Green Ukraine

Green Ukraine, also known as Zelenyi Klyn or Zakytaishchyna, is a historical Ukrainian name for the land in the Russian Far East area between the Amur River and the Pacific Ocean, an area roughly corresponding to Outer Manchuria.



After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Transcathay (Закитайщина) was a projected country in the Russian Far East.

After the establishment of the Bolshevik Far Eastern Republic on April 6, 1920, Far Eastern areas with an ethnic Ukrainian majority attempted to secede and establish an entity called Green Ukraine. This movement quickly proved abortive.

Geographically, Green Ukraine borders the present-day North Korea, in the special city of Rason and the Chinese provinces of Heilongjiang and Jilin.

History
The Zeleny Klyn was an area of land settled by Ukrainians which is a part of the Russian Far East in the area of the Amur River and the Pacific Ocean. It was named by the Ukrainian settlers. The territory consists of over 1,000,000 square kilometres and has a population of 3.1 million (1958). The Ukrainian population in 1897 made up 15% of the Primorskaya Oblast's population.

Zeleny Klyn became part of the Russian Empire much later than Siberia and other parts of the Far East. The first attempts at colonizing the area date back to the mid-17th century when Yerofey Khabarov founded the fort of Albazin on the Amur River. From that time, constant skirmishes took place with the Manchu people of China. In 1689 China and Russia signed the Treaty of Nerchinsk, which granted Russia limited territory.

In the mid 19th century, the second Russian expansion took place after Russia lost the Crimean War (1853–1856). A number of Cossack settlements were established on the Amur river. China had become far weaker than Russia at the time and ceded territory to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun of 1858 and by the Convention of Peking of 1860 (see Amur Annexation).

During this period, only a small number of settlers settled in the region consisting of some 14,000 Cossacks and 2,500 Russian soldiers. In 1861, two oblasts were established, the Primorsky and Amur. Khabarovsk was founded in 1858, Vladivostok in 1860.

In 1882, free transportation was announced for settlers to the area from Ukraine and free land was offered to settlers. By 1897, the population had increased to 310,000. With the establishment of the railroad in 1901, over 14,000 settlers were moving to the area per year, with a maximum of 78,000 settlers moving there in 1907.

After 1917, the area came under the jurisdiction of Admiral Alexander Kolchak. In 1920, the Far East Republic was established as a buffer republic between Russia and Japan. In 1922, the republic joined with the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. In 1934, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast region was established with its capital at Birobidzhan.

Proposed state

 * 24 June 1917 – First All-Ukrainian Far Eastern Congress at Nikolsk-Ussuriysky formed the Far Eastern Krai Rada (Land Council).
 * January 1918 – Second All-Ukrainian Far Eastern Congress at Khabarovsk proclaimed Green Ukraine as part of the Ukrainian State (in spite of the lack of geographical connection).
 * April 1918 – The Third All-Ukrainian Far Eastern Congress asked for the creation of an independent Ukrainian state on the Pacific Ocean.
 * Summer 1918 – The Far Eastern Ukrainian troops (more than 5,000) enlisted by General Boris Khreschatitsky.
 * 11 April 1920 – Order of Hetman Grigory Semyonov on the right of Far Eastern Ukrainians for national self-determination and autonomy in the limits of a united Far Eastern state of Cossacks, Buryats, and Ukrainians.
 * 1922 – Dissolution of Green Ukraine.

Head of the Krai Secretariat:
 * June 1918 – 1919 – Yuri Hlushko-Mova (1st time)
 * January 1920 – 1922 – Yuri Hlushko-Mova (2nd time)

Territory
The Green Ukraine was located in the Outer Manchuria, extending across Amur River, Zeya, Svobodny, Blagoveshchensk, Ussuriland, to the north, Nikolayevsk-on-Amur, Khabarovsk, Vladivostok. to the south. The Green Ukraine had a roughly 2,500 km coastline along the Pacific Ocean that extended from the Sea of Japan, to the Sea of Okhotsk. Green Ukraine was nearby the Sakhalin island and the Japanese archipelago.

Religion
Most of the Slavic population were Christians. The local Tungusic peoples followed local religions; some Ashkenazi Jews in areas around the present-day Jewish Autonomous Oblast practiced Judaism.