area 25 900 km²/10 000 sq mi. Peninsula in S Ukraine; bounded S and W by the Black Sea, and E by the Sea of Azov; separated from the mainland (N) by the narrow Perekop Isthmus, and from the Taman Peninsula (E) by the Kersh Strait; length 320 km/200 mi; Greek colonization, 7th-c BC; invaded by Goths (AD 250), Huns (373), Khazars (8th-c), Byzantine Greeks (1016), Kipchaks (1050), Tatars (13th-c), Ottomans (late 15th-c), and Russians, 1736; scene of the Crimean War, 18546; an autonomous Soviet republic, 1921; an oblast of the Russian SFSR, 1946; transferred to the Ukraine SSR, 1954; rich in minerals (iron, gypsum, limestone); chief cities include Simferopol, Sevastopol, Kerch; subtropical Black Sea coast is a major tourist attraction, notably at Yalta.
Автономна Республіка Крим
Автономная Республика Крым
Qırım Muhtar Cumhuriyeti
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| Motto: "Процветание в единстве" - 'Prosperity in unity' | |||||
| Anthem: "Нивы и горы твои волшебны, Родина" - 'Your fields and mounts are wonderful, Motherland' | |||||
| Capital | Simferopol | ||||
| Largest cities | Simferopol, Eupatoria, Kerch, Theodosia, Yalta | ||||
| Official language | Ukrainian. | ||||
| Government | autonomous republic within Ukraine | ||||
| Head of State | the President of Ukraine Viktor Yushchenko | ||||
| Prime Minister | Viktor Plakida | ||||
| Speaker of the Parliament | Anatoly Gritsenko | ||||
| Area | 26,200 km² | ||||
| Population | 1,994,300 (2005) | ||||
| Currency | Ukrainian hryvnia (UAH) | ||||
| Calling code | +380-65 | ||||
| Time zone | UTC+2 | ||||
Crimea [kraɪˈmia] or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukrainian: Крим, Автономна Республіка Крим - Avtonomna Respublika Krym, Russian: Крым, Автономная Республика Крым - Avtonomnaya Respublika Krym, Crimean Tatar: Qırım, Qırım Muhtar Cumhuriyeti) is an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea occupying a peninsula of the same name.
The total area of the republic is 26,200 km².
It is the home of Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority who now make up 13% of the population.
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).
History
Early history
The earliest inhabitants of whom we have any authentic traces were the Cimmerians, who were expelled by the Scythians during the 7th century BC.
Two centuries later, (438 BC) the Archon, or ruler, of the latter settlers assumed the title of the King of Bosporus, a state that maintained close relations with Athens, supplying the city with wheat, honey and other commodities.
During the later centuries, Crimea was invaded or occupied successively by the Goths (AD.
In the mid-10th century, the eastern Crimea was conquered by Prince Sviatoslav I of Kiev and became part of the Kievan Russian principality of Tmutarakan.
In the 13th century, the Genoese seized the settlements which their rivals the Venetians had built along the Crimean coast and established themselves at Cembalo, Soldaia, and Caffa.
Crimean Khanate
A number of Turkic peoples, now collectively known as Crimean Tatars, had been inhabiting the peninsula since the early Middle Ages. After the destruction of the Golden Horde by Timur, in 1441 the Crimean Tatars founded an independent Crimean Khanate under Haci I Giray, a descendant of Genghis Khan.
The commercial towns held by the Genoese were conquered by the Ottoman general Gedik Ahmet Pasha in 1475. After 1475, the Crimean Khans ruled as tributary princes of the Ottoman Empire until 1774 when they fell under the Russian influence.
Russian Empire
The Crimean War (1854 - 1856) devastated much of the economic and social infrastructure of Crimea. For the first time in their history, Crimean Tatars became a minority in their own land, with the majority spread out as a diaspora.
During the Russian Civil War, Crimea was a stronghold of the anti-Bolshevik White Army.
Soviet Union
In 1921 the Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created as part of the Russian SFSR.
Crimea was a scene of some of the bloodiest battles in World War II.
In 1944, Sevastopol was liberated by the Soviet troops.
On 18 May 1944, the entire population of the Crimean Tatars were forcibly deported to Central Asia by Stalin's Soviet government as a form of collective punishment on the grounds that they had collaborated with the Nazi occupation forces.
The Crimean Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was abolished in 1945 and transformed into the Crimean Oblast (region) of the Russian SFSR.
Autonomy in independent Ukraine
With the collapse of the Soviet Union, Crimea became part of the newly independent Ukraine, a situation largely unexpected by its population that was ethnically and culturally Russian for the most part.
Crimea proclaimed self-government on May 5, 1992 , but later agreed to remain within Ukraine as an autonomous republic.
Following the ratification of Ukrainian-Russian 1997 treaties on friendship and division of the fleet, the international tensions slowly have eased off.
Government and politics
Crimea is a parliamentary republic that has no president.
Administrative divisions
Crimea is subdivided into 25 regions: 14 raions and 11 city municipalities (officially "territories governed by city councils").
Raions:
| 1 Bakhchisaray raion 2 Bilohirsk raion 3 Dzhankoy raion 4 Kirovske raion 5 Krasnohvardiyske raion 6 Krasnoperekopsk raion 7 Lenine raion | 8 Nizhnyohirskyi raion 9 Pervomayske raion 10 Rozdolne raion 11 Saky raion 12 Simferopol raion 13 Sovetskyi raion 14 Chornomorske raion |
City municipalities:
| 15 Alushta municipality 16 Armyansk municipality 17 Dzhankoy municipality 18 Eupatoria municipality 19 Kerch municipality 20 Krasnoperekopsk municipality | 21 Saky municipality 22 Simferopol municipality 23 Sudak municipality 24 Theodosia municipality 25 Yalta municipality 26 Sevastopol municipality |
Geography
Crimea borders the Kherson Oblast from the North;
Crimea is connected to the mainland by the 5–7 kilometre (3–4 mile) wide Isthmus of Perekop.
The Crimean coastline is broken by several bays and harbours.
The southeast coast is flanked at a distance of 8–12 km (5–8 mi) from the sea by a parallel range of mountains, the Yayla Mountains, or Alpine Meadow mountains (also known as Yayla Dağ and the Crimean Range).
Numerous kurgans, or burial mounds, of the ancient Scythians are scattered across the Crimean steppes.
The terrain that lies beyond the sheltering Yayla Mountains range is of an altogether different character. Numerous Crimean Tatar villages, mosques, monasteries, and palaces of the Russian imperial family and nobles are found here, as well as picturesque ancient Greek and medieval castles.
Crimea contains the longest (96 km) trolleybus route in the world, from Simferopol to Yalta.
The city of Sevastopol is located within the republic, but has a special municipality status in Ukraine.
Economy
The main branches of the Crimean economy are tourism and agriculture.
Demographics
By 2005, the total population of Crimea is 1,994,300.
According to 2001 Ukrainian Census, the population of Crimea comprised the following self-reported ethnic groups:
Russians - 58.32% Ukrainians - 24.32% Crimean Tatars - 12.1% Belarusians - 1.44% Tatars - 0.54% Armenians - 0.43% Jews - 0.22%Other minorities are Black Sea Germans, Roma people, Poles, Azerbaijanis, Koreans and Greeks.
Even though the Ukrainian language is the single official state language countrywide, and is therefore the sole language of government elsewhere in Ukraine, this does not apply in Crimea, where
government business is still carried out in Russian. According to the census mentioned above 77% of Crimean inhabitants named Russian as their mother tongue, 11.4% - Crimean Tatar and 10.1% -
Ukrainian. This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Find more information on Crimea
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