Portal:Crimea

Crimea [kraɪˈmiə] 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 total area of the republic is 26,200 km². It has a population of 1,994,300 inhabitants (2005). The capital of Crimea is the city of Simferopol.

It is the home of Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority who now make up 13% of the population.

The name Crimea takes its origin in the name of a city of Qırım (today's Stary Krym) which served as a capital of the Crimean province of the Golden Horde. Qırım is Crimean Tatar for "my hill" (qır – hill, –ım – my). The ancient Greeks called Crimea Taurida (later Taurica).

Yalta is a city in Crimea, southern Ukraine, on the north coast of the Black Sea. The city is located on the site of an ancient Greek colony, said to have been founded by Greek sailors who were looking for a safe shore (γιαλος - yalos in Greek) on which to land. It is situated on a shallow bay facing south towards the Black Sea, surrounded by wooded mountains. It enjoys a warm Mediterranean climate with many vineyards and orchards in the vicinity.

The term "Great Yalta" is used to designate a part of the Crimean southern coast spanning from Foros in the west to Gurzuf in the east and including the city of Yalta and multiple adjacent urban settlements (the area of Great Yalta is marked dark blue on the map).

Livadia Palace was a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, Nicholas II, and his family in Livadiya, Crimea in southern Ukraine. The Yalta Conference was held there in 1945, when the palace housed the apartments of Franklin Delano Roosevelt and other members of the American delegation.

Featured at Did you know section at the Wikipedia's Main Page

• ...that the proposals for a new Crimean flag after the collapse of the Soviet Union included a white flag with seven rainbow colors at the top and a blue-white-red tricolor design (pictured), which was officially adopted in 1999?
• ...that the Vorontsovsky Palace in Ukraine was designed by the English architect Edward Blore?
• ...that the Grand Crimean Central Railway was built very rapidly in 1855 enabling heavy ammunition to be transported to the Allied troops to end the siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War?
  
• ...that the Swallow's Nest (picture), constructed in 1911-1912 and located on top of a 40 meter cliff in Crimea, Ukraine, is a medieval-type castle which has survived an earthquake measuring 6-7 on the Richter scale?
• ...that Livadia Palace, a summer retreat of the last Russian tsar, was the setting of the 1945 Yalta Conference between the Big three?

• April 11, 2008 — Vandals have desecrated a Muslim cemetery on Ukraine's Black Sea Crimea peninsula, highlighting persistent ethnic tensions in the region.^(IHT)
• January 18, 2008 — The H5N1 strain of avian flu, which can be fatal to humans, has been detected in fowl at a farm on Ukraine's Black Sea Crimea peninsula.^{(Kyiv Post)}
• January 2, 2008 — Home Affairs Minister Yuriy Lutsenko has appointed major general Mykola Illichev a head of Crimean department.^(Pravda)
• December 19, 2007 — New Interior Minister Yuriy Lutsenko promises Crimean Tatars' Mejlis Head (pictured) to shortly analyze work of leadership of Crimean militia.^(NRCU)
• November 12, 2007 — Rescuers are searching for 20 sailors missing after a powerful storm hit the Azov (pictured) and Black Seas on Sunday.^{(BBC News)}