Transbaikal
Encyclopedia
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. The alternative name, Dauria, is derived from the ethnonym of the Daur people. It stretches for almost 1000 km from north to south from the Patomskoye Plateau and North Baikal Plateau to the Russian state border. The Transbaikal region covers more than 1000 km from west to east from Baikal to the meridian
Meridian (geography)
A meridian is an imaginary line on the Earth's surface from the North Pole to the South Pole that connects all locations along it with a given longitude. The position of a point along the meridian is given by its latitude. Each meridian is perpendicular to all circles of latitude...
of the confluence of the Shilka
Shilka River
Shilka is a river in Zabaykalsky Krai, south-eastern Russia. It has a length . It originates as a confluence of the Onon and Ingoda rivers. Its confluence with the Ergune on the Russia-China border gives rise to the Amur River. The river is navigable for its entire length....
and Argun Rivers.
In Imperial Russia, Dauria was itself an oblast
Oblast
Oblast is a type of administrative division in Slavic countries, including some countries of the former Soviet Union. The word "oblast" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "zone", "province", or "region"...
with its capital at Nerchinsk
Nerchinsk
Nerchinsk is a town and the administrative center of Nerchinsky District of Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located east of Lake Baikal, east of Chita, and about west of the Chinese border on the left bank of the Nercha River, above its confluence with the Shilka River, which flows into the Amur...
, then at Chita and became part of the Far Eastern Republic
Far Eastern Republic
The Far Eastern Republic , sometimes called the Chita Republic, was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East...
in 1920. It is currently divided into Buryatia and Zabaykalsky Krai and makes up nearly all of the territory of these two federal subjects
Federal subjects of Russia
Russia is a federation which, since March 1, 2008, consists of 83 federal subjects . In 1993, when the Constitution was adopted, there were 89 federal subjects listed...
.
The region has given its name to various animal species including Daurian Hedgehog
Daurian Hedgehog
The Daurian Hedgehog is a solitary small hedgehog. It is listed in Red book of Russian Federation as a protected species with an unclear status, generally considered to be endangered, although the IUCN lists it as "least concern". It populates the Transbaikal region of Russia and Northern Mongolia...
, and the following birds: Asian Brown Flycatcher
Asian Brown Flycatcher
The Asian Brown Flycatcher, Muscicapa dauurica, is a small passerine bird in the flycatcher family Muscicapidae. It includes the Brown-streaked Flycatcher, which is sometimes considered a distinct species Muscicapa williamsoni....
(Muscicapa dauurica), Daurian Jackdaw
Daurian Jackdaw
The Daurian Jackdaw is a member of the Corvidae or crow family of birds. It is closely related to the Eurasian Jackdaw. The name derives from the Dauria region of eastern Russia....
, Daurian Partridge
Daurian Partridge
The Daurian Partridge Perdix daurica is a gamebird in the pheasant family Phasianidae of the order Galliformes, gallinaceous birds. The name derives from the "Dauria" region....
, Daurian Redstart
Daurian Redstart
The Daurian Redstart is a small passerine bird from temperate Asia. In Japan, it is known as jōbitaki .-Description and systematics:Like all typical redstarts, they are strongly sexually dimorphic...
, Daurian Starling, Daurian Shrike and the Red-rumped Swallow
Red-rumped Swallow
The Red-rumped Swallow is a small passerine bird in the swallow family. It breeds in open hilly country of temperate southern Europe and Asia from Portugal and Spain to Japan, India and tropical Africa. The Indian and African birds are resident, but European and other Asian birds are migratory...
(Hirundo daurica). The common name of the famous Dahurian Larch
Dahurian Larch
Dahurian Larch, Larix gmelinii, is a species of larch native to eastern Siberia, and adjacent northeastern Mongolia, northeastern China and North Korea.-Description:...
(Larix gmelinii) as well as that of the Dahurian Buckthorn
Buckthorn
The Buckthorns are a genus of about 100 species of shrubs or small trees from 1-10 m tall , in the buckthorn family Rhamnaceae...
(Rhamnus davurica) are also derived from the same source.
Oktyabrsky (Октябрьский) village, Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast
Amur Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , situated about east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky...
, near the Russia-China border is a large site of uranium mining and processing facilities.