Zheltuga Republic: The Case of Social Development at the Chinese-Russian Border

The article elucidates a little-studied page of Russian history – the creation of the Zheltuga Republic from the illegal settlement of gold miners on the River Zheltuga (the Amur Basin) at the end of the 19th century. In short period of time, the multi-ethnic community of gold miners managed to create a proto-state formation based on the Russian principles of state-building, which had its own legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, coat-of-arms, fl ag, army, and punitive agencies. The Republic attracted over 10,000 people and became an economic and cultural center of Transbaikalia.