"On the watchdog Moscow border" by Sergei Ivanov. Photo: rus-artist.ru

How the peninsula was annexed to the Russian Empire under Catherine II

"Like the king of the Crimea came to our land ..."

The first raid of the Crimean Tatars for slaves on the lands of Moscow Rus took place in 1507. Prior to that, the lands of Muscovy and the Crimean Khanate separated the Russian and Ukrainian territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, so Muscovites and Krymchaks even sometimes united against the Litvins, who dominated the entire 15th century in Eastern Europe.

In 1511-1512, the "Crimeans", as the Russian chronicles called them, ravaged the Ryazan land twice, and the next year Bryansk. Two years later, two new ruins of the environs of Kasimov and Ryazan were committed with the mass removal of the population into slavery. In 1517 - a raid on Tula, and in 1521 - the first raid of the Tatars on Moscow, the ruin of the environs and the withdrawal of many thousands into slavery. Six years later, the next big raid on Moscow. The crown of the Crimean raids on Russia is 1571, when Khan Giray burned Moscow, plundered more than 30 Russian cities and took about 60 thousand people into slavery.

As one of the Russian chroniclers wrote: “Weigh, father, this real misfortune is upon us, as the king of the Crimea has come to our land, to the river Oka on the shore, gather many hordes with you.” In the summer of 1572, 50 kilometers south of Moscow, a fierce battle took place at Molodi for four days - one of the largest battles in the history of Muscovite Russia, when the Russian army defeated the Crimean army with great difficulty.

During the Time of Troubles, the Crimeans almost every year made major raids on Russian lands, they continued throughout the 17th century. For example, in 1659, Crimean Tatars near Yelets, Kursk, Voronezh and Tula burned 4,674 houses and drove 25,448 people into slavery.

By the end of the 17th century, the confrontation shifted to the south of Ukraine, closer to the Crimea. For the first time, Russian armies are trying to directly attack the peninsula itself, which for almost two centuries, since the time of Lithuanian raids on the Crimea, did not know foreign invasions and was a safe haven for slave traders. However, the XVIII century is not complete without Tatar raids. For example, in 1713, the Crimeans plundered the Kazan and Voronezh provinces, and the following year, the environs of Tsaritsyn. A year later - Tambov.

It is significant that the last raid with the mass removal of people into slavery took place just fourteen years before the annexation of Crimea to Russia - the Crimean Tatar "horde" in 1769 devastated the Slavic settlements between modern Kirovograd and Kherson.

The Tatar population of Crimea actually lived by subsistence agriculture, professed Islam and was not taxed. The economy of the Crimean Khanate for several centuries consisted of taxes collected from the non-Tatar population of the peninsula - the trade and craft population of the Khanate was exclusively Greeks, Armenians and Karaites. But the main source of excess income for the Crimean nobility was the "raid economy" - the capture of slaves in Eastern Europe and their resale to the Mediterranean regions. As a Turkish official explained to a Russian diplomat in the middle of the 18th century: “There are more than a hundred thousand Tatars who have neither agriculture nor trade: if they do not raid, then what will they live on?”

Tatar Kafa - modern Feodosia - was one of the largest slave markets of that time. For four centuries, from a few thousand to - after the most "successful" raids - several tens of thousands of people were sold here annually as a living commodity.

“Crimean Tatars will never be useful subjects”

Russia launched a counteroffensive from the end of the 17th century, when the first Crimean campaigns of Prince Golitsyn followed. The archers with the Cossacks reached the Crimea on the second attempt, but they did not overcome Perekop. For the first time, the Russians avenged the burning of Moscow only in 1736, when the troops of Field Marshal Munnich broke through Perekop and captured Bakhchisarai. But then the Russians could not stay in the Crimea because of the epidemics and opposition from Turkey.

"A line of sight. Southern Frontier" by Maximilian Presnyakov. Source: runivers.ru

By the beginning of the reign of Catherine II, the Crimean Khanate did not pose a military threat, but remained a problematic neighbor as an autonomous part of the powerful Ottoman Empire. It is no coincidence that the first report on Crimean issues for Catherine was prepared exactly one week after she ascended the throne as a result of a successful coup.

On July 6, 1762, Chancellor Mikhail Vorontsov presented a report “On Little Tataria”. The following was said about the Crimean Tatars: “They are very prone to kidnapping and atrocities ... causing Russia sensitive harm and insults by frequent raids, captivity of many thousands of residents, driving away livestock and robbery.” And the key importance of the Crimea was emphasized: “The peninsula is so important with its location that it can really be considered the key of Russian and Turkish possessions; as long as he remains in Turkish citizenship, he will always be terrible for Russia.

The discussion of the Crimean question continued at the height of the Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774. Then the actual government of the Russian Empire was the so-called Council at the highest court. On March 15, 1770, at a meeting of the Council, the question of the annexation of Crimea was considered. Companions of Empress Catherine reasoned that "the Crimean Tatars, by their nature and position, will never be useful subjects," moreover, "no decent taxes can be collected from them."

But the Council eventually made a cautious decision not to annex Crimea to Russia, but to try to isolate it from Turkey. “By such immediate allegiance, Russia will arouse against itself a general and not unfounded envy and suspicion of the boundless intention of multiplying its regions,” the Council’s decision on a possible international reaction was said.

France was Turkey's main ally - it was her actions that were feared in St. Petersburg.

In her letter to General Pyotr Panin dated April 2, 1770, Empress Catherine summarized: “It is not at all our intention to have this peninsula and the Tatar hordes belonging to it in our citizenship, but it is only desirable that they renounce Turkish citizenship and remain forever independent ... Tatars will never be useful to our empire.”

In addition to the independence of Crimea from the Ottoman Empire, Catherine's government planned to get the consent of the Crimean Khan to grant Russia the right to have military bases in Crimea. At the same time, the government of Catherine II took into account such a subtlety that all the main fortresses and the best harbors on the southern coast of Crimea belonged not to the Tatars, but to the Turks - and in which case the Tatars were not too sorry to give the Russians Turkish possessions.

For a year, Russian diplomats tried to convince the Crimean Khan and his sofa (government) to declare independence from Istanbul. During the negotiations, the Tatars tried not to say yes or no. As a result, the Imperial Council in St. Petersburg, at a meeting on November 11, 1770, decided to "inflict strong pressure on the Crimea, if the Tatars living on this peninsula still remain stubborn and do not stick to those who have already settled down from the Ottoman Port."

Fulfilling this decision of St. Petersburg, in the summer of 1771, troops under the command of Prince Dolgorukov entered the Crimea and inflicted two defeats on the troops of Khan Selim III.

Regarding the occupation of Kafa (Feodosia) and the termination of the largest slave market in Europe, Catherine II wrote to Voltaire on July 22, 1771 in Paris: "If we took Kafa, the costs of the war are covered." Regarding the policy of the French government, which actively supported the Turks and Polish rebels who fought with Russia, Catherine in a letter to Voltaire deigned to joke to the whole of Europe: “In Constantinople, they are very sad about the loss of Crimea. We should send them a comic opera to dispel their sadness, and a puppet comedy to the Polish rebels; it would be more useful to them than the large number of officers that France sends to them.

"The most kind Tatar"

Under these conditions, the nobility of the Crimean Tatars preferred to temporarily forget about the Turkish patrons and quickly make peace with the Russians. On June 25, 1771, an assembly of beys, local officials and clergy signed a preliminary act on the obligation to declare the khanate independent from Turkey, as well as enter into an alliance with Russia, electing as a khan and kalgi(Khan's heir-deputy) loyal to Russia descendants of Genghis Khan - Sahib-Girey and Shagin-Girey. The former Khan fled to Turkey.

In the summer of 1772, peace negotiations began with the Ottomans, at which Russia demanded to recognize the independence of the Crimean Khanate. As an objection, the Turkish representatives spoke in the spirit that, having gained independence, the Tatars would begin to "do stupid things."

The Tatar government in Bakhchisarai tried to evade signing an agreement with Russia, waiting for the outcome of negotiations between the Russians and the Turks. At this time, an embassy arrived in St. Petersburg from the Crimea, headed by the Kalga Shagin-Giray.

The young prince was born in Turkey, but managed to travel around Europe, knew Italian and Greek. The Empress liked the representative of the Khan's Crimea. Catherine II described him in a very feminine way in a letter to one of her friends: “We have a Kalga Sultan here, a clan of the Crimean Dauphin. This, I think, is the most amiable Tatar one can find: he is handsome, smart, more educated than these people generally are; writes poems; he is only 25 years old; he wants to see and know everything; everyone loved him."

In St. Petersburg, a descendant of Genghis Khan continued and deepened his passion for modern European art and theater, but this did not strengthen his popularity among the Crimean Tatars.

By the autumn of 1772, the Russians managed to crush Bakhchisaray, and on November 1, an agreement was signed between the Russian Empire and the Crimean Khanate. It recognized the independence of the Crimean Khan, his election without any participation of third countries, and also assigned to Russia the cities of Kerch and Yenikale with their harbors and adjacent lands.

However, the Imperial Council in St. Petersburg experienced some confusion when Vice-Admiral Alexei Senyavin, who successfully commanded the Azov and Black Sea Fleets, arrived at its meeting. He explained that neither Kerch nor Yenikale are convenient bases for the fleet and new ships cannot be built there. The best place for the base of the Russian fleet, according to Senyavin, was the Akhtiar harbor, now we know it as the harbor of Sevastopol.

Although the treaty with the Crimea had already been concluded, but luckily for St. Petersburg, the main treaty with the Turks had yet to be signed. And Russian diplomats hastened to include in it new demands for new harbors in the Crimea.

As a result, some concessions had to be made to the Turks, and in the text of the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty of 1774, in the paragraph on the independence of the Tatars, the provision on the religious supremacy of Istanbul over the Crimea was nevertheless fixed - a requirement that was persistently put forward by the Turkish side.

For the still medieval society of the Crimean Tatars, religious primacy was weakly separated from administrative. The Turks, on the other hand, considered this clause of the treaty as a convenient tool for keeping Crimea in the orbit of their policy. Under these conditions, Catherine II seriously thought about the erection of the pro-Russian kalga Shagin-Giray to the Crimean throne.

However, the Imperial Council preferred to be cautious and decided that "by this change we could violate our agreements with the Tatars and give the Turks a reason to win them over to their side again." Sahib-Girey, the older brother of Shahin-Girey, remained Khan, ready to alternate between Russia and Turkey, depending on the circumstances.

At that moment, the Turks were brewing a war with Austria, and in Istanbul they hastened not only to ratify the peace treaty with Russia, but also, in accordance with its requirements, to recognize the Crimean Khan elected under pressure from the Russian troops.

As stipulated by the Kuchuk-Kaynardzhi agreement, the Sultan sent his caliph blessing to Sahib-Giray. However, the arrival of the Turkish delegation, the purpose of which was to give the khan the Sultan's "firman", confirmation of the rule, had the opposite effect in the Crimean society. The Tatars took the arrival of the Turkish ambassadors for another attempt by Istanbul to return the Crimea under their usual rule. As a result, the Tatar nobility forced Sahib-Girey to resign and quickly elected a new Khan, Davlet-Girey, who never hid his pro-Turkish orientation.

Petersburg was unpleasantly surprised by the coup and decided to stake on Shagin Giray.

In the meantime, the Turks suspended the withdrawal of their troops from the Crimea provided for by the peace treaty (their garrisons still remained in several mountain fortresses) and began to hint to Russian diplomats in Istanbul about the impossibility of the independent existence of the peninsula. Petersburg understood that the problem could not be solved by diplomatic pressure and indirect actions alone.

Having waited until the beginning of winter, when the transfer of troops across the Black Sea was difficult and in Bakhchisarai they could not count on ambulance from the Turks, the Russian troops concentrated at Perekop. Here they waited for the news of the election of Shagin-Girey, the Nogai Tatars, as khan. In January 1777, the corps of Prince Prozorovsky entered the Crimea, escorting Shagin Giray, the legitimate ruler of the Nogai Tatars.

The pro-Turkish Khan Davlet-Girey was not going to give up, he gathered a forty thousandth militia and set out from Bakhchisarai to meet the Russians. Here he tried to deceive Prozorovsky - he began negotiations with him and, in their midst, unexpectedly attacked the Russian troops. But the actual military leader of Prozorovsky's expedition was Alexander Suvorov. The future generalissimo repulsed the unexpected attack of the Tatars and defeated their militia.

Khan Davlet Giray. Source: segodnya.ua

Davlet Giray fled under the protection of the Ottoman garrison to Kafu, from where he sailed to Istanbul in the spring. Russian troops occupied Bakhchisaray without difficulty, and on March 28, 1777, the Crimean divan recognized Shagin Giray as Khan.

The Turkish sultan, as the head of the Muslims of the whole world, did not recognize Shagin as the Crimean Khan. But the young ruler enjoyed the full support of St. Petersburg. Under an agreement with Shagin-Girey, Russia, as compensation for its expenses, received income from the Crimean treasury from salt lakes, all taxes levied on local Christians, as well as harbors in Balaklava and Gezlev (now Evpatoria). In fact, the entire economy of Crimea came under Russian control.

"Crimean Peter I"

Having spent most of his life in Europe and Russia, where he received an excellent modern education for those years, Shagin-Giray was very different from the entire upper class of his native country. Court flatterers in Bakhchisarai even began to call him "Crimean Peter I."

Khan Shagin began by creating a regular army. Prior to this, only the militia existed in the Crimea, which gathered in case of danger, or in preparation for the next raid for slaves. The role of the permanent army was played by the Turkish garrisons, but they were evacuated to Turkey after the conclusion of the Kyuchuk-Kaynarji peace treaty. Shagin-Giray conducted a population census and decided to take one warrior from every five Tatar houses, and these houses were supposed to supply the warrior with weapons, a horse and everything necessary. Such a costly measure for the population caused strong discontent and the new khan failed to create a large army, although he had a relatively combat-ready khan's guard.

Shagin is trying to move the capital of the state to the seaside Kafa (Feodosia), where the construction of a large palace begins. He introduces a new system of bureaucracy - following the example of Russia, a hierarchical service is created with a fixed salary issued from the khan's treasury, local officials are deprived of the ancient right to take exactions directly from the population.

The wider the reforming activity of the "Crimean Peter I" unfolded, the more the dissatisfaction of the aristocracy and the entire Tatar population with the new khan increased. At the same time, the Europeanized Khan Shahin Giray executed those suspected of disloyalty quite in an Asian way.

The young Khan was not alien to both Asian splendor and a penchant for European luxury - he ordered expensive art objects from Europe, invited fashionable artists from Italy. Such tastes shocked the Crimean Muslims. Rumors spread among the Tatars that Khan Shagin "sleeps on the bed, sits on a chair and does not pray due to the law."

Dissatisfaction with the reforms of the "Crimean Peter I" and the growing influence of St. Petersburg led to a mass uprising in the Crimea that broke out in October 1777.

The rebellion, which began among the newly recruited troops, instantly covered the entire Crimea. The Tatars, having gathered a militia, managed to destroy a large detachment of Russian light cavalry in the Bakhchisarai region. The Khan's guard went over to the side of the rebels. The uprising was led by the brothers Shagin Giray. One of them, who had previously been the leader of the Abkhazians and Adyghes, was elected by the rebels as the new Khan of Crimea.

“We must think about appropriating this peninsula”

The Russians reacted quickly and harshly. Field Marshal Rumyantsev insisted on the toughest measures against the rebellious Tatars in order to "feel the full weight of Russian weapons, and bring them to repentance." Among the measures to suppress the uprising were the de facto concentration camps of the 18th century, when the Tatar population (mostly rebel families) were herded into blockaded mountain valleys and kept there without a food supply.

The Turkish fleet appeared off the coast of Crimea. Frigates entered the Akhtiar harbor, delivering troops and a note of protest against the actions of Russian troops in the Crimea. The Sultan, in accordance with the Kyuchuk-Kainarji peace treaty, demanded the withdrawal of Russian troops from the independent Crimea. Neither the Russians nor the Turks were ready for a big war, but formally Turkish troops could be present in the Crimea, since there were Russian units there. Therefore, the Turks tried to land on the Crimean coast without the use of weapons, and the Russians also tried to prevent them from doing so without firing shots.

Here the troops of Suvorov were helped by chance. A plague epidemic broke out in Istanbul, and under the pretext of quarantine, the Russians announced that they could not let the Turks ashore. In the words of Suvorov himself, they were "refused with complete affection." The Turks were forced to depart back to the Bosphorus. So the Tatar rebels were left without the support of the Ottoman patrons.

After that, Shagin-Giray and the Russian units managed to quickly deal with the rebels. The defeat of the uprising was also facilitated by the disassembly that immediately began between the Tatar clans and the pretenders to the Khan's throne.

It was then that in St. Petersburg they seriously thought about the complete annexation of Crimea to Russia. A curious document appears in the office of Prince Potemkin - an anonymous "Reasoning of one Russian Patriot, about the wars with the Tatars, and about the methods that serve to stop them forever." In fact, this is an analytical report and a detailed 11-point accession plan. Many of them were put into practice in the coming decades. So, for example, in the third article of the "Reasoning" it is said about the need to provoke civil strife among the various Tatar clans. Indeed, since the mid-70s of the XVIII century in the Crimea and in the nomadic hordes around it, with the help of Russian agents, riots and strife have not stopped. The fifth article speaks of the desirability of evicting unreliable Tatars from Crimea. And after the annexation of Crimea, the tsarist government actually encouraged the movement of "muhajirs" - agitators for the resettlement of the Crimean Tatars to Turkey.

Plans for the settlement of the peninsula by Christian peoples (Article 9 of the "Reasoning") in the near future were implemented by Potemkin very actively: Bulgarians, Greeks, Germans, Armenians were invited, Russian peasants were resettled from the inner regions of the empire. Found application in practice and paragraph number 10, which was supposed to return to the cities of Crimea their ancient Greek names. In the Crimea, already existing settlements were renamed (Kafa-Feodosia, Gezlev-Evpatoria, etc.); and all newly formed cities received Greek names.

In fact, the annexation of Crimea went according to plan, which is still preserved in the archives.

Soon after the suppression of the Tatar rebellion, Catherine wrote a letter to Field Marshal Rumyantsev in which she agreed with his proposals:"The independence of the Tatars in the Crimea is unreliable for us, and we must think about appropriating this peninsula."

Crimea within the Russian Empire:
brief historical outline

The 18th century was not easy for Crimea. The Russian Empire did not lose hope of seizing access to the Black Sea, strengthening its fleet and dreaming of the economic benefits that it could receive in case of victory. A series of Russian-Turkish wars that began in 1735 negatively affected the socio-economic situation of the inhabitants of the peninsula, but for a long time did not allow the Russian authorities to get the desired territories.

After the capture of Turkish fortifications near Perekop and the city of Bakhchisarai in 1736, it seemed that victory was already on the side of the Russian Empire, but Minich's troops were forced to leave the Crimea due to an epidemic and food shortages. A year later, the situation repeated near Karasubazar. This time, P. Lassi was at the head of the Russian army, but he did not manage to survive either - the soldiers did not have enough equipment.

The next war with the Crimean Khanate and Turkey broke out in 1768. In 1771, V. M. Dolgorukov sent an army to Perekop. As a result, the troops of the Russian Empire again took the "gates" to Tauris. The next object that then ended up in the hands of the Russians was the Ak-Mechet. So the Russian Empire took possession of the settlements of the Crimea and expelled the Ottomans from the peninsula.

No matter how the relationship with the Turks developed, it was necessary to decide something with the Crimean Khanate, dependent on the Sultan. In 1774, the Russian Empire and the Ottoman state signed an agreement in the village of Kyuchuk-Kaynardzhi, located in the Balkan possessions of Turkey. This document radically changed the fate of the peninsula: the khanate, located on the territory of the Crimea, retained its independence; Kerch and Yenikale fortress became the property of the Russian Empire. In addition, Russian ships received the right to free movement in the Black Sea.

The Ottomans did not want to come to terms with the loss of the Crimea. Already in 1774, 10,000 Janissaries landed at Alushta to recapture Bakhchisaray and capture the Angarsk Pass. Turkish soldiers were held back by units of M.I. Kutuzov. But it didn't end there. No sooner had the Russians left Perekop than the sultan began to fuss again. An adherent of the Russian Empire, Shahin-Girey, fled the Crimea, and the Ottomans planned to plant Devlet-Girey in his place.

In 1778, troops headed by A.V. Suvorov came out to fight the Turks. Russian soldiers reached Karasubazar and Kefe, after which the Turks voluntarily left the peninsula. All this time, starting from 1774, units of the Russian army were regularly stationed in the Crimea.

On April 8, 1783, Catherine's manifesto was issued on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Empire. In the same year, the Crimean Khanate was transformed into the Khan Region, later renamed Tauride. Five districts of the province were located in the Crimea. Their centers were the cities of Simferopol, Levkopol (Old Crimea), Feodosia, Evpatoria and Perekop.

Since 1837, there was another county - Yalta. The role of the center of the Taurida province belonged to Simferopol. Grigory Potemkin became the first Governor-General of the Russian Crimea. It was he who happened to defend the peninsula during the next invasion of the Ottomans.

Another Russian-Turkish war began in 1783. In September, the Ottomans landed on the Kinburn Spit. The Russian troops sent to stop the enemy were then commanded by A. V. Suvorov. He managed to cope with the Turkish landing, but the navy of the Ottoman Empire did not leave the northern coast of the Black Sea. And only in the middle of the next summer, the Russian Empire completely liberated Crimea from Turkish galleys. This happened thanks to the efforts of the squadron F. F. Ushakov.

The year 1830 was marked by the so-called "plague riot" in Sevastopol. It all started because of the quarantine, which spread to the poor and did not affect the way of life of the nobility. During the riot, Governor N. A. Stolypin was killed. The rebellion was suppressed after the introduction of troops into the city.

In 1853-1856, another war took place, known in history as the Crimean War. The combined troops of France, England and Turkey then landed and began to advance on Sevastopol, but they never managed to take the main stronghold of the Russian Empire in the Crimea. Soon they got Yalta, then broke into the Sea of ​​Azov and managed to recapture the Malakhov Kurgan, but in 1856 the Paris Peace was signed and the foreigners were forced to leave the peninsula.

Already in the 20th century, after the end of the Civil War, the population of the peninsula decreased by 80,000. Before the establishment of Soviet power, 800,000 people lived in Crimea, of which half were Russians and 200,000 Crimean Tatars.

Life, religion and culture in the Crimea during the Russian Empire

Trying to win over the Tatars, the new authorities of the Crimea granted the feudal lords the rights of nobility. Beys and murzas received allotments, and the Muslim clergy were not taxed. The inhabitants of the Crimean villages were at first free, and then they were equalized in status with state peasants. The indigenous population of Crimea was even exempted from military service.

This policy did not significantly affect the situation. Soon the first wave of emigration of the Crimean Tatars began. From 80 to 300 thousand local residents left the peninsula and went to the Ottoman Empire. According to the 1796 census, slightly more than 82 thousand people lived in the Crimea. At the beginning of the 18th century, the Russian state contributed to the settlement of the territory. Thus, residents of other provinces of the empire began to arrive in Crimea, both ordinary people and landlords and officials. In addition, Russian soldiers who had served to retire remained on the peninsula.

Not only Russians and Ukrainians came to Crimea. In order to create favorable conditions for the settlement of foreigners, the imperial authorities handed over fifty acres of land to such families and exempted them from paying taxes for 10 years. German, Italian, Polish, Czech, Bulgarian settlements appeared in Crimea. From the second half of the 19th century, the life of the rural population began to change. After the abolition of serfdom, some were left with only half of the land that they had under the landowners. Thus, in the Russian Empire there was a significant shortage of bread and the authorities decided to additionally populate the Crimea. All this ended with the fact that only 25% of the indigenous population remained on the peninsula. All the rest were from other territories of the Russian Empire and not only.

At this time, the education system of the Crimea begins to change. The authorities of the Russian Empire open new educational institutions that taught winemaking. Since 1804, such a school opened its doors in Sudak, and in 1828 - in Magarach.

But not only wine interested the Russian authorities. Since 1812, the Nikitsky Botanical Garden has been operating in the Crimea. By 1887, 569 educational institutions operated on the peninsula. In the same 1812, a men's gymnasium appeared in Simferopol. Since the beginning of the 19th century, historical museums have been operating in Feodosia and Kerch. Even earlier, large-scale archaeological excavations began on the territory of the peninsula. In 1871, N. N. Miklukho-Maclay initiated the opening of a biological station in Sevastopol.

It is difficult to imagine the culture of Crimea during the existence of the Russian Empire without the amazing architectural masterpieces that were massively built in the cities of the peninsula. Estates, palaces, colonnades, temples and examples of garden and park art of the late 18th-early 20th century are the main tourist attractions of the peninsula to this day. As part of the Russian Empire, many famous writers visited the Crimea, including A. S. Pushkin, N. V. Gogol, A. Chekhov, L. Tolstoy, M. Tsvetaeva and others. theatre.

Until the beginning of the 19th century, the main religion of Crimea was Islam. The number of Orthodox increased, but there was no separate Tauride diocese. The higher clergy sat in Kherson, so they paid much less attention to the Crimea than historical circumstances required. In 1848, Innokenty Borisov became archbishop. After his appointment, the theologian became interested in the medieval monasteries of the Crimea and in the shortest possible time initiated the construction of six shrines.

After the end of the Crimean War, many Muslims left the peninsula, because they were on the anti-Russian side. After that, the religious situation changed. People who professed Islam ceased to be the majority, but, as before, the mufti was elected, mosques operated. The resettlement policy led to an increase in the number of Catholics in the Crimea (in 1897 - 23,393). Their temples stood in Simferopol, Sevastopol, in Yalta, Alupka and Kerch. At the beginning of the 20th century, the policy of religious tolerance of the Russian Empire still extended to the Crimea, but the imperial authorities did not forget to keep an eye on those who were appointed to the highest spiritual positions.

Agriculture, crafts and trade in Crimea as part of the Russian Empire

Those Crimean Tatars who remained to live on the peninsula, as before, were actively engaged in cattle breeding. During the Russian Empire, the local inhabitants of Crimea continued to raise horses, cattle (cows and oxen), goats and sheep. However, the food disappeared from time to time and then the mass loss of livestock began.

Farming was less widespread and traditionally dominated in the south of the peninsula. At the same time, in the Crimea they were engaged in viticulture, melon growing, beekeeping, sericulture, planting fruit trees. The Russian Empire encouraged those people who grew grapes and fruits. Such owners were given state plots, which could be inherited. Initially, table grapes were grown on the peninsula, because Muslims should not drink alcohol. However, the situation soon changed. It is known that in 1843 716 thousand buckets of wine were produced in the Crimea.

Those peasants who did not have their own land rented it from landowners and local feudal lords, but the conditions for using the allotments were sometimes simply enslaving. The state peasants were in a much better position, but this does not apply to the Crimean Tatars, who, although they acquired a new status, continued to work for murzas, beys and landowners. The Russian Empire tried to increase grain crops in the Crimea, but the climatic features of the area and the lack of equipment did not allow to achieve the desired results.

But in the XIX century, a new round of development of the Crimean gardening began. It takes on a commercial form. Among all the crops that grew in the districts of cities, the onion from near Evpatoria was especially famous. From the second half of the 19th century, tobacco growing flourished in Crimea.

Since the 1880s, farming began to dominate the agricultural sector of Crimea. The production of fine wool, and hence the breeding of sheep, has faded into the background. At the same time, the number of poor people increased, and at the beginning of the 20th century, almost all arable land was in the hands of wealthy owners and the Orthodox Church.

At the beginning of the rule of the Russian Empire, the craftsmanship of the Crimea was of a handicraft character. Masters worked mainly in the cities of the peninsula, made copper utensils, clothes, shoes, embroidered. In the first quarter of the 19th century, manufactories began to appear there, the first of which were cloth factories.

The manufacturing industry developed on the peninsula. The number of plants and factories grew all the time, until the middle of the 19th century there were 114 of them. A characteristic feature of the history of Crimea as part of the Russian Empire was the beginning of mineral exploration. So, the Russians were looking for iron ore, oil and other natural resources. Ships were built in large port cities, warships were made in Sevastopol. This is how the legendary Black Sea Fleet appeared.

At the same time, roads were being built that connected Simferopol, Alushta, Yalta and Sevastopol. A little later, a web of railway lines wrapped around the peninsula, which became an additional incentive for the development of trade. Despite the excellent conditions, the industry developed poorly. Large enterprises with the number of workers from 100 people on the peninsula were negligible.

Honey, sheep's wool, salt, fish, cloth, bread, tobacco, leather, carpets, livestock, etc. were exported from the Crimea. Hundreds of thousands of vines were transported throughout the Russian Empire. Over time, Crimean wines and dried fruits were sold in all major cities of the state. Exports grew all the time and at the end of the 19th century, products worth 4 million rubles annually left the Crimea.

So, since 1783, Crimea officially becomes part of the Russian Empire. Russian penetration into the peninsula began earlier, at least since 1774, imperial troops were regularly stationed in the Crimea. The Ottoman Empire tried to return the peninsula, but failed.

After the annexation of Crimea to Russia, part of the Muslim population of Tavria moved to Turkey. In 1853-1856. the Crimean War took place, during which the adherents of Islam took the anti-Russian side. After the signing of the Treaty of Paris, the Russian Empire remained the sole owner of the Crimean lands and Muslims began to leave.

Thus, 25% of the indigenous population remained in the Crimea. The imperial authorities quickly populated the peninsula with people from Russia and other countries. The Russian Empire contributed to the growth of industry and agriculture, roads, palaces, factories were built in the Crimea, museums, new educational institutions, monasteries were opened, Orthodoxy was strengthened. This period in the history of the peninsula lasted almost 135 years, until the establishment of Soviet power in late 1917 - early 1918.

INLIGHT

At the end of the 15th century, relations with the Crimean Khanate were generally favorable for Russia. Nikita Beklemishev, on behalf of Ivan III, concluded an alliance with Mengli Giray, the effect of which was to extend to the children and grandchildren of the Grand Duke. Its conditions were very favorable for Russia. The basis of the Russian-Crimean alliance was the struggle against the Great Horde and its heirs.

During the reign of Vasily III (1505-1533), the khans of Crimea went over to the Polish-Lithuanian side. The Crimean Khanate, having defeated at the beginning of the 16th century its main enemy in the Black Sea region - the Great Horde and eliminated the danger from its side, no longer needed, as it was in the second half of the 15th century, to maintain good neighborly relations with the Grand Dukes of Moscow.

During this period, an increasingly noticeable aggravation of Russian-Crimean relations took place, which had both an economic and a political basis. Relying on the support of the Ottoman Empire, the Crimean khans hatched plans for the defeat of Russia, the revival in a new version of the Horde yoke. He saw the achievement of the goal by preventing the growth of the power of the Russian state, organizing devastating raids on its lands, strengthening the Turkish-Crimean influence in the Volga region, creating the widest possible anti-Russian alliance, which, in addition to Crimea and Turkey, would include the Kazan and Astrakhan khanates and the Polish-Lithuanian state . Such a coalition, according to its creators, was supposed not only to nullify the influence of Russia, but also to establish Turkish-Crimean domination in Eastern Europe.

It should be noted that throughout the first half of the 16th century, the Russian-Lithuanian struggle continued for the reunification of the Western Russian lands, which demanded from Russia a huge effort and did not allow it to divert troops from here to other areas, and in particular to the south, troops sufficient to carry out offensive policy against the Crimea. And on the eastern borders, the hostile position of the ruling circles of the Kazan Khanate towards them, which in itself could not but have a negative impact on Russian-Crimean relations, fettered the forces of the Russians.

A major raid on Russian lands was made in 1515. The Crimean prince Mohammed-Girey with the Kyiv governor Andrei Nemirov and the governor Ostafiy Dashkevich attacked Chernigov, Starodub and Novgorod-Seversky. It became clear that without the neutralization of the Crimea, neither an active Kazan policy nor effective resistance to Lithuanian attempts at revenge was possible. This explains the persistence of the Moscow sovereign in establishing strong diplomatic ties with the Porte. The Sultan was by no means going to sacrifice his interests in the Crimea and Kazan for the sake of an alliance with Russia, which in that situation did not promise him any real political benefits.

Moscow was aware of the close Turkish-Crimean ties and sought to use them to create a secure environment on its southern borders by concluding an alliance treaty with the Ottoman Empire. However, the anti-Russian tendencies in the policy of the Turkish ruling circles were so strong that they did not allow Russian diplomacy to solve this problem.

Let us dwell in more detail on the Crimean campaign of 1521. Mohammed Giray failed to attract Turkey and Astrakhan to the anti-Russian coalition, but even without their help he had very impressive forces. On the night of June 28, the Crimean Khan crossed the Oka. It is known that the well-known Lithuanian commander Yevstafiy Dashkevich fought in the troops of Mohammed Giray. Perhaps, there were detachments of Nogais among them.

For the first time in the history of armed clashes with Russia, Crimean troops broke into the deep regions of the Russian state, committing them to robbery and fires. This made a stunning impression on the inhabitants of the southern regions of the country. Already on June 29, many people fled to Moscow, "under siege." The state of siege of the capital lasted two weeks.

The devastation caused by the Crimean raid was enormous. Detachments of the Crimeans approached Moscow at XV km. During the raid, the Crimeans took a huge full. Herberstein gives a clearly inflated figure - 800 thousand prisoners. On August 12, the Crimean Khan hastily left the Russian land, because the Novgorod and Pskov troops were quickly advancing towards him. Herberstein explains the departure of the Crimean Khan by the fact that he received a letter on behalf of the Grand Duke, according to which Vasily III pledged to be "an eternal tributary of the king, just like his father and ancestors were."

The troops of Mohammed Giray and the detachments of Evstafy Dashkevich, moving away from Moscow, laid siege to Ryazan. However, the siege was unsuccessful. Herberstein says that, being unable to take Ryazan, Mohammed Giray sent his man to the fortress, offering the besieged to capitulate. At the same time, he referred to the charter of the Moscow sovereign. Ryazan Governor, Prince Khabar, demanded to see this document. But as soon as it was brought, he destroyed it. Thus ended the campaign of Mohammed Giray against Russia, which had a strong influence on changing the course of foreign policy.

A. A. Zimin characterizes the reasons for his success as follows: “The rapid advance of the Crimean troops into the depths of Russian territory was ... a surprise for Mohammed Giray himself. His detachments were only capable of robbing the defenseless population during short-term raids, after which they returned full to the Crimea. So it was this time".

The events of 1521 showed that Vasily III could not successfully fight in the west, south and east at the same time. From now on, Crimea became one of the most dangerous enemies of Russia, and the fight against its aggressive policy was Moscow's most important task.

After the death of Muhammad Giray, internecine struggle began in the Crimean Khanate, complicated by the attack of the Nogais in 1523, who devastated the Crimea for a month.

During the years 1521-1533. the question of ensuring its security in the south continued to be important for Russia. His place in the system of foreign policy became even greater after the Crimean Khanate, by its actions in 1521, showed that it was openly anti-Russian and was moving to a direct armed struggle against the Russian state.

However, as a result of the campaign against Russia, Mohammed Giray failed to solve his task - to defeat the Russian state by armed force. Moreover, his attempt to strengthen his influence in the Lower Volga region also ended in failure. All this, as well as the remaining intra-clan struggle, forced the ruling circles of Crimea to abandon the active struggle against Russia, which made it possible, firstly, to further intensify their activities in order to create a better defense system for the southern borders of the country and, secondly, to direct their efforts on the weakening of the anti-Russian edge of the foreign policy of the Crimea.

Skillful diplomatic policy of the Russian state in 1521-1533. has borne fruit. "The anti-Russian edge of the Crimean policy turned out to be somewhat blunted, and the situation on the southern borders of the Russian state was less tense."

However, Moscow was aware that the most aggressive circles of the Crimean feudal lords only temporarily weakened their anti-Russian activity. The stabilization of the situation in the Crimea and the consolidation of Russia's opponents around the khan were bound to revive tendencies hostile to her in Crimean politics.

In 1533-1545. The most important task of Russian diplomacy was to eliminate the danger that hung over the southern borders of the country, having achieved the maintenance of peaceful relations with the Crimean Khanate. The Crimean Khanate, concerned about the strengthening of Russia's internal political position, was reluctant to normalize relations with it. But despite the unfavorable conditions in which Russian diplomacy often found itself, it, according to A. B. Kuznetsov, "showed great flexibility, perseverance in achieving its goal." She skillfully used any friction in the ruling circles of the Crimean Khanate on issues of Russian-Crimean relations, trying to attract to her side those forces that could influence the khan, to force him to abandon actions hostile to Russia.

The efforts of diplomacy were constantly reinforced by defensive measures. during the years 1533-1545. the Russian government is doing everything possible to secure the southern borders of the country from enemy attacks. The line of defense continues to improve, the concentration of Russian troops in the most dangerous sectors is being carried out. A serious test of the strength of the defensive measures of Russia was the Crimean-Turkish campaign of 1541. Having repulsed it, the Russian troops proved their combat capability and high fighting qualities.

The selfless struggle of the Russian wars and the skillful actions of diplomats did not allow the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire standing behind it in the mid-30s and the first half of the 40s. XVI century to defeat the Russian state and establish its dominance in Eastern Europe. This was a significant success for Russia.

CHAPTER 13. CRIMEA AS A PART OF THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE. XVIII–XIX CENTURIES

By decree of Emperor Alexander I of October 8, 1802, the Novorossiysk province was divided into Nikolaev, Ekaterinoslav and Taurida. The Tauride province included the Crimean peninsula, the Dnieper, Melitopol and Fanagori districts of the Novorossiysk province. At the same time, the Phanagoria district was renamed Tmutarakansky, and in 1820 it was transferred to the administration of the Caucasus region. In 1837, Yalta uyezd appeared in Crimea, separated from Simferopol uyezd.

The main occupation of the Crimean Tatars on the peninsula at the beginning of the 19th century was cattle breeding. They raised horses, cows, oxen, goats and sheep. Farming was a secondary activity. Horticulture, beekeeping and viticulture flourished in the foothills and by the sea. Crimean honey was exported in large quantities from the country, especially to Turkey. Due to the fact that the Karan forbids Muslims to drink wine, in the Crimea, mainly table grapes were bred. In 1804 in Sudak, and in 1828 in Magarach near Yalta, state educational institutions of winemaking and viticulture were opened. Several decrees were issued providing benefits to persons engaged in horticulture and viticulture, they were transferred free of charge to hereditary possession of state lands. In 1848, 716,000 buckets of wine were produced in the Crimea. A large amount of wool from fine-fleeced sheep was exported. By the middle of the 19th century, there were twelve cloth factories in Crimea. At the same time, the production of grain and tobacco increased significantly. In the first half of the 19th century, from 5 to 15 million poods of salt were mined annually in the Crimea, which was exported both to the interior of the Russian Empire and abroad. Up to 12 million poods of red fish were also exported annually. The study of Crimean minerals began. By 1828, there were 64 manufacturing enterprises on the Crimean peninsula, by 1849 - 114. Crimean moroccos were especially valued. Warships were built at the largest state-owned shipyards in Sevastopol. At the private shipyards of Yalta, Alushta, Miskhor, Gurzuf, Feodosia, merchant and small ships for coastal navigation were built.

In 1811, the Feodosia Historical Museum was opened, in 1825 - the Kerch Historical Museum. In 1812, a men's gymnasium was opened in Simferopol. In the same year, the botanist Christian Khristianovich Steven founded the Nikitsky Botanical Garden on the southern coast of the Crimea near the village of Nikita.

At the beginning of the 19th century, people traveled to the Crimea from Moscow along the Volga to Tsaritsyn, the Don to Rostov, the Sea of ​​Azov to Kerch. In 1826, a road was built from Simferopol to Alushta, in 1837 it was extended to Yalta, and in 1848 to Sevastopol. In 1848, on the border of the southern coast of Crimea and the northern slope of the mountains, the Baidar Gates were built.

The reference book of the Central Statistical Committee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of 1865 "Lists of populated places of the Russian Empire - Taurida Governorate" outlines the beginning of the history of Crimea as part of the Russian Empire:

“On the peninsula, the administration had even more worries, it was necessary to arrange cities that were ruined or fell into decay during his subordination, populate the villages and form Russian citizens from the Tatars. The fact that at the end of the last century there were only 900 houses in Yevpatoria, 1500 in Bakhchisarai, and in Karasubazar instead of the previous 6000 there were slightly more than 2000 speaks clearly about the decline of cities. About Feodosia, when it was established by the city government, in 1803, the government itself expressed that "this city from a flourishing state, even under Turkish rule, now exists by one, so to speak, name." All cities in general received significant benefits. Ports were established in Feodosia, Evpatoria and Kerch, and foreign settlers were called here to develop trade, most of whom belonged to the Greeks. Simultaneously with the establishment of the port in Kerch, in 1821, the Kerch-Yenikol city administration was formed, and the Feodosia city administration was closed in 1829. Sevastopol, classified in 1826 as a first-class fortress, was an exclusively naval city and did not directly produce foreign trade. Bakhchisaray remained a purely Tatar city, Stary Krym - Armenian. Karasubazar also has an Asian type, but here the Tatars live together with the Armenians and Karaites; Finally, Simferopol, as a center of government, became a real rallying point for all the nationalities inhabiting the province.

The number of settlers in the settlements was insignificant. The first rural settlers on the peninsula, formed by the government, include the settlement in Balaklava and its environs of the Greeks, who are in the Albanian army. This army, under the name of the Greek, was formed in 1769, at the call of Count Orlov, who commanded our fleet in the Mediterranean, from the archipelago Greeks and acted together with the squadron against the Turks. At the conclusion of the Kuchuk-Kainarji peace, the archipelagos were resettled in Kerch, Yenikale and Taganrog, and after the subjugation of the peninsula, they were transferred, by order of Potemkin, to the above places to supervise the southern coast, from Sevastopol to Feodosia and protect it; during the second Turkish war, these Greeks mainly contributed to the pacification of the mountain Tatars.

As for the distribution of lands to Russian owners, at first it was carried out without any order, and no attention was paid to the fact that many of the new owners, having received lands, left them to their fate, moreover, the boundaries between the poieshchi lands were not precisely defined and Tatar, which caused a huge number of lawsuits. The obligations of the Tatars for the use of the landlords' lands were still insignificant: they usually consisted of a tithe from bread and hay and serving several days a year in favor of the landowner. Government taxes were assigned small, and the Tatars, along with the Armenians, Karaites and Greeks, were exempted from recruitment.

Russian settlements were originally based either near cities or on the routes between them. But in general there were not many Russian villages, and the number of our settlers on the peninsula, by the time of the Crimean War, was no more than 15,000 of both sexes. Simultaneously with the establishment of German colonies on the mainland, the Germans also appeared in the Crimea. In 1805, they formed three colonies in the Simferopol district: Neyzats, Friedenthal and Rosenthal, and three in Feodosiya: Geilbrun, Sudak and Herzenberg. At the same time, three Bulgarian colonies arose: Balta-Chokrak in the Simferopol district, Kyshlav and Stary Krym in Feodosia. All the colonies settled down on good lands and, thanks to the industriousness of the settlers, reached a flourishing position.

The arrangement of the southern coast, the construction of a highway along it, dates back to the 30s, by the time of the governor-general of Prince Vorontsov, who constantly took care to revive the region and introduce a proper economy in it. Due to the large settlement of the southern coast, in 1838 the Yalta district was formed here and Yalta turned from a village into a city.

In the late fifties and early sixties, the eviction (Tatars - A.A.) took on enormous proportions: the Tatars simply fled to the Turks in droves, abandoning their household. By 1863, when the eviction ended, the figure of those who left the peninsula extended, according to the local statistical committee, to 141,667 of both sexes; as in the first departure of the Tatars, the majority belonged to the mountainous, so now only the steppes were evicted almost exclusively. The reasons for this departure have not yet been sufficiently clarified, it remains only to note that there were some revived hopes for Turkey, which were partly religious in nature and at the same time a false fear that the Tatars would be persecuted for their course of action during the war.

Simultaneously with this eviction, the Ministry of State Property issued a challenge to the state peasants of the inner provinces to resettle in the Tauride Territory, and here were also Bulgarians from part of Bessarabia that had ceded to Moldavia, according to the Paris Treaty, and Little Russians and Great Russians from Moldavia and the northeastern part of Turkey. New settlers settled both on empty state lands and on redundant plots of old Russian villages; this resettlement began in 1858 itself. By the beginning of 1863, according to the Ministry of State Property, there were only 29,246 Russian settlers of state peasants in the inner provinces in the province. By 1863, there were only 7,797 of both sexes in the province. Bulgarians resettled 17704 of both sexes. At the same time, Czechs from Bohemia settled in the three colonies of the Perekop district, among only 615 of both sexes. The population of the Taurida province at the beginning of 1864 consisted of 303,001 males and 272,350 females, and a total of 575,351 of both sexes, living in 2006 settlements with 89,775 households. In 1863, there were cities in the Tauride province: the provincial Simferopol, Bakhchisaray, Karasubazar, the county town of the Dnieper district of Alyoshki, the county town of Berdyansk, Nogaysk, Orekhov, the county town of Evpatoria, the county cities of Melitopol and Perekop, the Armenian Bazaar, the county town of Yalta, Balaklava, the county town of Feodosia , Stary Krym, Sevastopol, Kerch and Yenikale. Counties - Simferopol, Berdyansk, Dnieper, Evpatoria, Melitopol, Perekop, Yalta, Feodosia and Kerch-Yenikol. 85,702 of both sexes live in the cities of the peninsula, 111,171 live in the counties. In total, 196,873 of both sexes live on the peninsula.

In the Crimean steppe, most of all they are engaged in breeding simple or thick-haired sheep and dragging from salt lakes, which is the main subject of vacation from the province into Russia. On the northern slope of the mountains, economic activity is concentrated on horticulture and winemaking, and, finally, on the southern coast, winemaking positively dominates, behind which the main place belongs to the cultivation of walnuts, which we call walnuts. The best wines are made on the southern coast, from Alushta to Laspi. The number of varieties of Crimean grapes is very large. of no small importance is also the sale of the grape itself, which goes like wine, for the most part to Moscow and Kharkov, mainly Crimean apples and pears are brought here.

The development of the Crimean peninsula was suspended by the Crimean, or as it was called in Europe, Eastern War.

In 1853, the Russian Emperor Nicholas I proposed to Great Britain to divide the possessions of a weakened Turkey. Having been refused, he decided to seize the Black Sea straits of the Bosporus and the Dardanelles himself. The Russian Empire declared war on Turkey.

On November 18, 1853, the Russian squadron of Admiral Pavel Nakhimov destroyed the Turkish fleet in the Sinop Bay. This served as an excuse for England and France to enter their squadrons into the Black Sea and declare war on Russia. The allies - England and France - landed a landing force in the amount of sixty thousand people in the Crimea, near Yevpatoria and, after the battle on the Alma River with the thirty thousandth Russian army of A.S. backwardness of the Nikolaev Empire, despite the traditional heroism of the Russian soldier, approached Sevastopol - the main base of the Russian fleet on the Black Sea. The land army went to Bakhchisaray, leaving Sevastopol face to face with the allied expeditionary corps.

Having sunk obsolete sailing ships in the roadstead of Sevastopol and thus securing the city from the sea, the owners of which were the steamers of the British and French, who did not need sails, and removing twenty-two thousand sailors from Russian ships, Admirals Kornilov and Nakhimov with military engineer Totleben within two weeks were able to surround Sevastopol with earthen fortifications and bastions.

After a three-day bombardment of Sevastopol on October 5-7, 1854, the Anglo-French troops proceeded to the siege of the city, which lasted almost a year, until August 17, 1855, when, having lost admirals Kornilov, Istomin, Nakhimov, leaving Malakhov Kurgan, which was the dominant position over Sevastopol, the remnants of a twenty-two thousandth The Russian garrison, blowing up the bastions, went to the northern side of the Sevastopol Bay, reducing the Anglo-French expeditionary force, which was constantly receiving reinforcements, by seventy-three thousand people.

On March 17, 1856, a peace treaty was signed in Paris, according to which, thanks to disagreements between England and France, which facilitated the task of Russian diplomacy, Russia lost only the Danube Delta, Southern Bessarabia and the right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea. After the defeat of France in the war with Bismarck's Germany in 1871, the Russian Empire canceled the humiliating articles of the Treaty of Paris, which forbade it to maintain a fleet and fortifications on the Black Sea.

As a result of the Crimean War, the peninsula fell into disrepair, more than three hundred destroyed villages were abandoned by the population.

In 1874, a railway was laid from Aleksandrovsk (now Zaporozhye) to Somferopol, which continued to Sevastopol. In 1892, movement began along the Dzhankoy-Kerch railway, which led to a significant acceleration of the economic development of the Crimea. By the beginning of the 20th century, 25 million poods of grain were exported from the Crimean peninsula annually. At the same time, especially after the royal family bought Livadia in 1860, Crimea turned into a resort peninsula. On the southern coast of Crimea, the highest Russian nobility began to rest, for which magnificent palaces were built in Massandra, Livadia, Miskhor.

Viticulture, winemaking, fruit growing, tobacco growing, livestock breeding (cattle breeding, sheep breeding, horse breeding, astrakhan breeding, beekeeping), sericulture, and essential oil crops were traditionally developed in Crimea. Agriculture became the predominant occupation of the Crimean population. By the 1890s, grain crops occupied 220,000 acres of land. Orchards and vineyards each occupied 5,000 acres. Half of the Crimean land was owned by landlords, 10% - by peasant communities, 10% - by peasant proprietors, the rest of the land belonged to the state and the church.

In the second half of the 18th century, systematic archaeological research was widely developed in the Crimea. In 1871, on the initiative of N.N. Miklukho-Maclay, a research biological station was established in Sevastopol.

According to the 1897 census, 186,000 Crimean Tatars lived in Crimea. The total population of the peninsula reached half a million people living in twelve cities and 2500 settlements.

By the end of the 19th century, the Taurida province consisted of Berdyansk, Dnieper, Perekop, Simferopol, Feodosia and Yalta counties. The center of the province was the city of Simferopol.

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