http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crimea#Russian_control_1783.E2.80.9319541897 vs 2001
Russians 181,963 33.11% 1,180,441 58.5%
Ukrainians 64,703 11.84% 492,227 24.4%
Crimean Tatars 194,294 35.55% 243,433 12.1%
Others 106,632 19.51%
Crimean Tatars, a predominantly Muslim ethnic minority who in 2001 made up 12.1% of the population,[47] formed in Crimea in the late Middle Ages, after the Crimean Khanate had come into existence. The Crimean Tatars were forcibly expelled to Central Asia by Joseph Stalin's government as a form of collective punishment, on the grounds that they had formed pro-German Tatar Legions. After the fall of the Soviet Union, Crimean Tatars began to return to the region.[48] According to the 2001 Ukrainian population census 58% of the population of Crimea are ethnic Russians and 24% are ethnic Ukrainians.[47]
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In the 9th century CE, Byzantium established the Cherson theme to fend against incursions by the Rus' Khaganate, and the Crimean peninsula from this time was contested between Byzantium, Rus' and Khazaria. The area remained the site of overlapping interests and contact between the early medieval Slavic, Turkic and Greek spheres, and became a center of slave trade, Slavs were sold to Byzantium and other places in Anatolia and the Middle-East during this period. In the 1230s, this status quo was swept away by the Mongol invasions, and Crimea was incorporated into the territory of the Golden Horde throughout the 14th century CE.
Armenian monastery of the Holy Cross (Սուրբ Խաչ), established in 1358
The Crimean Khanate, a vassal state of the Ottoman Empire, succeeded the Golden Horde and lasted from 1449 to 1779.[14] In 1571, the Crimean Tatars attacked and sacked Moscow, burning everything but the Kremlin.[15] Until the late 18th century, Crimean Tatars maintained a massive slave trade with the Ottoman Empire, exporting about 2 million slaves from Russia and Ukraine over the period 1500–1700.[16]
Russian control 1783–1954
The Khanate was conquered by the Russian Empire under Catherine the Great in 1783. From 1853 to 1856, the peninsula was the site of the principal engagements of the Crimean War, a conflict fought between the Russian Empire and an alliance of France, Britain, the Ottoman Empire and Sardinia.