Uryankhay Krai

The name Uryankhay is of Mongolian origin, and was the Russian exonym for Tuvans from the 17th century up through the early 20th century.[3] The term was also the Tuvan endonym until the early 19th century, when they began referring to themselves as Tuvans, likely after a subgroup in the region.[3]

The protectorate's borders roughly correspond with that of the contemporary Russian Tuvan Republic.[3] Much of Uryankhay Krai's territory was mountainous.[3] The territory was bound by the Tannu-Ola mountains to the south, and the Sayan Mountains to the north.[4]

Tuva had been under the rule of the Qing dynasty since the mid-18th century.[4] However, Russian settlers began immigrating en masse to the region in 1838 and 1839, following the discovery of gold deposits in the area.[4] In subsequent years, Russians began constructing gold mines and establishing trading institutions in the region.[4] Throughout the mid and late 19th century, a number of Russian scientists began documenting the region's native flora and studying the Tuvan people, and Russian settlers continued to immigrate to the region.[4] Russian interest in the region continued through the early 20th century, and the Tsarist government sponsored a number of expeditions from 1906 through 1910 to locate mineral deposits in the area.[4] By 1909, it was estimated that approximately 9,000 ethnically Russian settlers lived in the region.[4]

The administrative divisions of the Uryankhay Krai remained largely unchanged from those introduced by the Qing in the mid-18th century.[4] Uryankhay Krai was divided into kozhuun (Tuvan: кожуун; Russian: хошун, khoshun), which functioned as administrative units with taxation powers headed by leaders known as ukherids (Tuvan: ухэрид; Russian: огурд, ogurd).[4]

The national government of Uryankhay Krai was de jure headed by a leader titled Amban Noyan (Russian: Амдын-Нойон, Amdyn-Noyon).[4] In the first few years of Uryankhay Krai, the Russian Empire maintained a Russian Commissar, who was tasked with managing the flow of Russian settlers into the protectorate.[4] The protectorate's government was seated in Kyzyl.[4]

However, Uryankhay Krai's various governments were often short-lived and ineffective, due to the volatile nature of the Russian Civil War, as well as strong Chinese and Mongolian influence, and periods of occupation by those two countries.[4][5] The Soviet Union took control of Uryankhay Krai on 16 March 1918, less than four years after the Uryankhay Krai was established as a protectorate.[4][5] Mere months later, the Chinese and Mongolian troops occupied much of Uryankhay Krai, and the Provisional Siberian Government in Omsk took over the region.[5] Less than a year later, the Provisional Siberian Government was also expelled from the region, and the Soviet Union assumed brief control for another few months, before Chinese and Mongolian troops occupied Uryankhay Krai.[5] Occupation by China and Mongolia lasted from mid-1919 until early 1921, when the Soviet Union reassumed control, and abolished Uryankhay Krai in favor of the Tannu Tuva People's Republic mere months later.[5]

Uryankhay Krai's politics were largely dominated by disputes among local elites over whether to geopolitically align with Russia or China.[5] Groups advocated for the former won victory in organizing the region as a Russian protectorate, but despite this, leaders who tilted more towards China remained prominent during the existence of the protectorate.[5] These forces saw their influence amplified following Russia's largely disastrous entry into World War I, and once again following the Soviet takeover of the protectorate in March 1918.[5] In the summer of 1918, local leaders invited Chinese and Mongolian troops into the region, although they were expelled following a negotiation mediated by the Provisional Siberian Government in Omsk.[5] To win support among the locals, the Provisional Siberian Government attempted to organize an effective judicial system, police force, postal service, and road network.[5] Local officials made establishing a road connection with the nearby city of Minusinsk a priority.[5] Despite these plans to win the support of local Tuvans, Chinese and Mongolian troops re-entered portions of southern and western Uryankhay Krai in the fall of 1918, creating additional challenges.[5] To prevent a broader ideological tilt towards China and Mongolia, the Provisional Government also sought to give power to local Tuvan elites, and win the support of Buddhist institutions and figures such as the local Khambo Lama.[5] In March 1919, the Khambo Lama wrote a letter supporting the status of being a Russian protectorate, and proclaimed that the region of Tuva was never truly a part of China or Mongolia.[5] As a result, the Provisional Government provided logistical and financial support for the Khambo Lama, and the proliferation of Buddhist teachings throughout the region.[5] They also planned for the establishment of an assembly of local kozhuun leaders, as well as the implementation of local government organizations headed by Noyans, all contingent on the oversight of the Provisional Government, which would have the final say in elections and decision-making matters.[5] These officials were to be given special rewards should they prove their loyalty to the Provisional Government, in the form of cloth, cattle, agricultural equipment, and other simple goods.[5] However, the continued occupation of part of Uryankhay Krai by China and Mongolia, coupled with the Provisional Government's numerous military defeats at the hand of the Red Army, ensured that the Provisional Government exercised little de facto control, and could not realize such ambitious plans.[5] The ineffectiveness of the Provisional Government, combined with ethnic tensions and anti-Russian sentiment, led to the local Tuvan population driving out the Provisional Government in the spring of 1919, as well as many Russian settlers.[5] Red Army forces briefly occupied the region in the summer of 1919, before turning elsewhere, allowing China and Mongolia to exact control over the region.[5] In the following three years, the Red Army began decisively winning the Russian Civil War and consolidating power, enabling them to expel Chinese forces in early 1921.[5] Mongolian forces left voluntarily following the Mongolian Revolution of 1921.[5] Shortly after, the Tannu Tuva People's Republic was proclaimed on 14 August 1921.[4]

Upon the protectorate's founding, its total population was approximately 73,000.[3] In 1914, there were less than 4,000 ethnic Russians in the protectorate,[3] however, this number grew to about 12,000 by 1917.[3][4][5]