The Crimean Peninsula
is a
major land mass on the northern
coast of the Black Sea that is almost completely surrounded by
water. The peninsula is located
south of the Ukrainian region of
Kherson and west of the Russian
region of Kuban. It is surrounded
by two seas: the Black Sea and the
smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast. It is connected to Kherson by
the Isthmus of Perekop and is separated from Kuban by the Strait of
Kerch. The Arabat Spit is located
to the northeast; a narrow strip of
land that separates a system of la-
goons named Sivash from the Sea
of Azov.
Crimea—or the Tauric Peninsula,
as it was formerly known—has
historically been at the boundary between the classical world
and the Pontic-Caspian steppe.
Its southern fringe was colonised
by the ancient Greeks, the ancient
Persians, the ancient Romans, the
Byzantine Empire, the Genoese
and the Ottoman Empire, while
at the same time its interior was
occupied by a changing cast of
invading steppe nomads, such as
the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarma-
tians, Goths, Alans, Bulgars, Huns,
Khazars, Kipchaks, and the Golden
Horde. Crimea and adjacent territories were united in the Crimean
Khanate during the 15th to 18th
century before falling to the Russian Empire and being included
into the Russian Taurida Governorate in 1802.
After the Russian Revolution of
1917, Crimea became a republic
within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic in the USSR.
In World War Two it was downgraded to the Crimean Oblast, and
in 1954, the Crimean Oblast was
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