The resort capital of the southern part of Crimea is often called the "Russian Riviera", and indeed - the population of Yalta has chosen these places since ancient times. The structure of the city as an administrative center, which is called Big Yalta, includes many settlements: Foros, Alupka, Nikita and the like. The territory of more than nine hundred hectares is only half-built up, and the rest of the population of Yalta enjoys tropical vegetation: trees that grow only in the south, exotic flowering shrubs.
Ancient city
These vast and richest territories were inhabited already in the ninth century BC, and in writing the population of Yalta, which was then called Jalita, was first mentioned in the twelfth century by the famous Arab traveler Muhammad Al-Idrisi. They wanted to conquer this city literally at all times, and many succeeded. The Golden Horde, Genoa, and the Ottoman Empire visited here, and each conquest left its mark on the population of Yalta and its ethnic composition. Even today, the rights to these blessed places are disputed.
Yalta received the status of the city in 1838, and five years later a plan for its development appeared along with the approval of the historical coat of arms with two golden branches - laurel and grape. Now the emblem has a different symbolism - the golden lion symbolizes the fire of the sun (in Yalta, the population uses sunny days for about three hundred days a year). The climate here is beautiful, very similar to the subtropical, visitors are easily and quickly acclimatized. It is warm in winter, there is almost never minus temperature, it is usually cool in spring, and very, very hot in summer. Autumn is long, warm and very beautiful. The population of Yalta (Crimea), Nice (France), Cannes (also France), San Remo (Italy) enjoys such indicators.
Mountains and sea
The most impressive combination for the population of Yalta is the Crimean Mountains and the never-freezing sea. The mountains protect all the surroundings from the piercing winter winds and the summer withering heat from the Tauride steppes. From the south, the whole city is washed by the warm sea. The swimming season is very long, it opens approximately in the middle of May, and one hundred and fifty days the entire population of Yalta can take water procedures in twenty-degree sea water. What could be better?
More than two million people come here annually for healing. Of course, it is impossible to add newcomers to the population of Big Yalta, since they are not indigenous. And there are more than one hundred forty-five thousand indigenous people - not so many. In Yalta itself - about ninety thousand. And almost everyone is engaged in servicing the tourism business. The ethnic composition is rather heterogeneous. In 2001, an all-Ukrainian census took place, the result of which was the following situation: Russians in Yalta turned out to be 65.6%, Ukrainians - 27.6, Crimean Tatars love Yalta less, they are only 1.3%. There are 1.6% of Belarusians, 0.2% of Poles and 0.2% of Moldavians.
Historical development
Yalta experienced the most rapid development at the beginning of the construction of the port. At the same time, the highways connecting Sevastopol and Simferopol were built. This boom occurred in the sixties of the nineteenth century, when all the surroundings of Yalta received resort development. And the imperial family acquired the famous Livadia, and this estate is still striking in its beauty. It was the favorite vacation spot of all those belonging to the royal family of the Romanovs. Naturally, after such a purchase, the city became considered an aristocratic resort, which greatly affected the composition and population of Yalta.
Under Soviet rule, this resort developed even more rapidly, but ceased to be aristocratic, since Crimea was used to rest and treat absolutely all working people, regardless of their pedigree. Already in the 30s of the twentieth century, numerous sanatoriums opened here, a wonderful pioneer camp "Artek" was formed. From all, even the farthest corners of the country, cultural figures, pioneers and the proletariat gathered in Yalta.
Today
Now it would be just as good to rest in Yalta if it were not for the tense situation from an environmental point of view. The fact is that the beautiful Crimean mountains do not pass unpleasant winter and summer winds, but the fact that it accumulates on this side of the mountains also has no way out of this. The traffic load in the city is extremely high, and the fuel used is far from always of proper quality. Therefore, for many years, carbon monoxide in the atmosphere in its concentration exceeds the norm by several times. Benzopyrene is on average twice as high as normal.
Over the past twenty-five years, no repairs have been carried out in Yalta regarding the treatment facilities and the water supply network, and therefore this is all in an extremely dilapidated condition. As a result, seawater is polluted, even that which comes to the most popular beaches. Finally, the problems with garbage collection began to be solved not only by the forces of the natives, who constantly went out on community work days. How many people are in Yalta, so much is constantly coming out - from small to large. It should be noted the high awareness of local residents. Sewage treatment plants are being repaired a little now, but still Yalta cannot be called a city with a favorable environmental situation.
Few numbers
Yalta has an honorable third place in terms of population among all the cities of Crimea. However, if you add to the ninety thousand people who come here all year round, guests arriving in the holiday season, the population exceeds well over five hundred thousand. There are fewer men in Yalta than women (45 percent to 55). But the representatives of the fair sex can not think about it - after all, there are so many visitors in the city that it is even difficult to find the indigenous population in these crowds, all the more so, to count.
Another interesting fact. There are fewer able-bodied people in Yalta than children and the elderly. In the last few years, the birth rate has risen sharply, and therefore the percentage of the working population has also fallen deeply. In general, the demographic situation in the rest of Crimea is much better. In Yalta, the indicators are the lowest. The birth rate is 9.3 per thousand people, and mortality is still almost double that figure. The percentage of marriages has increased significantly in the past three years, and divorce proceedings have begun to take place three times less. The population of Yalta is the least likely to be divorced on the peninsula.
About people
The city is famous for its education and culture. And this despite the fact that there are not so many educational institutions in Yalta. In addition to the Crimean Humanitarian University, there is an Institute of Management and Economics and a new European University. But there are a lot of colleges and schools, and their accessibility is at a fairly high level.
People in the city are friendly and friendly, helpful and attentive. Probably, an uninterrupted flow of tourists has taught us to help visitors: here they will always show you the way, even spend, if necessary, give full information about transport. This applies even to those trading in the market, although most of them there are the same visitors.
Resettlement
So historically, that Big Yalta has never been distinguished by the uniformity of the population. Today it is multinational. The first Russians appeared here in 1783, after the royal manifesto and the end of the war with Turkey, according to which the Crimea began to belong to the Russian Empire. The second wave of immigrants from Russia took place in Yalta after the abolition of serfdom in 1861.
The Crimean Tatars then emigrated to Turkey in orderly rows, and the Russian peasants occupied the liberated lands. By the beginning of the twentieth century, there were far more than fifty percent of them in Crimea. Ukrainians, since they lived closer to the Crimean Tatars, settled on the peninsula a little earlier, but not so en masse. Mostly they were prisoners. By the forties of the twentieth century, Ukrainians in the Crimea were less than fourteen percent.
Big Yalta
This region, as already mentioned, at seventy-two kilometers combined into one almost thirty settlements, among which two cities - Yalta and Alupka - and seven village communities. The largest are the above cities, the towns of Gaspra, Gurzuf, Massandra, Livadia, Simeiz, Foros, Koreiz. Naturally, the largest entity is Yalta.
The remaining settlements are located in a narrow strip near the sea, fenced off by a ridge of the Crimean mountains from Alushta to the west and east, to the very cape Aya. The population of Big Yalta willingly presents visitors with a whole range of attractions that are abundant in every, even the smallest, settlement of the resort region. There are exceptionally many health resorts, since nature is very favorable for health, the beaches here are well-maintained and well-groomed, and there is an exceptionally lot of greenery.
Old Yalta
The city of Yalta itself can be divided into three districts. This is an old historical city, a new fashionable city and Chekhovo. Also within the city are urban-type settlements Nikita (with the famous Nikitsky Botanical Garden) and Livadia (with the imperial residence). In old Yalta, buildings are low-rise and ancient, because already in the twentieth century there was nowhere to build here. The local population probably loves these narrow winding streets with houses built close to each other. But most of the buildings were given to organizations serving the tourism business. The administrative district - with the police, hospitals, city hall and the like. And not all of the population of Yalta lives in these classic and Baroque houses with rich stucco molding and other architectural excesses. Everything is being restored on time, and therefore even the local population has favorite places for walking here - their eyes are happy with this beauty.
Almost all premises are rented and occupied by shops, offices, banks, restaurants. For the population of Yalta, this is also the main area for work, and painstaking zeal reigns here during the day. And at night - expanse to tourists and vacationers, as old Yalta turns into a huge entertainment center. The local population in these hours probably loves only the promenade. But here, all night is crowded.
