The Crimean Khanate self-defined as the Throne of Crimea and Desht-i Kipchak and in old European historiography and geography known as Little Tartary, was a Crimean Tatar state existing from 1441–1783, the longest-lived of the Turkic khanates that succeeded the empire of the Golden Horde. Established by Hacı I Giray in 1441, it was regarded as the direct heir to the Golden Horde and to Desht-i-Kipchak.
Uzbek Khan Mosque in Eski Qırım (Solhat), built in the Golden Horde period
Dürbe of Canike Hanım
A miniature depicting the Ottoman campaign in Hungary in 1566, with Crimean Tatars as vanguard
Tatars fighting Zaporozhian Cossacks, by Józef Brandt
Crimean Tatars or Crimeans are a Turkic ethnic group and nation native to Crimea. The formation and ethnogenesis of Crimean Tatars occurred during the 13th–17th centuries, uniting Cumans, who appeared in Crimea in the 10th century, with other peoples who had inhabited Crimea since ancient times and gradually underwent Tatarization, including Ukrainian Greeks, Italians, Goths, Sarmatians and many others. Despite the popular misconception, Crimean Tatars are not a diaspora of or subgroup of the Tatars.
Crimean Tatars with their traditional clothes at the Hıdırlez festival.
Crimean Tatars and a mullah c. 1862
Steppe/Nogay Crimean Tatars
Mountain Tat and Yaliboylu Tat Crimean Tatars