Some scholars say that Karaims in Crimea are descendants of Karaite merchants who migrated to Crimea from the Byzantine Empire (Schur 1995). In one particular incidence, migration of Karaites from Istanbul to Crimea is documented following a fire in the Jewish quarter of Constantinople (modern Istanbul) in 1203 (Tsoffar 2006). After the Turco-Mongol invasions, settlement of merchants in Crimea may have been encouraged in the 13th and 14th centuries by the active trade routes from Crimea to China and Central Asia (Schur 1995).