Hacı I Giray

Hacı Giray was a descendant of Genghis Khan and a kinsman of Tokhtamysh, and spent part of his youth in Lithuania. As the Golden Horde weakened, the Crimean nobles chose him as khan, and in 1441 the Crimean Khanate became an independent state. Its capital lay near Qırq-Yer (Chufut-Kale) and later at Salaçıq.

Hacı Giray kept up friendship with Lithuania, fought the remnants of the Golden Horde and settled relations with the Genoese colony at Caffa. He built a madrasa at Salaçıq. He died in 1466 and was buried in a mausoleum at Salaçıq. The Giray dynasty he founded ruled the Crimea until 1783.