'A Seditious and Sinister Tribe' : The Crimean Tatars and Their Khanate

The Crimean Tatars were the Turkic-speaking native peoples of Crimea who established a powerful khanate in the 1440s, which remained in power until 1783. In this, the first history in English for over 100 years, eminent scholar Donald Rayfield shows that this misunderstood and much-feared nation was in fact a flourishing state with a vibrant literary culture, religious tolerance, a sophisticated constitution and a prosperous economy. Rayfield’s book describes the establishment of the khanate, its reign and its eventual fall, concluding with a vivid portrayal of the Tatars’ ruthless suppression – first by Russia and then the Soviet Union – and the final, effectively genocidal, invasion under Vladimir Putin. This vibrant and ultimately tragic chronicle is essential reading for anyone interested in the background to the current war in Ukraine.