ABOUT CRIMEA
«Crimea is an amazing treasure house, a natural museum that holds the secrets of thousands of years... »
Alexander Griboyedov
The classical name Tauris or Taurica is from the Greek - Taurikḗ- after the peninsula's Scytho-Cimmerian inhabitants, the Tauri.
Strabo (Geography vii 4.3, xi. 2.5), Polybius, (Histories 4.39.4), and Ptolemy (Geographia. II, v 9.5) refer variously to the Strait of Kerch as the - Kimmerikos - Bosporos (romanized spelling, Bosporus Cimmerius), its easternmost part as the - Kimmerion Akron (Roman name: Promontorium Cimmerium, as well as to the city of Cimmerium and whence the name of the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus.
The Crimean Tatar name of the peninsula is Qırım (Crimean Tatar romanized: Kirim/Qırım) and so also for the city of Krym which is now called Staryi Krym, which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde. Some sources hold that the name of the capital was extended to the entire peninsula at some point during Ottoman suzerainty. But the earliest recorded use of the toponym «Crimea for the peninsula» occurred between 1315 and 1329 AD by the Arab writer Abū al-Fidā where he recounts a political fight in 1300–1301 AD resulting in a rival's decapitation and having «sent his head to the Crimea».
The classical name was used in 1802 in the name of the Russian Taurida Governorate. While it was replaced with Krym 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.
Strabo (Geography vii 4.3, xi. 2.5), Polybius, (Histories 4.39.4), and Ptolemy (Geographia. II, v 9.5) refer variously to the Strait of Kerch as the - Kimmerikos - Bosporos (romanized spelling, Bosporus Cimmerius), its easternmost part as the - Kimmerion Akron (Roman name: Promontorium Cimmerium, as well as to the city of Cimmerium and whence the name of the Kingdom of the Cimmerian Bosporus.
The Crimean Tatar name of the peninsula is Qırım (Crimean Tatar romanized: Kirim/Qırım) and so also for the city of Krym which is now called Staryi Krym, which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde. Some sources hold that the name of the capital was extended to the entire peninsula at some point during Ottoman suzerainty. But the earliest recorded use of the toponym «Crimea for the peninsula» occurred between 1315 and 1329 AD by the Arab writer Abū al-Fidā where he recounts a political fight in 1300–1301 AD resulting in a rival's decapitation and having «sent his head to the Crimea».
The classical name was used in 1802 in the name of the Russian Taurida Governorate. While it was replaced with Krym 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.
Ethymology
Crimea is not just a spot on the map with a unique climate and stunning natural landscape - it is a historical and cultural reserve. Its numerous cultural monuments reflect the historical events, culture and religion of different epochs and different peoples. The history of Crimea is an interweaving of East and West, the history of the Greeks and the Golden Horde, the churches of the first Christians and mosques. Here for centuries lived, fought, made peace and traded different peoples, cities were built and destroyed, emerged and disappeared civilizations.
History
Covering an area of 27,000 km2 (10,425 sq mi), Crimea is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea and on the western coast of the Sea of Azov; Crimea's coastline is rugged and made up of several bays and harbors. Geographers generally divide the peninsula into three zones: steppe, mountains and southern coast. The peninsula is divided on 4 regions, which are Southern coast, South-east coast, West Coast, Azov sea coast, the Inland plains. The Black Sea ports of Crimea provide quick access to the Eastern Mediterranean, Balkans and Middle East. The biggest cities are Simferopol (capital), Kerch, Bakhchisaray, Yalta, Alushta, Sevastopol, Eupatoria, Feodosiya, Sudak, Krasnoperekopsk, Dzhankoy, Koktebel, Saki.
Geography
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 (Eupatoria 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 Dzhankoi, housing a major railway connection, Krasnoperekopsk and Armiansk, among others. 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.
Agriculture in the region includes cereals, vegetable-growing, gardening, and wine-making, particularly in the Yalta and Massandra regions. Livestock production includes cattle breeding, poultry keeping, and sheep breeding. Other products produced on the Crimean Peninsula include salt, porphyry, limestone, and ironstone (found around Kerch) since ancient times.
Agriculture in the region includes cereals, vegetable-growing, gardening, and wine-making, particularly in the Yalta and Massandra regions. Livestock production includes cattle breeding, poultry keeping, and sheep breeding. Other products produced on the Crimean Peninsula include salt, porphyry, limestone, and ironstone (found around Kerch) since ancient times.
Economy
In Crimea, as of January 1, 2021, the population was 2,416,856 permanent residents, including 1,903,707 permanent residents in the Republic of Crimea and 513,149 permanent residents in Sevastopol. The largest national group is Russians /1.49 million people, 68% of the population; then there are Ukrainians, amounting to 344,500 people, or 15.7% of the population; the third largest group is Crimean Tatars /232,300 people, 10.6% of the population. Other nationalities in Crimea constitute up to 4% of the population. Of these, the most numerous are the Belarusians /21,700 people, 1%/ and the Armenians /11,000 people, 0.5% of the population. From 1 to 5 thousand people in Crimea are such national groups as Azerbaijanis, Uzbeks, Moldavians, Jews, Koreans, Greeks, Poles, Gypsies, Chuvashs, Bulgarians, Germans, Mordovians, Georgians and Turks. Less than 1 thousand people in the Crimea belong to the national groups of Tajiks, Mari, Bashkirs, Udmurts, Ossetians, Kazakhs, and Arabs. There are 535 Karaites and 228 Krymchaks in the Crimea.
Demography
The majority of the Crimean population adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, with the Crimean Tatars forming a Sunni Muslim minority, besides smaller Roman Catholic, Ukrainian Greek Catholic, Armenian Apostolic and Jewish minorities.
Religion
Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Crimea recognizes three official languages: Russian, Ukrainian and Crimean Tatar. In practice, Russian is the dominant language.
Language
