Amur Oblast (Russian Empire)

Content sourced from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

Amur Oblast was a region of the Russian Empire from 1858 to 1922, with Blagoveshchensk as its capital. It covered about 449,500 square kilometers and had 120,306 people in 1897. The oblast was created after Russia gained the land from China in 1858 under the Aigun Treaty, running along the left bank of the Amur River from the Shilka and Argun to the Ussuri estuary and the Primorsky border. The area was very sparsely populated and hard to reach, with travel mainly by river in summer and by ice in winter.

The first city, Blagoveshchensk, was founded in 1858; Zeya became a city in 1906 and Svobodny in 1917. In 1917 the region had many local districts (volosts) and Cossack districts. Between 1917 and 1920 there were temporary state formations, including the Amur Socialist Soviet Republic. In 1920 the oblast joined the Far Eastern Republic, and in 1922 it was divided into four counties (Zeisky, Svobodnensky, Blagoveshchensky, Zavitinsky) and then became the Amur Province.

The population included Russians, Chinese and Manchus, with small numbers of Orochons, Manegrs, Tunguses and Golds; Cossacks formed most of the rural population. The economy relied on placer gold mining, some fishing, and agriculture, but development was limited by distance and transport. The coat of arms, approved in 1878, features a green shield with a silver wavy belt, three golden eight-pointed stars, a royal crown, and oak leaves tied with the Alexander Ribbon.