Pages: 149-161

In 1475, the Turks seized the town of Kaffa — the capital of Genoese factories in Crimea. This event was reflected in Latin and Turkish written sources. A separate group of sources is made of Armenian texts written in different time periods and of different contents. The analysis of Armenian sources indicates that their account is not always reliable and is frequently exaggerated. The author comes to a conclusion that the reason of Kaffa’s fall was not a military and technical weakness, but rather psychological unwillingness to defend the city. The two decades of discord in the urban community in the context of declining trade and political instability transformed this large center of Christianity in the east into an easy loot for the Islamic warriors.

Keywords: Crimea, Kaffa, Genoese colonies, Ottoman conquest, Armenian community

Information about author:

Victor Myts (Saint Petersburg, Russian Federation). Candidate of Historical Sciences. State Hermitage Museum. Dvortsovaya Nab., 32/34, Saint Petersburg, 190 000, Russian Federation
E-mail: [email protected]