{"article":{"id":"britannica-11-transbaikalia","work_id":"britannica-11","title":"Transbaikalia","normalized_title":"transbaikalia","slug":"transbaikalia","aliases":[],"subtitle":"Internet Archive OCR import","body_text":"TRANSBAIKALIA (sometimes also known as Dauria), a province of Eastern Siberia, lying E. of Lake Baikal, with the government of Irkutsk on the N.W. and N., the provinces of Amur and Manchuria on the E. and Mongolia on the S. Its area (232,846 sq. m.) is nearly as large as that of AustriaHungary, but its population does not much exceed half a million. Transbaikalia forms an intermediate link between Siberia, Mongolia and the northern Pacific littoral. The Yablonoi Mountains, which run north-east from the sources of the Kerulen to the bend of the Olekma in 56° N., divide the province into two quite distinct parts; to the west, the upper terrace of the high east Asian plateau, continued from the upper Selenga and the Yenisei (4000 to 5000 ft. high) towards the plateau of the Vitim (3500 to 4000 ft.); and to the east the lower terrace of the same plateau (2800 ft.), forming a continuation of the eastern Gobi. Beginning at Lake Baikal, a valley, deep and broad, penetrates the north-western border-ridge of the plateau, and runs eastward up the river Uda, with an imperceptible gradient, like a gigantic railway cutting enclosed between two steep slopes, and it sends another branch south towards Kiakhta. After having served, through a succession of geological periods, as an outlet for the water and ice which accumulated on the plateau, it is now utilized for the two highways which lead from Lake Baikal across the plateau (35004000 ft.) to the Amur on the east and the Chinese depression on the south. Elsewhere the high and massive border-ridge on the north-western edge of the plateau can be crossed only by difficult footpaths. The border-ridge just mentioned, gapped by the wide opening of the Selenga, runs from south-west to north-east under different names, being known as Khamar-daban (6900 ft.) south of Lake Baikal, and as the Barguzin Mountains (7000 to 8000 ft.) along the east bank of the Barguzin river, while farther north-east it has been described under the names of the South Muya and the Chara Mountains (6000 to 7000 ft.). Resting its south-east base on the plateau, it descends steeply on the north-west to the lake and to the broad picturesque valleys of the Barguzin, Muya and Chara. Thick forests of larch, fir and cedar clothe the ridge, whose dome-shaped rounded summits (goltsy) rise above the limits of tree vegetation, but dp not reach the snow-line (here above 10,000 ft.). The high plateau itself has the aspect of an undulating table-land, intersected by ranges, which rise some 1500 or 2000 ft. above its surface, and are separated by broad, flat, marshy valleys, traversed by sluggish meandering streams. The better drained valleys have fine meadow lands, while the hills are clothed with forests (almost exclusively of larch and birch). Numberless lakes and ponds occur along the river courses. Tunguses hunt in the forests and meadows, but permanent agricultural settlements are impossible, corn seldom ripening on account of the early frost. The lower parts of the broad, flat valley of the Jida have, however, a few Cossack settlements, and Mongolian shepherds inhabit the elevated grassy valleys about Lake Kosso-gol (5300 ft. above the sea). Quite different is the lower terrace of the plateau, occupied by the eastern Gobi and the Nerchinsk region, and separated from the upper terrace by the Yablonoi range. This last is the southeastern border-ridge of the higher terrace. It rises to 8035 ft. in the Sokhondo peak, but elsewhere its dome-shaped summits do not exceed 5000 or 6000 ft. Numberless lakes, with flat undefined margins, feed streams which join the great north-going rivers or the Amur and the Pacific. Low hills rise above the edge of the plateau, but the slope is abrupt towards the south-east, where the foot-hills of the Yablonoi are nearly 1500 and 2000 ft. lower than on the north-west. Climate, flora and fauna change suddenly as soon as the Yablonoi has been crossed. The Siberian flora gives way to the Daurian flora, and this is in turn exchanged for the Pacific littoral flora on the Manchurian plains and lowlands. 1 70","body_html":"

TRANSBAIKALIA (sometimes also known as Dauria), a province of Eastern Siberia, lying E. of Lake Baikal, with the government of Irkutsk on the N.W. and N., the provinces of Amur and Manchuria on the E. and Mongolia on the S. Its area (232,846 sq. m.) is nearly as large as that of AustriaHungary, but its population does not much exceed half a million. Transbaikalia forms an intermediate link between Siberia, Mongolia and the northern Pacific littoral. The Yablonoi Mountains, which run north-east from the sources of the Kerulen to the bend of the Olekma in 56° N., divide the province into two quite distinct parts; to the west, the upper terrace of the high east Asian plateau, continued from the upper Selenga and the Yenisei (4000 to 5000 ft. high) towards the plateau of the Vitim (3500 to 4000 ft.); and to the east the lower terrace of the same plateau (2800 ft.), forming a continuation of the eastern Gobi. Beginning at Lake Baikal, a valley, deep and broad, penetrates the north-western border-ridge of the plateau, and runs eastward up the river Uda, with an imperceptible gradient, like a gigantic railway cutting enclosed between two steep slopes, and it sends another branch south towards Kiakhta.

\n

After having served, through a succession of geological periods, as an outlet for the water and ice which accumulated on the plateau, it is now utilized for the two highways which lead from Lake Baikal across the plateau (35004000 ft.) to the Amur on the east and the Chinese depression on the south. Elsewhere the high and massive border-ridge on the north-western edge of the plateau can be crossed only by difficult footpaths. The border-ridge just mentioned, gapped by the wide opening of the Selenga, runs from south-west to north-east under different names, being known as Khamar-daban (6900 ft.) south of Lake Baikal, and as the Barguzin Mountains (7000 to 8000 ft.) along the east bank of the Barguzin river, while farther north-east it has been described under the names of the South Muya and the Chara Mountains (6000 to 7000 ft.). Resting its south-east base on the plateau, it descends steeply on the north-west to the lake and to the broad picturesque valleys of the Barguzin, Muya and Chara. Thick forests of larch, fir and cedar clothe the ridge, whose dome-shaped rounded summits (goltsy) rise above the limits of tree vegetation, but dp not reach the snow-line (here above 10,000 ft.).

\n

The high plateau itself has the aspect of an undulating table-land, intersected by ranges, which rise some 1500 or 2000 ft. above its surface, and are separated by broad, flat, marshy valleys, traversed by sluggish meandering streams. The better drained valleys have fine meadow lands, while the hills are clothed with forests (almost exclusively of larch and birch). Numberless lakes and ponds occur along the river courses. Tunguses hunt in the forests and meadows, but permanent agricultural settlements are impossible, corn seldom ripening on account of the early frost. The lower parts of the broad, flat valley of the Jida have, however, a few Cossack settlements, and Mongolian shepherds inhabit the elevated grassy valleys about Lake Kosso-gol (5300 ft. above the sea). Quite different is the lower terrace of the plateau, occupied by the eastern Gobi and the Nerchinsk region, and separated from the upper terrace by the Yablonoi range. This last is the southeastern border-ridge of the higher terrace. It rises to 8035 ft. in the Sokhondo peak, but elsewhere its dome-shaped summits do not exceed 5000 or 6000 ft.

\n

Numberless lakes, with flat undefined margins, feed streams which join the great north-going rivers or the Amur and the Pacific. Low hills rise above the edge of the plateau, but the slope is abrupt towards the south-east, where the foot-hills of the Yablonoi are nearly 1500 and 2000 ft. lower than on the north-west. Climate, flora and fauna change suddenly as soon as the Yablonoi has been crossed. The Siberian flora gives way to the Daurian flora, and this is in turn exchanged for the Pacific littoral flora on the Manchurian plains and lowlands. 1 70

","volume_id":"britannica-11-v27","page_range_label":"Vol. 27, pp. 169-169","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/page/n190/mode/1up","text_source_url":"https://ia903207.us.archive.org/15/items/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/encyclopaediabri27chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich","quality_status":"ocr-imported-page-aligned","parser_version":"ia-djvu-xml-v1","page_refs":[{"page_number":"169","label":"p. 169","image_url":"/source-assets/scans/britannica-11/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/encyclopaediabri27chisrich_0191.jpg","source_image_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/encyclopaediabri27chisrich_jp2.zip/encyclopaediabri27chisrich_jp2%2Fencyclopaediabri27chisrich_0191.jp2&ext=jpg","source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/page/n190/mode/1up"}]},"work":{"id":"britannica-11","slug":"britannica-11","title":"Encyclopaedia Britannica","short_title":"Britannica 11th","edition":"11th edition","publisher":"Cambridge University Press","publication_start_year":1910,"publication_end_year":1911,"language":"English","country":"United Kingdom / United States","copyright_status_note":"First published before 1931; treated as public domain in the United States. Verify jurisdiction before redistribution outside the U.S.","source_quality":"mixed-clean-and-ocr","text_source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri","volumes":[{"id":"britannica-11-v1","volume_number":"1","title":"A to Androphagi","year":1910,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri01chisrich","text_source_url":"https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/1911_Encyclop%C3%A6dia_Britannica","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri01chisrich","page_count":1084},{"id":"britannica-11-v2","volume_number":"2","title":"Andros to Austria","year":1910,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri02chisrich/encyclopaediabri02chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri02chisrich","page_count":null},{"id":"britannica-11-v9","volume_number":"9","title":"Edwardes to Evangelical Association","year":1910,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabrit09chisrich","page_count":null},{"id":"britannica-11-v26","volume_number":"26","title":"Submarine Mines to Tom-Tom","year":1911,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri26chisrich","text_source_url":"https://archive.org/download/encyclopaediabri26chisrich/encyclopaediabri26chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri26chisrich","page_count":null},{"id":"britannica-11-v27","volume_number":"27","title":"Tonality to Vesuvius","year":1911,"source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich","text_source_url":"https://ia903207.us.archive.org/15/items/encyclopaediabri27chisrich/encyclopaediabri27chisrich_djvu.txt","scan_source_url":"https://archive.org/details/encyclopaediabri27chisrich","page_count":null}]}}