Simferopol is the administrative, industrial and cultural centre of the Crimea since 1784 but the locality was populated from time immemorial. It is situated in a vast hollow between the Outer and Inner Ridges of the Crimean mountains, on the banks of the Salghir River.

In the 4th century the Scythians built the capital of their kingdom, Scythian Neapolis, on a high plateau, and it existed six centuries.

In the early 16th century, a Tartar settlement of Ak-Mechet -“White Mosque” appeared on the left bank of the Salghir River. It became the residence of the Crimean Khan’s heir.

According to the plan of 1842 a maze of curvilinear streets of Ak-Mesdjit was left to the southeast of the main street(now Kirov Avenue), and to the north and west of it rectangular blocks began to appear.

An April 8, 1783 the Manifesto of the annexation of the Crimea was declared.

Istanbul recognized the act of annexation on June,10, 1783.

Since 1783 the Crimea was the Russian Land. Read more… Read more »

The natural conditions of the Crimea are rather various.

The seaside slopes resemble the landscapes of many countries: Greece, Italy, Spain and Switzerland.

The higher plants number more than 2400 species, 240(10%) of them are endemics. There are more than 400 species of vertebrates, i.e. having the spinal column, 20 % of them are endemics. All Crimean endemics are listed in the Red Data Book.

In the biological respect the Crimea is an island. The salty littoral of Sivash is an insuperable obstacle for the most of species. So some neoendemics appeared.

Some of the Crimean endemics are still usual species: folded snowdrop, Crimean edelweiss, Crimean finch, black-necked jay, field vole of Iphigenia, Crimean black fox, Crimean carabus, and Crimean rodent. Read more »

Water is like blood in the vessels of an organism, supports a life. Water has always been a sacramental dream for each nation, especially in warm countries.

The whole world faced a critical shortage of clean, fresh water.

Fresh water makes only 1 % of all the reserve of the earth water

About 97% of the planet’s water is seawater, another 2% is locked in icecaps and glaciers. Vast reserves of fresh water underlie earth’s surface, but much of it is too deep. Read more »

The Crimea’s mountain area occupies a quarter of the peninsula. It begins not far from Simferopol, where the plain gradually transforms into foothills. The Crimean Mountains are a part of the Alpine-Himalayan belt of folded mountains.

They are not very high — 1000-1,500 meters above sea level. They extend from East to West for about 150 km along the south coast. The relief of the Crimean mountains consists of three well-defined parallel ridges Southern, Internal and External.

The Southern Ridge runs along the coastline in a close proximity to it. Its altitude is from 580 to 1,500 m while several peaks of Babugan and Chatyr-Dag exceed the mark of 1,500 m.

This ridge begins from the point to the North from Cape Aya («Saint») and extends to the East to Mountain At-Bash («Horse Head»). Then it turns to the North-East and from the Mountain Karatau («Black Mount»)  runs eastward gradually losing its height. In the vicinity of Feodosia it doesn’t exceed 300 m. Read more »