Proper noun

Crimea

1. A peninsula in southern Ukraine, surrounded by the Black Sea and the Sea of Azov.
2. An autonomous republic within Ukraine, occupying the peninsula.

Crimea (pronounced /kraɪˈmiːə/), 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, Къырым, Къырым Мухтар Джумхуриети), is the only autonomous republic of Ukraine. It is located on the northern coast of the Black Sea, occupying a peninsula of the same name.

The territory of Crimea was conquered and controlled many times throughout its history. The Cimmerians, Greeks, Persians, Goths, Huns, Bulgars, Khazars, the state of Kievan Rus', Byzantine Greeks, Kipchaks, Ottoman Turks, Golden Horde Tatars and the Mongols all controlled Crimea in its early history. In the 13th century, it was partly controlled by the Venetians and by the Genovese; they were followed by the Crimean Khanate and the Ottoman Empire in the 15th to 18th centuries, the Russian Empire in the 18th to 20th centuries, the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and later the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic within the Soviet Union in the rest of the 20th century, and Germany during World War II. Crimea is now an autonomous Ukrainian administrative region.

Crimea is a parliamentary republic which is governed by the Constitution of Crimea in accordance with the laws of Ukraine. The capital and administrative seat of the republic's government is the city of Simferopol, located in the center of the peninsula. Crimea's area is 26,200 square kilometres (10,100 sq mi) and its population was 1,973,185 as of 2007.

Crimean Tatars, an ethnic minority who now make up about 13% of the population, have formed in Crimea in the late Middle Ages, after Crimean Khanate had come into existence. The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin's government. After the fall of the Soviet Union, some Crimean Tatars began returning to the region.