Kezlev

Kezlev, known to the Ottomans as Gözleve, was the great port of the Crimean Khanate on the peninsula's western shore. Its harbour joined the steppe and inland towns to the Black Sea, sending out grain, salt and hides. Within its walls lived merchants and artisans of several communities, including Karaites who came from the older fortress town of Qırq Yer.

After the Ottoman conquest of the Crimean coast in 1475, a fortified town was built here. The port passed from direct Ottoman administration to the Crimean khans and grew into a major commercial centre. Its trade included the sale and shipment of enslaved captives, a harsh part of the economy linking the Crimean frontier with markets across the Black Sea. The town also minted coins from 1588 to 1644. Its markets, inns, baths and places of worship served a population whose size and commercial importance surpassed those of the inland capital, Bakhchisaray.

The great Juma-Jami mosque was built for Khan Devlet I Giray in the sixteenth century to a design associated with the Ottoman architect Sinan. Its dome and minarets expressed the close ties between the khanate and Istanbul. Kezlev's prosperity did not shield it from war: in 1629 a Cossack fleet attacked and burned the town. Russia annexed Crimea in 1783, bringing the age of the khans to an end.