| Native Name: | Зелений клин |
| Conventional Long Name: | Green Ukraine |
| Common Name: | Green Ukraine |
| Iso3166code: | omit |
| Era: | Russian Civil War |
| Date Start: | 24 June |
| Year Start: | 1917 |
| Year End: | 1922 |
| Event1: | Independence |
| Date Event1: | April 1918 |
| P1: | Russian Republic |
| Flag P1: | Flag of Russia.svg |
| S1: | Far Eastern Republic |
| Flag S1: | Flag_of_Far_Eastern_Republic.svg |
| Flag Type: | Proposed flag of Green Ukraine[1] [2] |
| Leader1: | Yurii Hlushko |
| Year Leader1: | 1918—1922 |
| Title Leader: | Head of government |
| Today: | Russia |
Green Ukraine, also known as Zelenyi Klyn or Zakytaishchyna,[3] [4] 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 (Ukrainian: Закитайщина|Zakytaishchyna) was a projected country in the Russian Far East.[5]
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.[6] 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.
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.[7]
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.
At first, the Ukrainian word klyn (Ukrainian: клин) meant a private land allotment. By the end of the 19th century, people began to use this term for lands inhabited by ethnic Ukrainians that are located further east of the main Ukrainian territory. There is also a version that klyn marks the geographical contours of Green Ukraine.[8]
This term was also used for Yellow Ukraine, Pink Ukraine and Grey Ukraine.[9]
Head of the Krai Secretariat:
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.
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.