Determining the boundaries of the Crimean Khanate is quite problematic, it is obvious that it did not have certain boundaries... This is what V.D. Smirnov, who thoroughly and fairly well researched the history of the Crimean Khanate. He emphasizes that the issue of territorial boundaries, the area of the Crimean Khanate is further complicated by the fact that the emergence of the Khanate itself as a separate state center conceals many ambiguities. Its history becomes completely reliable only from the moment when it came into close contact with Ottoman Empire, having fallen into vassal dependence on her under Sultan Muhammad II. The early history has many "blank spots". Only one coastal strip, long ago developed by European colonists, constitutes a definite exception, but also not in full measure.
Therefore, we can only determine the approximate boundaries of this state. The Crimean Khanate is, first of all, the Crimea itself, however, its southern coast at first belonged to the Genoese, and since 1475 it passed to the Turkish Sultan; the principality of Theodoro was also independent before the Turkish invasion of the peninsula. As a result, the khan owned only the foothill and steppe part of the Crimea. Perekop was not a border, through it the khan had an exit from the Crimea to the “field”, where the northern outlines of the Crimean Khanate were lost in the vast expanses of the steppe. A significant part of the Tatars constantly roamed beyond Perekop. In the spring, on the steppe expanses of the Northern Black Sea region, they rushed to the pastures and the Crimean uluses proper. Known are those tracts in the steppe, where in the 15th century there were military forces guarding the nomad camps, which to a certain extent can be considered the approximate borders of the Crimean Khanate. So, the Molochnaya (or Mius) river begins as the border of the Crimean Khanate from the side of Astrakhan and the Nogai. In the north, the Crimean possessions reach the Horse Waters. In 1560, all the Crimean uluses were pushed back beyond the Dnieper, to the borders of the Lithuanian principality.
Thus, the borders of the Crimean Khanate under the first Crimean khans outside the peninsula are determined from the eastern side by the Molochnaya River, and maybe expand further, towards Mius. In the north, on the left bank of the Dnieper, they go beyond Islam Kermen, up to the Konskie Vody River. In the west, the Crimean nomad camps extend in the steppe beyond Ochakov to Belgorod to Sinyaya Voda.
Almost the same boundaries of the Crimean Khanate are indicated by a number of researchers, but among them Tunmann stands out, who even accompanied his work with a rather detailed map. In defining the more precise boundaries of the Crimean Khanate, it has great importance"Map of the Crimean Khanate after the Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy Peace of 1774-1783", compiled and drawn by N.D. Ernst. Analysis of these data allows us to fairly accurately determine the boundaries of the Crimean Khanate. The territory of the khanate was heterogeneous in terms of natural and climatic conditions. Northern slopes Crimean mountains, the valleys of Salgir, Alma, Kachi, Belbek with their gardens and vineyards, finally, the steppes in the Crimea itself and beyond it created special, peculiar conditions for the development of the economy.
In addition to these geographical conditions, it is important to note that the Crimea was the country of the most ancient agricultural culture. The Tatars met here with a number of nationalities, the economic structure of which was determined by the centuries-old past. Part of the Crimean nationalities - Greeks, Karaites, Genoese and others - became part of the population of the yurt; on the other hand, many Tatars settled in Greek villages in the vicinity of Kaffa, Sudak, Balaklava and in these cities themselves.
Joint life, the beginning process of assimilation with the former population inevitably led to a change in the economic structure of the Tatars, nomadic pastoralists who found themselves in the region with ancient traditions farming culture.
Socio-political structure of the Crimean Khanate
A characteristic feature of the socio-political structure of the Crimean Khanate was the preservation of tribal traditions for many centuries. A number of additional factors that accompanied the history of the Crimean Khanate also had a significant impact on all spheres of the life of the state and, in particular, on the management system. To be on the Crimean throne, especially to rule in the Crimean Khanate, seemed far from an easy task. Each khan had to carefully weigh his own, both internal and foreign policy, taking into account the numerous nuances. It was necessary to deeply know the ancient traditions of their people, among which tribal relations were extremely significant.
Back in the 17th and even in the 18th century, the Tatars - both Crimean and Nogai - were divided into tribes, divided into clans. At the head of the birth were beys- the highest Tatar nobility, who concentrated in their hands significant wealth (cattle, land, pastures), captured or granted by the khans, and, at the same time, great power. Large yurts- the estates (beyliks) of these clans, which became their patrimonial possessions, turned into feudal principalities, almost independent of the power of the khan, with their own administration and court, with their own militia.
One step lower on the social ladder were the vassals of the beys and khans - Murza(Tatar nobility). A special group was made up of the Muslim clergy. The next step was occupied by the Tatar "simple" (without titles) population of the uluses, a step below - the dependent local population, and slaves were at the bottom of the social ladder.
Thus, the tribal organization of the Tatars was a shell of relations typical of many nomadic peoples who preserved the traditions of their ancestors. Nominally, the Tatar clans, led by beys and murzas, were in vassal dependence on the khans, in particular, they were obliged to deploy troops during military campaigns, but in fact, the highest Tatar nobility was a full-fledged mistress in essentially all spheres of the khanate's life. The domination of the beys, the murz was characteristic feature political system Crimean Khanate.
The main princes and murzas of Crimea belonged to a few specific clans. The oldest of them have long settled in the Crimea and have been known since the 13th century. Which of them occupied a dominant position in the XIV century? There is no unanimous answer to this. The oldest clans include, first of all, the clan Yashlau (Suleshev), Shirins, Barynov, Argyns, Kipchaks.
In 1515 Grand Duke of all Russia Vasily III insisted that the names of Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Kipchak, that is, the princes of the main Tatar clans, be allocated for the presentation of gifts (commemoration). The princes of these four clans, as is known, were called "Karachi" (karach-bey). The Karachi Institute was a common phenomenon of Tatar life. In Kazan, in Kasimov, in Siberia, among the Nogai, the main princes were called Karachi. At the same time, as a rule, there were four Karachas everywhere, with the exception of some cases.
But Karachi was not all equal in weight and importance. The most important was the importance of the first prince (bey), essentially the second person in the state after the sovereign. We note the same concept among the Tatars. The position of the first prince in the Crimea was quite close to that of the khan.
The first prince also received the right to certain income, the commemoration had to be sent with the following calculation: two parts to the khan, and one part to the first bey.
As you know, the Shirinskys were the first among the beys of the Crimean Khanate. Moreover, beys of this clan occupied a leading position not only in the Crimea, but also in other Tatar uluses. At the same time, despite the scattering of the separate Tatar kingdoms, a certain connection, a certain unity was preserved between the entire Shirinskys clan, but the Crimea is considered the main nest from which the clan of these Beys spread.
The Shirins' possessions in Crimea extended from Perekop to Kerch. Solkhat - Old Crimea - was the center of the Shirins' possessions.
How military force The Shirinskys were one thing, acting under a common banner. The independent Shirin princes, both under Mengli-Girey I and under his successors, often took a hostile position towards the khan. “But from Shirina, sir, the tsar does not live smoothly,” stated the Moscow ambassador in 1491. “And from Shirina, his strife has gone great,” the ambassadors of the Moscow sovereign note a century later. Such enmity with the Shirinskys, apparently, was one of the reasons that forced the Crimean khans to move their capital from Solkhat to Kyrk-or.
The possessions of the Mansurovs covered the Yevpatoria steppes. Beimis of the Argynskikh beys was located in the region of Kaffa and Sudak. Beylik Yashlavskikh occupied the space between Kyra-or (Chufut-kale) and the Alma River.
In their yurts-beyliks, the Tatar beys were sovereign masters, this is also confirmed by the khan's labels (letters of gratitude).
As already noted, beys and murzas largely limited the power of the Crimean khans: the heads of the most powerful clans - the Karachi - made up the Divan (Council) of the khan, who was the highest government agency Crimean Khanate, where the most important issues of domestic and foreign policy of the state were resolved. The sofa was also the highest court. The congress of the khan's "vassals" could be complete or incomplete, and this did not have of particular importance in its competence. But the absence of influential beys and, above all, of the tribal aristocracy (Karach-beys) could paralyze the implementation of the Divan's decisions.
Based on this, without the Council (Divan), the khan, in general, could not solve a single issue. This is confirmed by the reports of the Russian ambassadors to their sovereign: "A khan without a yurt (ie, Divan - author) cannot commit any great deed, which should be between the state."
The princes not only influenced the decision of the khan, but the choice of the khans depended on them. Repeatedly, as a result of conspiracies of the beys, the khan was overthrown from the throne. Especially in this "beys" Shirinsky were "distinguished". No less influential, but less privileged in Crimea was the Nogai clan of the Mansurovs (Mansur).
In favor of the Beys and Murzas, tithes went from all the cattle that were in the personal property of the Tatars, and from all the booty captured during the predatory campaigns, which were organized and led by the Tatar aristocracy, which also received significant income from the sale of captives.
The main activity of the serving nobility was the military, in the khan's guard. The Horde was also a certain fighting unit, led by the Horde princes. Numerous uhlans commanded the khan's detachments (the ancient Mongolian term was still applied to them - the uhlan of the right and left hand).
The governors of the cities were the same serving khan princes: the Kyrkor prince, Ferrik-Kermensky, the prince Islam of Kermen and the Ordabazar governor. The office of governor of one city or another, as well as the title of prince, was transferred to members of the same family. Among the feudal lords close to the khan's court there was higher clergy Crimea, which to one degree or another influenced the domestic and foreign policy of the Crimean Khanate.
The Crimean khans have always been representatives of the Gireiev clan. They had a very magnificent title: "Ulug Yortni, ve Tekhti Kyrying, ve Desht and Kypchak, ulug khani", which accordingly meant: "Great Khan of the Great Horde and the throne (state) of Crimea and the Kypchak steppes."
Before the Ottoman invasion, the Crimean khans were most often elected by representatives of the highest aristocracy, primarily by the Karach-beys. But since the conquest of Crimea, elections for the khan have been carried out extremely rarely, this was already an exception to the rule. The High Porta appointed and removed the khans depending on their interests. It was usually enough for the padishah, through a noble courtier, to send one of the Gireys, destined to be the new khan, an honorary fur coat, a saber and a sable cap studded with precious stones, with a hatti sheriff, that is, an order signed with his own hand, which was read collected in the Divan Karach- beyam; then the former khan (most often) abdicated the throne without a murmur. If he dared to resist, then for the most part effortlessly led to obedience by the garrison stationed in Kaffa, and the fleet sent to the Crimea. The deposed khans were usually sent to Rhodes. It seemed to be something extraordinary that the khan retained his dignity for more than five years. During the existence of the Crimean Khanate, according to V.D. Smirnov, 44 khan, but they ruled 56 times. There are other versions: in recent research most often it is noted that the Crimean throne was occupied by 48 khans, and they ruled 68 times (see diagram-table). This means that one and the same khan was either overthrown from the throne for some offense, then again, with appropriate honors, was elevated to the throne. Thus, Mengli-Girey I and Kaplan-Girey occupied the throne three times, and Selim-Girey became the "record holder": he was enthroned four times. It also came to curiosities: two khans - Janibek-Girey and Maksud-Girey did not even have time to reach the Crimea after their appointment to the khan's throne, as they were already removed from the unoccupied throne.
Giray is the generic name of the dynasty of the Crimean khans (at present, the Russified version of Giray is more widespread).
There are a number of assumptions about the origin of the name of the first Crimean Khan... In particular, a version was put forward that the khan, forced to hide from his pursuers, found shelter with the shepherds and subsequently, becoming a khan, as a token of gratitude added Gerai (kerai - shepherd) to his name. It was also suggested that he took this name as a token of gratitude to his teacher. There are other versions: more convincing is the assumption that the future khan received the name from his parents after birth. This name was quite widespread, and it bore a very flattering definition - "worthy, correct." And the prefix Haji appeared in Geray after he made a hajj (pilgrimage) to Mecca (probably in 1419).
It is interesting to note that of the six sons of Haji-Giray (hereinafter Girey), only one, the youngest, Mengli, added his father's name to his name - Girey. Later, all descendants inherited this name (including Azhezar Giray, who lives in England and is, in fact, the heir to the Crimean khans).
I would like to highlight once again the most important factors that had a huge impact on the position of the highest office in the state and political structure of the Crimean Khanate. To a certain extent to represent not only the enormous responsibility for the fate of their people that was entrusted to them, but also, to some extent, the tragedy of the position of the “highest office” in the state. At the same time, this situation led not only to a tragedy in the fate of the khan himself, but often of the entire Crimean Khanate and its people.
Such a factor as the election of the khan at kurultais (general gatherings) played a fairly large positive value when nobles, beys could protect the interests of their clan, tribe, people. However, during historical development when the political changed, economic situation, a new time came with its new requirements, the system remained the same. And later, when the highest nobility defended primarily their interests, and not the people, their ambitions and whims, the khan became a "toy" in the hands of his own "vassals." The situation became even more aggravated if unity was lost among the Beys, and the most powerful clans began to sort things out among themselves (in the Crimea, the clans of the Shirinsky and Mansurovs were often at odds). The feud of childbirth could continue long time bringing huge harm both the state and the people. At the same time, the Crimean Khan did not have real power to solve such problems.
One or another bey (especially often in this respect the Nogai were "different"), disregarding the interests of the state, with the prohibitions of the khan and even the Turkish sultan, raided the territory of the state with which the Crimean Khanate and Turkey concluded a peace or even an alliance treaty. And neither the khan nor the sultan with such a "bey-anarchist", in general, could not cope.
The vassal dependence of the Crimea on Turkey did not contribute to the rise of the prestige of the Crimean Khan. Possessing, in fact, unlimited power, the Turkish sultan was not at all interested in the power of the Crimean Khanate, just as he was not interested in the independence of its khans. The main criterion for appointing to the khan's throne was not how successfully and skillfully the pretender would rule for his people and his state, but how useful and, most importantly, how obedient to the Turkish sultan this khan would show himself in the future.
As a result, very often, far from their homeland (somewhere in Persia), the warriors of the Crimean Khanate, warriors of the Crimean Khanate, were endlessly waged by the Sublime Porta without any benefit to it.
So, paraphrasing, we can rightfully say: "You are heavy Giray's hat!" Khan prerogatives, which he enjoyed even under Ottoman rule, included public prayer (khutba), that is, offering him "for health" in all mosques during Friday services, commanding the troops, minting coins, the value of which he often, in his own way discretion, raised or lowered, the right to establish duties and tax their subjects.
In addition to the khan, there were six high ranks of the state dignity: Kalga, Nuraddin, Orbei and three seraskirs or Nogai generals Kalga Sultan - the first person after the khan, the governor of the sovereign. In the event of the death of the khan, the reins of government rightfully passed to him until the arrival of a successor. If the khan did not want or could not take part in the military campaign, the kalga assumed command of the troops. The residence of the Kalgi Sultan was located in Ak-Mechet (the territory of modern Simferopol), not far from the capital of the khanate - Bakhchisarai. He had his own vizier, his sofa-effendi, his own qadi, his court consisted of three officials, like the khan's. The Kalga Sultan sat in his couch every day. This couch was in charge of all the crimes of the district, even if it was about the death sentence. But the Kalga had no right to make a final verdict, he only examined the process, and the khan could approve the verdict. Kalgu Khan could be appointed only with the consent of Turkey; most often, when appointing a new khan, the Istanbul court also appointed Kalgu Sultan.
Nuraddin Sultan is the second person. In relation to the kalga, he was the same as the kalga in relation to the khan. During the absence of the khan and kalga, he assumed command of the army. Nuraddin had his vizier, his divan effendi and his qadi. But he did not sit in the Divan. He lived in Bakhchisarai and retired from the court only if he was given an order. On campaigns, he commanded small corps. He was usually a prince of blood.
Orbey and seraskirs occupied a more modest position. These officials, in contrast to the kalgi-sultan, were appointed by the khan himself. One of the most important persons in the hierarchy of the Crimean Khanate was considered the Mufti of the Crimea, or kadiesker. He lived in Bakhchisarai, was the head of the clergy and interpreter of the law in all controversial or important cases. He could mix cadi if they were wrong.
Dictionary
Beys- the highest Crimean Tatar nobility.
Kettlebells(Gerai) - the ruling dynasty of the Crimean khans.
Sofa- Council of the highest nobility in the Crimean Khanate, the largest landowners (owned beyliks).
Murza- Crimean Tatar nobility (nobility)
Beylik- patrimonial land tenure of the highest Crimean Tatar nobility beys.
Mufti- in the Crimean Khanate - the head of the Crimean Muslims. Usually appointed by the Turkish Sultan.
As a result of the Mongol-Tatar conquests in the 13th century. a huge feudal state of the Golden Horde (ulus Jochi) arose, the founder of which was Khan Batu.
In 1239, during the Mongol-Tatar expansion to the west, the Crimean peninsula with the peoples living there - the Kipchaks (Polovtsy), Slavs, Armenians, Greeks, etc. - was occupied by the troops of the Chinggisids. From the end of the 13th century. in the Crimea, a feudal rule was established, dependent on the Golden Horde.
At the same time, in the 13th century, with the participation of the crusaders on the territory of the Crimean peninsula, colonies-cities (Kerch, Sugdeya (Sudak), Chembalo (Balaklava), Chersonesos, etc.) of Italian (Genoese and Venetian) merchants arose en masse. In the 70s of the 13th century. with the permission of the Great One Mongol Khan the large Genoese colony of Kafa (modern Feodosia) was founded. There was a constant struggle between the Genoese and Venetian merchants for control and influence over the Italian colonies of the Crimea. Timber, grain, salt, furs, grapes, etc. were exported from the colonies. The Tatar feudal nobility through the Italian colonies conducted an active trade in slaves. Italian cities in the Crimea were in vassal dependence on the Tatar feudal lords and paid tribute to them, subject to repression from the latter in case of resistance.
At the beginning of the 15th century, with the support of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Khadzhi Girey (the founder of the dynasties of the Crimean and later Kazan khans) seized power in the Crimea and declared himself a khan. It actually did not depend on the Golden Horde, in which, due to the dynastic feud between the Chinggisids, the process of disintegration had already begun. The year of the founding of the independent Crimean Khanate in historiography is 1443. The Lower Dnieper region also became part of the Khanate. The largest and most influential Crimean uluses were the uluses of the Kipchak, Argyn, Shirin, Baryn and other families. The main activities of the Crimean feudal lords were horse breeding, cattle breeding and the slave trade.
Vassalage to the Ottoman Empire.
After the fall of Constantinople in 1453, the Turks occupied the Balkan Peninsula and captured the Dardanelles and Bosphorus straits. The Genoese Republic was bound by allied obligations with Byzantium. After the fall of the main citadel of the once mighty Byzantine Empire, all Italian colonies in the Crimea were under the threat of occupation by the Ottomans.
In 1454, the Turkish fleet approached the Crimean peninsula, shelled the Genoese colony of Akkerman and laid siege to Kafa from the sea. The Crimean Khan immediately met with the admiral of the Sultan's fleet; he concludes an agreement with the Ottomans and announces joint action against the Italians.
In 1475, the Turkish fleet again laid siege to Kafa, bombarded it and forced the Genoese to surrender the city. After that, the Turks seized the entire coastal strip of Crimea, including part of the Azov coast, declared it the possession of the Turkish Sultan, transferred power to the Turkish Pasha and transferred significant military forces to the sanjak (a military-administrative unit of the Ottoman Empire), which was newly proclaimed by the Turks on the Crimean coast, with its center in Cafe ...
The northern part of the steppe Crimea and the territory in the lower reaches of the Dnieper passed into the possession of the Crimean Khan Mengli Girey (1468-1515), who became a vassal of the Turkish Sultan. The capital of the Crimean Khanate was moved to Bakhchisarai.
Union with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. XV century.
This period in the history of the Crimean Khanate during the reign of Mengli Girey is associated with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Taking advantage of the hostile relations between the Crimean Khanate and the White Horde, the Moscow Grand Duke Ivan III entered into an alliance with Mengli Giray. The latter in 1480 sent his army into the possession of the Polish king Casimir IV, who was an ally of the White Horde khan Akhmat, who marched with an army to Moscow, thereby preventing the coalition of the Polish-Lithuanian state and the White Horde in the war with the Grand Duchy of Moscow. As a result of the successful allied actions of Mengli Giray, the Moscow principality finally freed itself from under the Tatar yoke and began to create a centralized state.
Confrontation with the Russian kingdom. 16th - first half of the 17th centuries
The seizure of the southern coast of Crimea by the Ottoman Empire created a serious danger for Russia from the Crimean Tatar khans, who made predatory raids, capturing slaves for the huge Turkish slave market. In addition, the Kazan Khanate became the mainstay of Turkey and the Crimean Khanate in their further expansion against the Russian principalities, especially after the accession to the Kazan throne of the representative of the khans' dynasty Gireyev, who were the conductors of Turkey's foreign policy plans of conquest. In this regard, the subsequent relations of Rus (later the Russian Empire) with the Crimean Khanate were openly hostile.
The territories of Russia and Ukraine were constantly attacked by the Crimean Khanate. In 1521 the Krymchaks besieged Moscow, and in 1552 - Tula. The attacks of the Crimean Khan on the young Russian kingdom became more frequent during the Livonian War (1558-1583). In 1571, the Crimean Khan Devlet Girey I besieged and then burned Moscow.
After the death of the Russian Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible, the beginning of a prolonged turmoil and Polish intervention, the Crimean khans exacerbated the situation with constant raids on Russian territory, devastation and abduction of a huge number of people for subsequent sale into slavery in the Ottoman Empire.
In 1591 the Russian Tsar Boris Godunov repelled another attack on Moscow by the Crimean Khan Gazi Girey II.
During the Russian-Polish war of 1654-1667, the Crimean Khan sided with the Ukrainian hetman Vyhovsky, who went over with a part of the Cossacks to the side of the Polish-Lithuanian state. In 1659, in the battle of Konotop, the combined troops of Vygovsky and the Crimean Khan defeated the advanced elite units of the Russian cavalry of the princes Lvov and Pozharsky.
In the second half of the 17th century, during Russian-Turkish war 1676-1681 and the Chigirin campaigns of the Turkish Sultan 1677-1678 on the Right-Bank and Left-Bank Ukraine, the Crimean Khanate took an active part in the war with Russia on the side of the Ottoman Empire.
Expansion of Russia in the Crimean direction in the second half of the 17th - first half of the 18th centuries.
In 1687 and 1689, during the reign of Tsarina Sophia, two unsuccessful campaigns of Russian troops in the Crimea under the leadership of Prince V. Golitsyn took place. Golitsyn's army approached Perekop across the steppe previously burnt out by the Tatars, and was forced to return.
After the accession to the throne of Peter I, Russian troops made a number of Azov campaigns and in 1696 the Turkish, well-fortified fortress of Azov was taken by storm. Peace was concluded between Russia and Turkey. The independence of the Crimean Khanate in the field of foreign policy was significantly limited - the Crimean Khan, under the treaty, was prohibited from making any raids on the territory controlled by the Russian kingdom.
Khan Devlet Girey II, finding himself in a difficult situation, tried to provoke the Turkish sultan, inciting him to war with Russia, which was busy solving its northern problem in the war with the Kingdom of Sweden, but provoked the sultan's wrath, was removed from the khan's throne, and the Crimean army was disbanded.
The successor to Devlet Giray II was Khan Kaplan Girey, who was appointed by the Sultan. However, due to the serious successes of Russia in the Northern War, ottoman sultan Ahmad III re-places Devlet Giray II on the Crimean throne; equips the Crimean army with modern artillery and allows you to start negotiations with the Swedish king about a military alliance against Russia.
Despite the betrayal of the Zaporizhzhya Sich under the leadership of Hetman Mazepa, and the request of the latter to accept Right-bank Ukraine into citizenship of the Crimean Khan, Russian diplomacy worked perfectly: by persuasion and bribery of Turkish ambassadors, it was possible to persuade the Sultan not to go to war with Russia and to refuse to accept the Zaporozhye Sich into the Crimean Khanate.
Tensions between the Ottoman and Russian empires continued to build. After the victorious Battle of Poltava in 1709, Peter I demanded that the Sultan hand over the Swedish King Charles XII who had fled to Turkey, threatening, otherwise, to build a number of fortified fortresses along the border with the Ottoman Empire. In response to this ultimatum of the Russian tsar, in 1710 the Turkish sultan declared war on Peter I; this was followed in 1711 by the very unsuccessful Prut campaign of the Russian troops. In the war against the Russian tsar on the side of the Turks, the Crimean Khan took part with his 70 thousandth army. The fortified fortress of Azov and the coast of the Sea of Azov were returned to Turkey. However, already in 1736, the Russian army under the command of Field Marshal Minich invaded the territory of the Crimean peninsula and captured the capital of the khanate, Bakhchisarai. The epidemic that broke out in the Crimea forced the Russian army to leave the peninsula. In the following year, 1737, the Russian army of Field Marshal Lassi crossed the Sivash and again took possession of the peninsula. However, the Russian troops failed to gain a foothold in the Crimea this time too.
The conquest of the Crimean Khanate by the Russian Empire in the second half of the 18th century.
During the next Russian-Turkish war of 1768-1774, in 1771, the Russian army under the command of Prince Dolgorukov again occupied the entire Crimea. Sahib Girey II was appointed Khan instead of Maksud Girey Khan who fled to Istanbul. In 1774, the Kuchuk-Kainardzhiyskiy peace treaty was concluded between Russia and Turkey, according to which the Crimean Khanate was freed from vassal dependence on the Turkish sultan, and Russia received the right to retain the fortresses of Yenikale, Kerch, Azov and Kinburn. Despite formal independence, the Crimean Khanate turned from a vassal of the Turkish sultan into a state association dependent on the Russian empress.
In 1777, the commander of the Russian army, Field Marshal Rumyantsev, elevated Shagin Giray to the khan throne. However, in 1783 the last khan of the Crimean dynasty, Gireyev, abdicated the throne, and the once powerful Crimean Khanate ceased to exist, finally becoming part of the Russian Empire. Shagin Girey fled to Istanbul, but soon he was executed by order of the Turkish Sultan.
In 1797 Russian emperor Paul I established the Novorossiysk province, which included the Crimean peninsula.
Thus, the Crimean Khanate is the last major state formation that arose after the Great Mongol-Tatar conquest. of Eastern Europe Chinggisids in the 13th century. and the collapse of the Golden Horde. The Crimean Khanate lasted for 340 years (1443-1783).
The Crimean Khanate is a state entity that existed from 1441 to 1783.
The Crimean Khanate was formed as a result of the crushing of the Golden Horde. As a completely independent state from anyone, the Crimean Khanate did not last long.
Already in 1478 the large neighbor of the Khanate - the Ottoman Empire made a military campaign on the territory of Crimea. Its result was the establishment of the Crimean Khan's vassal dependence on the Ottoman emperor.
Crimean Khanate on the map
The history of the formation of the Crimean Khanate
In the 15th century, the Golden Horde was on the verge of collapse and the Crimean Khanate had already settled quite firmly on the territory of the peninsula. In 1420, the Khanate had already practically detached from the Golden Horde and became an almost independent state.
After the death of the Khan of the Golden Horde in 1420, a struggle for power began in the khanate and was won by the future founder of the dynasty, Haji I Girey. Already in 1427, Girey declared himself the ruler of the khanate. And only in 1441 the people declared him khan, after which Haji Girey sat on the throne.
The Golden Horde was so weakened that it was no longer able to send troops against the rebellious Crimean Khanate. The year 1441 is considered the beginning of the existence of a new state, when a full-fledged Crimean Khan began to rule.
The heyday of the Crimean Khanate
In 1480, the Tatars capture Kiev, severely destroy the city and plunder it, which deserves the satisfaction of the Moscow prince Ivan III. Diplomatic and trade relations were established between the Muscovy and the Khanate. In the late 70s, the Tatars attack the Byzantine principality of Theodoro - last stronghold empire. Under their onslaught, the principality was destroyed, and the lands were included in the khanate.
In the 15th century, the Crimean Khanate reaches the peak of its power. Khans conduct an active foreign policy focused on wars of conquest and numerous predatory raids, mainly on Poland and the Russian kingdom. The main goal raids were not just booty, but living people who were turned into slaves. The Khans carried slaves to the slave city of Kafu, from where they were sold, in most cases, to the Ottoman Empire.
warriors of the Crimean Khanate photo
Slave mining was an important economic activity for any Tatar warrior. In the Crimean Khanate itself, slavery was severely limited, they were released six years later according to custom.
In 1571, the Khanate gained military power and, despite the treaty with Muscovy, made a daring campaign, the reward was the capital of the state - Moscow. The Tatars captured Moscow, after which they robbed and burned it. In addition, the Tatars killed about a hundred thousand inhabitants, took fifty thousand prisoners. This was a serious blow for Moscow. A year later, the kingdom took revenge, but still annually paid a large tribute to the Tatars, up to the accession to the throne of young Peter I.
In the middle of the 17th century, the Tatars help Bohdan Khmelnitsky in the war against the Commonwealth. During the campaigns, they capture large prey and prisoners. However, at the decisive moment, the Tatars betray the Cossacks and return home, which became the reason for the defeat of the national liberation war of Bohdan Khmelnitsky. Until the end of the century, the Tatars, together with the Ottomans, participated in a series of wars against the Commonwealth (successfully) and the Muscovy (less successful).
Crimean Khanate and Russia
During Northern War between Moscow and Sweden, the Tatars take the side of Sweden and the Cossacks, who were allies of the Swedish king. During Battle of Poltava The Tatars were forbidden to go to war against Moscow, but already in 1711 they were sent with a large army to plunder Russian cities.
The young Tsar Peter I tried to defeat the army of the Tatars, but they surround the Tsar, and Peter almost falls into captivity. The Moscow tsar was forced to pay a large ransom and conclude a peace with the Tatars that was unfavorable for his state. This was the last rise of the Crimean Khanate - in the following years, Peter I would prepare an army of a new type and create a powerful dynasty that would destroy the Khanate.
Undermining the power of the khanate
In 1735-1738, the Crimean Khan, along with the army, was absent, and the Russian army took advantage of this situation - the Crimea was completely plundered, and the khan returned to the ashes. In 1736, the Russian army attacked Bakhchisarai and burned it, and all the inhabitants who did not manage to escape are killed. After the first campaign, hunger and disease reigned in the Crimea, and only they became the reasons that the Russian army refused to go on another campaign.
In the period from 1736 to 1738, the economy of the khanate was almost completely destroyed - a huge part of the population was exterminated, and the rest was under the threat of death from cholera. The most important cities for the state were also in ruins.
Crimean Khanate. captive photos
In 1768, the Crimean Khanate, together with the Ottoman Port, waged a war against the Russian Empire, which at that moment was already ruled by the ambitious Catherine II. In the course of hostilities, the Tatars suffer a crushing defeat, which calls into question the existence of the state in general. However, for a number of reasons, Catherine did not want to completely liquidate the Khanate, but only demanded that the Ottoman Empire renounce its vassalage over the Crimean Khan.
During the war, the territory of the khanate was in again plundered and the cities burned. Besides, South part the peninsula came under the possession of the Ottoman Empire, which was no longer an ally of the Khanate.
Rulers
The most famous khans were:
- Hadji I Giray - the founder of the Crimean Khanate and the ancestor of the dynasty, managed to create a strong state;
- Mengli I Giray - during his reign, the khanate established close relations with the Ottoman Empire, was the grandfather of Suleiman the Magnificent;
- Sahib I Giray - during his reign built the future capital of the state - Bakhchisarai;
- Islyam III Giray - participated in the national liberation war of Bohdan Khmelnitsky not the independence of the Zaporozhye freedoms against the Commonwealth.
The culture
From the very beginning of their existence, the Crimean Tatars were believers of Islam. However, in most of the Nogai tribes, which were also part of the khanate, there were still old pagan traditions, including shamanism. Despite the fact that the Tatars were considered exclusively nomadic people, they nevertheless built cities and defensive fortresses.
Crimean Khanate. embroidered belts photo
Although the Tatars loved to live in the middle of an open field, where they were engaged in cattle breeding, many still preferred to live in cities where they were protected by walls. The Tatars were actively engaged in winemaking, smelting iron and making high-quality sabers. Women weaved, embroidered, sewed.
Deeply religious, the khans erected great amount mosques. More than 1,500 mosques were built on the territory of Crimea alone until the 18th century.
Wars
In the Crimean Khanate, war was a way of survival, so absolutely all males were liable for military service: from small to large feudal lords. For a long period of time, the Crimean Khanate did not create regular troops. During the hostilities, the Crimean Khan called on the entire male population of the Khanate to war and went to war with a huge army of the militia.
Every boy with early age... The most important point of his training was horseback riding, because the Tatars fought on horseback. Crimean Tatars rarely attacked the regular armies first, but only raided neighboring territories and only if they were sure that the raid would end successfully.
Poor people willingly aspired to go on a campaign, because the prey that they would get during the hostilities went to them themselves, with the exception of a fifth of the loot - it was taken by the khan. The Tatars loved to fight in light armor and weapons. A light saddle or just a skin was put on the horse. They defended themselves either with ordinary clothes, or wore light armor.
The favorite weapon of the Tatars is a saber. Also, each Tatar warrior had a bow with arrows. The ropes were indispensable in the campaign; the Tatars tied the prisoners with them. Noble Tatar warriors could afford chain mail. In military campaigns, the Tatars did not even take tents with them. Sources say that they slept in the open air.
The Tatars could only fight in an open field, where they could use their advantage in cavalry and numerical superiority. If the horde did not have a numerical advantage, they tried to avoid combat. The Tatars did not like to besiege fortresses either, because they did not have siege weapons for this.
Accession to Russia
The last Crimean khan, Shahin Girey, tried to save his state and completely reform it, making the khanate a state of the European type. The reforms did not gain popularity among ordinary people, and the khan was expelled from his own country. Ordinary Tatars began to raid Russian territories again, despite the agreements.
At the beginning of the 1780s, the khanate no longer had either the financial means for its existence, or the economy, or the army, which, if necessary, could protect the few Crimean people. Catherine II in April 1783 issues a decree, which says that the Crimean Khanate will be liquidated as a state unit and become part of the Russian Empire. In 1784, Catherine proclaimed herself empress of these lands. And in 1791, the Ottoman Empire officially recognized that Crimea was a Russian possession.
- There is evidence that the ancestors of the Tatars in the 7th century AD reached the shores of Japan and there taught the local population the art of forging swords from first-class steel. Later, the Japanese slightly improved the technology and began to forge the legendary swords - "katanas". It is likely that it was the Tatars who contributed to this process;
- The population of the Crimean Khanate was extremely educated - almost all Tatars could speak and write freely in the Tatar language.
It was a cocktail of the descendants of dozens of peoples, in different time appearing on the peninsula. They were Scythians, Cimmerians, Goths, Sarmatians, Greeks, Romans, Khazars and others. The first Tatar troops invaded Crimea in January 1223. They ravaged the city of Sugdeya (Sudak) and left for the steppe. The next invasion of the Crimea by the Tatars dates back to 1242. This time the Tatars imposed a tribute on the population of the northern and eastern Crimea.
Batu gave Crimea and the steppes between the Don and the Dniester to his brother Maval. The capital of the Crimean ulus and the residence of the ulus emir was the city of Kyrym, built by the Tatars in the valley of the Churuk-Su river in the southeast of the peninsula. In the XIV century, the name of the city of Kyrym was gradually transferred to the entire Tavrida peninsula. At about the same time, on the caravan route from the steppe Crimea to the southern coast in the eastern part of the peninsula, the city of Karasubazar ("bazaar on the Karasu River", now the city of Belogorsk) was built, which quickly became the most populous and richest city in the ulus.
After the capture of Constantinople by the crusaders in 1204, Italian colonial cities arose on the shores of Taurida. Conflicts repeatedly arose between Italians and Tatars, but in general the Ulus emirs tolerated the existence of colonies. Trade with the Italians brought good profits to the emirs. The founder of the Girey dynasty, Khadzhi-Devlet-Girei, was born in the 20s of the 15th century in the Lithuanian castle of Troki, where his relatives fled during the Horde strife. Khadzhi-Girey was a direct descendant of the Golden Horde Khan Tash-Timur - a direct descendant of Tukoy-Timur - the grandson of Genghis Khan. Therefore, the Gireys, being considered Chingizids, claimed power over all states that arose on the ruins of the Golden Horde.
In Crimea, Haji Girey first appeared in 1433. According to the peace treaty of July 13, 1434, the Genoese recognized Haji Girey as the Crimean khan. However, a few months later the Nogai Khan Seyid-Akhmet knocked Girey out of the Crimea. Girey was forced to flee to his "homeland" in Lithuania, where in 1443 he was proclaimed the Crimean Khan. With the military and financial support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Casimir IV, Giray moved to the Crimea. Once again becoming the Crimean Khan, he made his capital the city of Crimea-Solkhat. But soon Seyid Akhmet again expelled Khadzhi Girey from Crimea. Finally, Khadzhi Girey became the Crimean Khan only in 1449.
In Crimea, Khadzhi Girey founded a new ("Palace in the Gardens"), which became under his son Mengli Girey new capital the state. Until 1990, not a single book on the history of the Crimean Khanate was published in Soviet historical literature. This was connected with the deportation of the Crimean Tatars in 1944, and with the inconsistency of the history of the khanate with Marxism-Leninism. Marxists believed that in the Middle Ages there were two classes - feudal lords and serfs, and the former lived at the expense of the backbreaking labor of the latter. In the Crimean Khanate, the feudal mode of production did not bring even half of the gross product of the khanate. The main mode of production was robbing neighbors. This mode of production was not described by Marx for the reason that similar states in Western Europe in the XIII - XIX centuries did not have.
The Europeans, waging large and small wars, during the hostilities also burned and plundered villages, raped women, and killed civilians. But that was a by-product of the war. The purpose of the war was to sign a profitable peace (territorial acquisitions, trade benefits, etc.). Several years of war were followed by 50 or even 100 years of peace.
Crimean Tatars raided their neighbors almost every year. Their goal of the war is to plunder and safely take away the loot. The Crimean khans had practically no regular troops. The army is going on a campaign from volunteers. As the historian D.I. Yavornitsky: "There has never been a shortage of such hunters among the Tatars, which depended mainly on three reasons: the poverty of the Tatars, their aversion to hard physical labor and fanatical hatred of Christians."
The historian V. Kokhovsky believes that the Crimean Khan raised a third of the total male population of the country for campaigns. In the middle of the 16th century, Devlet Girey led 120 thousand people with him to Russia. Thus, it was not the Crimean feudal lords who participated in the robberies, as Soviet historians claim, but, in fact, the entire male population of Crimea without exception.
The Tatar troops are well described by the French military engineer G. de Beauplan, who served in the Polish service from 1630 to 1648. The Tatars always went on a campaign light-handed: they did not carry with them either carts or heavy artillery. Tatar horses, the number of which reached 200 thousand, were content with steppe grass, were accustomed to forage for themselves in winter, tearing the snow with a hoof. Firearms Tatars did not use, preferring well-aimed shots from bows. With arrows, they could hit the enemy at full gallop from 60 or even 100 steps. Each Tatar took from 3 to 5 horses on the hike. Riders were able to replace tired horses with fresh ones, which increased the speed of movement of the troops. Some of the horses went to the Tatars for food.
The Tatars dressed very lightly: a shirt made of paper fabric, wide trousers from nanki, morocco boots, a leather hat, in winter - a sheepskin coat. The Tatar's armament is a saber, a bow, a quiver with 18 or 20 arrows, a whip (instead of spurs). A knife, a chair for making fire, an awl with ropes, threads and straps, 10-12 meters of leather rawhide rope for tying up slaves were hung to the belt. In addition, every dozen Tatars took with them a kettle for cooking meat and a small drum for the saddle bow. Each Tatar had a flute to summon his comrades if necessary. Noble and wealthy Tatars stocked up with chain mail, very valuable and rare among the Tatars.
The main food of the Tatars during the campaign was horse meat. Each Tatar had with him a certain amount of barley or millet flour and a small supply of dough fried in butter and dried over the fire in the form of bread crumbs. The Tatar's outfit had a leather tub to water the horses and drink himself. They cared more about the horses than about themselves. “If you lose a horse, you lose your head,” they said. At the same time, they gave little food to their horses on the way, believing that without food they could better endure fatigue.
The Tatars sat on their horses, bent over their backs, because they pulled the stirrups too high to the saddle to support them more firmly, in their opinion, and sit more firmly in the saddle. Tatar horses, called Bakeman, were not shod. Only noble nobles tied up cow horns with thick straps instead of horseshoes. Bakemans were mostly undersized, lean, and clumsy. But the Bakemans were distinguished by their extraordinary endurance and speed. They could ride 90-130 km in one day without rest.
The riders themselves were distinguished by lightness, agility, dexterity. Riding at full gallop on a horse, the Tatar held the bridle with the little finger of his left hand, with the rest of the fingers of the same hand held the bow, and right hand quickly shot arrows in any direction right on target.
An important governing body in the Crimean Khanate was a council - a sofa. In addition to the khan, the sofa included: kalgi-sultan (deputy and mentor), khansha valide (elder wife or mother), mufti, chief beks and oglans. In 1455, Hadji Giray managed to utterly defeat the army of Khan Seyid-Akhmet. A year earlier, the Crimean Khan, finding himself in a difficult situation, entered into an alliance with the Turks, who captured Constantinople and became the masters of the straits.
In June 1456, the first joint Turkish-Tatar operation against the Genoese was carried out in the Cafe. This action ended with the signing of a peace treaty, according to which the Genoese began to pay tribute to the Turks and Tatars.
In May 1475, the Turks, with the support of the Tatar detachments of Mengli Giray, captured Kafa. Turkish troops defeated and occupied the principality of Theodoro and all the cities of the southern coast of Crimea. The Genoese presence in Crimea was over.
In the spring of 1484, the combined troops of Sultan Bayazid II and the Crimean Khan Mengli Girey attacked Poland. On March 23, 1489, Poland signed a peace treaty, according to which Turkey retained the occupied lands in the Northern Black Sea region. The Crimean Khanate became a vassal of Turkey for 300 years. Turkey was the only buyer of captured Tatars and looted property. The only exceptions were prisoners released for ransom.
The Crimean Khanate was constantly at war with the Golden Horde, and Muscovy in this became an ally of the Crimean Gireys. At the same time, from the very beginning, Grand Duke Ivan III took a subordinate position in relation to Khan Mengli Girey. Ivan III “beat his forehead” to the khan, Mengli Girey “did not beat him with his forehead”, but he called Ivan his brother. Since the beginning of diplomatic relations with the Crimea, Muscovy actually began to pay tribute to the Gireys. Moreover, in Moscow, this money, furs and other goods sent annually to the Crimea were called gifts (commemoration).
In 1485, the Golden Horde army invaded the Crimea. Only with the help of the Turks and Nogai Tatars, Mengli Giray managed to expel the Golden Horde from the Crimea. From the north at this time to The Golden Horde Moscow troops attacked.
At the end of the summer of 1482, Mengli Giray's horde burned Kiev and took thousands of townspeople and villagers into slavery. In 1489 the Crimean Tatars invaded Podolia several times. Podolia was devastated by them and in 1494. Tatar army together with the Turkish defeated Galicia and Podolia in 1498, capturing about 100 thousand people. In 1499, the Crimean horde again plundered Podolia. All this suited Ivan III.
In the spring of 1491, the Golden Horde troops moved to. To the rescue of his ally, Ivan III sent an army of 60,000 to the steppe. Having learned about the campaign of the Moscow army, the Golden Horde left Perekop. In response, they raided Aleksin in 1492, and Kozelsk in 1499.
The Golden Horde Khan Shig-Akhmet in the fall of 1500 came to southern Tavria and approached Perekop. He failed to break through to the Crimea. He retreated to Kiev. The next year, Shig-Akhmet again appeared in the steppes, and again unsuccessfully. Then he destroyed Novgorod Seversky and a number of small towns, and then began to wander between Chernigov and Kiev.
In May 1502, Khan Mengli Girey gathered all the Tatars who could mount a horse and set off on Shig-Akhmet. A battle took place near the mouth of the Sula River. Shig-Akhmet was defeated and fled.
“This is how the famous Golden Horde ceased to exist,” wrote the historian S.M. Soloviev, - Crimea finally delivered Muscovy from the Batyevs' descendants. "
But, helping the Crimeans to finish off the decrepit Golden Horde, the Moscow prince and boyars did not understand what kind of enemy they were raising to their misfortune. Already in 1507, the Crimean Tatars attacked Moscow state... They plundered the Belevskoe, Odoevskoe and Kozelskoe principality. This is how the 270-year-old war of Muscovy-Russia began with Crimean Tatars, which ended in the 18th century with the defeat of Crimea and the annexation of its territory to the Russian Empire.
Map published in Vienna around 1790 with the boundaries of the Edisan Horde
From Kuban to Budzhak
Part 1
The Crimean Khanate was one of the most powerful states in Eastern Europe. Its borders covered a fairly large area. In addition to the Crimean peninsula itself as the center of the country, the territory of the khanate included lands on the continent: in the north, immediately beyond the Or-Kapy, Eastern Nogai stretched, in the north-west - Edisan, in the west - Budzhak, and in the east - Kuban.
The borders of the khanate are fixed in many written sources of the 15th - 18th centuries. In other words, if you look at the modern map and compare the available maps of the past centuries, you can see that the borders of the independent Crimean Tatar state included the modern Odessa, Nikolaev, Kherson, partly Zaporizhzhya regions of Ukraine and most of the modern Krasnodar Territory Russia.
Eastern Nogai
Immediately beyond the fortress city of Or-Kapa endless steppes began. This was the historical area called Eastern Nogai. In the south-west it was washed by the Black, and in the southeast - by the Azov seas. In the north, the Nogai lands bordered on the Wild Field, and later on the lands of the Zaporozhye Sich. Its natural border was the Shilki-Su (Horse Waters) and Ozyu-Su (Dnieper) rivers. The inhabitants of this steppe were two large Nogai hordes. The south belonged to the Dzhambuluk people, and the north belonged to the Edichkul people. Each of them was divided into separate clans. The Swedish historian Johann Erich Thunmann, who visited the khanate in the second half of the 18th century, named the names of the most noble families: Chazlu, Kangli-Argakli, Ivak, Kazai-Murza, Iguri, Ismail-Murza, Irkhan-Kangli, Badraki, Dzhegal-Boldi, Boyatash and Bayutai. And another traveler, German Ernst Kleemann, who visited Crimea in 1768-1770, reported at least important information about the number of inhabitants of East Nogai, namely about 500,000 Nogai families.
At the head of each clan was a Murza, who, in turn, was under the rule of the Crimean Khan. As you know, the Crimean Khanate did not have regular army... But the Crimean Khan could always rely on his faithful Nogais. On the first notification from Bakhchisarai about a military campaign in the steppe, the askers gathered and joined the khan's army, marching from Ora. As a rule, above each of the five largest Nogai hordes was one of the princes of the Girai dynasty in a high position - seraskir, in other words, a military leader, or minister of war. It was the seraskir who could command the Nogai askers during the military campaign.
According to the established tradition, the heads of noble Nogai clans were obliged to send four murzas with gifts and wishes of happiness and long reign to Bakhchisarai, to the court of the Crimean Khan, on the eve of great Muslim holidays.
The rest of the Nogays were free people. The steppe inhabitants had their own way of life, convenient for them in their usual habitat. It cannot be said that there were no cities, fortresses and large settlements in the steppe. Of course they were. It's just how many of the population was in the cities, now it's hard to say. However, they thrived and grew rich thanks to commodity-market relations. In Eastern Nogai, cities such as Aleshki are known (today it is small town in the Kherson region, renamed Tsyurupinsk), Aslan is a city on the Dnieper, about which very little information has survived, Yenichi - modern city Genichesk on the shores of the Sea of Azov and Kinburun or Kyl-Burun, which can no longer be found on modern map... Information about Kyzy-Kermen on the Dnieper, Islam-Kermen (now the city of Kakhovka), the fishing settlement of Ali-Agok (now the city of Skadovsk) has been preserved from the fortified cities-fortresses.
In addition, there were settlements and fortifications throughout the eastern Nogai steppe. As a rule, in the plan they were of the same type: solid houses, large yards, between which there were always empty gaps of 50 or 60 steps. In the middle of each village there was a vast space - a square where young Tatars could practice martial arts, and in another square, in the center of the village, a mosque was sure to rise. Despite the fact that the Nogais were Muslims, they still have long time traditions dating back to the times when the Turks professed Tengrianism were preserved.
Travelers in their descriptions of Tartary spoke of the Nogais of the steppe as friendly and hospitable people, calling them brave warriors. During the hostilities, the Nogais were the best archers. In addition to the bow, most of them were armed with a saber, a long dart called a sungu, a dagger and leather ropes. And only a few carried firearms.
In peacetime, the Edichkul and Dzhambuluk people were engaged in pasture cattle breeding and agriculture. Since the soil in the steppe was fertile, wheat, red and yellow millet, barley, buckwheat, asparagus, garlic and onions were grown here. The surplus was exported, and the Nogais, as a rule, brought them to the Crimean port cities. The main objects of sale were cereals, meat, oil, honey, wax, wool, hides, etc.
Eastern Nogai is territorially quite extensive and was a plain with rare heights. Felt a lack of fresh water due to the small number of rivers, especially in the central part of this area. However, they saved the wells that the Nogais built everywhere. True, in the south there was still the only lake, Sut-Su (Milk Waters) with fresh water. Bushes grew everywhere, there were no forests here either.
As Thunmann notes, fragrant herbs grew in the steppe, and the air here was saturated with a very pleasant, intoxicating, strong smell. And tulips were the most common flowers here.
The climate in the steppe is severe and damp. Cold weather began in late September. The summer is hot, but because of the constantly blowing winds in the steppes, the heat was tolerated fairly well.
There were many wild animals in the Nogai steppes: wolves, foxes, marmots, martens, wild boars and goats, hares, hazel grouses, partridges, as well wild horses... It is about this unusual breed horses can be read in the writings of many travelers who visited the Crimean Khanate. One of the earliest mentions is found in 1574 by the Polish chronicler Jan Krasinski.
These wild horses were distinguished by the fact that they were born with a reddish coat, which over the years became gray, mouse-colored, and the mane, tail and stripe along the rump remained black. They were famous for their temper and endurance, they were difficult to catch and very difficult to tame. As a rule, these wild "Mustangs" went in herds led by the most powerful stallions.
Another feature of the Nogai steppes cannot be ignored. These are mounds over the graves of noble Turks who were once buried in the Northern Black Sea region. Many of these mounds date back to Scythian times. Many travelers who visited here during the khan period could still observe on the tops of the burial mounds stone statues with a face always facing east.
Edisan, or Western Nogai
The borders between the khan's regions on the continent were mainly rivers. So, the lands of the Yedisans - Edisan or Western Nogai - stretched between the rivers Ak-Su (Bug) and Turla (Dniester), bordering in the west with Badjak. In the south, the lands of Edisan were washed by the Black Sea, and in the north-west they bordered on Poland (later on the Hetmanate) in the region of the river and the eponymous settlement Kodyma.
This entire territory was originally under the rule of the Crimean khans. In 1492, on the Black Sea coast, near the mouth of the Dnieper, the Crimean Khan Mengli Giray founded the Kara-Kermen fortress. But in 1526, the fortress passed into the possession of the Ottomans and from that year it became known as Achi-Kale. But the rest of the territory of Edisan still remained with the Crimean rulers, and the Nogais of the Edisan horde inhabited it.
The historian and traveler Thunmann wrote that the Edisan Horde was formed as part of the Great Nogai Horde in the steppes between the Volga and Yaik (now the Ural River). But after the 16th century, she migrated to the Kuban, and from there to the steppes of the Northern Black Sea region under the protection of the Crimean Khan, who secured them the land for residence, which became known as Edisan. These lands were already part of the Crimean Khanate and were inhabited by the Nogais, with whom, possibly, the Edisans later mixed. Tunmann notes that this horde was quite strong, it was she who in 1758 rebelled against the Crimean Khan Halim Girai and brought the Khan of Crimea Girai to power.
In social structure and way of life, the Edisans differed little from the eastern Nogai. And the historical fate of this country was similar to Vostochny Nogai and Crimea.
The nature and climatic conditions here are quite similar to the Eastern Nogai. However, in the northern and eastern parts of it there are mountains and valleys. But in the south, by the sea, there are plains and rare sandy hills. The vegetation in these places was sparse, only tall grass, where herds of sheep, cattle, horses and camels grazed. Game was abundant here. The soil was as fertile as in neighboring East Nogai. Good varieties of wheat grew here, which brought considerable income. local residents... Several salt lakes in the south of Yedisan were also profitable. And if in interior areas There was a shortage of water in the Eastern Nogai, then the Ak-Su, Turla, Kodyma, Chapchakly, Bolshaya and Malaya Berezan, Ulu, Kuchuk-Deligel rivers and many small rivulets flowed through the Western Nogai.
The historical centers of the region were Tatar cities: Balta, a border town on the Kadym River, Dubassary, a town on the Turle River (Dniester); Yeni-Dunya - a city on the Black Sea coast with a harbor and a fortress; Voziya is a coastal town and Khadzhibey by the Black Sea, near the mouth of the Turla. Residents of the cities of Edisan, as a rule, were engaged in trade. The main objects of trade were grain and salt.
To be continued…
Prepared by Gulnara Abdulaeva
