Crimea (IPA: /kraɪˈmiːə/) or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukrainian: Крим, Автономна Республіка Крим, Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Crimean Tatar: Qırım, Qırım Muhtar Cumhuriyeti; Russian: Крым, Автономная Республика Крым, Avtonomnaya Respublika Krym) is an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea occupying a peninsula of the same name.
The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history. The Cimmerians, Greeks, Iranians, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, the state of Kievan Rus’, Byzantine Greeks, Kipchaks, and the Mongols all controlled Crimea in its early history. In the 13th century it was partly controlled by the Venetians and by the Genoese; these were followed by the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire in the 15th–18th centuries, the Russian Empire in the 18th–20th centuries, the Russian SFSR and later Ukrainian SSR within Soviet Union in the rest of 20th century, Germany in World War II, and now, the independent Ukrainian state.
The total area of the republic is 26,200 km². As of 2007, Crimea has a population of 1,973,185 inhabitants. The capital of Crimea is the city of Simferopol.
Crimea is the homeland for the Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority who now make up about 13% of the population. The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin’s government, but have begun returning to their homeland in recent years
Etymology of the name
The name Crimea takes its origin in the name of a city of Qırım (today’s Stary Krym) which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde. Qırım is Crimean Tatar for “my hill” (qır – hill, -ım – my). However, there are other versions of the etymology of Qırım. Russian Krym is a Russified form of Qırım. The ancient Greeks called Crimea Tauris (later Taurica), after its inhabitants, the Tauri. The Greek historian Herodotus mentions that Hercules plowed that land using a huge ox (”Taurus”), hence the name of the land.
In English, Crimea is sometimes referred to with the definite article, the Crimea, as in the Netherlands, the Gambia, etc. However, usage without the article has become more frequent in journalism since the years of the Soviet Union.
Early history
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The earliest inhabitants of whom we have any authentic traces were the Cimmerians, who were expelled by the Scythians (Iranians) during the 7th century BC. The remaining Cimmerians that took refuge in the mountains later became known as the Tauri. According to other historians, the Tauri were known for their savage rituals and piracy, and were also the earliest, indigenous inhabitants of the peninsula. In 5th century BC, Greek colonists began to settle along the Black Sea coast, among those were the Dorians from Heraclea who founded a sea port of Chersonesos outside Sevastopol, and the Ionians from Miletus who landed at Feodosiya and Panticapaeum (also called Bosporus).
Two centuries later (438 BC), the Archon (ruler) of the latter settlers assumed the title of the Kings of Cimmerian Bosporus, a state that maintained close relations with Athens, supplying the city with wheat, honey and other commodities. The last of that line of kings, Paerisades V, being hard-pressed by the Scythians, put himself under the protection of Mithridates VI, the king of Pontus, in 114 BC. After the death of this sovereign, his son, Pharnaces II, was invested by Pompey with the kingdom of Bosporus in 63 BC as a reward for the assistance rendered to the Romans in their war against his father. In 15 BC, it was once again restored to the king of Pontus, but since ranked as a tributary state of Rome.
Throughout the later centuries, Crimea was invaded or occupied successively by the Goths (AD 250), the Huns (376), the Bulgars 4th-8th century), the Khazars (8th century), the state of Kievan Rus’ (10th–11th centuries), the Byzantine Empire (1016), the Kipchaks (the Kumans) (1050), and the Mongols (1237).
In the mid-10th century, the eastern area of Crimea was conquered by Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev and became part of the Kievan Rus’ principality of Tmutarakan. In 988, Prince Vladimir I of Kiev also captured the Byzantine town of Chersones (presently part of Sevastopol) where he later converted to Christianity. An impressive Russian Orthodox cathedral marks the location of this historic event.
In the 13th century, the Republic of Genoa seized the settlements which their rivals, the Venetians, had built along the Crimean coast and established themselves at Cembalo, Soldaia, Cherco and Caffa, gaining control of the Crimean economy and the Black Sea commerce for two centuries.
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A number of Turkic peoples, now collectively known as the Crimean Tatars, have been inhabiting the peninsula since the early Middle Ages. The ethnicity of the Crimean Tatars is quite complex as it absorbed both nomadic Turkic and European components (in the first place, the Goths and the Genoese) which is still reflected in their appearance and language differences. A small enclave of the Karaims, possibly of Khazar (i.e. Turkic) descent but members of a Jewish sect, was founded in the 8th century. It existed among the Muslim Crimean Tatars, primarily in the mountainous Çufut Qale area.
After the destruction of the Golden Horde by Timur in 1441, the Crimean Tatars founded an independent Crimean Khanate under Hacı I Giray, a descendant of Genghis Khan. He and his successors reigned first at Qırq Yer, and from the beginning of the 15th century, at Bakhchisaray.
The Crimean Tatars controlled the steppes that stretched from the Kuban and to the Dniester River, however, they were unable to take control over commercial Genoese towns. After the Crimean Tatars asked for help from the Ottomans, an Ottoman invasion of the Genoese towns led by Gedik Ahmed Pasha in 1475 brought Kaffa and the other trading towns under their control.
After the capture of Genoese towns, the Ottoman Sultan held Meñli I Giray captive, later releasing him in return for accepting Ottoman sovereignty above the Crimean Khans and allowing them rule as tributary princes of the Ottoman Empire.[3][5] However, the Crimean Khans still had a large amount of autonomy from the Ottoman Empire, particularly, followed the rules they thought were best for them: Crimean Tatars introduced raids into Ukrainian lands, which were used to get slaves to be sold on markets.
In 1553–1554, Cossack Hetman Dmytro Vyshnevetsky gathered together groups of Cossacks, and constructed a fort designed to obstruct Tatar raids into Ukraine. With this action, he founded the Zaporozhian Sich, with which he would launch a series of attacks on the Crimea peninsula and the Ottoman Turks. In 1774, The Crimean Khans fell under Russian influence with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca.In 1783, the entire Crimea was annexed by the Russian Empire
Russian Empire and Civil War: 1783-1922
Swallow’s Nest, a symbol of Crimea, one of the best-known, romantic castles near Yalta. It was built in 1912 in the Neo-Gothic style by the order of the German Baron Stengel. It was designed by Russian architect A. Sherwood.
The Crimean War (1853–1856) devastated much of the economic and social infrastructure of Crimea. The Crimean Tatars had to flee from their homeland en masse, forced by the conditions created by the war, persecution and land expropriations. Those who survived the trip, famine and disease, resettled in Dobruja, Anatolia, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. For the first time in their history, Crimean Tatars became a minority in their own land, with the majority spread out as a diaspora. Finally, the Russian government decided to stop the process, as the agriculture began to suffer due to the unattended fertile farmland.
During the Russian Civil War, Crimea was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army. It was in Crimea that the White Russians led by General Wrangel made their last stand against Nestor Makhno and the Red Army in 1920. After the resistance was crushed, many of the anti-Communist fighters and civilians had to board the ships and escape to Istanbul.
Russian Empire and Civil War: 1783-1922
Swallow’s Nest, a symbol of Crimea, one of the best-known, romantic castles near Yalta. It was built in 1912 in the Neo-Gothic style by the order of the German Baron Stengel. It was designed by Russian architect A. Sherwood.
The Crimean War (1853–1856) devastated much of the economic and social infrastructure of Crimea. The Crimean Tatars had to flee from their homeland en masse, forced by the conditions created by the war, persecution and land expropriations. Those who survived the trip, famine and disease, resettled in Dobruja, Anatolia, and other parts of the Ottoman Empire. For the first time in their history, Crimean Tatars became a minority in their own land, with the majority spread out as a diaspora. Finally, the Russian government decided to stop the process, as the agriculture began to suffer due to the unattended fertile farmland.
During the Russian Civil War, Crimea was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army. It was in Crimea that the White Russians led by General Wrangel made their last stand against Nestor Makhno and the Red Army in 1920. After the resistance was crushed, many of the anti-Communist fighters and civilians had to board the ships and escape to Istanbul.
you will speak surely Russian :) 
to the Ukrainian administration.In May 1997, Russia and Ukraine signed the “Peace & Friendship” treaty ruling out Moscow’s territorial claims to Ukraine.
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The Black Sea is not as warm as some seas, but the water reaches 22-25° C during summer months and is often warm enough to swim in till late October. However, a day or two of strong winds can cause chilly water to reach the surface and stay there till it warms, so it is hard to predict water temperature based only on air temperature
