Origins of the Crimean Tatars and
their path to becoming a nation

They speak the Crimean Tatar language and their religion is Sunni Islam. The Crimean Tatar ethnicity developed through the assimilation of the peoples who have inhabited the Crimean Peninsula through out history – the Tauri, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Huns, Kipchaks, Mongols and others.

The 15th century is considered the final stage of the Crimean Tatar’s ethnogenesis – The Crimean Tatar state – the Crimean Khanate – developed during that period.

The “tamga was originally an abstract tribal seal historically used by Eurasian nomads, later genealogical symbol of the rulling dynasty of Crimean Khans – the Girays. Now, national symbol of Crimean Tatars.

Map of Crimea in the regional context from ca 1630
(Mercator projection)