Crimean Tatars in the socio-economic life of the Taurida province in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries

The article examines topical issues related to the participation of the Crimean Tatars in the socio-economic life of the Taurida province in the second half of the 19th – early 20th centuries. Based on the analyzed archival documents (some of which are being introduced into scientific circulation for the first time), and provincial statistics, it was concluded that during that period, directly on the Crimean peninsula, Crimean Tatars constituted over 50% of all residents. Gardening, viticulture and winemaking remained the traditional areas of development of the region’s economic potential, in which many representatives of the Crimean Tatar population were employed. For example, Crimean Tatar residents were engaged in grape harvesting in the Yalta district. The total area occupied by gardens in Simferopol, Feodosia, and Yalta districts was over 5,000 acres. Fruit grown in Crimea were in steady demand outside the peninsula. However, as before the Crimean War, salt mining, cattle breeding, and tobacco growing remained the key sectors of the Crimean economy, where Crimean Tatars were employed as well. The list of owners and tenants of the Crimean salt lakes and salt springs in a number of districts of the Taurida province included Crimean Tatars. Archival documents contain the last names of Crimean Tatar merchants who were engaged in various trade operations and declared their capital to all merchant guilds. Crimean Tatars took an active part in the work of zemstvo councils, while the provincial and zemstvo councils of the Taurida province were in charge of the distribution and receipt of zemstvo fees, collected information on the state of agriculture, productivity, provided food assistance to peasants, and acted as organizers of exhibitions of agricultural goods. During the transformation of the Russian public education system in the 1870s, one of the central innovations of which was the reform of the “national minority school”, the “Rules on measures for the education of national minorities inhabiting Russia” were adopted. That document became the starting point for opening primary rural and urban schools for Muslims at public expense.