Crimea
The title of this article is ambiguous. For other meanings, see Crimea (disambiguation).
Crimea (Ukrainian Крим, Krym; Russian Крым, Krym; Crimean Tatar Qırım; in ancient times Tauris) is a peninsula of Ukraine between the northern Black Sea and the Sea of Azov. Crimea has an area of 26,844 square kilometres and a population of 2,353,100 (1 January 2014).
An indigenous population according to modern categories no longer exists. The Crimea was once inhabited by Taurians and Cimmerians. Shortly before the Greek colonization of the Black Sea area in the 7th/6th century BC, the Scythians, coming from the east, migrated to the Crimea and other areas settled by the Cimmerians. Later the area was under Roman, Gothic, Sarmatian, Byzantine, Hunnic, Khazar, Cyptchak, Mongol-Tatar, Venetian, Genoese and Ottoman rule, and finally became part of the Russian Empire at the end of the 18th century. After the Russian Civil War, it became part of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union (USSR), was heavily contested during World War II, and was temporarily occupied by the Wehrmacht. The recapture by the Red Army in 1944 was followed by mass deportations of non-Russian ethnic groups under Stalin. In 1954, Crimea was annexed to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic under Khrushchev and remained within the Ukrainian state as the Autonomous Republic of Crimea after the dissolution of the USSR.
Since the occupation and de facto annexation of Crimea by Russia in 2014 in the course of the Crimean crisis, the peninsula's affiliation under international law has been disputed. Russia, which has since exercised de facto control over Crimea, sees it as two of its federal subjects (at times also as its own federal district), while Ukraine and the international community, with the exception of Russia, Syria, Cuba and North Korea, continue to regard Crimea as an Autonomous Republic of Crimea and part of Ukrainian territory, manifested for example in UN Resolution 68/262.
Geography
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| Relief map with the largest cities of the Crimea |
Crimea is the largest peninsula in the Black Sea. It is surrounded by the Black Sea to the west and south and the Sea of Azov to the east. In the north, the peninsula is connected to the mainland by the Syvash, an extensive system of shallow bays in the west of the Sea of Azov. The isthmus of Perekop provides a continuous land connection to the Ukrainian mainland. To the east, Crimea is bordered by the Kerch Peninsula, on the opposite shore of which lies the Taman Peninsula, part of the Russian region of Krasnodar.
The northern part of the peninsula is flat to gently undulating and forms a steppe landscape, which until the annexation of the Crimea was irrigated with water from the Dnieper via the North Crimean Canal.
In the south of the peninsula lies the Crimean Mountains, which are not only a geographical barrier, but also a weather and climate divide. While north of the mountains rather temperate climate conditions prevail and especially the winters are significantly colder, south of the Crimean Mountains prevails Mediterranean climate, in which southern fruits and also vines thrive well.
The highest elevations of the Crimean Mountains are Roman Kosh (1545 m), Chatyr-Dag (1527 m) and Lapata (1406 m). Numerous rivers form here, such as the Alma, the Belbek, the Chorna and the two headwaters of the Salhyr, the longest river in the Crimea with 232 kilometers. The Uchan Su Waterfall is the highest waterfall in the Crimean Mountains.
Another distinctive feature is the Arabat Spit, which separates the Sea of Azov from the Syvash. The spit lies between the city of Henichesk, Ukraine, to the north and the northeast coast of the Crimean Peninsula to the south. The Arabat Spit is 112 km long and 270 m to 8 km wide. Its area is 395 km², the average width is 3.5 km.
The Crimea on a map of the Turkish admiral of the Ottoman fleet Piri Reis, 1520
Location of the peninsula in the Black Sea
Etymology of the name
The name of Crimea may derive from the Mongol-Tatar kerim 'fortress' or from the Crimean Tatar qrım 'rock', but possibly also from the ancient Cimmerian people who lived in Crimea and are mentioned by ancient Greek authors. It is likely that the name Crimea once referred to the region in the mountainous south of the peninsula. This extended over the hinterland between the bay of Sevastopol (the historical Khersones) and Sudak (formerly also called Soldaiam). Forty fortified settlements (castra, castella) are said to have been located there in the Middle Ages. The Turkic origin of the name Qirɨm was therefore also derived from Qirq-ïer, i.e. qirq "forty" + ïer "places". This meaning "forty localities" is reported by the Flemish Franciscan Willem Ruysbroek in 1253: "sunt quadraginta castella inter Kersonam et Soldaiam". The Kurdish chronicler and geographer Abu'l-Fida reports in 1321: "Qirim is the name of a stretch of land which contains about forty localities, of which about Sūdāq and Kafā [present-day city of Feodossija] are among the best known."
