Empire · 1441–1783 · Europe

Crimean Khanate

The Crimean Khanate broke away from the disintegrating Golden Horde in 1441 under Hacı Giray, founder of a dynasty descended from Genghis Khan that ruled for over three centuries from Bakhchysarai. In 1475 it became a vassal of the Ottoman Empire, which held the southern coast, yet the khans kept wide freedom and a powerful cavalry.

For two centuries Crimean raiders swept into Poland-Lithuania and Russia, carrying off hundreds of thousands of captives for the slave markets of Kaffa and Istanbul, and in 1571 Devlet Giray burned Moscow. As Russia grew stronger it pushed south, and the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca in 1774 made the khanate independent of the Ottomans, in practice a Russian client. Catherine the Great annexed it in 1783.

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Years

1441–1783

Capital

Bakhchysarai

Greatest extent

1600, about 300,000 km²

Region

Europe

Rough estimate: Crimea plus the steppe north of the Black Sea; no scholarly area figure found