In the middle of the fifteenth century, when weakened by civil strife Golden Horde began to disintegrate, the Crimean yurt turned into an independent khanate. It was formed after a long struggle with the Golden Horde by Hadji Giray, the first Crimean Khan, founder of the famous Giray dynasty, which ruled Crimea for more than three hundred years. The Crimean Khanate, in addition to the Crimean Peninsula, included the Dnieper and Azov regions.
Under the second Crimean Khan Mengli-Girey (1466-1515), the city of Bakhchisarai, the capital of the Crimean Khanate, was founded. Khan Adil-Sahib-Girey in the middle of the 16th century finally moved the khan’s residence to Bakhchisarai, where the khan’s palace was built. The name of the city Bakhchisarai translates as “palace in the garden”. In total, in the entire history of the Crimean Khanate there were 44 khans.
Having freed itself from the Golden Horde, the Khanate already in 1478 fell into vassal dependence on Ottoman Turkey.
Taking advantage of the internecine struggle for power between the sons of Hadji Giray, the Turkish Sultan invaded Crimea in 1475. The Turks captured Kafa, Sogdaya (Sudak), all Genoese settlements and fortifications of the southeastern and southern coasts.
The peninsula was surrounded by a chain of Turkish fortresses: Inkerman (formerly Kalamita), Gezlev (Evpatoria), Perekop, Arabat, Yeni-Kale. The cafe, renamed Keffe, became the residence of the Sultan's governor in Crimea.
Since 1478, the Crimean Khanate officially became a vassal of the Ottoman Porte and remained in this capacity until the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Peace of 1774. Turkish sultans confirmed or appointed and removed Crimean khans.
And yet the Khanate did not lose its statehood, and the khans sometimes pursued a policy independent of the Porte and actively participated in the events taking place in Eastern Europe.
After the Turks captured Constantinople and the Genoese possessions in the Crimea, the peninsula lost its former importance in the trade of Western Europe with the countries of the East. The position of a vassal of Turkey aggravated the economic and political backwardness of the Crimean Khanate.
Getting out of the hard stuff economic condition Crimean feudal lords preferred to search in beshbash - predatory raids on neighboring countries to capture booty and full. The slave trade in the Khanate, which began with Mengli Giray, turned into a trade, and Crimea became the largest international slave market. True, starting from the fifteenth century, the Zaporozhye Sich became a serious obstacle to raids not only on Ukrainian, but also on Moscow and Polish lands.
The heyday of the Crimean Khanate occurred at the end of the 16th - beginning of the 17th century. At this time, culture and art noticeably developed in the Khanate. High level architecture has reached. Beautiful mosques, fountains, and water pipelines were built, for which many European, especially Italian, architects were involved.
The main fortress at the entrance to the peninsula was Perekopskaya, which was the gateway to Crimea. The functions of protecting Crimea were performed by the fortress cities of Arabat and Kerch. The trading ports were Gezlev and Kafa. Military garrisons (mostly Turkish, partly local Greeks) were also maintained in Balaklava, Sudak, Kerch, and Cafe.
The state religion on the territory of Crimea was Islam, and shamanism dominated among the Nogai tribes. According to Sharia, every Muslim must participate in wars with infidels. Military activity was mandatory for both large and small feudal lords.
The entire period of the 15th - 18th centuries was a time of almost continuous border conflicts and wars. Russia, Ukraine, Poland, Lithuania and other countries were constantly in a state of great tension, since not only the border lands, but also the deep territories of the states were threatened by the possibility of a Tatar invasion. The Turkish government often sent janissary troops and artillery to strengthen the military power of the Tatar army.
The devastating Tatar-Turkish attacks increased from year to year. So, for example, if from 1450 to 1586 there were 84 Tatar attacks on Ukrainian lands, then from 1600 to 1647 - over 70. The objects of Turkish-Tatar attacks were, first of all, cities and towns on the territory of Ukraine.
In the summer of 1571, all Crimean forces led by Khan Davlet-Girey marched on Moscow. Tsar Ivan the Terrible and his corps of guardsmen barely escaped capture. Khan positioned himself near the walls of Moscow and set fire to settlements. Within a few hours, a huge fire destroyed the city. Losses among residents were enormous. On the way back, the Tatars plundered 30 cities and districts, and more than 60 thousand Russian captives were taken into slavery.
Relations with Crimea were extremely difficult for European countries, since in addition to military methods - raids, wars, the rulers of Crimea often resorted to the Golden Horde practice of collecting tribute from nearby territories. (In the first half of the 17th century, the Russian state alone spent up to 1 million rubles for these purposes. (With this money, four cities could be built annually.)
After the annexation of Crimea to Russia (1783), the entire Muslim population of the peninsula began to be called “Tatars.” By the 80s of the 18th century, there were about 500 thousand Crimean Tatars.
Golden Horde. Genoa
In the 14th century, the Horde experienced a crisis caused by Islamization. The Horde lost a significant part of its offensive power, and its forces were directed towards internal squabbling, which ultimately destroyed the great power.
After another internecine massacre in the sixties of the 14th century, the Golden Horde was divided into two parts - eastern and western (in Rus' this civil strife was called the “great great one”). In the western part - in the Northern Black Sea region and Crimea - power was seized by the Temnik Mamai, who relied on the Polovtsy, who at that time received the name “Tatars”, Yasov and Kasogs. Mamai was married to the daughter of the Golden Horde khan Berdibek and although he was not from the clan of Genghis Khan, he laid claim to the khan’s power. His ally was Genoa, which created colonies along the entire southern coast of the Crimean Peninsula. Transit trade and control over communications turned Mamai into a rich nobleman who could maintain a huge army and place his puppets on the khan’s throne.
During this period, the Genoese Republic acquired great importance in Crimea. Genoa, a trading port city on the shores of the Ligurian Sea in Northern Italy, had become a major maritime power by the beginning of the 12th century. Having defeated its rival Venice, Genoa became the monopoly owner of the maritime trade routes that ran along the Crimea. Byzantium in the second half of the 12th century granted Genoa exclusive rights in the Black Sea. Venice lost its possessions in Crimea. In the middle of the 13th century, the Horde transferred the small coastal village of Feodosia to the Genoese. The Genoese called the city Cafa and turned it into their main stronghold in Crimea. Then the Genoese entered into an agreement with Constantinople, which previously owned the southern part of Crimea. The Byzantines at this time needed help and were constantly inferior to Genoa and Venice, so the Genoese received the district with Kafa in their possession, and the right of monopoly trade in the Black Sea region was confirmed.
At the end of the 13th century, Venice and Genoa again entered into a war for spheres of influence. The Venetian Republic was defeated. In 1299, the Italian city-states signed the eternal peace" Genoa remained the only owner of trade communications in the Northern Black Sea region and Crimea. The Horde tried several times to survive the impudent “guests,” but they were already well entrenched and resisted. As a result, the Horde had to come to terms with the presence of Genoese lands in Crimea. The Venetians were able to penetrate Crimea in the middle of the 14th century, but did not achieve much influence. During the “rebellion” in the Horde, the Genoese expanded their possessions in the Crimea. They captured Balaklava and Sudak. Subsequently, the entire Crimean coast from Kerch to Balaklava Bay near Sevastopol was in the hands of enterprising Italians. On the southern coast of the peninsula, the Genoese also founded new fortified points, including Vosporo, founded on the site of the former Korchev. In 1380, the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh recognized all the territorial seizures of the Genoese.
Genoa received large profits from intermediary trade. Many overland caravan routes from Europe, Russian principalities, the Urals, Central Asia, Persia, India and China passed through the Crimean peninsula. Sea routes connected Crimea with Byzantium, Italy, and the Middle East region. The Genoese bought and resold captured people, all the goods looted by the nomads, various fabrics, jewelry, furs, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain, fish, caviar, olive oil, wine, etc.
From time to time, the Horde captured and destroyed the strongholds of the Genoese. In 1299, Nogai's troops ravaged Kafa, Sudak, Kerch and Chersonesus. Khan Tokhta destroyed the Italian possessions. In 1395, Iron Lame defeated Kafa and Tana (modern Azov). In 1399, the commander-in-chief of its troops, Emir Edigei, became the ruler of the Golden Horde; in the same year he made a campaign against the Crimea, during which he destroyed and burned many of its cities. Chersonesos, after this pogrom, never recovered and after a few years ceased to exist. However, huge profits from intermediary trade allowed the Genoese to rebuild their strongholds again and again. The cafe at the end of the 14th century was big city and numbered about 70 thousand people.
The Genoese supported Mamai in his campaign against Rus', sending out mercenary infantry. However, in the Battle of Kulikovo, Mamai’s army suffered a crushing defeat. After this, Mamai was defeated by the troops of Tokhtamysh. He fled to Kafa to his allies. However, they betrayed him. Mamai was killed.
At the beginning of the 15th century there was a struggle between Tokhtamysh and Edigei. After the death of Tokhtamysh, the fight was continued by his son Jalal ad-Din. Crimea has more than once become the scene of fierce battles. Various contenders for the Horde throne considered Crimea, due to its isolated position, the most reliable refuge in the event of defeat. They willingly distributed lands on the peninsula to their supporters and associates. The remnants of defeated troops, detachments of various khans, pretenders to the throne, and military leaders flocked here. Therefore, the Turkic element gradually took a dominant position in Crimea and mastered not only the steppe part of the peninsula, but also penetrated further to the mountainous coast.
Genoese fortress Kafa
Crimean Khanate
In the first half of the 15th century, the Golden Horde ceased to exist as a single power. Several state entities with their own dynasties appeared. The largest fragment was the Great Horde, which occupied the steppes between the Volga and Dnieper. The Siberian Khanate was formed between the Irtysh and Tobol rivers. The Kazan kingdom arose in the middle Volga, occupying the lands of the former Volga Bulgaria. The Nogai, who roamed along the shores of the Azov and Black Seas, fell away from the Great Horde. The Crimean ulus also became independent.
The founder of the Crimean dynasty was Hadji I Giray (Gerai). Hadji Giray was from the clan of Chingis and lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russia. In 1428, Hadji Giray, with the support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vytautas, captured the Crimean ulus. It was beneficial for Lithuania to support part of the Horde elite, sowing confusion in the Horde and taking control of its regions in the former Southern Rus'. In addition, Crimea was of great economic importance. However, Ulu-Muhammad's troops drove him out. In 1431, at the head of a new army gathered in Principality of Lithuania, Hadji Giray undertook a new campaign in Crimea and occupied the city of Solkhat (Kyrym, Old Crimea).
In 1433, the khan entered into an alliance with the principality of Theodoro against the Genoese. Gothic prince Alexei captured Genoese fortress Chembalo (Balaclava). Genoa struck back. The Genoese recaptured Cembalo, then stormed and destroyed the Theodorian fortress of Kalamita (Inkerman), which guarded the only port of the Christian principality. The Genoese continued their offensive, but the Tatars defeated them near Solkhat. Hadji Giray besieged Kafa. The Genoese recognized him as the Crimean Khan and paid tribute.
In 1434, Khan of the Golden Horde Ulu-Muhammad again defeated Hadji Giray, who fled to Lithuania. Meanwhile, strife between the khans continued in the Black Sea steppes. Tatar troops devastated the peninsula several times. Around 1440, the Crimean Tatar nobility, led by the noble clans Shirin and Baryn, asked Grand Duke Casimir to release Hadji Giray to Crimea. Hadji Giray was placed on the throne by the Lithuanian Marshal Radziwill. Since 1441, Hadji Giray ruled in Crimea. After several years of struggle with the khan of the Great Horde, Seid-Ahmed, the Crimean Khanate finally became independent. Hadji Giray concluded an alliance with Theodoro, directed against the Genoese Kafa, and helped recapture Calamita. In addition, the Crimean Khanate was allied with Lithuania in opposition to the Great Horde. Haji Giray inflicted a number of heavy defeats on the khans of the Great Horde Seyid-Ahmed and Mahmud; a large number of warriors fled to him, which seriously increased the military power of the new khanate. The actions of Hadji Giray contributed to the final collapse of the Horde.
The capital of the Khanate was the city of Crimea-Solkhat. Not far from Chufut-Kale, on the banks of the Churuksu River, Hadji Giray founded the “Palace in the Gardens” - the city of Bakhchisarai, which became the new capital of the khanate under his son Mengli Giray. The majority of the Khanate's population were Crimean Tatars. The first mention of this ethnonym - “Crimean Tatars” - was noted at the beginning of the 16th century in the works of S. Herberstein and M. Bronevsky. Before this, the nomadic population of Crimea was called “Tatars”. The Crimean Tatars formed as a people in Crimea in the 15th-17th centuries, that is, they are a very young people.
The basis of the “Crimean Tatars” was made up of assimilated descendants of the Aryans who lived here since ancient times - Cimmerians, Taurians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths, Slavs, as well as fragments of the Khazars, Pechenegs, and Polovtsians who fled to the peninsula. Waves of Turkic migration from Asia Minor also played a role. The Horde “Tatars” united everyone politically, and Islam united everyone ideologically. As a result, Turkization and Islamization led to the emergence of the Crimean Tatar people.
Recent genetic studies confirm this. Based on Y-chromosome inheritance, most Crimean Tatars belong to the R1a1 haplogroup (an Aryan haplogroup formed in Southern Russia). Then, a significant proportion among the Crimean Tatars are carriers of haplogroups J1 (Middle Eastern group, characteristic of Jews) and G (Western Caucasian). Haplogroup J2 (the Middle Eastern group) also has a significant percentage; haplogroup C, characteristic of Central Asia, is inferior to it. Thus, the ethnographic basis of the Crimean Tatars is Aryan. However, there is a large percentage of "Khazars", "Circassians" and Turks. Turkization and Islamization over the course of several centuries turned everyone into “Crimean Tatars.” This shouldn't be surprising. All processes are controlled. Literally before our eyes, a separate ethnic group - “Ukrainians” - is being successfully created from a part of the Russian people. They also design “Pomors”, “Cossacks” and “Siberians”.
In the southern part of Crimea, assimilation proceeded more slowly. Here the countryside was dominated by Christians. Therefore, Greeks, Armenians, Goths, Italians, Slavs, people from the Caucasus, etc. also lived there for quite a long time. However, by the time the Crimean Peninsula was annexed to the Russian Empire, almost everyone was assimilated, only the communities of Greeks and Armenians survived, but they were doomed if not part of Russia. So the last Goths disappeared in the 18th century.
On the territory of the Crimean Khanate, several forms of land distribution arose: khan land ownership, the possessions of the nobility (beyliks) and Murzin lands, lands of the Ottoman Sultan, waqf lands belonging to the clergy and communal lands. The Crimean nobility - the families of Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Sedzheut, Mangit and others - owned quite large land holdings. Their owners, the beks, were rich and had the opportunity to maintain large detachments. They stood at the head of the leading clans that united the tribes. The beks owned the land, which ensured their power over the cattle breeders, the so-called. “black people”, they had the right of court, established the amount of taxes and corvee. The military nobles also depended on the beks. It was the beks who determined the policy of the Khanate and often decided the fate of the Crimean khans. In addition, the Crimean elite included oglans - Chingizid princes, military nobles (Murzas), Muslim clergy (mullahs) and ulema theologians.
Officially, all power belonged to the khan and the khan's council (divan), which included the khan himself, the kalga-sultan - the second most important person in the khanate (the heir, he was appointed by the khan from among his brothers, sons or nephews), the eldest wife or mother of the khan, the mufti - head of the Muslim clergy, chief beks and oglans. The third most important person after the khan and kalga in the hierarchy of the Crimean Khanate, the second heir to the throne was called Nurradin Sultan (nureddin).
The territory of the Khanate in its heyday included not only the Crimean Peninsula, but also the Azov and Northern Black Sea steppes, right up to the Danube and the North Caucasus. The main centers of Crimean trade were Perekop, Kafa and Gezlev. Leathers, furs, fabrics, iron, weapons, grain and other food were brought to Crimea. In Crimea, they produced morocco (processed goat skin), morocco shoes, and smushki (skins taken from newborn lambs). Silk, wine brought from other countries, and salt were also brought from Crimea. A special export item was camels, which were bought in Poland and Russia. But historically, Crimea became famous as the largest center of the slave trade. He inherited the sad glory of Khazaria.
It should be noted that Genoese merchants and descendants of the Khazars initially played a leading role in the establishment of the slave trade on the peninsula. For many centuries, Crimean ports became the leading suppliers of living goods - Russian, Polish, Circassian (Caucasian), Tatar (there was constant strife in the steppe) girls and children. Men were sold much less: healthy men resisted to the last, cost less, and were a source of rebellion and all kinds of disobedience. Women and children were much easier to “train.” Live goods generally did not remain in Crimea, but were exported to the Ottoman Empire, Southern Europe, Persia and Africa.
It was beneficial for Constantinople to encourage the aggression of the Crimean Khanate against the Russian state and Poland. The attacks of the Crimean Tatars mainly fell on the southern and western Russian lands that were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although it happened that the invaders broke through the Polish lands themselves. The Crimean Khanate was supposed to help the Sublime Porte in its heyday to move further to the east. In addition, the slave trade brought great profits to Ottoman merchants. Later, when the Ottoman Empire lost most of its offensive potential, the Crimean Khanate made it possible to maintain control over the Northern Black Sea region. On the other hand, military garrisons, shock troops of the Janissaries, and Ottoman artillery strengthened the military power of the Crimean Khanate, which allowed it to hold back the pressure of the Russian state for a long time.
Agricultural work in Crimea was carried out mainly by the dependent population, which was subjected to assimilation, Islamization and gradually turned into “Tatars”. The Crimean Tatars themselves preferred the occupation of “noble people” - robbery raids with the aim of capturing the population, which was a very profitable business. It is clear that almost all the profits went into the pockets of the nobility; the “black people” barely made ends meet. In the steppe regions of Crimea, livestock farming was developed, primarily the breeding of sheep and horses, but this was done by poor shepherds. The basis of the economy of the Khanate for a long period of time was trade in living goods. From the end of the 15th century, Crimean troops began to carry out regular raids and large-scale campaigns against their neighbors - the Caucasus, the Russian state, and lands subject to Poland. People were also driven away during conflicts with other steppe inhabitants.
The envoy of the King of Poland, Martin Bronevsky, who lived in Crimea for several months in 1578, noted: “This people is predatory and hungry, does not value any oaths, alliances, or friendships, but only has in mind its own benefits and lives by robberies and constant treasonous war.” .
The Crimean Khanate did not have a regular army. During large campaigns and raids, the Crimean khans and Murzas recruited volunteers, people dependent on them. From 20 to 100 thousand horsemen could participate in the campaign. Almost the entire free Tatar population of the peninsula could participate in a major campaign. From several hundred to several thousand warriors took part in the raid. They did not take the convoy with them; during the raids they ate flatbreads made from barley or millet flour and horse meat, and fed on loot. Artillery was rarely taken, only in very large campaigns when the Ottomans took part. We moved quickly, replacing tired horses with fresh ones. They were armed with sabers, knives, bows, and later it appeared firearms. Armor was mainly worn only by the nobility.
Raids were usually carried out in the summer, when the bulk of the people (peasants) took part in field work and could not quickly hide in cities or forests. Reconnaissance was sent ahead, and if the path was clear, the main forces of the horde or raiding party would come out. Usually the horde did not go on a campaign to conduct military operations. If the enemy found out about the enemy and managed to bring significant forces to the border, the Tatars usually did not accept the battle and left, or tried to outwit the enemy, bypass him, break through to the rear, quickly rob villages, capture prisoners and avoid a retaliatory strike. Lightly armed horsemen usually successfully avoided attacks from heavy squads and regiments.
Having broken into Russian lands, the horsemen organized a driven hunt (round-up). Cities and fortresses were bypassed. Villages were taken on the move or set on fire, and then they chopped down those who resisted, robbed and took people captive. Adult prisoners and young people were driven like cattle, placed in rows of several people, their hands were tied back with rawhide belts, wooden poles were passed through these belts, and ropes were thrown around their necks. Then, holding the ends of the ropes, they surrounded all the unfortunates with a chain of horsemen and drove them across the steppe, whipping them with whips. This painful path “weeded out” the weak and sick. They were killed. The most valuable “goods” (children, young girls) were transported. Having reached relatively safe lands, where they no longer waited for pursuit, they sorted and divided the “goods”. The sick and elderly were immediately killed or given to young people to “train” their predatory skills.
He was in the Polish-Tatar army during the campaign of King John Casimir to Left Bank Ukraine in 1663-1664. Duke Antoine de Gramont left a description of this process. The robbers killed all the old people who were not capable of hard work, leaving healthy men for the Turkish galleys (they used slaves as oarsmen). Young boys were left for "pleasure", girls and women - for violence and sale. The division of prisoners took place by lot.
The English envoy to the Russian state, D. Fletcher, wrote: “The main booty that the Tatars covet in all their wars is a large number of prisoners, especially boys and girls, whom they sell to the Turks and other neighbors.” To transport children, the Crimean Tatars took large baskets; prisoners who became weak or sick on the road were mercilessly killed so as not to linger.
On the peninsula it was sold in slave markets. Large markets We were in Cafe, Karasubazar, Bakhchisarai and Gezlev. Merchants-resellers - Turks, Jews, Arabs, Greeks, etc., bought people at the minimum price. Some people were left in Crimea. Men were used in hard and dirty work: extracting salt, digging wells, collecting manure, etc. Women became servants, including sexual slaves. Most of the cargo was transported to other countries and regions - to Porto, its numerous provinces - from the Balkans and Asia Minor to North Africa, Persia. Slavic slaves ended up in Central Asia and India. During transportation by sea, the “goods” were not treated on ceremony, more or less normal conditions were created only for the most precious “goods”. Big number slaves and an “inexhaustible” source of “goods,” as in the trade of blacks from Africa, covered all expenses. Therefore, the mortality rate was terrible.
After transportation, the men were sent to the galleys, where poor food, disease, exhausting labor and beatings quickly killed them. Some were sent to agricultural and other hard work. Some were turned into eunuchs, servants. Girls and children were bought as servants and for carnal pleasures. A small number of beauties had a chance to become a legal wife. So, many people still hear the name Roksolana. Anastasia-Roksolana became a concubine and then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, and the mother of Sultan Selim II. She had a great influence on her husband's politics. However, this was a rare exception to the rule. There were so many Slavic slaves in the Ottoman Empire that many Turks became their children and grandchildren, including prominent military and government officials.
Qırım Yurtu, قريم يورتى ). In addition to the steppe and foothills of the Crimea proper, it occupied the lands between the Danube and the Dnieper, the Azov region and most of the modern Krasnodar region of Russia. In 1478, the Crimean Khanate officially became an ally of the Ottoman state and remained in this capacity until the 1774 Peace of Küçük-Kainardzhi. It was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1783. Currently, most of the lands of the Khanate (the territories west of the Don) belong to Ukraine, and the remaining part (the lands east of the Don) belongs to Russia.Capitals of the Khanate
The main city of the Crimean Yurt was the city of Kyrym, also known as Solkhat (modern Old Crimea), which became the capital of Khan Oran-Timur in 1266. According to the most common version, the name Kyrym comes from Chagatai qırım- pit, trench, there is also an opinion that it comes from the Western Kipchak qırım- “my hill” ( qır- hill, hill, -ım- affix of belonging to the first person singular).
When a state independent from the Horde was formed in Crimea, the capital was moved to the fortified mountain fortress of Kyrk-Era, then to Salachik, located in the valley at the foot of Kyrk-Era, and finally, in 1532, to the newly built city of Bakhchisarai.
Story
Background
During the Horde period, the supreme rulers of Crimea were the khans of the Golden Horde, but direct control was exercised by their governors - emirs. The first formally recognized ruler in Crimea is considered to be Aran-Timur, the nephew of Batu, who received this region from Mengu-Timur. This name then gradually spread to the entire peninsula. The second center of Crimea was the valley adjacent to Kyrk-Eru and Bakhchisarai.
The multinational population of Crimea then consisted mainly of the Kipchaks (Cumans) who lived in the steppe and foothills of the peninsula, whose state was defeated by the Mongols, Greeks, Goths, Alans, and Armenians, who lived mainly in cities and mountain villages, as well as Rusyns who lived in some trading cities. The Crimean nobility was mainly of mixed Kipchak-Mongol origin.
Horde rule, although it had positive sides, in general, it was painful for the Crimean population. In particular, the rulers of the Golden Horde repeatedly organized punitive campaigns in Crimea when the local population refused to pay tribute. Nogai's campaign in 1299 is known, as a result of which a number of Crimean cities suffered. As in other regions of the Horde, separatist tendencies soon began to appear in Crimea.
There are legends, unconfirmed by Crimean sources, that in the 14th century Crimea was allegedly repeatedly ravaged by the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd defeated the Tatar army in 1363 near the mouth of the Dnieper, and then allegedly invaded Crimea, devastated Chersonesus and captured all valuable church objects there. A similar legend exists about his successor named Vytautas, who in 1397 allegedly reached Kaffa itself in the Crimean campaign and again destroyed Chersonesos. Vytautas is also known in Crimean history for the fact that during the Horde turmoil of the late 14th century he provided refuge in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania a significant number Tatars and Karaites, whose descendants now live in Lithuania and the Grodno region of Belarus. In 1399, Vitovt, who came to the aid of the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, was defeated on the banks of the Vorskla by Tokhtamysh’s rival Timur-Kutluk, on whose behalf the Horde was ruled by Emir Edigei, and made peace.
Gaining independence
Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire
Wars with the Russian Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early period
Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom and Poland. The Crimean Tatars and Nogais were fluent in raid tactics, choosing a path along watersheds. The main route to Moscow was the Muravsky Way, which ran from Perekop to Tula between the upper reaches of the rivers of two basins, the Dnieper and the Seversky Donets. Having gone 100-200 kilometers into the border region, the Tatars turned back and, spreading wide wings from the main detachment, engaged in robbery and the capture of slaves. The capture of captives - yasyr - and the trade in slaves were an important part of the economy of the Khanate. Captives were sold to Turkey, the Middle East and even European countries. The Crimean city of Kafa was the main slave market. According to some researchers, more than three million people, mostly Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, were sold in the Crimean slave markets over two centuries. Every year, Moscow gathered up to 65 thousand warriors in the spring to carry out border service on the banks of the Oka until late autumn. To protect the country, fortified defensive lines were used, consisting of a chain of forts and cities, ambushes and rubble. In the southeast, the oldest of these lines ran along the Oka from Nizhny Novgorod to Serpukhov, from here it turned south to Tula and continued to Kozelsk. The second line, built under Ivan the Terrible, ran from the city of Alatyr through Shatsk to Orel, continued to Novgorod-Seversky and turned to Putivl. Under Tsar Fedor, a third line arose, passing through the cities of Livny, Yelets, Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod. The initial population of these cities consisted of Cossacks, Streltsy and other service people. A large number of Cossacks and service people were part of the guard and village services, which monitored the movement of the Crimeans and Nogais in the steppe.
In Crimea itself, the Tatars left little yasyr. According to the ancient Crimean custom, slaves were released as freedmen after 5-6 years of captivity - there is a number of evidence from Russian and Ukrainian documents about returnees from Perekop who “worked out”. Some of those released preferred to remain in Crimea. There is a well-known case, described by the Ukrainian historian Dmitry Yavornitsky, when the ataman of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, Ivan Sirko, who attacked Crimea in 1675, captured huge booty, including about seven thousand Christian captives and freedmen. The ataman asked them whether they wanted to go with the Cossacks to their homeland or return to Crimea. Three thousand expressed a desire to stay and Sirko ordered to kill them. Those who changed their faith while in slavery were released immediately, since Sharia law prohibits holding a Muslim in captivity. According to Russian historian Valeria Vozgrin, slavery in Crimea itself almost completely disappeared in the 16th-17th centuries. Most of the prisoners captured during attacks on their northern neighbors (their peak intensity occurred in the 16th century) were sold to Turkey, where slave labor was widely used, mainly in galleys and in construction work.
XVII - early XVIII centuries
On January 6-12, 1711, the Crimean army left Perekop. Mehmed Giray with 40 thousand Crimeans, accompanied by 7-8 thousand Orlik and Cossacks, 3-5 thousand Poles, 400 Janissaries and 700 Swedes of Colonel Zulich, headed to Kiev.
During the first half of February 1711, the Crimeans easily captured Bratslav, Boguslav, Nemirov, the few garrisons of which offered virtually no resistance.
In the summer of 1711, when Peter I set off on the Prut Campaign with an army of 80 thousand, the Crimean cavalry numbering 70 thousand sabers, together with the Turkish army, surrounded Peter’s troops, which found themselves in a hopeless situation. Peter I himself was almost captured and was forced to sign a peace treaty on conditions that were extremely unfavorable for Russia. As a result of the Prut Peace, Russia lost access to Sea of Azov and its fleet in the Azov-Black Sea waters. As a result of the Prut victory of the united Turkish-Crimean wars, Russian expansion in the Black Sea region was stopped for a quarter of a century.
The Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39 and the complete devastation of Crimea
The last khans and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire
After the withdrawal of Russian troops, a widespread uprising occurred in Crimea. Turkish troops landed in Alushta; the Russian resident in Crimea, Veselitsky, was captured by Khan Shahin and handed over to the Turkish commander-in-chief. There were attacks on Russian troops in Alushta, Yalta and other places. The Crimeans elected Devlet IV as khan. At this time, the text of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty was received from Constantinople. But the Crimeans even now did not want to accept independence and cede the indicated cities in Crimea to the Russians, and the Porte considered it necessary to enter into new negotiations with Russia. Dolgorukov's successor, Prince Prozorovsky, negotiated with the khan in the most conciliatory tone, but the Murzas and ordinary Crimeans did not hide their sympathies for the Ottoman Empire. Shahin Geray had few supporters. The Russian party in Crimea was small. But in Kuban he was proclaimed khan, and in 1776 he finally became khan of Crimea and entered Bakhchisarai. The people swore allegiance to him.
Shahin Giray became the last Khan of Crimea. He tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize governance along European lines, but these measures were extremely late. Soon after his accession, an uprising against the Russian presence began. The Crimeans attacked Russian troops everywhere, killing up to 900 Russians, and plundered the palace. Shahin was embarrassed, made various promises, but was overthrown, and Bahadir II Giray was elected khan. Türkiye was preparing to send a fleet to the shores of Crimea and begin new war. The uprising was decisively suppressed by Russian troops, Shahin Giray mercilessly punished his opponents. A.V. Suvorov was appointed Prozorovsky’s successor as commander of the Russian troops in Crimea, but the khan was very wary of the new Russian adviser, especially after he deported all Crimean Christians (about 30,000 people) to the Azov region in 1778: Greeks - to Mariupol, Armenians - to Nor-Nakhichevan.
Only now Shahin turned to the Sultan as the caliph for a letter of blessing, and the Porte recognized him as khan, subject to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Crimea. Meanwhile, in 1782, a new uprising began in Crimea, and Shahin was forced to flee to Yenikale, and from there to Kuban. Bahadir II Giray, who was not recognized by Russia, was elected khan. In 1783, Russian troops entered Crimea without warning. Soon Shahin Giray abdicated the throne. He was asked to choose a city in Russia for residence and was given a sum for his relocation with a small retinue and maintenance. He lived first in Voronezh, and then in Kaluga, from where, at his request and with the consent of the Porte, he was released to Turkey and settled on the island of Rhodes, where he was deprived of his life.
There were “small” and “large” divans, which played a very serious role in the life of the state.
A council was called a “small divan” if a narrow circle of nobility took part in it, resolving issues that required urgent and specific decisions.
The “Big Divan” is a meeting of “the whole earth”, when all the Murzas and representatives of the “best” black people took part in it. By tradition, the Karaches retained the right to sanction the appointment of khans from the Geray clan as sultan, which was expressed in the ritual of placing them on the throne in Bakhchisarai.
The state structure of Crimea largely used the Golden Horde and Ottoman structures state power. Most often, the highest government positions were occupied by the sons, brothers of the khan or other persons of noble origin.
The first official after the khan was the Kalga Sultan. Appointed to this position younger brother khan or his other relative. Kalga ruled the eastern part of the peninsula, the left wing of the khan's army and administered the state in the event of the death of the khan until a new one was appointed to the throne. He was also the commander-in-chief if the khan did not personally go to war. The second position - nureddin - was also occupied by a member of the khan's family. He was the governor of the western part of the peninsula, chairman of small and local courts, and commanded smaller corps of the right wing on campaigns.
The mufti is the head of the Muslim clergy of Crimea, an interpreter of laws, who has the right to remove judges - qadis, if they judged incorrectly.
Kaymakans - in the late period (end of the 18th century) governing the regions of the Khanate. Or-bey is the head of the Or-Kapy (Perekop) fortress. Most often, this position was occupied by members of the khan family, or a member of the Shirin family. He guarded the borders and watched over the Nogai hordes outside the Crimea. The positions of qadi, vizier and other ministers are similar to the same positions in the Ottoman state.
In addition to the above, there were two important female positions: ana-beim (analogous to the Ottoman post of valide), which was held by the mother or sister of the khan, and ulu-beim (ulu-sultani), the senior wife of the ruling khan. In terms of importance and role in the state, they had the rank next to nureddin.
An important phenomenon in the state life of Crimea was the very strong independence of noble bey families, which in some way brought Crimea closer to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The beys ruled their possessions (beyliks) as semi-independent states, administered justice themselves and had their own militia. The beys regularly took part in riots and conspiracies, both against the khan and among themselves, and often wrote denunciations against the khans they did not please the Ottoman government in Istanbul.
Public life
The state religion of Crimea was Islam, and in the customs of the Nogai tribes there were some vestiges of shamanism. Along with the Crimean Tatars and Nogais, Islam was also practiced by the Turks and Circassians living in Crimea.
The permanent non-Muslim population of Crimea was represented by Christians of various denominations: Orthodox (Hellenic-speaking and Turkic-speaking Greeks), Gregorians (Armenians), Armenian Catholics, Roman Catholics (descendants of the Genoese), as well as Jews and Karaites.
Notes
- Budagov. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T.2, p.51
- O. Gaivoronsky. Lords of two continents.t.1.Kiev-Bakhchisarai. Oranta.2007
- Thunmann. "Crimean Khanate"
- Sigismund Herberstein, Notes on Muscovy, Moscow 1988, p. 175
- Yavornitsky D.I. History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Kyiv, 1990.
- V. E. Syroechkovsky, Muhammad-Gerai and his vassals, “Scientific notes of the Moscow state university", vol. 61, 1940, p. 16.
Capitals of the Khanate
The main city of the Crimean Yurt was the city of Kyrym, also known as Solkhat (modern Old Crimea), which became the capital of Khan Oran-Timur in 1266. According to the most common version, the name Kyrym comes from Chagatai qırım- pit, trench, there is also an opinion that it comes from the Western Kipchak qırım- “my hill” ( qır- hill, hill, -ım- affix of belonging to the first person singular).
When a state independent from the Horde was formed in Crimea, the capital was moved to the fortified mountain fortress of Kyrk-Era, then to Salachik, located in the valley at the foot of Kyrk-Era, and finally, in 1532, to the newly built city of Bakhchisarai.
Story
Background
During the Horde period, the supreme rulers of Crimea were the khans of the Golden Horde, but direct control was exercised by their governors - emirs. The first formally recognized ruler in Crimea is considered to be Aran-Timur, the nephew of Batu, who received this region from Mengu-Timur. This name then gradually spread to the entire peninsula. The second center of Crimea was the valley adjacent to Kyrk-Eru and Bakhchisarai.
The multinational population of Crimea then consisted mainly of the Kipchaks (Cumans) who lived in the steppe and foothills of the peninsula, whose state was defeated by the Mongols, Greeks, Goths, Alans, and Armenians, who lived mainly in cities and mountain villages, as well as Rusyns who lived in some trading cities. The Crimean nobility was mainly of mixed Kipchak-Mongol origin.
Horde rule, although it had positive aspects, was generally burdensome for the Crimean population. In particular, the rulers of the Golden Horde repeatedly organized punitive campaigns in Crimea when the local population refused to pay tribute. Nogai's campaign in 1299 is known, as a result of which a number of Crimean cities suffered. As in other regions of the Horde, separatist tendencies soon began to appear in Crimea.
There are legends, unconfirmed by Crimean sources, that in the 14th century Crimea was allegedly repeatedly ravaged by the army of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The Grand Duke of Lithuania Olgerd defeated the Tatar army in 1363 near the mouth of the Dnieper, and then allegedly invaded Crimea, devastated Chersonesus and captured all valuable church objects there. A similar legend exists about his successor named Vytautas, who in 1397 allegedly reached Kaffa itself in the Crimean campaign and again destroyed Chersonesos. Vytautas is also known in Crimean history for the fact that during the Horde unrest at the end of the 14th century, he provided refuge in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania to a significant number of Tatars and Karaites, whose descendants now live in Lithuania and the Grodno region of Belarus. In 1399, Vitovt, who came to the aid of the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh, was defeated on the banks of the Vorskla by Tokhtamysh’s rival Timur-Kutluk, on whose behalf the Horde was ruled by Emir Edigei, and made peace.
Gaining independence
Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire
Wars with the Russian Kingdom and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth in the early period
Since the end of the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate made constant raids on the Russian Kingdom and Poland. The Crimean Tatars and Nogais were fluent in raid tactics, choosing a path along watersheds. The main route to Moscow was the Muravsky Way, which ran from Perekop to Tula between the upper reaches of the rivers of two basins, the Dnieper and the Seversky Donets. Having gone 100-200 kilometers into the border region, the Tatars turned back and, spreading wide wings from the main detachment, engaged in robbery and the capture of slaves. The capture of captives - yasyr - and the trade in slaves were an important part of the economy of the Khanate. Captives were sold to Turkey, the Middle East and even European countries. The Crimean city of Kafa was the main slave market. According to some researchers, more than three million people, mostly Ukrainians, Poles and Russians, were sold in the Crimean slave markets over two centuries. Every year, Moscow gathered up to 65 thousand warriors in the spring to carry out border service on the banks of the Oka until late autumn. To protect the country, fortified defensive lines were used, consisting of a chain of forts and cities, ambushes and rubble. In the southeast, the oldest of these lines ran along the Oka from Nizhny Novgorod to Serpukhov, from here it turned south to Tula and continued to Kozelsk. The second line, built under Ivan the Terrible, ran from the city of Alatyr through Shatsk to Orel, continued to Novgorod-Seversky and turned to Putivl. Under Tsar Fedor, a third line arose, passing through the cities of Livny, Yelets, Kursk, Voronezh, Belgorod. The initial population of these cities consisted of Cossacks, Streltsy and other service people. A large number of Cossacks and service people were part of the guard and village services, which monitored the movement of the Crimeans and Nogais in the steppe.
In Crimea itself, the Tatars left little yasyr. According to the ancient Crimean custom, slaves were released as freedmen after 5-6 years of captivity - there is a number of evidence from Russian and Ukrainian documents about returnees from Perekop who “worked out”. Some of those released preferred to remain in Crimea. There is a well-known case, described by the Ukrainian historian Dmitry Yavornitsky, when the ataman of the Zaporozhye Cossacks, Ivan Sirko, who attacked Crimea in 1675, captured huge booty, including about seven thousand Christian captives and freedmen. The ataman asked them whether they wanted to go with the Cossacks to their homeland or return to Crimea. Three thousand expressed a desire to stay and Sirko ordered to kill them. Those who changed their faith while in slavery were released immediately, since Sharia law prohibits holding a Muslim in captivity. According to Russian historian Valery Vozgrin, slavery in Crimea itself almost completely disappeared already in the 16th-17th centuries. Most of the prisoners captured during attacks on their northern neighbors (their peak intensity occurred in the 16th century) were sold to Turkey, where slave labor was widely used, mainly in galleys and in construction work.
XVII - early XVIII centuries
On January 6-12, 1711, the Crimean army left Perekop. Mehmed Giray with 40 thousand Crimeans, accompanied by 7-8 thousand Orlik and Cossacks, 3-5 thousand Poles, 400 Janissaries and 700 Swedes of Colonel Zulich, headed to Kiev.
During the first half of February 1711, the Crimeans easily captured Bratslav, Boguslav, Nemirov, the few garrisons of which offered virtually no resistance.
In the summer of 1711, when Peter I set off on the Prut Campaign with an army of 80 thousand, the Crimean cavalry numbering 70 thousand sabers, together with the Turkish army, surrounded Peter’s troops, which found themselves in a hopeless situation. Peter I himself was almost captured and was forced to sign a peace treaty on conditions that were extremely unfavorable for Russia. As a result of the Treaty of Prut, Russia lost access to the Sea of Azov and its fleet in the Azov-Black Sea waters. As a result of the Prut victory of the united Turkish-Crimean wars, Russian expansion in the Black Sea region was stopped for a quarter of a century.
The Russian-Turkish War of 1735-39 and the complete devastation of Crimea
The last khans and the annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire
After the withdrawal of Russian troops, a widespread uprising occurred in Crimea. Turkish troops landed in Alushta; the Russian resident in Crimea, Veselitsky, was captured by Khan Shahin and handed over to the Turkish commander-in-chief. There were attacks on Russian troops in Alushta, Yalta and other places. The Crimeans elected Devlet IV as khan. At this time, the text of the Kuchuk-Kainardzhi Treaty was received from Constantinople. But the Crimeans even now did not want to accept independence and cede the indicated cities in Crimea to the Russians, and the Porte considered it necessary to enter into new negotiations with Russia. Dolgorukov's successor, Prince Prozorovsky, negotiated with the khan in the most conciliatory tone, but the Murzas and ordinary Crimeans did not hide their sympathies for the Ottoman Empire. Shahin Geray had few supporters. The Russian party in Crimea was small. But in Kuban he was proclaimed khan, and in 1776 he finally became khan of Crimea and entered Bakhchisarai. The people swore allegiance to him.
Shahin Giray became the last Khan of Crimea. He tried to carry out reforms in the state and reorganize governance along European lines, but these measures were extremely late. Soon after his accession, an uprising against the Russian presence began. The Crimeans attacked Russian troops everywhere, killing up to 900 Russians, and plundered the palace. Shahin was embarrassed, made various promises, but was overthrown, and Bahadir II Giray was elected khan. Türkiye was preparing to send a fleet to the shores of Crimea and start a new war. The uprising was decisively suppressed by Russian troops, Shahin Giray mercilessly punished his opponents. A.V. Suvorov was appointed Prozorovsky’s successor as commander of the Russian troops in Crimea, but the khan was very wary of the new Russian adviser, especially after he deported all Crimean Christians (about 30,000 people) to the Azov region in 1778: Greeks - to Mariupol, Armenians - to Nor-Nakhichevan.
Only now Shahin turned to the Sultan as the caliph for a letter of blessing, and the Porte recognized him as khan, subject to the withdrawal of Russian troops from Crimea. Meanwhile, in 1782, a new uprising began in Crimea, and Shahin was forced to flee to Yenikale, and from there to Kuban. Bahadir II Giray, who was not recognized by Russia, was elected khan. In 1783, Russian troops entered Crimea without warning. Soon Shahin Giray abdicated the throne. He was asked to choose a city in Russia for residence and was given a sum for his relocation with a small retinue and maintenance. He lived first in Voronezh, and then in Kaluga, from where, at his request and with the consent of the Porte, he was released to Turkey and settled on the island of Rhodes, where he was deprived of his life.
There were “small” and “large” divans, which played a very serious role in the life of the state.
A council was called a “small divan” if a narrow circle of nobility took part in it, resolving issues that required urgent and specific decisions.
The “Big Divan” is a meeting of “the whole earth”, when all the Murzas and representatives of the “best” black people took part in it. By tradition, the Karaches retained the right to sanction the appointment of khans from the Geray clan as sultan, which was expressed in the ritual of placing them on the throne in Bakhchisarai.
The state structure of Crimea largely used the Golden Horde and Ottoman structures of state power. Most often, the highest government positions were occupied by the sons, brothers of the khan or other persons of noble origin.
The first official after the khan was the Kalga Sultan. The khan's younger brother or another relative was appointed to this position. Kalga ruled the eastern part of the peninsula, the left wing of the khan's army and administered the state in the event of the death of the khan until a new one was appointed to the throne. He was also the commander-in-chief if the khan did not personally go to war. The second position - nureddin - was also occupied by a member of the khan's family. He was the governor of the western part of the peninsula, chairman of small and local courts, and commanded smaller corps of the right wing on campaigns.
The mufti is the head of the Muslim clergy of Crimea, an interpreter of laws, who has the right to remove judges - qadis, if they judged incorrectly.
Kaymakans - in the late period (end of the 18th century) governing the regions of the Khanate. Or-bey is the head of the Or-Kapy (Perekop) fortress. Most often, this position was occupied by members of the khan family, or a member of the Shirin family. He guarded the borders and watched over the Nogai hordes outside the Crimea. The positions of qadi, vizier and other ministers are similar to the same positions in the Ottoman state.
In addition to the above, there were two important female positions: ana-beim (analogous to the Ottoman post of valide), which was held by the mother or sister of the khan, and ulu-beim (ulu-sultani), the senior wife of the ruling khan. In terms of importance and role in the state, they had the rank next to nureddin.
An important phenomenon in the state life of Crimea was the very strong independence of noble bey families, which in some way brought Crimea closer to the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The beys ruled their possessions (beyliks) as semi-independent states, administered justice themselves and had their own militia. The beys regularly took part in riots and conspiracies, both against the khan and among themselves, and often wrote denunciations against the khans they did not please the Ottoman government in Istanbul.
Public life
The state religion of Crimea was Islam, and in the customs of the Nogai tribes there were some vestiges of shamanism. Along with the Crimean Tatars and Nogais, Islam was also practiced by the Turks and Circassians living in Crimea.
The permanent non-Muslim population of Crimea was represented by Christians of various denominations: Orthodox (Hellenic-speaking and Turkic-speaking Greeks), Gregorians (Armenians), Armenian Catholics, Roman Catholics (descendants of the Genoese), as well as Jews and Karaites.
Notes
- Budagov. Comparative dictionary of Turkish-Tatar dialects, T.2, p.51
- O. Gaivoronsky. Lords of two continents.t.1.Kiev-Bakhchisarai. Oranta.2007
- Thunmann. "Crimean Khanate"
- Sigismund Herberstein, Notes on Muscovy, Moscow 1988, p. 175
- Yavornitsky D.I. History of the Zaporozhye Cossacks. Kyiv, 1990.
- V. E. Syroechkovsky, Muhammad-Gerai and his vassals, “Scientific Notes of Moscow State University,” vol. 61, 1940, p. 16.