 History of Crimea

The recorded history of the Crimean Peninsula, historically known as "Tauris" (), "Taurica", and the "Tauric Chersonese" (, "Tauric Peninsula"), begins around the 5th century BC when several Greek colonies were established along its coast.The southern coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years as part of the Roman Empire (47 BC – 330 AD), and its successor states, the Byzantine Empire (330 AD – 1204 AD), the Empire of Trebizond (1204 AD – 1461 AD), and the independent Principality of Theodoro (ended 1475 AD).