Kyakhta

Etymology

The Buryat name means place covered with couch grass, and is derived from Mongolian word хиаг, meaning couch grass.

Geography

The region where Kyakhta stands is advantageous for Russo-Chinese trade. The Siberian River Routes connect the fur-bearing lands of Siberia to Lake Baikal. From there, the Selenga River valley is the natural route through the Selenga Highlands southeast of Lake Baikal out onto the plains of Mongolia.

History

Kyakhta was founded in 1727 soon after the Treaty of Kyakhta was negotiated near Selenginsk north of Kyakhta. It was the starting point of the boundary markers that defined what is now the northern border of Mongolia. Kyakhta's founder, the Serb Sava Vladislavich, established it as a trading point between Russia and the Qing Empire. "He gave instructions to build the Troitskosavsky Fortress at the place of Barsukov winter camp. A church was erected inside the wooden fortress. The church gave the name both to the Troitskaya (Trinity) Fortress and to the future town of Troitskosavsk. This is what the town was called until 1734 when it was merged with the trading settlement of Kyakhta and renamed Troitskosavsk-Kyakhta. In 1934, the name was shortened to Kyakhta." Other sources have Troitskosavsk as a fort a short distance north, Troitskosavsk being the administrative and military center while Kyakhta was the trading post on the border. The Manchus built Maimaicheng just south of Kyakhta on their side of the border. Before 1762, state caravans traveled from Kyakhta to Peking. After that date, trade was mostly by barter at Kyakhta-Maimaicheng, with merchants crossing the border to make their business.

Kyakhta and Maimaicheng were visited by the famous English adventurer and engineer Samuel Bentham in 1782. He related that he was entertained by the commander of the Chinese city "with the greatest politeness which a stranger can meet with in any country whatever". At that time, the Russians sold furs, textiles, clothing, hides, leather,

Kyakhta was crowded, unclean, ill-planned, and never came to reflect the wealth that flowed through it, although several Neoclassical buildings were erected in the 19th century, including a tea bourse (1842) and the Orthodox cathedral (1807–1817), both of which still stand. In 1996 the Voskreskenskaya church was being used as a stable. It was from Kyakhta that Nikolay Przhevalsky, Grigory Potanin, Pyotr Kozlov, and Vladimir Obruchev set off on their expeditions into the interior of Mongolia and Xinjiang.

Town status was granted to Kyakhta in 1805.

After the entire Russian-Chinese frontier was opened to trade in 1860 and the Trans-Siberian and the Chinese Eastern Railways bypassed it, Kyakhta fell into decline. In the mid-20th century, a branch railway was built from Ulan-Ude (on the Trans-Siberian) to Mongolia's Ulan Bator, and, eventually, to China, paralleling the old Kyakhta trade route. However, this railway crosses the Russian-Mongolian border not in Kyakhta itself, but in nearby Naushki.

Kyakhta Pidgin

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Kyakhta serves as the administrative center of Kyakhtinsky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with one rural locality (the settlement of Sudzha), incorporated within Kyakhtinsky District as the Town of Kyakhta. As a municipal division, the Town of Kyakhta is incorporated within Kyakhtinsky Municipal District as Kyakhta Urban Settlement.

Economy

Kyakhta's economy today relies mainly on its status as an important center for trade between Russia, China, and Mongolia, located on the highway from the republic's capital of Ulan-Ude to the Mongolian capital of Ulan Bator. It also has textile, lumber, and food-processing plants.

Culture

Kyakhta is home to the Damdin Sükhbaatar memorial museum.

Climate

Kyakhta has a humid continental climate (Köppen climate classification Dwb) with dry, severely cold winters and warm, moist summers. |Jan record high C=-0.1 |Feb record high C=8.6 |Mar record high C=20.5 |Apr record high C=30.6 |May record high C=35.0 |Jun record high C=39.3 |Jul record high C=40.6 |Aug record high C=37.1 |Sep record high C=31.6 |Oct record high C = 26.6 |Nov record high C = 12.8 |Dec record high C = 5.4 |Jan record low C = -55.2 |Feb record low C = -49.1 |Mar record low C = -39.7 |Apr record low C = -24.8 |May record low C = -12.1 |Jun record low C = -4.5 |Jul record low C = 1.4 |Aug record low C = -2.7 |Sep record low C = -9.7 |Oct record low C = -26.8 |Nov record low C = -34.7 |Dec record low C = -42.1

Town name in other languages

• [[File:Успенская церковь в Кяхте-3.JPG|thumb|The Assumption Church in Kyakhta]] (Khiagt)
• Manchu: Kiyaktu
• Chinese: 恰克图 / 恰克圖 (Qiàkètú) or 恰克土 (Qiàkètǔ)
• (Khyaagta)

In Mongolian, Kyakhta was formerly known as Ар Хиагт (Ar Khiagt, lit. "North Kyakhta"); Altanbulag (then, Maimaicheng) across the border was Өвөр Хиагт (Övör Khiagt, lit. "South Kyakhta"). When the town was known as Troitskosavsk, its name in Mongolian was Дээд Шивээ (Deed Šhivee).

International relations

Twin towns - sister cities

• SRB Sremski Karlovci, Serbia (2025)

References

Notes

Sources

• Е. М. Поспелов (Ye. M. Pospelov). "Географические названия мира" (Geographic Names of the World). Moscow, 1998.
• Christie, Ian R. (1993). The Benthams in Russia 1780–1791. Oxford, UK; Providence, RI: Berg Publishers Limited. . .

References

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