Crimean Khanate: 5 little-known facts

The Crimea has long attracted nomads and settlers, both from Asia and from Europe. At different times the peninsula was inhabited by Scythians, Greeks, Goths, Polovtsians and other peoples. In the 13th century Tatars appeared here, who in 1443 formed the Crimean Khanate. His story is full of interesting and ambiguous facts. Let's consider some of them.

Crimean khans considered themselves to be born of Ottoman sultans

Crimean Tatars and Turks had different origins and state traditions. The Ottoman Sultans were the descendants of the Anatolian emir of the 13th century, while the Crimean rulers were the descendants of Genghis Khan himself. This fact rarely showed itself openly, because the Crimean Khanate was dependent on the Ottoman Empire.

44 Crimean khan ruled 56 times

This discrepancy is connected with the fact that one and the same Crimean Khan could lose the throne, and then again occupy it. For example, Kaplan-Girey I and Men-gli-Girey I were thrice throne, and Selim-Girey - four times. This situation was caused by the great influence of the Ottoman Empire on the appointment and removal of khans. Often it was enough for the padishah to send a gift and order for appointment to the future khan, and the former ruler renounced the throne without excessive grumbling. The khan rarely ruled for more than 5 years. The lowered rulers of the Crimean Khanate, as a rule, were sent to Rhodes.

Members of the khan's family often lived outside the Crimea

Most of the members of the Khan dynasty of Gireyev lived in estates specially designated for them by Ottoman rulers. Most of these estates were located on the territory of modern Bulgaria. So, many representatives of Girey lived near the town of Yanbolu (modern Yambol). Not less members of the khan's family were on the island of Rhodes. After the Crimean Khanate completely lost its independence, Geirei left for Turkey. At the moment, one of the last representatives of the dynasty of the Crimean khans, Jazar Geray, lives in London.

Among the Crimean khans were poets

Some of the Crimean khans were distinguished by outstanding literary talents. But they often concealed their royal names under pseudonyms. For example, the Khan of Gaza II Girey wrote poems under the pseudonym of Gazayi, Mehmed IV Girey was known as Kamil or Sofu, under the name of Rezmi Bakhadyr I Girey was hiding. Poetic works were created not only by khans, but also by princesses from the Gireyas. The most famous was Khan-Zadeh-Hanim, sister of Ghazai and wife of Rezmi.

The biggest Crimean treasure

In 2007, on Mount Tepe-Oba (near Feodosiya), several summer residents found an old vessel filled with silver coins. These were coins of the Crimean Khanate. The treasure consisted of 10 thousand acce minting of the 16th century, and its weight was 6 kg. At a time when the Crimean Khanate was powerful, it was quite a large sum of money. For comparison: the price of the ram was 22-24 acres, the slave-man cost 800-900 ache, and the woman - 600 acche. The coins were made of low-grade silver and copper (80% copper and 20% silver). These coins were minted throughout the history of the state of the Crimean Tatars. Officially, this find is considered to be the largest (in terms of coins) treasure found in Ukraine.