Масандра) is an urban-type settlement in the Yalta Municipality in Crimea. Occupying the spot of an ancient Greek settlement (Tavrida-Ταυρίδα), Masandra w ...

regions. Livestock production includes cattle breeding, poultry keeping, and sheep breeding. Other products produced on the Crimean Peninsula include salt, porphyry,

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

, and

ironstone Ironstone is a sedimentary rock, either deposited directly as a ferruginous sediment or created by chemical replacement, that contains a substantial proportion of an iron ore compound from which iron (Fe) can be smelted commercially. Not to be con ...

(found around

) since ancient times. The vine mealybug ('' Planococcus

ficus ''Ficus'' ( or ) is a genus of about 850 species of woody trees, shrubs, vines, epiphytes and hemiepiphytes in the family Moraceae. Collectively known as fig trees or figs, they are native throughout the tropics with a few species extendi ...

'') was first discovered here in 1868. First discovered on

grape A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters. The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...

, it has also been found as a pest of some other

crop A crop is a plant that can be grown and harvested extensively for profit or subsistence. When the plants of the same kind are cultivated at one place on a large scale, it is called a crop. Most crops are cultivated in agriculture or hydropon ...

s and has since spread worldwide. Sunn pests—especially '' Eurygaster integriceps'' and '' E. maura''—are significant grain pests.

Scelioninae Scelioninae is a subfamily of wasps in the family Platygastridae. It is a very large cosmopolitan group (over 3000 described species in some 160 genera) of exclusively parasitoid wasps, mostly small (0.5–10 mm), often black, often highly ...

and

Tachinidae The Tachinidae are a large and variable family of true fly, flies within the insect order Fly, Diptera, with more than 8,200 known species and many more to be discovered. Over 1,300 species have been described in North America alone. Insects in t ...

are important parasitoids of sunnpest. Bark beetles are pests of tree crops, and are themselves hosts for '' Elattoma'' mites and various

entomopathogenic fungi An entomopathogenic fungus is a fungus that can kill or seriously disable insects. Typical life cycle These fungi usually attach to the external body surface of insects in the form of microscopic spores (usually asexual, mitosporic spores also ...

transmitted by those ''Elattomae''.

Energy

Crimea also possesses several

natural gas field A petroleum reservoir or oil and gas reservoir is a subsurface accumulation of hydrocarbons contained in porous or fractured rock formations. Such reservoirs form when kerogen (ancient plant matter) is created in surrounding rock by the presence ...

s both onshore and offshore, which were starting to be drilled by western oil and gas companies before annexation. The inland fields are located in Chornomorske and

, while offshore fields are located in the western coast in the Black Sea and in the northeastern coast in the Azov Sea: The republic also possesses two oil fields: one onshore, the Serebryankse oil field in Rozdolne, and one offshore, the Subbotina oil field in the Black Sea. ; Electricity Crimea has 540 MW of its own electricity generation capacity, including the 100 MW Simferopol Thermal Power Plant, the 22 MW Sevastopol Thermal Power Plant and the 19 MW Kamish-Burunskaya Thermal Power Plant. This local electricity generation has proven insufficient for local consumption and since annexation by Russia, Crimea has been reliant on an underwater power cable to mainland Russia. This power production is set to be bolstered by the building of and near start up of two combined cycle gas steam turbo thermal plants PGU, both providing 470 MW (116 167 MW GT, 235 MW block), a build (plant) by TPE along others with turbines provided by Power Machines (UTZ KalugaTZ ?), NPO Saturn with Perm PMZ; either GTD-110M modified or GTE-160 or 180 units or UTZ KTZ or a V94.2 bought by MAPNA, modified in Russian plants for PGU Thermal plants specifics. Also many solar photovoltaic SES plants lie along the peninsula, in addition to a smaller facility north of Sevastopol. There also is the gas thermal Saky plant located close to Jodobrom chemical plant and SaKhZ(SaChP) boosted production with Perm GTE GTU25P (PS90GP25 25 MW aeroderivative GP) PGU turbogenerators. Older plants in operation include the Sevastopol TEC (close to Inkerman) which uses AEG and Ganz Elektro turbines and turbogenerators generating about 25 MW each, Sinferopol TEC (north, in Agrarne locale) Yepvatoria, Kamysh Burun TEC (Kerch south – Zaliv) and a few others.

Transport

;Crimean Bridge Yalta Kanatka

In May 2015, work began on a multibillion-dollar road-rail link (a pair of parallel bridges) across the Kerch Strait. The road bridge opened in May 2018, and the rail bridge opened in December 2019. With a length of 19 km, it is the longest bridge in Europe, as it overcame

Vasco da Gama Bridge The Vasco da Gama Bridge ( pt, Ponte Vasco da Gama; ) is a cable-stayed bridge flanked by viaducts that spans the Tagus River in Parque das Nações in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. It is the second longest bridge in Europe, after the Cri ...

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

. This bridge was damaged during an attack on October 8, 2022. ;Public transportation Almost every settlement in Crimea is connected with another settlement by bus lines. Crimea contains the longest (96 km or 59 mi) trolleybus route in the world, founded in 1959, stretching from Simferopol to Yalta. The trolleybus line starts near

's Railway Station (in Soviet times it started near

Simferopol International Airport Simferopol International Airport ( uk, Міжнародний аеропорт "Сімферополь", ''Mizhnarodnyy aeroport "Simferopol’"''; russian: link=, Международный аэропорт "Симферополь", ''Mezhdunar ...

) through the mountains to

and on to Yalta. The length of line is about 90 km and passengers are assigned a seat. Simferopol, Yalta and Alushta also have an urban and suburban trolleybus network. Trolleybuses are also operated in

and

In the city of Yevpatoria a tram system is also operated. In the nearby

townlet Urban-type settlementrussian: посёлок городско́го ти́па, translit=posyolok gorodskogo tipa, abbreviated: russian: п.г.т., translit=p.g.t.; ua, селище міського типу, translit=selyshche mis'koho typu, ab ...

village of Molochnoye, a 1.6 km-long tram line provides the only connection between the sea shore and a holiday resort, but its operation is halted since 2015. ;Railway traffic There are two railroad lines running through Crimea: the non-electrified

—Kerch (with a link to Feodosia), and the electrified Melitopol—Simferopol-Sevastopol (with a link to Yevpatoria), connecting Crimea to the Ukrainian mainland. Until 2014 the network was part of the Cisdneper Directorate of the

Ukrainian Railways Ukrainian Railways ( uk, Укрзалізниця, Ukrzaliznytsia, abbreviated as UZ) is a state-owned joint-stock company of rail transport in Ukraine, a monopoly that controls the vast majority of the railroad transportation in the country. ...

. Long-distance trains provided connection to every major Ukrainian cities, but also to many towns of Russia,

Belarus Belarus,, , ; alternatively and formerly known as Byelorussia (from Russian ). officially the Republic of Belarus,; rus, Республика Беларусь, Respublika Belarus. is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe. It is bordered by ...

and until the end of the 2000es even to

Vilnius Vilnius ( , ; see also other names) is the capital and largest city of Lithuania, with a population of 592,389 (according to the state register) or 625,107 (according to the municipality of Vilnius). The population of Vilnius's functional urb ...

, Riga,

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

and

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

. Since 2014 the railways are operated by the

Crimea Railway The Crimea Railway (russian: link=no, Крымская железная дорога, Krimskaya Zheleznaya Doroga) is a railroad located in Crimea, providing passenger and freight services to Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea. Crimea Railwa ...

. Local trains belong to the ''Yuzhnaya Prigorodnaya Passazhirskaya Kompaniya'' (Southern Suburban Passenger Company), serving the entire network of the peninsula and via the Crimean Bridge three trains daily to

Anapa Anapa (russian: Ана́па, ) is a town in Krasnodar Krai, Russia, located on the northern coast of the Black Sea near the Sea of Azov. Population: History The area around Anapa was settled in antiquity. It was originally a major seaport ( ...

. Long-distance trains under the name ''Tavriya'' – operated by the company ''Grand Servis Ekspress'' – connect Sevastopol and Simferopol daily with Moscow and Saint Petersburg, in the summer season Yevpatoria and Feodosia are also directly connected by them. Several times a week Simferopol is also linked with

Volgograd Volgograd ( rus, Волгогра́д, a=ru-Volgograd.ogg, p=vəɫɡɐˈɡrat), formerly Tsaritsyn (russian: Цари́цын, Tsarítsyn, label=none; ) (1589–1925), and Stalingrad (russian: Сталингра́д, Stalingrád, label=none; ) ...

, Sochi,

Yekaterinburg Yekaterinburg ( ; rus, Екатеринбург, p=jɪkətʲɪrʲɪnˈburk), alternatively romanized as Ekaterinburg and formerly known as Sverdlovsk ( rus, Свердло́вск, , svʲɪrˈdlofsk, 1924–1991), is a city and the administra ...

Omsk Omsk (; rus, Омск, p=omsk) is the administrative center and largest city of Omsk Oblast, Russia. It is situated in southwestern Siberia, and has a population of over 1.1 million. Omsk is the third largest city in Siberia after Novosibirsk ...

and even

Murmansk Murmansk (Russian: ''Мурманск'' lit. "Norwegian coast"; Finnish: ''Murmansk'', sometimes ''Muurmanski'', previously ''Muurmanni''; Norwegian: ''Norskekysten;'' Northern Sámi: ''Murmánska;'' Kildin Sámi: ''Мурман ланнҍ'') ...

by train. Further development plans consist a bypass line between Simferopol and Kerch, and a complete electrification of the network with changing the voltage of the already electrified lines from 3 kV DC to 25 kV 50 Hz AC. ;International airport *

's new terminal opened in from April 2018 with the ability to handle 6.5 million passengers a year. It was built in 22 months and covers an area of 78,000 square meters. ;Highways * (under construction) Tavrida highway (route Yevpatoria-) Sevastopol – Simferopol (SW to W N to East ring) – Bilohirsk
– north Feodosia – Kerch south (strait bridge) * E105/M18 –

(bridge, starts),

(bridge),

(ends) * E97/M17 –

(starts),

( ferry, ends) * A290 – Novorossiysk to

via the Crimean Bridge (formerly known as Highway M25) * H05 –

(access to the Simferopol International Airport) * H06 –

, Bakhchysarai,

* H19 –

* P16 * P23 –

* P25 –

* P27 –

Inkerman Inkerman ( uk, Інкерман, russian: Инкерман, crh, İnkerman) is a city in the Crimean peninsula. It is '' de facto'' within the federal city of Sevastopol within the Russian Federation, but '' de jure'' within Ukraine. It li ...

(completely within the city of Sevastopol) * P29 –

* P34 –

* P35 – Hrushivka,

* P58 –

, Port "Komysheva Bukhta" (completely within the city of Sevastopol) * P59 (completely within the city of Sevastopol) ;Sea transport The cities of Yalta,

, Sevastopol, Chornomorske and

are connected to one another by sea routes.

Tourism

The development of Crimea as a holiday destination began in the second half of the 19th century. The development of the transport networks brought masses of tourists from central parts of the

. At the beginning of the 20th century, a major development of palaces, villas, and dachas began—most of which remain. These are some of the main attractions of Crimea as a tourist destination. There are many

Crimean legends The interest in Crimean legends started at the end of the 19th century. The legends were published with a purpose of attraction of attracting tourism. Field work and publications of Crimean folklore were mostly done by non-professional folklorist ...

about famous touristic places, which attract the attention of tourists. A new phase of tourist development began when the Soviet government started promoting the healing quality of the local air, lakes and therapeutic muds. It became a "health" destination for Soviet workers, and hundreds of thousands of Soviet tourists visited Crimea. Artek is a former

Young Pioneer camp Young Pioneer camp (russian: Пионерский лагерь) was the name for the vacation or summer camp of Young Pioneers. In the 20th century these camps existed in many socialist countries, particularly in the Soviet Union. The You ...

on the

in the town of

Hurzuf Gurzuf or Hurzuf ( uk, link=no, Гурзуф, russian: Гурзу́ф, crh, Gurzuf, gr, link=no, Γορζουβίται) is a resort-town (urban-type settlement) in Yalta Municipality of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized b ...

, near

Ayu-Dag Ayu-Dag ( crh, Ayuv Dağ, uk, Аю-Даг, russian: Аю-Даг, gr, Αγια (''Aya'' - "Holy")) is a summit of Crimea. It is also known under the Russified name ''Medved'-gora (Bear mountain)'' ( uk, Ведмідь-гора, russian: Медв ...

, established in 1925. By 1969 it had an area of , and consisted of 150 buildings. Unlike most of the young pioneer camps, Artek was an all-year camp, due to the warm climate. Artek was considered to be a privilege for Soviet children during its existence, as well as for children from other communist countries. During its heyday, 27,000 children a year vacationed at Artek. Between 1925 and 1969 the camp hosted 300,000 children. After the breaking up of the Young Pioneers in 1991 its prestige declined, though it remained a popular vacation destination. In the 1990s, Crimea became more of a get-away destination than a "health-improvement" destination. The most visited areas are the south shore of Crimea with cities of Yalta and Alushta, the western shore – Yevpatoria and Saky, and the south-eastern shore – Feodosia and Sudak. According to National Geographic, Crimea was among the top 20 travel destinations in 2013. Places of interest include

Sanctions

Following Russia's largely unrecognized annexation of Crimea, the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, the United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, and several other countries (including Ukraine) imposed

economic sanctions Economic sanctions are commercial and financial penalties applied by one or more countries against a targeted self-governing state, group, or individual. Economic sanctions are not necessarily imposed because of economic circumstances—they ma ...

against Russia, including some specifically targeting Crimea. Many of these sanctions were directed at individuals—both Russian and Crimean. In general they prohibit the sale, supply, transfer, or export of

goods In economics, goods are items that satisfy human wants and provide utility, for example, to a consumer making a purchase of a satisfying product. A common distinction is made between goods which are transferable, and services, which are not t ...

and technology in several sectors, including services directly related to tourism and infrastructure. They list seven ports where

cruise ship Cruise ships are large passenger ships used mainly for vacationing. Unlike ocean liners, which are used for transport, cruise ships typically embark on round-trip voyages to various ports-of-call, where passengers may go on tours known as ...

s cannot dock. Sanctions against individuals include travel bans and asset freezes.

Visa Visa most commonly refers to: *Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Visa Plus, an interbank network *Travel visa, a document that allows ...

and MasterCard temporarily stopped service in Crimea in December 2014. The Russian national payment card system now allows Visa and MasterCard cards issued by Russian banks to work in Crimea. The Mir payment system operated by the

Central Bank of Russia The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (CBR; ), doing business as the Bank of Russia (russian: Банк России}), is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can ...

operates in Crimea as well as Master Card and Visa. However, there are no major international banks in the Crimea.

Politics

Crimea is Ukrainian territory currently occupied by Russia; Ukraine has not relinquished title over the Crimean territory since the events of 2014, Crimea is internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. They exercise ''

in extremis ''In extremis'' is a Latin phrase meaning "in the farthest reaches" or "at the point of death." In extremis or extremis may also refer to: * ''Extremis'' (2005–2006), a six-issue story arc from the Marvel Comics series ''Iron Man'' (vol. 4), p ...

'' administration of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea from Kyiv in the

Ministry of Reintegration of Temporarily Occupied Territories , type = Department , logo = , logo_width = 250px , logo_caption = , seal = Logo of the Ministry of Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons of Ukraine.svg , seal_width ...

. Ukrainian president Zelenskiy drew attention to this fact in August 2022 when he stated that it was "necessary to liberate Crimea" from Russian occupation and to re-establish "world law and order".

Demographics

, the total population of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol was 2,248,400 people (Republic of Crimea: 1,889,485, Sevastopol: 395,000). This is down from the 2001 Ukrainian Census figure, which was 2,376,000 (Autonomous Republic of Crimea: 2,033,700, Sevastopol: 342,451). According to the 2014 Russian census, 84% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language; 7.9% – Crimean Tatar; 3.7% –

Tatar The Tatars ()Tatar
in the Collins English Dictionary is an umbrella term for different

; and 3.3% – Ukrainian. It was the first official census in Crimea since a Ukrainian-held census in 2001. According to the 2001 census, 77% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their native language; 11.4% – Crimean Tatar; and 10.1% – Ukrainian. In 2013, however, the Crimean Tatar language was estimated to be on the brink of extinction, being taught in Crimea only in around 15 schools at that point. Turkey provided the greatest support to Tatars in Ukraine, which had been unable to resolve the problem of education in their mother tongue in Crimea, by bringing the schools to a modern state. Ethnic composition of Crimea's population has changed dramatically since the early 20th century. The 1897 Russian Empire Census for the

reported: 196,854 (13.06%) Crimean Tatars, 404,463 (27.94%) Russians and 611,121 (42.21%) Ukrainians. But these numbers included Berdyansky, Dneprovsky and Melitopolsky

uyezds An uezd (also spelled uyezd; rus, уе́зд, p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context ( uk, повіт), or Kreis in Baltic-German context, was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Russian Empire, and the ea ...

which were on mainland, not in Crimea. The population number excluding these uyezds is given in the table below. Crimean Tatars, a predominantly

Muslim Muslims ( ar, المسلمون, , ) are people who adhere to Islam, a monotheistic religion belonging to the Abrahamic tradition. They consider the Quran, the foundational religious text of Islam, to be the verbatim word of the God of Abrah ...

ethnic minority who in 2001 made up 12.1% of the population, formed in Crimea in the early modern era, after the Crimean Khanate had come into existence. The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by

's government as a form of collective punishment, on the grounds that some had joined the invading

Waffen-SS The (, "Armed SS") was the combat branch of the Nazi Party's ''Schutzstaffel'' (SS) organisation. Its formations included men from Nazi Germany, along with Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts, volunteers and conscripts from both occup ...

, forming

Tatar Legion The Tatar Legions were auxiliary units of the Waffen-SS formed after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941. It included: # Crimean Tatar Legion, comprising Crimean Tatars, Qarays, Nogais # Volga Tatar Legion, which included also Bashki ...

s, during World War II. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Crimean Tatars began to return to the region. According to the 2001 Ukrainian population census, 60% of the population of Crimea are ethnic Russians and 24% are ethnic Ukrainians.

Jews Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

in Crimea were historically

Krymchaks The Krymchaks ( Krymchak: , , , ) are Jewish ethno-religious communities of Crimea derived from Turkic-speaking adherents of Rabbinic Judaism.Karaites (the latter a small group centered at

). The 1879 census for the Taurida Governorate reported a Jewish population of 4.20%, not including a Karaite population of 0.43%. The Krymchaks (but not the Karaites) were targeted for annihilation during

Nazi occupation German-occupied Europe refers to the sovereign countries of Europe which were wholly or partly occupied and civil-occupied (including puppet governments) by the military forces and the government of Nazi Germany at various times between 1939 ...

. The number of

Crimea Germans The Crimea Germans (german: Krimdeutsche) were ethnic German settlers who were invited to settle in the Crimea as part of the East Colonization. History From 1783 onwards, there was a systematic settlement of Russians, Ukrainians, and Germans to ...

was 60,000 in 1939. During WWII, they were forcibly deported on the orders of Stalin, as they were regarded as a potential "fifth column". This was part of the 800,000

Germans in Russia The German minority population in Russia, Ukraine, and the Soviet Union stemmed from several sources and arrived in several waves. Since the second half of the 19th century, as a consequence of the Russification policies and compulsory militar ...

who were relocated within the Soviet Union during Stalinist times. The 2001 Ukrainian census reports just 2,500 ethnic Germans (0.1% of population) in Crimea. Besides the Crimean Germans, Stalin in 1944 also deported 70,000

, 14,000 Bulgarians and 3,000

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

. ;Life expectancy at birth File:Life expectancy in Russian subject -Republic of Crimea.png, Life expectancy in File:Life expectancy in Russian subject -Sevastopol.png, Life expectancy in Sevastopol File:Life expectancy in Russia -Crimea.png, Life expectancy in Crimea and neighboring regions ;Religion In 2013, Orthodox Christians made up 58% of the Crimean population, followed by Muslims (15%) and believers in God without religion (10%). Following the 2014 Russian annexation of Crimea, 38 out of the 46

Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate The Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate (UOC-KP; uk, Украї́нська Правосла́вна Це́рква – Ки́ївський Патріарха́т (УПЦ-КП), Ukrainska Pravoslavna Tserkva — Kyivskyi Patr ...

parishes in Crimea ceased to exist; in three cases, churches were seized by the Russian authorities. Notwithstanding the annexation, the

Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) The Ukrainian Orthodox Church ( uk, Українська православна церква, Ukrainska pravoslavna tserkva; russian: Украинская православная церковь, Ukrainskaya pravoslavnaya tserkov', UOC), common ...

kept control of its

eparchies Eparchy ( gr, ἐπαρχία, la, eparchía / ''overlordship'') is an ecclesiastical unit in Eastern Christianity, that is equivalent to a diocese in Western Christianity. Eparchy is governed by an ''eparch'', who is a bishop. Depending on the ...

in Crimea.

Culture

Alexander Pushkin Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin (; rus, links=no, Александр Сергеевич ПушкинIn pre-Revolutionary script, his name was written ., r=Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin, p=ɐlʲɪkˈsandr sʲɪrˈɡʲe(j)ɪvʲɪtɕ ˈpuʂkʲɪn, ...

visited Bakhchysarai in 1820 and later wrote the poem

The Fountain of Bakhchisaray ''The Fountain of Bakhchisaray'' (russian: «Бахчисарайский фонтан», ''Bakhchisaraiskiy fontan'') is a poem by Alexander Pushkin, written during the years 1821 to 1823. Pushkin began writing ''The Fountain of Bakhchisa ...

. Crimea was the background for

Adam Mickiewicz Adam Bernard Mickiewicz (; 24 December 179826 November 1855) was a Polish poet, dramatist, essayist, publicist, translator and political activist. He is regarded as national poet in Poland, Lithuania and Belarus. A principal figure in Polish Ro ...

's seminal work,

The Crimean Sonnets The Crimean Sonnets (''Sonety krymskie'') are a series of 18 Polish sonnets by Adam Mickiewicz, constituting an artistic telling of a journey through the Crimea. They were published in 1826, together with a cycle of love poems called "The Odes ...

inspired by his 1825 travel. A series of 18

sonnets A sonnet is a poetic form that originated in the poetry composed at the Court of the Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II in the Sicilian city of Palermo. The 13th-century poet and notary Giacomo da Lentini is credited with the sonnet's inventio ...

constitute an artistic telling of a journey to and through the Crimea, they feature romantic descriptions of the oriental nature and culture of the East which show the despair of an exile longing for the homeland, driven from his home by a violent enemy.

Ivan Aivazovsky Ivan Konstantinovich Aivazovsky (russian: link=no, Иван Константинович Айвазовский; 29 July 18172 May 1900) was a Russian Romantic painter who is considered one of the greatest masters of marine art. Baptized ...

, the 19th-century marine painter of Armenian origin, who is considered one of the major artists of his era was born in

and lived there for the most part of his life. Many of his paintings depict the Black Sea. He also created battle paintings during the Crimean War. ESC2016_winner%27s_press_conference_01

Crimean Tatar singer

Jamala Susana Alimivna Jamaladinova, ; rus, Суса́на Али́мовна Джамалади́нова, Susána Alímovna Dzhamaladínova, sʊˈsanə ɐˈlʲiməvnə dʐəməlɐˈdʲinəvə, links=yes. (born 27 August 1983), known professionally ...

won the Eurovision Song Contest 2016 representing Ukraine with her song " 1944", about the historic deportation of Crimean Tatars in that year by Soviet authorities. File:Ivan Constantinovich Aivazovsky - The Russian Squadron on the Sebastopol Roads.jpg, Painting of the Russian squadron in Sevastopol by

(1846) File:Могила поета і художника М. О. Волошина.JPG, The grave of Russian poet and artist

Maximilian Voloshin Maximilian Alexandrovich Kirienko-Voloshin (russian: Максимилиа́н Алекса́ндрович Кирие́нко-Воло́шин; May 28, Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates">O.S._May_16.html" ;"title="Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ...

People at KaZantip.jpg, People at the Kazantip music festival in 2007

Sport

Following Crimea's vote to join Russia and subsequent annexation in March 2014, the top football clubs withdrew from the Ukrainian leagues. Some clubs registered to join the Russian leagues but the

Football Federation of Ukraine The Ukrainian Association of Football (UAF) ( uk, Українська асоціяція футболу, Ukrayins'ka Asotsiyatsiya Futbolu) is the governing body of football in Ukraine. Before 2019 it was known as the Football Federation of Ukr ...

objected.

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

ruled that Crimean clubs could not join the Russian leagues but should instead be part of a Crimean league system. The

Crimean Premier League The KFS Premier-Liga (russian: Премьер-лига КФС) or simply Crimean Premier League is a professional association football league in Crimea organized by the Crimean Football Union (Krymsky Futbolny Soyuz) and devised by Russia after ...

is now the top professional football league in Crimea. A number of Crimean-born athletes have been given permission to compete for Russia instead of Ukraine at future competitions, including Vera Rebrik, the European javelin champion. Due to Russia currently being suspended from all international athletic competitions Rebrik participates in tournaments as a "neutral" athlete.14 Russians bid to take part in IAAF World Championships

TASS news agency The Russian News Agency TASS (russian: Информацио́нное аге́нтство Росси́и ТАСС, translit=Informatsionnoye agentstvo Rossii, or Information agency of Russia), abbreviated TASS (russian: ТАСС, label=none) ...

(5 July 2017)

Gallery

File:Hansaray1.jpg,

Bakhchisaray Palace The Khan's Palace ( tr, Han Sarayı) or Hansaray is located in the town of Bakhchysarai, Crimea. It was built in the 16th century and became home to a succession of Crimean Khans. The walled enclosure contains a mosque, a harem, a cemetery, livi ...

File:Dulber Palace.JPG,

Dulber The Dulber Palace (russian: Дворец Дюльбер) is a Moorish Revival palace designed by Nikolay Krasnov in Koreiz, near Yalta in Crimea. Also known as the Palace of Grand Duke Peter Nicolaievich of Russia, Dulber Palace (''dülber'' i ...

Palace in

Koreiz Koreiz (, , ) is an urban-type settlement lying south-west of Yalta in the Yalta Municipality of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, a territory recognized by a majority of countries as part of Ukraine and incorporated by Russia as the Republic of ...

File:Комплекс споруд Воронцовського палацу.jpg, Vorontsov Palace File:Лівадійський палацовий комплекс 002.jpg,

Livadia Palace Livadia Palace (russian: Ливадийский дворец, uk, Лівадійський палац) is a former summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea. The Yalta Conference was held there i ...

File:Yalta-catholic church.jpg, Catholic church in Yalta File:St. Volodymyr's Cathedral, Chersones.jpg, St. Vladimir's Cathedral, dedicated to the Heroes of Sevastopol (

Notes

Explanatory notes

Citations

External links

*
Lists of Crimean Tartar villages emptied in the May 1944 deportations, and most of them renamed in Russian
{{Authority control Crimean Tatars Geographic regions of Ukraine Peninsulas of Europe Regions of Russia Russian-speaking countries and territories Turkic toponyms