In the 7th century, the steppes north of Crimea were part of
Old Great Bulgaria, a
nomadic empire of the
Onogur Bulgars. In the 10th century, the so-called Black Bulgars would regularly raid Byzantine possessions in Crimea (the
Theme of Cherson) from the north. However, the modern Bulgarian population in Crimea dates to several waves of migration from
Ottoman-ruled Bulgaria beginning in the early 19th century. In 1802, 63 Bulgarian families founded a Bulgarian colony in
Staryi Krym. In August 1804, 220 Bulgarians from the
Adrianople vilayet landed at
Sevastopol and established the village of Kishlav (today Kurske,
Bilohirsk Raion). These first settlers stemmed from the
Strandzha localities of
Gramatikovo,
Kondolovo,
Stoilovo and
Malko Tarnovo. In Kishlav and Bolgarshchina, the Bulgarian neighbourhood of Staryi Krym, historic Bulgarian houses and churches can still be found. A second wave of migration followed after the
Russo-Turkish War of 1828–1829 with around 1,000 colonists In 1944, the Crimean Bulgarians were gravely affected by the
Soviet deportation of the Crimean Tatars and other ethnic groups of the peninsula (
Armenians, Greeks and
Germans). 12,500 Bulgarians were branded as traitors by the Soviets and deported from Crimea. ==Population==