Crimea: predatory Crimean Khanate
Golden Horde. Genoa
In the XIV century, the Horde experienced a crisis caused by Islamization. The horde lost a significant part of the offensive power, and its forces were sent to the internal squabble, which ultimately destroyed the great power.
After another internecine slaughter in the sixties of the XIV century, the Golden Horde was divided into two parts - the eastern and the western (in Russia this civil strife was called “the greater noticeable”). In the western part - in the Northern Pontic and the Crimea - the power was seized by Temnik Mamai, who relied on the Polovtsy, who at that time were called “Tatars”, jars and Kasogs. Mamai was married to the daughter of the Golden Horde Khan Berdibek and although he was not from the Genghis Khan clan, he claimed the Khan power. His ally was Genoa, which created colonies along the entire southern coast of the Crimean peninsula. Transit trade and control of communications turned Mamai into the richest grandee, who could contain a huge army and impose his puppets on the khan's throne.
Great importance in this period in the Crimea acquired the Republic of Genoa. Genoa, a commercial port city on the shores of the Ligurian Sea in Northern Italy, had turned into a major maritime state by the beginning of the twelfth century. Having defeated its rival Venice, Genoa became the exclusive owner of the sea trade routes that ran along the Crimea. In the second half of the 12th century, Byzantium granted Genoa exclusive rights in the Black Sea. Venice has lost its possessions in the Crimea. In the middle of the XIII century, the Horde transferred the Genoese to the small coastal village of Feodosia. The Genoese called the city Kafa and turned it into their main stronghold in the Crimea. Then the Genoese signed an agreement with Constantinople, who previously owned the southern part of the Crimea. The Byzantines at that time needed help and were constantly giving way to Genoa and Venice, so the Genoese received the district with Kafa in possession, and the right of monopoly trade in the Black Sea region was confirmed.
At the end of the XIII century, Venice and Genoa again entered the war for spheres of influence. The Republic of Venice was broken. 1299, the Italian city-states signed the "perpetual peace". Genoa remained the sole mistress of trade communications of the Northern Black Sea and Crimea. Horde several times tried to survive the arrogant "guests", but they are already well strengthened and resisted. As a result, the Horde had to accept the presence of the Genoese lands in the Crimea. Venetians in the middle of the XIV century were able to penetrate the Crimea, but did not achieve much influence. During the “jam” in the Horde, the Genoese expanded their possessions in the Crimea. They captured Balaklava and Sudak. Subsequently, the entire Crimean coast from Kerch to Balaklava Bay near Sevastopol was in the hands of enterprising Italians. On the southern coast of the peninsula, the Genoese also founded new fortified points, including Posporo, based on the site of the former Korchev. In 1380, the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh recognized all the territorial seizures of the Genoese.
Genoa received a large profit from intermediary trade. Many land caravan routes from Europe, Russian principalities, the Urals, Central Asia, Persia, India and China passed through the Crimean peninsula. Sea routes connected Crimea with Byzantium, Italy, the region of the Middle East. The Genoese bought and resold the captured people, all the good looted by the nomads, various fabrics, weapon, decoration, fur, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain, fish, caviar, olive oil, wine, etc.
From time to time, the Horde captured and ravaged the Genoese strongholds. In 1299, Nogai's troops ravaged Cafu, Sudak, Kerch and Chersonese. He rode the Italian possessions of Khan Tokhta. In 1395, the Iron Lamer smashed Cafu and Tanu (modern Azov). In 1399, the ruler of the Golden Horde, Emir Edigu, became the ruler of the Golden Horde, and in the same year he made a campaign against the Crimea, during which he defeated and burned many of his cities. The Chersonesos field of this pogrom no longer recovered and after a few years ceased to exist. However, the huge profits from intermediary trade allowed the Genoese to rebuild their strongholds again and again. Kafa at the end of the XIV century was a major city and consisted of about 70 thousand people.
The Genoese supported Mamai in the campaign against Russia, displaying mercenary infantry. However, in the Battle of Kulikovo, Mamai's army suffered a crushing defeat. After that Mamai was defeated by the troops of Tokhtamysh. He fled to Cafa to his allies. However, they betrayed him. Mamaia killed.
At the beginning of the XV century there was a struggle between Tokhtamysh and Edigey. After the death of Tokhtamysh, his son Jelal ad-Din continued the struggle. Crimea often became the scene of fierce battles. Various candidates for the throne considered the Crimea, due to its isolated position, the most reliable refuge in the event of defeat. They willingly distributed land on the peninsula to their supporters and confidants. The remnants of defeated troops, detachments of various khans, aspirants to the throne, and military commanders flocked here. Therefore, the Turkic element gradually occupied a dominant position in the Crimea and mastered not only the steppe part of the peninsula, but also penetrated further to the mountainous coast.
Genoese fortress Kafa
Crimean Khanate
In the first half of the 15th century, the Golden Horde, as a united power, ceased to exist. Appeared several state formations with their dynasties. The largest fragment was the Great Horde, which occupied the steppes between the Volga and the Dnieper. In the interfluve of the Irtysh and Tobol formed the Siberian Khanate. The Kazan kingdom appeared on the middle Volga, occupying the lands of the former Volga Bulgaria. From the Great Horde, the legs nosed, wandering along the shores of the Azov and Black Seas. The Crimean ulus also became independent.
Ancestor of the Crimean dynasty was Haji I Giray (Gerai). Haji Giray was from the clan of Chingis and lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russian. In 1428, Haji Giray, with the support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt, captured the Crimean ulus. It was advantageous for Lithuania to support part of the Horde elite, sowing discord in the Horde and tidying up the hands of its region in the former South Russia. In addition, the Crimea was of great economic importance. However, the troops of Ulu-Mohammed drove him out. In 1431, at the head of a new army assembled in the Lithuanian principality, Haji Giray undertook a new campaign in the Crimea and occupied the city of Solkhat (Kyrym, Old Crimea).
In 1433, the Khan concluded an alliance with the Principality of Theodoro against the Genoese. Gothic Prince Alexei captured the Genoese fortress Chembalo (Balaclava). Genoa struck back. The Genoese recaptured Chembalo, then stormed and destroyed the Feodorian fortress Kalamita (Inkerman), which guarded the only port of the Christian principality. The Genoese continued the offensive, but the Tatars defeated them under Solkhat. Haji Giray laid siege to Cafu. The Genoese recognized him as the Crimean Khan and paid tribute.
In 1434, the Khan of the Golden Horde, Ulu-Mohammed defeated Haji Giray again, he fled to Lithuania. Meanwhile, strife of the Khans continued in the Black Sea steppes. Tatar troops devastated the peninsula several times. Around 1440, the Crimean Tatar nobility, led by the noble clans of Shirin and Baryn, asked Grand Duke Casimir to release Haji Giray to the Crimea. Haji Giray was enthroned by the Lithuanian Marshal Radziwill. From 1441, Haji Giray reigned in Crimea. After several years of fighting the Great Horde Khan Seid-Ahmed, the Crimean Khanate finally became independent. Haji Giray made an alliance with Theodoro, directed against the Genoese Kafa, helped recapture Kalamit. In addition, the Crimean Khanate was in alliance with Lithuania in the confrontation with the Great Horde. Haji Giray inflicted a series of heavy defeats to the khans of the Great Horde, Seyid Ahmed and Mahmud, a large number of soldiers rushed to him, which seriously increased the military power of the new khanate. Actions Haji Giray contributed to the final collapse of the Horde.
The capital of the Khanate was the city of Crimea-Solkhat. Not far from Chufut-Kale, on the banks of the Churuksu river, Haji Giray founded the “Palace in the gardens” - the city of Bakhchisarai, which became the new capital of the Khanate when his son Mengli Giray was. The majority of the population of the Khanate were Crimean Tatars. The first mention of this ethnonym - “Crimean Tatars” - was noted at the beginning of the 16th century in the works of S. Herberstein and M. Bronevsky. Prior to this, the nomadic population of Crimea was called the "Tatars". The Crimean Tatars were formed as a nationality in the Crimea in the XV-XVII centuries. That is, it is a very young people.
The basis of the "Crimean Tatars" were assimilated and from ancient times living here descendants of Aryans - Cimmerians, Tauris, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths, Slavs, as well as fragments of the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy who fled to the peninsula. The waves of migration of the Turks from Asia Minor also played their role. Horde "Tatars" united all politically, and Islam - ideologically. As a result, Turkization and Islamization led to the emergence of the Crimean-Tatar nationality.
Recent genetic studies confirm this. On the basis of inheritance on the Y chromosome, most of the Crimean Tatars belong to the haplogroup R1a1 (the Aryan haplogroup formed in southern Russia). Then a significant proportion among the Tatars of Crimea have carriers of haplogroups J1 (Middle Eastern group, characteristic of the Jews) and G (West Caucasian). Also has a significant percentage of haplogroup J2 (Middle East group), inferior to her haplogroup C, characteristic of Central Asia. Thus, the ethnographic basis of the Crimean Tatars is Aryan. However, there is a large percentage of "Khazars", "Circassians" and Turks. For several centuries, Turkization and Islamization turned everyone into the “Crimean Tatars”. This is not surprising. All processes are manageable. Literally before our eyes, from a part of the Russian people they successfully create a separate ethnos - “Ukrainians”. They also construct “Pomors”, “Cossacks” and “Siberians”.
In the southern part of Crimea assimilation was slower. Here in the countryside Christians prevailed. Therefore, the Greeks, Armenians, Goths, Italians, Slavs, people from the Caucasus, etc., lived there for quite a long time. However, by the time the Crimean Peninsula was annexed to the Russian Empire, almost all were assimilated, only the communities of Greeks and Armenians survived, but not entering the composition of Russia. So the last Goths disappeared in the XVIII century.
Parasitic nature of the Crimean Khanate
Several forms of land distribution arose on the territory of the Crimean Khanate: Khan land tenure, possessions of nobility (Beyliks) and Murzin lands, lands of the Ottoman sultan, waqf lands belonging to the clergy and communal lands. The Crimean nobility - the families of Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Segeut, Mangit, and others, owned fairly large land holdings. Their owners, the Beks, were wealthy and able to maintain large detachments. They stood at the head of the leading clans that united the tribes. The Beks owned the land, which ensured their power over the herdsmen, the so-called "Black people", they had the right to court, set the size of taxes and corvee. Military nobles also depended on the beks. It was the Beks who determined the policy of the Khanate, often decided the fate of the Crimean khans. In addition, the Oglans were included in the Crimean elite — Tsarevich-Chingizids, military noblemen (Murza), Muslim clergy (Mullahs), and Ulama theologians.
Officially, all power belonged to the khan and khan council (sofa), which included the khan himself, kalga-sultan — the second most important person in the khanate (heir, appointed by the khan from among brothers, sons or nephews), the elder wife or mother of the khan, mufti - The head of the Muslim clergy, the main beks and Oglan. The third in importance after the Khan and the kalga face in the hierarchy of the Crimean Khanate, the second heir to the throne was called Nurradin-Sultan (Nureddin).
The territory of the Khanate in its heyday included not only the Crimean peninsula, but also Azov and North Black Sea steppes, right up to the Danube and the North Caucasus. The main centers of the Crimean trade were Perekop, Kafa and Gozlev. In the Crimea, brought leather, fur, fabrics, iron, weapons, grain and other food. In the Crimea, they made morocco (treated goat leather), morocco footwear, sweetie (skins taken from newborn lambs). Also from the Crimea brought silk, wine, brought from other countries, and salt. A special export item was camels, which were bought in Poland and Russia. But historically Crimea became famous as the largest center of the slave trade. He inherited the sad glory of Khazaria.
It should be noted that the Genoese merchants and descendants of the Khazars at first played a leading role in the development of the slave trade on the peninsula. For many centuries, the Crimean ports have become the leading suppliers of living goods — Russian, Polish, Circassian (Caucasian), Tatar (in the steppe, strife) of girls and children. Men were sold much less: healthy men resisted to the last, cost less, and were the source of rebellion and all sorts of disobedience. It was much easier for women and children to “train”. Living goods mostly did not remain in the Crimea, but were exported to the Ottoman Empire, Southern Europe, Persia and Africa.
Large role in the formation of the predatory-robbery Crimean Khanate (Robotic parasitic Crimean Khanate and the fight against it) played the Ottoman Empire. The period of the formation of the Crimean Khanate coincided with the time of the formation of a powerful Ottoman power, which was then feared in almost all of Europe. Already in 1475, the son of Haji-Giray Mengli-Girei recognized himself dependent on the sultan's power. The Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Practically at the same time, other state entities were liquidated in Crimea. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror organized an expedition to the Crimea to fight the Genoese. The Turkish troops, supported by the Crimean horsemen, besieged Cafu, the fortress soon capitulated. Pali and other Genoese strongholds. The Turks seized the capital of the Theodoro Christian Principality - Mangup. The entire population of the city was slaughtered or sold. In the future, all the inhabitants of the principality were Islamized and assimilated. The Genoese lands, Theodoro, as well as a number of large cities and fortresses of the Black Sea, Azov and Kuban regions directly became part of the Ottoman Empire. In strategic places, the Ottomans built strong fortresses or used the existing ones. Thus, they became the real owners of the Crimea and the entire Black Sea region. Khans began to be appointed, shifted by the will of the sultans. Many Crimean princes constantly lived in Constantinople in order to please the sultan and take the throne.
Constantinople was advantageous to encourage the aggression of the Crimean Khanate against the Russian state and Poland. The strikes of the Crimean Tatars mainly fell on the southern and western Russian lands that were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although it happened that the invaders broke through the Polish lands themselves. The Crimean Khanate was supposed to help the Brilliant Port to move further east during its heyday. In addition, the slave trade brought great profits to Ottoman merchants. Later, when the Ottoman Empire lost most of its offensive potential, the Crimean Khanate allowed it to retain control of the Northern Black Sea region. On the other hand, military garrisons, shock troops of the Janissaries, Ottoman artillery strengthened the military power of the Crimean Khanate, which allowed him for a long time to restrain the pressure of the Russian state.
Agricultural work in the Crimea was occupied mainly by the dependent population, which was subjected to assimilation, Islamization, and gradually turned into "Tatars". The Crimean Tatars themselves preferred the occupation of "noble people" - robber raids to capture the full, which was a very profitable business. It is clear that almost all the profits went into the pockets of the nobility, the “black people” could barely make ends meet. In the steppe regions of the Crimea, animal husbandry was developed, primarily the breeding of sheep and horses, but poor shepherds were engaged in this. The basis of the economy of the Khanate for a long period of time was the trade in living goods. From the end of the 15th century, the Crimean detachments began to make regular raids and large-scale campaigns against their neighbors — the Caucasus, the Russian state, lands subject to Poland. People were hijacked during conflicts with other steppe dwellers.
The envoy of the King of Poland, Martin Bronevsky, who lived in Crimea for several months in 1578, noted: “The people are predatory and hungry, they value no vows, no unions, no friendship, but only their own benefits, and live by looting and constant war of treason” .
The Crimean Khanate did not have a regular army. With great hikes and raids, the Crimean Khans and Murza recruited volunteers, people dependent on them. In the campaign could participate from 20 to 100 thousand riders. Almost all of the free Tatar population of the peninsula could participate in a large expedition. In the raid participated from several hundred to several thousand soldiers. They did not take the convoy with them, fed on raids with barley or millet flour and horse meat, fed on the loot. Artillery was seldom taken, only on very large marches, when the Ottomans took part. They moved quickly, replacing tired horses on fresh ones. Armed with sabers, knives, bows, and later firearms appeared. Armor was mostly only among the nobility.
The raids were usually arranged in the summer, when the majority of people (peasants) participated in field work and could not quickly hide in cities or forests. They sent forward reconnaissance, if the path was clear, the main forces of the horde or raid party came out. Usually the horde went on a campaign not for conducting military operations. If the enemy found out about the enemy and managed to bring considerable forces to the border, the Tatars usually did not accept the battle and left, or tried to trick the enemy, bypass him, break through to the rear, quickly rob the villages, capture prisoners and escape from retaliation. Lightly armed riders usually successfully escaped the blows of heavy squads and regiments.
Having broken into the Russian lands, the riders staged a hunting hunt (round-up). Cities and fortresses bypassed. The villages were taken on the move or set on fire, and then they chopped down those who resisted, robbed and took people captive. Adult prisoners and young people were driven like cattle, arranged in rows by several people, tied their hands back with rawhide belts, wooden poles were passed through these belts, and ropes were thrown around their necks. Then, holding the ends of the ropes, they surrounded all the unfortunate riders and drove them across the steppe, whipping up whips. Such an agonizing way "weed out" the weak, the sick. They were killed. The most valuable "goods" (children, young girls) were carried. Reaching the relatively safe land, where they no longer waited for the chase, sorted and divided the "goods". Patients, the elderly were immediately killed or given away to young people - to “train” their predatory skills.
He was in the Polish-Tatar army during the campaign of King Jan Casimir to the left-bank Ukraine in 1663 — 1664. Duke Antoine de Gramont left a description of this process. The robbers killed all the old people who were not capable of hard work, healthy men were left for the Turkish galleys (they used slaves as rowers). Young boys were left for "pleasure", girls and women - for violence and sale. Section prisoners passed by lot.
The English envoy in the Russian state, D. Fletcher, wrote: "The main booty, which the Tatars seek in all their wars, is a large number of prisoners, especially boys and girls, whom they sell to the Turks and other neighbors." For the transportation of children, the Crimean Tatars took large baskets, prisoners weakened or became ill on the way, mercilessly killed, so as not to linger.
On the peninsula is full was sold in the slave markets. Large markets were in Cafe, Karasubazar, Bakhchisarai and Gozlev. The second-hand merchants - Turks, Jews, Arabs, Greeks, etc., bought up people at the lowest price. Some of the people left in the Crimea. Men were used in heavy and dirty work: salt mining, digging wells, collecting manure, etc. Women became attendants, including sex slaves. Most of the field was transported to other countries and regions - to Porto, its many provinces - from the Balkans and Asia Minor to North Africa, Persia. Slavic slaves fell into Central Asia, India. During transportation by sea with “goods” they didn’t stand on ceremony, more or less normal conditions were created only for the most precious “goods”. A large number of slaves and an "inexhaustible" source of "goods", as in the trade of blacks from Africa, paid off all the costs. Therefore, the mortality was terrible.
After being transported, the men were sent to galleys, where poor food, diseases, hard work and beatings quickly killed them. The part was sent for agricultural and other hard work. Some were turned into eunuchs, servants. Girls and children were bought as servants and for carnal pleasures. A small number of beautiful women had a chance to become a legitimate wife. So, so far many have heard the name Roksolana. Anastasia-Roksolana became the concubine, and then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the mother of Sultan Selim II. She had a great influence on her husband’s policies. However, it was a rare exception to the rule. There were so many Slavic slaves in the Ottoman Empire that many Turks became their children and grandchildren, including prominent military and government leaders.
Sale of a child slave. V. Vereshchagin
To be continued ...
In the XIV century, the Horde experienced a crisis caused by Islamization. The horde lost a significant part of the offensive power, and its forces were sent to the internal squabble, which ultimately destroyed the great power.
After another internecine slaughter in the sixties of the XIV century, the Golden Horde was divided into two parts - the eastern and the western (in Russia this civil strife was called “the greater noticeable”). In the western part - in the Northern Pontic and the Crimea - the power was seized by Temnik Mamai, who relied on the Polovtsy, who at that time were called “Tatars”, jars and Kasogs. Mamai was married to the daughter of the Golden Horde Khan Berdibek and although he was not from the Genghis Khan clan, he claimed the Khan power. His ally was Genoa, which created colonies along the entire southern coast of the Crimean peninsula. Transit trade and control of communications turned Mamai into the richest grandee, who could contain a huge army and impose his puppets on the khan's throne.
Great importance in this period in the Crimea acquired the Republic of Genoa. Genoa, a commercial port city on the shores of the Ligurian Sea in Northern Italy, had turned into a major maritime state by the beginning of the twelfth century. Having defeated its rival Venice, Genoa became the exclusive owner of the sea trade routes that ran along the Crimea. In the second half of the 12th century, Byzantium granted Genoa exclusive rights in the Black Sea. Venice has lost its possessions in the Crimea. In the middle of the XIII century, the Horde transferred the Genoese to the small coastal village of Feodosia. The Genoese called the city Kafa and turned it into their main stronghold in the Crimea. Then the Genoese signed an agreement with Constantinople, who previously owned the southern part of the Crimea. The Byzantines at that time needed help and were constantly giving way to Genoa and Venice, so the Genoese received the district with Kafa in possession, and the right of monopoly trade in the Black Sea region was confirmed.
At the end of the XIII century, Venice and Genoa again entered the war for spheres of influence. The Republic of Venice was broken. 1299, the Italian city-states signed the "perpetual peace". Genoa remained the sole mistress of trade communications of the Northern Black Sea and Crimea. Horde several times tried to survive the arrogant "guests", but they are already well strengthened and resisted. As a result, the Horde had to accept the presence of the Genoese lands in the Crimea. Venetians in the middle of the XIV century were able to penetrate the Crimea, but did not achieve much influence. During the “jam” in the Horde, the Genoese expanded their possessions in the Crimea. They captured Balaklava and Sudak. Subsequently, the entire Crimean coast from Kerch to Balaklava Bay near Sevastopol was in the hands of enterprising Italians. On the southern coast of the peninsula, the Genoese also founded new fortified points, including Posporo, based on the site of the former Korchev. In 1380, the Horde Khan Tokhtamysh recognized all the territorial seizures of the Genoese.
Genoa received a large profit from intermediary trade. Many land caravan routes from Europe, Russian principalities, the Urals, Central Asia, Persia, India and China passed through the Crimean peninsula. Sea routes connected Crimea with Byzantium, Italy, the region of the Middle East. The Genoese bought and resold the captured people, all the good looted by the nomads, various fabrics, weapon, decoration, fur, leather, honey, wax, salt, grain, fish, caviar, olive oil, wine, etc.
From time to time, the Horde captured and ravaged the Genoese strongholds. In 1299, Nogai's troops ravaged Cafu, Sudak, Kerch and Chersonese. He rode the Italian possessions of Khan Tokhta. In 1395, the Iron Lamer smashed Cafu and Tanu (modern Azov). In 1399, the ruler of the Golden Horde, Emir Edigu, became the ruler of the Golden Horde, and in the same year he made a campaign against the Crimea, during which he defeated and burned many of his cities. The Chersonesos field of this pogrom no longer recovered and after a few years ceased to exist. However, the huge profits from intermediary trade allowed the Genoese to rebuild their strongholds again and again. Kafa at the end of the XIV century was a major city and consisted of about 70 thousand people.
The Genoese supported Mamai in the campaign against Russia, displaying mercenary infantry. However, in the Battle of Kulikovo, Mamai's army suffered a crushing defeat. After that Mamai was defeated by the troops of Tokhtamysh. He fled to Cafa to his allies. However, they betrayed him. Mamaia killed.
At the beginning of the XV century there was a struggle between Tokhtamysh and Edigey. After the death of Tokhtamysh, his son Jelal ad-Din continued the struggle. Crimea often became the scene of fierce battles. Various candidates for the throne considered the Crimea, due to its isolated position, the most reliable refuge in the event of defeat. They willingly distributed land on the peninsula to their supporters and confidants. The remnants of defeated troops, detachments of various khans, aspirants to the throne, and military commanders flocked here. Therefore, the Turkic element gradually occupied a dominant position in the Crimea and mastered not only the steppe part of the peninsula, but also penetrated further to the mountainous coast.
Genoese fortress Kafa
Crimean Khanate
In the first half of the 15th century, the Golden Horde, as a united power, ceased to exist. Appeared several state formations with their dynasties. The largest fragment was the Great Horde, which occupied the steppes between the Volga and the Dnieper. In the interfluve of the Irtysh and Tobol formed the Siberian Khanate. The Kazan kingdom appeared on the middle Volga, occupying the lands of the former Volga Bulgaria. From the Great Horde, the legs nosed, wandering along the shores of the Azov and Black Seas. The Crimean ulus also became independent.
Ancestor of the Crimean dynasty was Haji I Giray (Gerai). Haji Giray was from the clan of Chingis and lived in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Russian. In 1428, Haji Giray, with the support of the Grand Duke of Lithuania Vitovt, captured the Crimean ulus. It was advantageous for Lithuania to support part of the Horde elite, sowing discord in the Horde and tidying up the hands of its region in the former South Russia. In addition, the Crimea was of great economic importance. However, the troops of Ulu-Mohammed drove him out. In 1431, at the head of a new army assembled in the Lithuanian principality, Haji Giray undertook a new campaign in the Crimea and occupied the city of Solkhat (Kyrym, Old Crimea).
In 1433, the Khan concluded an alliance with the Principality of Theodoro against the Genoese. Gothic Prince Alexei captured the Genoese fortress Chembalo (Balaclava). Genoa struck back. The Genoese recaptured Chembalo, then stormed and destroyed the Feodorian fortress Kalamita (Inkerman), which guarded the only port of the Christian principality. The Genoese continued the offensive, but the Tatars defeated them under Solkhat. Haji Giray laid siege to Cafu. The Genoese recognized him as the Crimean Khan and paid tribute.
In 1434, the Khan of the Golden Horde, Ulu-Mohammed defeated Haji Giray again, he fled to Lithuania. Meanwhile, strife of the Khans continued in the Black Sea steppes. Tatar troops devastated the peninsula several times. Around 1440, the Crimean Tatar nobility, led by the noble clans of Shirin and Baryn, asked Grand Duke Casimir to release Haji Giray to the Crimea. Haji Giray was enthroned by the Lithuanian Marshal Radziwill. From 1441, Haji Giray reigned in Crimea. After several years of fighting the Great Horde Khan Seid-Ahmed, the Crimean Khanate finally became independent. Haji Giray made an alliance with Theodoro, directed against the Genoese Kafa, helped recapture Kalamit. In addition, the Crimean Khanate was in alliance with Lithuania in the confrontation with the Great Horde. Haji Giray inflicted a series of heavy defeats to the khans of the Great Horde, Seyid Ahmed and Mahmud, a large number of soldiers rushed to him, which seriously increased the military power of the new khanate. Actions Haji Giray contributed to the final collapse of the Horde.
The capital of the Khanate was the city of Crimea-Solkhat. Not far from Chufut-Kale, on the banks of the Churuksu river, Haji Giray founded the “Palace in the gardens” - the city of Bakhchisarai, which became the new capital of the Khanate when his son Mengli Giray was. The majority of the population of the Khanate were Crimean Tatars. The first mention of this ethnonym - “Crimean Tatars” - was noted at the beginning of the 16th century in the works of S. Herberstein and M. Bronevsky. Prior to this, the nomadic population of Crimea was called the "Tatars". The Crimean Tatars were formed as a nationality in the Crimea in the XV-XVII centuries. That is, it is a very young people.
The basis of the "Crimean Tatars" were assimilated and from ancient times living here descendants of Aryans - Cimmerians, Tauris, Scythians, Sarmatians, Alans, Goths, Slavs, as well as fragments of the Khazars, Pechenegs, Polovtsy who fled to the peninsula. The waves of migration of the Turks from Asia Minor also played their role. Horde "Tatars" united all politically, and Islam - ideologically. As a result, Turkization and Islamization led to the emergence of the Crimean-Tatar nationality.
Recent genetic studies confirm this. On the basis of inheritance on the Y chromosome, most of the Crimean Tatars belong to the haplogroup R1a1 (the Aryan haplogroup formed in southern Russia). Then a significant proportion among the Tatars of Crimea have carriers of haplogroups J1 (Middle Eastern group, characteristic of the Jews) and G (West Caucasian). Also has a significant percentage of haplogroup J2 (Middle East group), inferior to her haplogroup C, characteristic of Central Asia. Thus, the ethnographic basis of the Crimean Tatars is Aryan. However, there is a large percentage of "Khazars", "Circassians" and Turks. For several centuries, Turkization and Islamization turned everyone into the “Crimean Tatars”. This is not surprising. All processes are manageable. Literally before our eyes, from a part of the Russian people they successfully create a separate ethnos - “Ukrainians”. They also construct “Pomors”, “Cossacks” and “Siberians”.
In the southern part of Crimea assimilation was slower. Here in the countryside Christians prevailed. Therefore, the Greeks, Armenians, Goths, Italians, Slavs, people from the Caucasus, etc., lived there for quite a long time. However, by the time the Crimean Peninsula was annexed to the Russian Empire, almost all were assimilated, only the communities of Greeks and Armenians survived, but not entering the composition of Russia. So the last Goths disappeared in the XVIII century.
Parasitic nature of the Crimean Khanate
Several forms of land distribution arose on the territory of the Crimean Khanate: Khan land tenure, possessions of nobility (Beyliks) and Murzin lands, lands of the Ottoman sultan, waqf lands belonging to the clergy and communal lands. The Crimean nobility - the families of Shirin, Baryn, Argyn, Segeut, Mangit, and others, owned fairly large land holdings. Their owners, the Beks, were wealthy and able to maintain large detachments. They stood at the head of the leading clans that united the tribes. The Beks owned the land, which ensured their power over the herdsmen, the so-called "Black people", they had the right to court, set the size of taxes and corvee. Military nobles also depended on the beks. It was the Beks who determined the policy of the Khanate, often decided the fate of the Crimean khans. In addition, the Oglans were included in the Crimean elite — Tsarevich-Chingizids, military noblemen (Murza), Muslim clergy (Mullahs), and Ulama theologians.
Officially, all power belonged to the khan and khan council (sofa), which included the khan himself, kalga-sultan — the second most important person in the khanate (heir, appointed by the khan from among brothers, sons or nephews), the elder wife or mother of the khan, mufti - The head of the Muslim clergy, the main beks and Oglan. The third in importance after the Khan and the kalga face in the hierarchy of the Crimean Khanate, the second heir to the throne was called Nurradin-Sultan (Nureddin).
The territory of the Khanate in its heyday included not only the Crimean peninsula, but also Azov and North Black Sea steppes, right up to the Danube and the North Caucasus. The main centers of the Crimean trade were Perekop, Kafa and Gozlev. In the Crimea, brought leather, fur, fabrics, iron, weapons, grain and other food. In the Crimea, they made morocco (treated goat leather), morocco footwear, sweetie (skins taken from newborn lambs). Also from the Crimea brought silk, wine, brought from other countries, and salt. A special export item was camels, which were bought in Poland and Russia. But historically Crimea became famous as the largest center of the slave trade. He inherited the sad glory of Khazaria.
It should be noted that the Genoese merchants and descendants of the Khazars at first played a leading role in the development of the slave trade on the peninsula. For many centuries, the Crimean ports have become the leading suppliers of living goods — Russian, Polish, Circassian (Caucasian), Tatar (in the steppe, strife) of girls and children. Men were sold much less: healthy men resisted to the last, cost less, and were the source of rebellion and all sorts of disobedience. It was much easier for women and children to “train”. Living goods mostly did not remain in the Crimea, but were exported to the Ottoman Empire, Southern Europe, Persia and Africa.
Large role in the formation of the predatory-robbery Crimean Khanate (Robotic parasitic Crimean Khanate and the fight against it) played the Ottoman Empire. The period of the formation of the Crimean Khanate coincided with the time of the formation of a powerful Ottoman power, which was then feared in almost all of Europe. Already in 1475, the son of Haji-Giray Mengli-Girei recognized himself dependent on the sultan's power. The Crimean Khanate became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire. Practically at the same time, other state entities were liquidated in Crimea. Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II the Conqueror organized an expedition to the Crimea to fight the Genoese. The Turkish troops, supported by the Crimean horsemen, besieged Cafu, the fortress soon capitulated. Pali and other Genoese strongholds. The Turks seized the capital of the Theodoro Christian Principality - Mangup. The entire population of the city was slaughtered or sold. In the future, all the inhabitants of the principality were Islamized and assimilated. The Genoese lands, Theodoro, as well as a number of large cities and fortresses of the Black Sea, Azov and Kuban regions directly became part of the Ottoman Empire. In strategic places, the Ottomans built strong fortresses or used the existing ones. Thus, they became the real owners of the Crimea and the entire Black Sea region. Khans began to be appointed, shifted by the will of the sultans. Many Crimean princes constantly lived in Constantinople in order to please the sultan and take the throne.
Constantinople was advantageous to encourage the aggression of the Crimean Khanate against the Russian state and Poland. The strikes of the Crimean Tatars mainly fell on the southern and western Russian lands that were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, although it happened that the invaders broke through the Polish lands themselves. The Crimean Khanate was supposed to help the Brilliant Port to move further east during its heyday. In addition, the slave trade brought great profits to Ottoman merchants. Later, when the Ottoman Empire lost most of its offensive potential, the Crimean Khanate allowed it to retain control of the Northern Black Sea region. On the other hand, military garrisons, shock troops of the Janissaries, Ottoman artillery strengthened the military power of the Crimean Khanate, which allowed him for a long time to restrain the pressure of the Russian state.
Agricultural work in the Crimea was occupied mainly by the dependent population, which was subjected to assimilation, Islamization, and gradually turned into "Tatars". The Crimean Tatars themselves preferred the occupation of "noble people" - robber raids to capture the full, which was a very profitable business. It is clear that almost all the profits went into the pockets of the nobility, the “black people” could barely make ends meet. In the steppe regions of the Crimea, animal husbandry was developed, primarily the breeding of sheep and horses, but poor shepherds were engaged in this. The basis of the economy of the Khanate for a long period of time was the trade in living goods. From the end of the 15th century, the Crimean detachments began to make regular raids and large-scale campaigns against their neighbors — the Caucasus, the Russian state, lands subject to Poland. People were hijacked during conflicts with other steppe dwellers.
The envoy of the King of Poland, Martin Bronevsky, who lived in Crimea for several months in 1578, noted: “The people are predatory and hungry, they value no vows, no unions, no friendship, but only their own benefits, and live by looting and constant war of treason” .
The Crimean Khanate did not have a regular army. With great hikes and raids, the Crimean Khans and Murza recruited volunteers, people dependent on them. In the campaign could participate from 20 to 100 thousand riders. Almost all of the free Tatar population of the peninsula could participate in a large expedition. In the raid participated from several hundred to several thousand soldiers. They did not take the convoy with them, fed on raids with barley or millet flour and horse meat, fed on the loot. Artillery was seldom taken, only on very large marches, when the Ottomans took part. They moved quickly, replacing tired horses on fresh ones. Armed with sabers, knives, bows, and later firearms appeared. Armor was mostly only among the nobility.
The raids were usually arranged in the summer, when the majority of people (peasants) participated in field work and could not quickly hide in cities or forests. They sent forward reconnaissance, if the path was clear, the main forces of the horde or raid party came out. Usually the horde went on a campaign not for conducting military operations. If the enemy found out about the enemy and managed to bring considerable forces to the border, the Tatars usually did not accept the battle and left, or tried to trick the enemy, bypass him, break through to the rear, quickly rob the villages, capture prisoners and escape from retaliation. Lightly armed riders usually successfully escaped the blows of heavy squads and regiments.
Having broken into the Russian lands, the riders staged a hunting hunt (round-up). Cities and fortresses bypassed. The villages were taken on the move or set on fire, and then they chopped down those who resisted, robbed and took people captive. Adult prisoners and young people were driven like cattle, arranged in rows by several people, tied their hands back with rawhide belts, wooden poles were passed through these belts, and ropes were thrown around their necks. Then, holding the ends of the ropes, they surrounded all the unfortunate riders and drove them across the steppe, whipping up whips. Such an agonizing way "weed out" the weak, the sick. They were killed. The most valuable "goods" (children, young girls) were carried. Reaching the relatively safe land, where they no longer waited for the chase, sorted and divided the "goods". Patients, the elderly were immediately killed or given away to young people - to “train” their predatory skills.
He was in the Polish-Tatar army during the campaign of King Jan Casimir to the left-bank Ukraine in 1663 — 1664. Duke Antoine de Gramont left a description of this process. The robbers killed all the old people who were not capable of hard work, healthy men were left for the Turkish galleys (they used slaves as rowers). Young boys were left for "pleasure", girls and women - for violence and sale. Section prisoners passed by lot.
The English envoy in the Russian state, D. Fletcher, wrote: "The main booty, which the Tatars seek in all their wars, is a large number of prisoners, especially boys and girls, whom they sell to the Turks and other neighbors." For the transportation of children, the Crimean Tatars took large baskets, prisoners weakened or became ill on the way, mercilessly killed, so as not to linger.
On the peninsula is full was sold in the slave markets. Large markets were in Cafe, Karasubazar, Bakhchisarai and Gozlev. The second-hand merchants - Turks, Jews, Arabs, Greeks, etc., bought up people at the lowest price. Some of the people left in the Crimea. Men were used in heavy and dirty work: salt mining, digging wells, collecting manure, etc. Women became attendants, including sex slaves. Most of the field was transported to other countries and regions - to Porto, its many provinces - from the Balkans and Asia Minor to North Africa, Persia. Slavic slaves fell into Central Asia, India. During transportation by sea with “goods” they didn’t stand on ceremony, more or less normal conditions were created only for the most precious “goods”. A large number of slaves and an "inexhaustible" source of "goods", as in the trade of blacks from Africa, paid off all the costs. Therefore, the mortality was terrible.
After being transported, the men were sent to galleys, where poor food, diseases, hard work and beatings quickly killed them. The part was sent for agricultural and other hard work. Some were turned into eunuchs, servants. Girls and children were bought as servants and for carnal pleasures. A small number of beautiful women had a chance to become a legitimate wife. So, so far many have heard the name Roksolana. Anastasia-Roksolana became the concubine, and then the wife of the Ottoman Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent, the mother of Sultan Selim II. She had a great influence on her husband’s policies. However, it was a rare exception to the rule. There were so many Slavic slaves in the Ottoman Empire that many Turks became their children and grandchildren, including prominent military and government leaders.
Sale of a child slave. V. Vereshchagin
To be continued ...
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