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Crimean Karaites (Karaims)
A Kipchak-speaking Turkic people who follow Karaite Judaism. Known from Crimea and from Trakai in Lithuania, they number only a few thousand.
The Karaims are a Kipchak-speaking Turkic people who follow Karaite Judaism. Their main historic centre was Crimea, especially the fortress of Chufut-Kale. At the end of the 14th century Grand Duke Vytautas of Lithuania brought a group of Karaims from Crimea to Trakai, where they served as guardians of the castle.
Today Karaims live in Ukraine, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Israel. The Karaim prayer house, the kenesa, and the traditional three-windowed houses of Trakai are well-known heritage sites of Lithuania. The Karaim language is critically endangered.
Updated: September 28, 2026