Altanbulag

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Altanbulag (Mongolian: Алтанбулаг) is a town in northern Mongolia on the border with Russia. It is in Selenge Province about 25 km from the provincial capital of Sühbaatar and is the seat of the Altanbulag sum . Altanbulag is the location of the Altanbulag Free Trade Zone (Алтанбулаг худалдааны чөлөөт бүс [Altanbulag hudaldaany čölööt büs]).

[edit] History

Altanbulag began as a trading outpost across the Kyakhta River from the Russian town of Kyakhta during Qing Empire rule of Mongolia. On 13 March 1921, Altanbulag was the site of the establishment of a Soviet-backed People’s Provisional Government of Mongolia was established at Altanbulag. This government went on to oust the government of the Bogd Khan and later formed the People's Republic of Mongolia in 1924.

[edit] Names

Today, the town is known as Altanbulag in both the Mongolian and Buryat languages, which corresponds to Altan Bulak (Алтан Булак) in Russian and Ālètǎnbùlāgé (阿勒坦布拉格) in Chinese.

During the Qing dynasty, the town was called was known as Maimachin or Majmačen (Маймачен) in Russian, both of which derived from the Chinese name Mǎimàichéng (買賣城), meaning literally "trading town". In Mongolian, it was known as Övör Hiagt (Өвөр Хиагт, lit. "South Kyakhta").