Yevpatoria is a city in Crimea, Ukraine. The first recorded settlement in the area, called Kerkinitis, was built by Greek colonists around 500 BC. Along with the rest of Crimea, Kerkinitis was part of the dominions of Mithridates VI, King of Pontus, from whose cognomen, Eupator, the city's modern name derives.

From roughly the 7th through the 10th centuries AD Yevpatoriya was a Khazar settlement; its name in Khazar language was probably Güzliev (literally "beautiful house"). It was later subject to the Cumans (Kipchaks), the Mongols and the Crimean Khanate. During this period the city was called Kezlev by Crimean Tatars and Gözleve by Ottomans. The Russian medieval name Kozlov is a Russification of the Crimean Tatar name.

For a short period between 1478 and 1485, the city was administrated by the Ottoman Empire. Afterwards it became an important urban center of the Crimean Khanate. In 1783, with the whole Crimea, Kezlev was captured by the Russian Empire. Its name was officially changed to Yevpatoriya in 1784. The city was briefly occupied in 1854 by British, French and Turkish troops during the Crimean War, when it was the site of the Battle of Eupatoria. Adam Mickiewicz visited the town in 1825 and wrote one of his Crimean Sonnets here; it was later translated into Russian by Mikhail Lermontov.

After the annexation of the Crimea by Russia Yevpatoriya became a residence of the spiritual ruler of the Karaites, the Gakham. In this connection here a complex of two praying houses was built under the supervision of the Rabovich brothers, in which forms of the Renaissance and Moslem architecture entwined in a most unusual manner. The ensemble organically incorporates three courtyards. The entrance to it is marked by the gates, built in 1900, which look like a refined triumphal arch.

Today Yevpatoriya is a major Ukrainian Black Sea port, a rail hub, and resort town. The main industries include fishing, food processing, wine making, limestone quarrying, weaving, and the manufacture of building materials, machinery, furniture manufacturing and tourism. The National Space Agency of Ukraine has ground control and tracking facilities here.

Yevpatoriya has spas of mineral water, salt and mud lakes. These resorts belong to a vast area with curative facilities where the main health-improving factors are the sunshine and sea, air and sand, brine and mud of the salt lakes, as well as the mineral water of the hot springs. The population of the town is sure to have known about the curative qualities of the local mud that can be found here from time immemorial, which is witnessed by the manuscripts of Pliny the Elder, a Roman scholar (ca 80 BC).

Yevpatoria, a city of some 100,000 on the west coast of Crimea, is a popular summer beach resort, a major Black Sea port, a transportation hub and an important industrial center. The National Space Agency of Ukraine also has ground control and tracking facilities here (though it launches from sites in Kazakhstan or Russia).

Although not as well known as Crimea's flagship resort, Yalta, the beaches in Yevpatoria are much better. First, they are sand, rather than the stones found along the southern coast. Second, they are larger. And finally, if you travel a bit to the east of Yevpatoria, you can find large beaches with very few people on them. Though the latter are covered with small pebbles, instead of sand, they are still much easier on the feet than the beaches of Yalta.

Although evidence of prehistoric settlements reaching back millennia have been unearthed, the first recorded settlement of the area was by Greek colonists who named their village Kerkinitis. The present name of the city, however, derives from King Mithridates VI of Pontus (132-63 BCE), whose surname was "Eupator", thus giving rise to the name "Eupatoria", one of the city's many names (see "A Note About Spelling", below). From the 7th to 10th centuries CE, the area was controlled by Khazars, a Turkic people from central Asia who later converted to Judaism. In succeeding centuries, it was controlled by Crimean Tatars or the Ottoman Empire. In 1783, the area (like the rest of Crimea) fell into Russian hands and was absorbed into the empire where it remained, except for a brief occupation by British, French and Turkish troops during the Crimean War (1854-1856), until the 20th century when it was absorbed into the Soviet Union.

Yevpatoria today reflects the various cultures that influenced it over the centuries. One the principal landmarks in the city is the Khan Mosque (also known as the Juma-Jami, which means "Friday Mosque"), built in the mid-16th century. It is the largest mosque in Crimea and was designed by the famous Ottoman architect Sinan (1489-1588), who also designed the monumental Süleymaniye Mosque in Istanbul, the Mehmed-paša Sokolovič (Mehmed-Pasha Sokolovic) bridge in Višegrad, Bosnia and many other structures throughout the Ottoman empire.

Within sight of the Khan Mosque is the St. Nicholas Cathedral, built in 1893 and beautifully restored after Ukraine's independence in 1991. Like most Orthodox churches in Ukraine, the interior of Cathedral is lavishly decorated with religious paintings and icons, gilded sculptures and other ornate objects. Not far away is the more modest, but still interesting, Church of St. Elijah, built in the early part of the 20th century. Its small interior is also lavishly decorated.

One also finds in Yevpatoria reminders of the Soviet days, including a prominent statue of Vladimir Lenin and a military memorial along one of the main boulevards. The Lenin statue is rather unique. Most statues portray Lenin in some dramatic pose, often gesturing as if giving orders, making a speech, or pointing the way to the future. He often also has something – important plans, no doubt – in one of his hands. The Lenin in Yevpatoria, however, has neither. He is just standing there, looking stern to be sure, but not really doing anything. (Despite Ukraine's independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Lenin statues remain common in the Russia-leaning areas of the country, such as Crimea and eastern Ukraine. In western Ukraine, which didn't come under Soviet domination until after WWII, many of the statues have been removed. You can get there by direct flight to Simferopol or through Kiev or Odessa.