Abstract: The article deals with issues related to the development of the possessions of the Crimean Khanate of the XV-XVIII centuries. Located outside the Crimean Peninsula, which, unfortunately, with the exception of a few researches, have not received proper coverage in historical literature. Among them are the processes of expanding territorial borders, the emergence of settlements and issues of administrative management. To cover this topic, materials from written and cartographic sources were involved, as well as the achievements of historians who touched on issues of historical geography were used. In the course of the study, the author comes to the conclusion that, unlike the territory of the Crimean Peninsula, where an agricultural culture was formed, contributing to the development of an administrative system with clear delineations into districts, the mainland possessions of the Khans were inhabited by nomads, in which the traditional order of governance was preserved. Nevertheless, we cannot say that the vast territory from the Dniester to the Don was considered by the Tatars exclusively as a place of nomadic grazing. Analysis of the sources showed the presence of stationary settlements and fortifications on the banks of the Dnieper River, which indicates the cultural development of these lands. For the Crimean Khans, the preservation and expansion of dominance in the forest-steppe zone of Eastern Europe was extremely important, since it strengthened the security of the interior of the country and expanded the military capabilities of the state due to the migration of nomads to these territories. In addition, the Khanate controlled overland trade routes leading to the Black Sea ports on the peninsula.

Abstract: The subject of this research is the examination of the transition process towards the sedentary life of the traditional nomadic population of the Crimean Khanate in the context of historical-archeological study. The work presents an attempt of coverage of the historical events that took place in Crimea in the XV-XVIII centuries and their impact upon sedentarization of the nomads. Based on the analysis of the wide variety of written, archeological and illustrative sources, the authors attempted to trace the time of the emergence of stationary settlements in the North and Northwest of the Crimean Peninsula. In the course of this research, the authors applied the historical method of studying the events, phenomena and processes, along with other general scientific approaches. The scientific novelty lies in the comprehensive analysis of sedentarization of the nomadic population of the Crimean Khanate. This topic for the first time is viewed in the context of historical-archeological study in addition with the written sources and toponymic data. A pursuit for localization of settlements using the cartographic material deserves separate attention.