Crimea

Crimean Peninsula

May 2015 satellite image of the Crimean Peninsula
Geography
Location	Eastern Europe
Coordinates	45°18′N 34°24′E / 45.3°N 34.4°E / 45.3; 34.4Coordinates: 45°18′N 34°24′E / 45.3°N 34.4°E / 45.3; 34.4
Adjacent bodies of water	Black Sea Sea of Azov
Largest city	Sevastopol
Area	27,000 km2 (10,000 sq mi)
Highest elevation	1,545 m (5,069 ft)
Administration
Status	Controlled by Russia (except Ukrainian-controlled part of Arabat Spit), internationally recognised as part of Ukraine
Ukraine (de jure)
Regions	Autonomous Republic of Crimea Sevastopol Kherson Oblast (northern part of Arabat Spit, Henichesk Raion)
Russia (de facto)
Federal district	Southern Federal District
Federal subjects	Republic of Crimea Sevastopol
Demographics
Demonym	Crimean
Population	2,284,000 (2014 census)
Pop. density	84.6 /km2 (219.1 /sq mi)
Ethnic groups	Russians Ukrainians Crimean Tatars Greeks

The Crimean Peninsula (Crimean Tatar: Къырым ярымадасы, Qırım yarımadası; Russian: Кры́мский полуо́стров, Krymskiy poluostrov; Ukrainian: Кри́мський піво́стрів, Kryms'kıy pivostriv), also known simply as Crimea (/kraɪˈmiːə/; Crimean Tatar: Къырым, Qırım; Ukrainian: Крим, Krym; Russian: Крым, Krym, Greek: Κριμαία), is a major land mass on the northern coast of the Black Sea that is almost completely surrounded by both the Black Sea and the smaller Sea of Azov to the northeast. The peninsula is located south of the Ukrainian region of Kherson and west of the Russian region of Kuban. It is connected to Kherson Oblast 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 lagoons named Sivash from the Sea of Azov.

Crimea (or the Tauric Peninsula, as it was called from antiquity until the early modern period) 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 Persians, the Romans, the Byzantine Empire, the Crimean Goths, the Genoese and the Ottoman Empire, while at the same time its interior was occupied by a changing cast of invading steppe nomads and empires, such as the Cimmerians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Alans, Bulgars, Huns, Khazars, Kipchaks, Mongols and the Golden Horde. Crimea and adjacent territories were united in the Crimean Khanate during the 15th to 18th century.