Poblu de Cirima
The Peoples of Crimea
"Bir Land, molto Poblu"
Crimea's national identity and consciousness can be defined as a stew of peoples doing what they must to get along together. This page traces the origins, movements, and culture of the different ingredients of that stew, without losing sight of the fact that the "real Crimea" is seen not by looking at the different groups in isolation, but as a whole mixture.
From a legal standpoint, all of these groups are recognized officially as "Communities," or Mileti. One's standing as a member of a Milet was extremely important during Crimea's authoritarian era (1946-1989). Since then, society has relaxed and become less fragmented, and it is much easier, for example, to be counted in more than one Milet. Each is also entitled to send at least one token member to parliament, though the many people of mixed backgrounds may only cast a vote for one.
From a legal standpoint, all of these groups are recognized officially as "Communities," or Mileti. One's standing as a member of a Milet was extremely important during Crimea's authoritarian era (1946-1989). Since then, society has relaxed and become less fragmented, and it is much easier, for example, to be counted in more than one Milet. Each is also entitled to send at least one token member to parliament, though the many people of mixed backgrounds may only cast a vote for one.
The Scythians
Crimea in antiquity was peopled mainly by Scythians, a nomadic Indo-European people of the steppe. Their totemic symbol, the griffin, is on Crimea's heraldic arms. Just like in our world, the Crimean Scythians *there* were eclipsed by the Goths in the late Roman era. However, *there* a Scythian nation lived on in the Forecaucasus, and the Russians eventually conquered them and confined them to the Don valley. They write their language with a modified Cyrillic alphabet designed by Anthony Rodlox, pictured below.
The Scythians who live in Crimea today are not survivors of the original kingdom, but more recent immigrants from the Don people who crossed the Kerch strait. They have a love-hate relationship with their Cossack neighbors on the Kerch peninsula, with whom they share many cultural similarities. In 1949 the Crimea's government ordered all Scythians to be deported to Russia, but a 1950 coup prevented this from being carried out.
The Greeks
Crimea's Greeks can point to an uninterrupted history of two and a half millennia in the country. In Classical times, Crimea was Chersonesos Taurica, a far northeastern outpost of Greek civilization. The Bosporan Kingdom was a powerful Greek-speaking merchant power in Hellenistic and Roman times and is considered the earliest ancestor of the Crimean state. The kingdom declined in the face of barbarian attacks, but Greek civilization lived on along the coast, which was reinvented as an important outer region of the Byzantine Empire. The Crimean Greeks played an important role in spreading Christianity to the Goths and later to the Russians; St. Vladimir the Great was famously baptized in the city of Xerson. Waves of Italian, Armenian, Tatar, Turkish, and Russian immigrants diluted but did not overwhelm the Greek character of the coast. The Greeks have large, established communities in the cities of Jalta, Aluşta, Sodaja, Cafa, and Keriç, along with numerous towns and villages throughout the country. Xerson, Crimea's oldest city, remains a major cultural center, though it is not the metropolis it was in ancient times.
The Greek Orthodox Church provides focus and cohesion to the community. Since ancient times the church has been tri-ethnic, uniting Greeks, Goths, and Urums. The Metropolitan Bishop of Doros, or Man'gup, is the church's highest official. The position traditionally rotates among members of all three groups. In recent decades there have been talks to unite the Greek church with the other Orthodox churches in Crimea to create an autocephalous "Crimean Orthodox" church, but so far, the Greeks have feared losing their distinct denomination.
Numbering about 250,000, the Greek community's age and wealth give it an influence beyond what their numbers would suggest.
The Greek Orthodox Church provides focus and cohesion to the community. Since ancient times the church has been tri-ethnic, uniting Greeks, Goths, and Urums. The Metropolitan Bishop of Doros, or Man'gup, is the church's highest official. The position traditionally rotates among members of all three groups. In recent decades there have been talks to unite the Greek church with the other Orthodox churches in Crimea to create an autocephalous "Crimean Orthodox" church, but so far, the Greeks have feared losing their distinct denomination.
Numbering about 250,000, the Greek community's age and wealth give it an influence beyond what their numbers would suggest.
The Goths
The Goths may be the most famous of Crimea's ethnic groups. They migrated to the peninsula in late antiquity, the easternmost of the great Germanic invasions of the Roman Empire. Many Goths converted to Christianity, adopted a unique alphabet based on the Greek, and established a series of successful kingdoms. The city of Doros, or Man'gup, was their capital, and to this day it is the seat of Greek Orthodoxy in the country. Other Goths migrated to the coast, where, among other things, they built a monastery in Xerson that today forms one side of that city's Holy Square.
Not all Goths adopted Christianity. Many remain pagan to this day. Their worship centers on a holy tree in the old fortress-town of Funa, high in the Crimean Mountains. The pagan Goths continue to use a Futhark runic alphabet for sacred writing.
The Gothic language is Germanic, and it remains widely spoken in the areas of Gothic settlement, primarily in the mountainous south. The language is highly conservative compared to its western cousins. It contributed many terms to Parra, especially words related to land and earth. The phrase bir land, molto poblu - "One land, many peoples," one of Crimea's unofficial mottoes, includes the Gothic loanword land, recognizably Germanic.
Not all Goths adopted Christianity. Many remain pagan to this day. Their worship centers on a holy tree in the old fortress-town of Funa, high in the Crimean Mountains. The pagan Goths continue to use a Futhark runic alphabet for sacred writing.
The Gothic language is Germanic, and it remains widely spoken in the areas of Gothic settlement, primarily in the mountainous south. The language is highly conservative compared to its western cousins. It contributed many terms to Parra, especially words related to land and earth. The phrase bir land, molto poblu - "One land, many peoples," one of Crimea's unofficial mottoes, includes the Gothic loanword land, recognizably Germanic.
The Romaniotes
The earliest evidence of a Jewish presence in the Crimea dates to the first century AD. Like other Diaspora Jews in the Mediterranean, those in the Crimea spoke a form of Greek. They were the ancestors of the Romanaiote Jews of today. Historically, Romaniotes were the main Jewish population in the Crimea's Byzantine- and Gothic-ruled regions.
The majority of Crimean Jews, especially those living inland, adopted a form of the Tatar language and were absorbed into the Krymchak ethnicity after the 1400s. Those who kept their Romaniote identity are distinguished by tho things: their rejection of the reforms of Rabbi Moshe Ha-Golah (1515) and their use of the Yevanic Greek language in daily conversation and prayer. They are mostly confined to the southern tip of Crimea, roughly from Balaclava to Aluşta, with their major center in the old Gothic city of Mangup. Elsewhere, the Krymchak and Ashkenazi traditions predominate. Like their fellows in the Aegean, the Romaniotes use the Jerusalem Talmud.
The majority of Crimean Jews, especially those living inland, adopted a form of the Tatar language and were absorbed into the Krymchak ethnicity after the 1400s. Those who kept their Romaniote identity are distinguished by tho things: their rejection of the reforms of Rabbi Moshe Ha-Golah (1515) and their use of the Yevanic Greek language in daily conversation and prayer. They are mostly confined to the southern tip of Crimea, roughly from Balaclava to Aluşta, with their major center in the old Gothic city of Mangup. Elsewhere, the Krymchak and Ashkenazi traditions predominate. Like their fellows in the Aegean, the Romaniotes use the Jerusalem Talmud.
The Karaim
The Karaim, or Karaites, follow a unique form of the Jewish religion. Like other branches of Karaites, they do not recognize the validity of any Talmud, considering the Tanakh to be the only source of law; hence, Karaism is also known as non-Rabbinic Judaism. The Crimean Karaites' origins are obscure. They are popularly said to descend from the Khazars, a Central Asian empire that adopted Judaism in the 9th century; but this has never been conclusively proven.
Politics has added to confusion over the Crimean Karaites' origins, making it much more than an academic question. To avoid persecution at the hands of the Russians, many Karaites presented themselves as "not racially Jewish," many even describing their religion as "Mosaic" rather than Jewish. This became official doctrine during the Snorist era. At the same time, the Karaim have a history of engagement with Crimea's Jewish community. Most notably, many of them protected Krymchak and Ashkenazi Jews fleeing the pogroms in the years around 1900. The Hebrew word Hacham, which the Karaim use in place of "Rabbi" for their teachers, has become the Parra term for a rabbi or any other Jewish leader.
The historic center of the Crimean Karaite community was at Circ-Jer, near Baçisaraj. In the 19th century they built their chief kenesa (synagogue) in the city of Cesleve on the west coast.
Crimea was the historical homeland of the Crimean Karaim, but since the late Middle Ages they have dispersed around the Black Sea and into eastern Europe. Lithuania in particular has a large concentration.
Politics has added to confusion over the Crimean Karaites' origins, making it much more than an academic question. To avoid persecution at the hands of the Russians, many Karaites presented themselves as "not racially Jewish," many even describing their religion as "Mosaic" rather than Jewish. This became official doctrine during the Snorist era. At the same time, the Karaim have a history of engagement with Crimea's Jewish community. Most notably, many of them protected Krymchak and Ashkenazi Jews fleeing the pogroms in the years around 1900. The Hebrew word Hacham, which the Karaim use in place of "Rabbi" for their teachers, has become the Parra term for a rabbi or any other Jewish leader.
The historic center of the Crimean Karaite community was at Circ-Jer, near Baçisaraj. In the 19th century they built their chief kenesa (synagogue) in the city of Cesleve on the west coast.
Crimea was the historical homeland of the Crimean Karaim, but since the late Middle Ages they have dispersed around the Black Sea and into eastern Europe. Lithuania in particular has a large concentration.
The Tatars
The Tatars are just about the largest single ethnic group in Crimea, basically neck-and-neck with the Russians. It is difficult to say when they emerged as a single group. Many different Turkic peoples conquered the Crimean steppes during the medieval period, including the Khazars, the Kipchaks, and the Turkic soldiers who accompanied the Mongols. The Crimean Khanate, the state most strongly associated with the Tatar people, was actually founded by a descendant of Genghis Khan. As these groups mixed, their descendants came to think of themselves as forming a single Turkic ethnicity, the Crimean Tatars.
The Tatar language is in fact a spectrum of dialects, with the major divisions being the south coast, the mountains, and the steppe. The old capital, Baçisaraj, is fairly centrally located in the northern foothills, so its speech is nicely placed to serve as the literary standard.
In the late 18th century, the Tatars made up almost 50% of Crimea's population, and their language and culture greatly influenced the rest of the country. Their hold began to weaken in the face of Cossack attacks, Russian suzerainty, and finally outright annexation of the Crimea. Russia soon began filling the country with settlers from across the empire, along with Germans and Bulgarians from outside its own borders. Many Tatar landowners lost their holdings, but the confiscations were not so extreme as they were *here*. Most importantly, none of the Tatars were deported from the Crimea; in fact, the net population increased as Tatars from Ukraine moved south.
Branches of the Giray family, which had ruled the old khanate, lived on in Turkey, the Balkans, and the Caucasus in the early 20th century. In the 1950s, the pro-Russian SNAC regime brought over an obscure member of one of the Caucasus Giray families to serve as the head of the Tatar milet. Needless to say, he was never popular; but in the dying days of the SNAC, another Giray in Turkey, more directly related to the last Khans, began corresponding with liberal Tatar leaders. After the Aleksandr Square Uprising overthrew the SNAC, the Tatar governing committee met separately and announced that Arslan would be the new khan. His son succeeded him in 2011 as Arslan III, Khan of the Crimean Tatars. Though the position has some monarchical trappings, the Khan makes no claims to be anything other than a ceremonial head of the Tatar community. There is no movement to restore a monarchy to the Crimea as a whole; no serious movement, anyway.
Baçisaraj remains the undisputed center of Crimean Tatar culture. Its architecture testifies to the glory of the past Khans. It is still home to a thriving Muslim religious and cultural life. Outside of the former capital, Tatar communities can be found in almost every city, town, and district in the country; they are Crimea's most geographically widespread ethnic group.
The Tatar language is in fact a spectrum of dialects, with the major divisions being the south coast, the mountains, and the steppe. The old capital, Baçisaraj, is fairly centrally located in the northern foothills, so its speech is nicely placed to serve as the literary standard.
In the late 18th century, the Tatars made up almost 50% of Crimea's population, and their language and culture greatly influenced the rest of the country. Their hold began to weaken in the face of Cossack attacks, Russian suzerainty, and finally outright annexation of the Crimea. Russia soon began filling the country with settlers from across the empire, along with Germans and Bulgarians from outside its own borders. Many Tatar landowners lost their holdings, but the confiscations were not so extreme as they were *here*. Most importantly, none of the Tatars were deported from the Crimea; in fact, the net population increased as Tatars from Ukraine moved south.
Branches of the Giray family, which had ruled the old khanate, lived on in Turkey, the Balkans, and the Caucasus in the early 20th century. In the 1950s, the pro-Russian SNAC regime brought over an obscure member of one of the Caucasus Giray families to serve as the head of the Tatar milet. Needless to say, he was never popular; but in the dying days of the SNAC, another Giray in Turkey, more directly related to the last Khans, began corresponding with liberal Tatar leaders. After the Aleksandr Square Uprising overthrew the SNAC, the Tatar governing committee met separately and announced that Arslan would be the new khan. His son succeeded him in 2011 as Arslan III, Khan of the Crimean Tatars. Though the position has some monarchical trappings, the Khan makes no claims to be anything other than a ceremonial head of the Tatar community. There is no movement to restore a monarchy to the Crimea as a whole; no serious movement, anyway.
Baçisaraj remains the undisputed center of Crimean Tatar culture. Its architecture testifies to the glory of the past Khans. It is still home to a thriving Muslim religious and cultural life. Outside of the former capital, Tatar communities can be found in almost every city, town, and district in the country; they are Crimea's most geographically widespread ethnic group.
The Mongols
In other parts of the Mongol Empire, the conquerors quickly assimilated with their Turkic neighbors. Only in Crimea, at the far western end of the empire, did a Mongol population maintain a distinct identity. Of course, the people known as "Crimean Mongols" are not a simple transplant from Mongolia. Years of intermarriage and living among the Tatars have altered both their appearance and language. What kept them apart was their continued practice of Tengriism, the pagan religion of Mongolia and Central Asia. The Mongols today speak Crimean Tatar and look like their Turkic neighbors. Most Mongols live in the western part of the country. Cesleve and Saci are the cities with the largest presence, but they are still a predominantly rural people.
The Kalmyks
The Kalmyks speak a Mongolic language reated to Oirat and practice the Buddhist religion. A large number of them came into Crimea during the late medieval period and many remained in contact with the Kalmyk homeland on the north shore of the Caspian Sea.
The Krymchaks
The Krymchak Jews are a Turkic-speaking people. They trace their descent to many waves of Jewish settlement throughout antiquity and the Middle Ages: Romaniotes in the Greek cities, Khazar and Kipchak converts, Italian Jews arriving with the colonists, Sephardic exiles from Spain. These different groups eventually formed a single Jewish community. They adopted a Turkic language related to that of the Tatars, but showing some influence from earlier Turkic occupiers in Crimea. Rabbi Moshe Ha-Golah created a single rite of worship for the Crimea in 1515; this further unified the community. The reforms came to be accepted by all the Jews of the Crimea except those in the most heavily Greek cities on the coast, and the very different Karaite sect.
The name "Krymchak" is Russian and simply means "Crimean." Under Russian rule the Krymchaks faced the double threat of anti-Semitism and pressure from more affluent Ashkenazi immigrants. The community shrank but held together. Many leaders of the Soviet Republic were Jewish and professed a desire to help the Krymchaks, but as this class of leaders was mainly Ashkenazi there were many misunderstandings and well-meant but misguided attempts to help the community by eroding some of their distinct cultural practices. Many Krymchaks therefore became Snorist supporters after 1950, when the authoritarian SNAC regime pursued a policy of ethnic separation. SNAC lost Jewish support as the years went on, however, and by the 90s had very few Krymchak members.
The Krymchak community is led by a Prime Axam (Chief Rabbi) in the city of Acmescit.
The name "Krymchak" is Russian and simply means "Crimean." Under Russian rule the Krymchaks faced the double threat of anti-Semitism and pressure from more affluent Ashkenazi immigrants. The community shrank but held together. Many leaders of the Soviet Republic were Jewish and professed a desire to help the Krymchaks, but as this class of leaders was mainly Ashkenazi there were many misunderstandings and well-meant but misguided attempts to help the community by eroding some of their distinct cultural practices. Many Krymchaks therefore became Snorist supporters after 1950, when the authoritarian SNAC regime pursued a policy of ethnic separation. SNAC lost Jewish support as the years went on, however, and by the 90s had very few Krymchak members.
The Krymchak community is led by a Prime Axam (Chief Rabbi) in the city of Acmescit.
The Nogay
The Nogay people are sometimes described as a sub-group of Crimean Tatars, other times as a fully distinct group. In reality the relationship between the Tatars and Nogays is like that between Russians and Cossacks. In language and religion, they are very close, but the Nogay have a distinct ethnic identity and set of traditions stemming from their nomadic lifestyle in the not-so-distant past. In early-modern times the Nogay were nomadic subjects of the Crimean Khanate. They wandered widely, contending with the Cossacks for control of the south of Ukraine. The Russians restricted them first to the Taurida Governorate, then to peninsular Crimea in the late 19th century. They forcibly settled several Nogay clans on the steppes in the northwest part of Crimea. The authoritarian SNAC government slated them for deportation, but as SNAC never identified any destination into which to deport them, the Nogays stayed.
The Nogay dialect is identifiably different from the speech of other Tatar people, but it can be placed in the Tatar dialect continuum that runs from south to north. They practice Sunni Islam. The Nogay are one of the most impoverished of Crimea's ethnic groups, and providing them with public services remains a challenge. Many things that today are celebrated in traditional Tatar culture, especially costume, music and dance, were appropriated from Nogay culture.
The Nogay dialect is identifiably different from the speech of other Tatar people, but it can be placed in the Tatar dialect continuum that runs from south to north. They practice Sunni Islam. The Nogay are one of the most impoverished of Crimea's ethnic groups, and providing them with public services remains a challenge. Many things that today are celebrated in traditional Tatar culture, especially costume, music and dance, were appropriated from Nogay culture.
The Urums
Urums are Turkic-speaking people who practice Greek Christianity. They descend from Greeks who adopted the Tatar language and from Tatars who converted. Most live inland, away from the Greek-speaking core along the coast, though in recent years some have moved into tourist towns like Jalta to obtain work. The Urums are in a somewhat uncomfortable place in Crimea's society; Greeks see them as not really Greek, while Tatars see them as not really Tatar. When modern governments began officially counting and registering people by ethnicity, the Urums often were forgotten, the people inconsistently classified as either Greek or Tatar. In recent years the Urums of Crimea have undergone something of a cultural revival, celebrating their achievements as a distinct people.
The Armenians
Medieval Armenians came to Crimea in very large numbers, becoming for a short time the dominant people in the southern littoral. In those days, the Crimean coast became known as "Armenia Maritima." Many large Armenian settlements took shape in the mountains and steppes as well, and by the time the Italians arrived to colonize the coast, much of the hinterland had an Armenian character. Many Italian traders married Armenian women, a legacy preserved in Armenian-derived terms in Parra for many of the words of domesticity, such as "family" (tanic) and "bread" (xat).
Armenians did well under Russian rule. A number of new arrivals came from Russian Armenia, and these tended to settle up on the steppe rather than in the traditional Armenian parts of the country.
The Armenian Church is a crucial part of the community's identity. In medieval times Cafa was made the seat of a bishop. The office passed back and forth between Armenian and Roman Rite clerics for many years, causing considerable friction between the Italian and Armenian communities in the city and throughout the Crimea. The two bishoprics finally separated when the Genoese built a separate cathedral in their quarter in the early 15th century. Since then, there has been a Roman and an Armenian Bishop of Cafa, and more modern migration from Caucasian Armenia has helped to further distinguish the Armenian and Italian communities. But the two generally still live together harmoniously.
Armenians did well under Russian rule. A number of new arrivals came from Russian Armenia, and these tended to settle up on the steppe rather than in the traditional Armenian parts of the country.
The Armenian Church is a crucial part of the community's identity. In medieval times Cafa was made the seat of a bishop. The office passed back and forth between Armenian and Roman Rite clerics for many years, causing considerable friction between the Italian and Armenian communities in the city and throughout the Crimea. The two bishoprics finally separated when the Genoese built a separate cathedral in their quarter in the early 15th century. Since then, there has been a Roman and an Armenian Bishop of Cafa, and more modern migration from Caucasian Armenia has helped to further distinguish the Armenian and Italian communities. But the two generally still live together harmoniously.
The Italians
Italian merchants first arrived in Crimea in the early 13th century and established quarters in Cafa and other port cities. The colonists were never numerous, but they made a tremendous impact on Crimea. Under Venetian and later Genoese rule, Cafa became a major point on the Silk Road, a crossroads for all of Eurasia. This brought new wealth and new people to the country. But the Italians' most lasting contribution was their language, which developed into Parra, still the national lingua franca today.
Genoa lost formal control of its colonies after the 15th century, but Genoese ships continued to trade actively, and the Italian community continued to thrive, at least in Cafa and its environs. By the Russian conquests of the late 18th century, the Crimean Italians had put down roots and were truly a diasporic rather than an expatriate society. The Italian ports declined as Sebastopol came to monopolize Crimea's trade, and links with Italy were cut. Since then the Italians in the country have survived as a well-off but often persecuted minority group. They continue to speak a dialect of Italian, a form known as Caffico related to Ligurian, but showing influence from Venexian and Parra.
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Cafa has been the center of Italian life in Crimea for centuries. Nowadays its archbishop serves populations of Germans and others, as well as Italians, but the church itself has a decidedly Italian character. Sodaja and some other coastal towns have smaller groups of Italians. Carnival is the time of year when the community attracts the most attention and gets to show off its unique culture.
Genoa lost formal control of its colonies after the 15th century, but Genoese ships continued to trade actively, and the Italian community continued to thrive, at least in Cafa and its environs. By the Russian conquests of the late 18th century, the Crimean Italians had put down roots and were truly a diasporic rather than an expatriate society. The Italian ports declined as Sebastopol came to monopolize Crimea's trade, and links with Italy were cut. Since then the Italians in the country have survived as a well-off but often persecuted minority group. They continue to speak a dialect of Italian, a form known as Caffico related to Ligurian, but showing influence from Venexian and Parra.
The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Cafa has been the center of Italian life in Crimea for centuries. Nowadays its archbishop serves populations of Germans and others, as well as Italians, but the church itself has a decidedly Italian character. Sodaja and some other coastal towns have smaller groups of Italians. Carnival is the time of year when the community attracts the most attention and gets to show off its unique culture.
The Turks
Ottoman Turkey annexed the Crimean coast in 1475 and made the Khanate into a vassal state. Since most of the Black Sea trade was not conducted by Turks themselves, immigration from Turkey was small in numbers. But Turkish officials left their mark on the culture and language, lending many words to Parra and influencing its sound structure. A few Turkish communities remained in the southern cities after the Ottomans lost Crimea to Russia. By far the largest and most prominent are in Cafa and Kerch at the eastern end of the country. The Turks are considered more westernized and secular than the Tatars, but this is a generalization.
The Georgians
Noe Jordania
As Italian trade declined, for a time Georgian merchants conducted a large portion of the Black Sea's internal trade. This brought numerous Georgians to the ports of Crimea, especially Cafa and Kerch. The Georgians brought yet another language and yet another form of Christianity, adding another ingredient to Crimean society in a time when Turko-Tatar domination might otherwise have had a homogenizing effect. They learned to speak the early-modern form of the Parra language, the form with the most Turkic influence, when trading in the country. The Georgian community continued to be replenished with newcomers, since links between Crimea and Georgia only strengthened when both became part of the Russian Empire. In the 1910s and 1920s, many prominent members of the Menshevik Party came from Georgia to the Crimea, where their party had successfully seized power. Noe Jordania, Crimea's head of government from 1924 to 1932, was from Georgia. Between 1946 and 1949, the Georgians were the number one target of the pro-Russian Snorists. Many were rounded up and deported to Georgia during these years, but many returned after Crimea's Snorists reversed this policy. The Georgians today, like the Greeks and Armenians, are most numerous along the southern coast.
The Romani (Crymy, Çigani)
A substantial population of Gypsies arrived in Crimea in the Middle Ages. They came to the Crimean Khanate from the southern Balkans. They practiced their nomadic lifestyle for centuries, and in their wanderings helped to spread the Parra trade language into Crimea's interior and into what is now the Ukraine. They came to form a distinct ethnic identity which they maintained even if they left Crimea; today, "Crimean Romani" can be found in Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, and elsewhere. Their tight-knit community has survived wars and persecutions. Many still practice a semi-nomadism despite Soviet, Snorist, and modern efforts to get them to settle down. Their religion is highly syncretic, reflecting the Romani people's ultimate origins in India, their travels through Orthodox Christian countries in the Balkans, and the Islamic practices of their neighbors in Crimea. It is difficult to classify into any one of Crimea's conventional four religions (Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Pagan).
The Russians
Together with the Tatars, Russians are the largest single people in the Crimea. They are concentrated in two large, relatively homogenous blocks of settlement: one is the capital, Sebastopol, and its surroundings; the other is a chunk of the east that begins at Çancoj (Dzhankoy) and stretches southward. No group of newcomers so radically transformed the country as the Russians, who began to move in just before the formal takeover of the Khanate in 1783. They built Sebastopol to serve as the empire's chief Black Sea port and expanded the city of Acmescit into Crimea's new capital. Every stratum of Russian society came to the country, from members of the royal family, who built grand chateaux on cliffs overlooking the sea, down to lowly peasants renting land from Russian or Tatar owners. (Serfdom, however, was never established in Crimea.) Russian forms of government, land ownership, urban planning, economy, language, and religion superimposed themselves and interacted with the complex society that already existed, creating the Crimea of today.
Russians continued to guide Crimea's course in the 19th and 20th centuries, as all of the country's political turmoil of those years took place within the greater Russian world. This disproportional influence declined after 1990, and consequently the Russians have gravitated toward conservative parties in post-SNAC Crimea. Russian parties are some of the most stalwart defenders of protectionist trade that favors traditional labor unions and companies, many of which remain Russian-dominated.
Under SNAC, the head of the Russian branch of the party acted as official leader of the Russian milet. Since that party's fall from power, the community has had no formal organization.
In religion, Russians established two bishoprics in imperial days, one in Xerson, serving Sebastopol, and one in Acmescit for the center of the country. The Moscow Patriarchate also took over the Greek see in Doros, sparking more than two centuries of back-and-forth ecclesiastical conflict. At present, the two Russian sees (plus a third established in Çancoj in 2005) comprise one Orthodox denomination in Crimea, considered an autonomous church under Moscow, with the Bishop of Xerson having been raised to Metropolitan rank in 1958. The Greek church makes up a separate Orthodox denomination. Most of Crimea's Slavs attend parishes that are either affiliated with the Russian-based church, or are basically independent. Talks continue to create a Crimean Orthodox church that would unify all Eastern Christians in the country, but so far political disputes have prevented church leaders from carrying this out.
Russians continued to guide Crimea's course in the 19th and 20th centuries, as all of the country's political turmoil of those years took place within the greater Russian world. This disproportional influence declined after 1990, and consequently the Russians have gravitated toward conservative parties in post-SNAC Crimea. Russian parties are some of the most stalwart defenders of protectionist trade that favors traditional labor unions and companies, many of which remain Russian-dominated.
Under SNAC, the head of the Russian branch of the party acted as official leader of the Russian milet. Since that party's fall from power, the community has had no formal organization.
In religion, Russians established two bishoprics in imperial days, one in Xerson, serving Sebastopol, and one in Acmescit for the center of the country. The Moscow Patriarchate also took over the Greek see in Doros, sparking more than two centuries of back-and-forth ecclesiastical conflict. At present, the two Russian sees (plus a third established in Çancoj in 2005) comprise one Orthodox denomination in Crimea, considered an autonomous church under Moscow, with the Bishop of Xerson having been raised to Metropolitan rank in 1958. The Greek church makes up a separate Orthodox denomination. Most of Crimea's Slavs attend parishes that are either affiliated with the Russian-based church, or are basically independent. Talks continue to create a Crimean Orthodox church that would unify all Eastern Christians in the country, but so far political disputes have prevented church leaders from carrying this out.
The Cossacks
The Cossacks distinguish themselves from mainstream Russians by lifestyle and identity rather than language and religion. Cossacks began raiding the territory of the Crimean Khanate in the 17th century, and their attacks came more frequently over the course of the 18th. The Cossack Hetmanate of the Ukraine helped Russia to conquer the Khanate in the late 1700s. But the Cossacks of the Hetmanate did not settle in peninsular Crimea. The first to move permanently were Cossacks of the Don Host, some of whom were given land in Crimea to compensate them for lands given to the Scythians in the Don River valley. Many Cossacks poured into the Kerch peninsula, and they remain a majority of the population there today.
The Cossacks were hugely important in Crimean politics of the 20th century. Resolute supporters of the Whites and the Tsar, they defended the White Fleet until it was defeated at Kerch in December 1918. Their relationship with the Soviets was always terrible, often violent. In their 28 years in power, the Soviet Republic took many measures to suppress them, outlawing their military organization, attempting to resettle and scatter them within the country, and finally ordering their expulsion from Crimea. The Cossacks resisted fiercely. For many years, the Soviets could only reach the city of Kerch by sea, because Cossack rebels had taken control of the peninsula. They welcomed the Russian invasion and helped launch the pro-Russian SNAC party. Their military organization was restored in form, though they were not rearmed.
Today, the Cossacks are still organized as the Crimean Host, which officially was constituted in 1951. Despite their close-knit community, they are no longer the solid political bloc they once were. Many felt that the SNAC abandoned them in the last days of its rule, and no longer vote for the party. For many younger Cossacks, choral singing and folk dance are more important marks of their culture than militant anti-communism. The Cossacks still revere the memory of the Tsars, but mostly as a sentimental symbol of past glories rather than a political position.
The Cossacks were hugely important in Crimean politics of the 20th century. Resolute supporters of the Whites and the Tsar, they defended the White Fleet until it was defeated at Kerch in December 1918. Their relationship with the Soviets was always terrible, often violent. In their 28 years in power, the Soviet Republic took many measures to suppress them, outlawing their military organization, attempting to resettle and scatter them within the country, and finally ordering their expulsion from Crimea. The Cossacks resisted fiercely. For many years, the Soviets could only reach the city of Kerch by sea, because Cossack rebels had taken control of the peninsula. They welcomed the Russian invasion and helped launch the pro-Russian SNAC party. Their military organization was restored in form, though they were not rearmed.
Today, the Cossacks are still organized as the Crimean Host, which officially was constituted in 1951. Despite their close-knit community, they are no longer the solid political bloc they once were. Many felt that the SNAC abandoned them in the last days of its rule, and no longer vote for the party. For many younger Cossacks, choral singing and folk dance are more important marks of their culture than militant anti-communism. The Cossacks still revere the memory of the Tsars, but mostly as a sentimental symbol of past glories rather than a political position.
The Old Believers
Among its Russian population, Crimea has a relatively high concentration of Old Believers, who, like the Jews and Circassians, were drawn to Crimea's relative tolerance compared to mainland Russia. In many ways, the Old Believers function as a separate ethnic group, distinguished from the Russians by their church affiliations, their clothing, and the men's long beards. They tend to marry within their own community and historically were excluded from mainstream Russian society. Crimea's Old Believers are divided among three different denominations that do not always get along, so they have often resented being classified together by earnest government ethnographers over the years. But as Crimea is a place where different kinds of people have to cooperate, they have come together to form a Crimean Old Orthodox Committee, essentially a civic group that endeavours to protect the community's religious freedoms and manage its relationship with the rest of society. Crimea's Old Believers have been able to worship publicly since the Crimean War, when local officials relaxed the rules in order to prevent their helping the enemy. They maintain a number of churches and a few monasteries. Two of the three denominations have a bishop in the country, while the third is a "priestless" denomination. The communities are quite small but are an established part of Crimean society.
The Ukrainians
As Crimea's closest neighbors, many Ukrainians have moved in over the years. For various reasons, they were always outnumbered by ethnic Russians at a nearly 2:1 ratio. Most welcomed the Ukrainian invasion of 1940 and helped create the SNAC party; but they quickly turned against it in the late 40s as it pursued strict pro-Russian policies. By the 80s they were among the most fervent pro-democracy activists in the country. Since the coming of democracy there has been much movement of Ukrainians back and forth across the border. Many have obtained dual citizenship. Within Crimea, the Ukrainian community has become increasingly prominent in the country's economy and cultural life. The establishment of a bishopric in Çancoj, a mixed Russian and Ukrainian city, is one sign of this.
The Belarussians
The Belarussian community in Crimea is small and often forgotten. Over the years many have integrated into the Russian community, and many families have lost their distinct Belarussian identity. This was especially true in the 1940s, when the pro-Russian Snorists announced their intention to send all non-Russian Slavs back to their "homelands" in other countries. The policy was never carried out, but it did damage nonetheless. Cultural representatives from the Republic of Belarus have been working closely with community leaders to strengthen Belarussian language and identity in Crimea.
The Bulgarians
In the 19th century Bulgaria was part of the Ottoman Empire. Nevertheless, Russia reached out to Bulgarians to attract them to Crimea. They were part of the Russian plan to flood the country with Christians in order to weaken the influence of the Tatars. The Bulgarian colonists were among the better-off among the newcomers,, comparable to the also-quite-affluent German settlers. Most established prosperous farms in the north and west of Crimea, settling in among some of the country's poorest Nogay and Mongol peasants. The 20th-century history of Bulgaria itself meant that it had a tense and complicated relationship with Crimea: it got a communist government shortly after Crimea lost its own, and it joined the Snorist bloc at a time when Snorism was already collapsing everywhere else. Crimea's Bulgarians had to deal with much prejudice through all these events. The community was very active in the pro-democracy movement in the 80s and 90s.
Most Bulgarians are Orthodox Christians. They established a number of churches in Crimea that are still connected to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, an autocephalous body founded in the ninth century. Most of them are concerned that a unified Crimean Orthodox body would erode their own culture, so they have not been enthusiastic supporters of unification.
Most Bulgarians are Orthodox Christians. They established a number of churches in Crimea that are still connected to the Bulgarian Orthodox Church, an autocephalous body founded in the ninth century. Most of them are concerned that a unified Crimean Orthodox body would erode their own culture, so they have not been enthusiastic supporters of unification.
The Circassians (Adyghe)
Russia severely persecuted the Cricassian people of the northwest Caucasus beginning in the late 18th century. In general, this was not as horrific a process as the near-genocide that the Circassians experienced *here*; but the suffering of the Circassians *there* was real. The Russians did not so much drive the Circassians out of their territory, as much as they confined them to the more mountainous parts of the region; today these lands comprise the Russian republics of Adyghea and part of the North Caucasus Federation. But many Circassians did flee, mostly to Ottoman lands. A smaller number settled in Crimea, mainly in the northeastern parts, where other minority groups such as the Estonians and Ashkenazi were also finding available land. Knowing that Russian authorities had no love for them, most Circassians in Crimea kept a low profile, rarely using their language outside their homes. This has led to a reputation for standoffishness, even secrecy, among the community. However, a new generation of Circassians is rediscovering their roots and is showing pride in their native language. They have already won official recognition as a milet - something they did not have before 1990 - and are clamoring for more aid for their home language, including schools and the beginning of a language academy.
The Crimea-Circassians' dialect began as a compromise between western (Adyghe) and eastern (Kabardian) forms; it eventually settled on a mostly-western form, and today linguists usually describe it as a dialect of the Adyghean language. The Republic of Adyghea has built a close relationship with Crimea's Circassian community since the late 90s, providing teachers and other organizers and getting financial help from their Crimean compatriots, who are more well-off than those back in the Caucasus.
The Crimea-Circassians' dialect began as a compromise between western (Adyghe) and eastern (Kabardian) forms; it eventually settled on a mostly-western form, and today linguists usually describe it as a dialect of the Adyghean language. The Republic of Adyghea has built a close relationship with Crimea's Circassian community since the late 90s, providing teachers and other organizers and getting financial help from their Crimean compatriots, who are more well-off than those back in the Caucasus.
The Ashkenazi
Ashkenazi Jews settled all over the western end of the Russian Empire. Some had begun to arrive in the Crimea before the Russian takeover, but they came in large numbers only from the 19th century onward. Ukraine, just north of Crimea, was the site of some of the worst of the pogroms, and many Ashkenazi who came to Crimea were hoping for better treatment in Crimea's relatively tolerant society. Persecution did not end with immigration to Crimea, but life was somewhat easier, and an old, established Jewish community was willing to protect the Ashkenazi in many instances. Strong supporters of the Soviet Republic, many faced retaliation in the early days of Snorist rule. The Ashkenazi presence is strongest in the cities of Acmescit and Sebastopol, the former and the current capital. In the eastern steppes are a number of Ashkenazi shtetls, a kind of community that did not survive in many other parts of the Russian Empire.
The Germans
Russia attracted German settlers in several large waves beginning around 1800. Most came from the Swabia region, from the kingdom of Württemberg and part of the kingdom of Bavaria. They joined Baltic Germans who immigrated from within Russian territory. These Germans had diverse religious backgrounds: many were Catholic, others were Lutheran, and a few were Reformed Protestants. Among the Lutherans, some belonged to "Uniting" churches that had reunited with the Roman Catholics, while others were outside the union.
The German community was never huge, but the immigrants had much more money than most of the peasants into whose country they came. In fact, the Germans quickly became the wealthiest single community in the Crimea. They at first focused on winemaking but soon branched out into other kinds of farming, along with business and commerce. They were major supporters of Crimea's "bourgeois" revolution but became targets during the communist revolution. Once the moderate Menshevik faction was firmly in power, it curbed some of the worst excesses, and emphasis shifted to cooperating with the Germans and other members of the upper middle class.
In the 19th century the German community organized many vereine, clubs that mixed socializing with civic and political involvement. These organizing efforts culminated during the short-lived People's Republic, when Crimea's Germans were placed in a "non-geographic district" governed by an elected console (mayor). Under the Soviet Republic the Germans maintained their organization as an informal body, and the SNORists restored its authority as part of their policy of having separate institutions for the different ethnic groups, though now the console was a state appointee responsible for carrying out the ruling party's will among the German milet. Since 1990 the Deutschverein is a civic organization without any power, and through it the German community continues to elect a symbolic console as a way to honor elder citizens.
As for religion, the German Catholics are part of the Roman-Rite Archdiocese of Cafa, together with non-German Catholics in the country. The Protestant congregations, divided as they were among Germans and Estonians, Uniters and non-Uniters, remained unorganized for many years. Talk of a combined Lutheran church for Crimea was interrupted by the Second Great War. In 1995, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Crimea finally effected a unification of nearly all Protestant churches in the country. It is led by a single bishop with rather limited power. For several years the church has been discussing a possible reunion with Rome, along the lines of the Holy Roman Episcopal Lutherans in Germany. Those congregations from the Reuniting tradition are enthusiastic about the plan, while the others have warmed to the idea. Reunification may not be far away.
The German community was never huge, but the immigrants had much more money than most of the peasants into whose country they came. In fact, the Germans quickly became the wealthiest single community in the Crimea. They at first focused on winemaking but soon branched out into other kinds of farming, along with business and commerce. They were major supporters of Crimea's "bourgeois" revolution but became targets during the communist revolution. Once the moderate Menshevik faction was firmly in power, it curbed some of the worst excesses, and emphasis shifted to cooperating with the Germans and other members of the upper middle class.
In the 19th century the German community organized many vereine, clubs that mixed socializing with civic and political involvement. These organizing efforts culminated during the short-lived People's Republic, when Crimea's Germans were placed in a "non-geographic district" governed by an elected console (mayor). Under the Soviet Republic the Germans maintained their organization as an informal body, and the SNORists restored its authority as part of their policy of having separate institutions for the different ethnic groups, though now the console was a state appointee responsible for carrying out the ruling party's will among the German milet. Since 1990 the Deutschverein is a civic organization without any power, and through it the German community continues to elect a symbolic console as a way to honor elder citizens.
As for religion, the German Catholics are part of the Roman-Rite Archdiocese of Cafa, together with non-German Catholics in the country. The Protestant congregations, divided as they were among Germans and Estonians, Uniters and non-Uniters, remained unorganized for many years. Talk of a combined Lutheran church for Crimea was interrupted by the Second Great War. In 1995, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Crimea finally effected a unification of nearly all Protestant churches in the country. It is led by a single bishop with rather limited power. For several years the church has been discussing a possible reunion with Rome, along the lines of the Holy Roman Episcopal Lutherans in Germany. Those congregations from the Reuniting tradition are enthusiastic about the plan, while the others have warmed to the idea. Reunification may not be far away.
The Estonians
Nordic, Finnic-speaking, and Lutheran - the Estonians might seem slightly out of place in the Crimean steppes. They arrived in the Crimea in the middle of the 19th century, making them relative latecomers. They came together with other Christians from across the Russian Empire, part of the Tsar's plan to flood the peninsula with Christian settlers in an attempt to overwhelm other religions. They settled in what was largely Tatar land in the center of Crimea. The town of Nova Estonija was the early center of the community and remains so today; its mayor is the recognized leader of the Estonian milet. Most Estonians live in rural areas around Nova Estonija. Another pocket lives near Cesleve on the west coast, and many others are in urban Acmescit. Most Estonians are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of the Crimea (see above).
The Mennonites (Krimmer Brethren)
A community of Mennonite Brethren left mainland Ukraine to settle in the Crimea in the years following the Crimean War, attracted by available land and a climate of tolerance. They practiced a strict focus on spirituality and baptism by immersion. Since then they have mostly kept to themselves. They maintain their Plautdietsch language and separate religious organization. They politely declined an offer to unite with Crimea's other Protestants in the mid-1990s.
The Krimmer Brethren, as they are known, number a bit less than 10,000. Their original colony and main center is the village of Karassan, not far from Acmescit; over the years they have spread into several other villages. In their dress and habits, the Krimmer Mennonites are not "Old Order:" they allow modern clothing and, when deemed necessary, technology; but they still endeavour to live their lives as simply as possible. They do not allow political participation. They do not vote for parliament except for the special elections in which they choose the one MP to represent the milet, and that MP's job is merely to speak for the community's interests in the Rada; he or she never participates in committee work and does not cast votes.
The Krimmer Brethren, as they are known, number a bit less than 10,000. Their original colony and main center is the village of Karassan, not far from Acmescit; over the years they have spread into several other villages. In their dress and habits, the Krimmer Mennonites are not "Old Order:" they allow modern clothing and, when deemed necessary, technology; but they still endeavour to live their lives as simply as possible. They do not allow political participation. They do not vote for parliament except for the special elections in which they choose the one MP to represent the milet, and that MP's job is merely to speak for the community's interests in the Rada; he or she never participates in committee work and does not cast votes.
The Moldovans (Romanians)
Romanian people are some of the most recent newcomers to Crimea. Most began to arrive after Sebastopol became a major port, and the majority continue to live in and around the capital. The suburb of Xerson has a neighborhood specifically built for Romanian immigrants, anchored by the Romanian Orthodox Church of the Holy Nativity built along Holy Square. The commerce between Odesa and Sebastopol, and Odesa's status since 1919 as a Romanian city, ensured continued movement of people between those ports. Many people have family in both cities. Because of the influence of Odesa, all Romanians in Crimea are termed "Moldovans" even if their origins lie in other parts of Romania.
The Emerivijeri
One final set of people that bears mentioning is the collection of European tycoons and aristocrats who frequent the coastal towns of the Crimean Riviera. Known as Emerivijeri in Parra, they are a rather diverse lot; most are from Russia or France, with some titled nobility of Germany, Italy, Turkey, and elsewhere thrown in. All are very international in their outlook; whether Crimean citizens or not, they spend much of each year traveling in other countries.
It was during the tsarist period that the Riviera first emerged as an upper-class resort. In those days, members of the imperial family could frequently be found here cavorting with exiled French nobles. They had a great impact on Crimea's economy, fueling its first tourism and creating its export wine industry. The Soviet Revolution brought this era to an abrupt end; the nobles left and their şatoju (chateaux) and dáxaju (dachas) became state property. Right-wing Russian rule returned in 1946 and soon the elite tourists did, too. Many, in particular the French, have put down roots and became influential members of the community. Some have invested in the country and gained oligarchic status. They form the core of a social set that includes frequent visitors and property owners who are not permanent residents.
It was during the tsarist period that the Riviera first emerged as an upper-class resort. In those days, members of the imperial family could frequently be found here cavorting with exiled French nobles. They had a great impact on Crimea's economy, fueling its first tourism and creating its export wine industry. The Soviet Revolution brought this era to an abrupt end; the nobles left and their şatoju (chateaux) and dáxaju (dachas) became state property. Right-wing Russian rule returned in 1946 and soon the elite tourists did, too. Many, in particular the French, have put down roots and became influential members of the community. Some have invested in the country and gained oligarchic status. They form the core of a social set that includes frequent visitors and property owners who are not permanent residents.
Others
People from other ethnicities have settled in Crimea over the years, but their groups are too small or indistinct today to be classified as a separate milet. One of the earliest was a colony of Anglo-Saxons established by the eleventh century. The village of Lunçat, in the mountains above Aluşta, was originally named for London. But the English long ago faded into the Crimean Gothic community, leaving behind little except a few place and personal names.
Other groups of people came in smaller numbers during the Russian era. Alongside the Germans came a number of Bohemians, who spoke a related language and adhered to a similar religion. Little remains but their surnames. From the Baltic coast of the Russian Empire came Skuodians, speakers of a separate Slavic language that was severely persecuted by the Russians. A few Skuodians in Crimea still speak their own language, but the community is not particularly vibrant.
Other groups of people came in smaller numbers during the Russian era. Alongside the Germans came a number of Bohemians, who spoke a related language and adhered to a similar religion. Little remains but their surnames. From the Baltic coast of the Russian Empire came Skuodians, speakers of a separate Slavic language that was severely persecuted by the Russians. A few Skuodians in Crimea still speak their own language, but the community is not particularly vibrant.