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The Crimean interior came under the control of the Turco-Mongol Golden Horde from 1239 to 1441. The East European Plain during this time was generally occupied by periglacial loess-steppe environments, although the climate was slightly warmer during several brief interstadials and began to warm significantly after the beginning of the Late Glacial Maximum. During the Russian Civil War, Crimea changed hands many times and was where Wrangel's anti-Bolshevik White Army made their last stand in 1920, with tens of thousands of those who remained being murdered as part of the Red Terror. This was part of the 800,000 Germans in Russia who were relocated within the Soviet Union during Stalinist times. Several times a week Simferopol is also linked with Volgograd, Sochi, Yekaterinburg, Omsk and even Murmansk by train. The trolleybus line starts near Simferopol's Railway Station (in Soviet times it started near Simferopol International Airport) through the mountains to Alushta and on to Yalta.
The Genoese–Mongol Wars were fought between the 13th and 15th centuries for control of south Crimea. The north and centre of Crimea fell to the Mongol Golden Horde, although the south coast was still controlled by the Christian Principality of Theodoro and Genoese colonies. The south coast remained Greek in culture for almost two thousand years including under Roman successor states, the Byzantine Empire (341–1204 CE), the Empire of Trebizond (1204–1461 CE), and the independent Principality of Theodoro (ended 1475 CE). In 1764 imperial authorities established the Taurida Oblast (Tavricheskaia oblast), and reorganised it as the Taurida Governorate in 1802. Today, the Crimean Tatar name of the peninsula is Qırım, while the Russian is Крым (Krym), and the Ukrainian is Крим (Krym).
Crimea has 540 MW of its own electricity generation capacity, including the 100 MW Simferopol Thermal Power Plant, the 22 MW Sevastopol Thermal Power Plant and the 19 MW Kamish-Burunskaya Thermal Power Plant. Agriculture in the region includes cereals, vegetable-growing, gardening, and wine-making, particularly in the Yalta and Massandra regions. The flow of holidaymakers dropped 35 percent in the first half of 2014 over the same period of 2013. After the Russian annexation of Crimea in early 2014 and subsequent sanctions targeting Crimea, the tourist Ksi Casino industry suffered major losses for two years. Important industrial cities include Dzhankoi, housing a major railway connection, Krasnoperekopsk and Armiansk, among others.
