Crimea

Crimea (IPA: ) or the Autonomous Republic of Crimea (Ukrainian: Крим, Автономна Республіка Крим, Avtonomna Respublika Krym; Russian: Крым, Автономная Республика Крым, Avtonomnaya Respublika Krym; Crimean Tatar: Qırım, Qırım Muhtar Cumhuriyeti) is an autonomous republic of Ukraine on the northern coast of the Black Sea occupying a peninsula of the same name.

The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times through its history: from Cimmerians to Greeks, Iranians, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, the state of Kievan Rus', Byzantine Greeks, Kipchaks, and the Mongols in its early history, to the Crimean Khanate and Ottoman Empire in the 15th–18th centuries, the Russian Empire in the 18th–20th centuries, to Nazi Germans in World War II and now to the newly independent Ukrainian state.

The total area of the republic is 26,200 km². As of 2005, Crimea has a population of 1,994,300 inhabitants. The capital of Crimea is the city of Simferopol.

Crimea is the homeland for the Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority who now make up about 13% of the population. The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin's government, but have begun returning to their homeland in recent years.