Photo, left:  Kyakhta (Кяхта) banknote, from the early Soviet Union. Kyakhta is a town on the Russia-Mongolia border that for a period was the world’s largest repository of the world’s most expensive animal pelts. The town was renamed Troitskosavsk during the first part of the 20th century, but the original name was restored in 1935.  See Hour 4, West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, by Claudio Saunt
Kyakhta in Russia is in a province, called a republic, named Buryata, after the indigenous Mongolian people north of the border.  The Buryat name means place covered with couch grass,is derived from the Mongolian word хиаг, meaning couch grass.
Kyakhta was founded in 1727 soon after the Treaty of Kyakhta was negotiated just north at Selenginsk. It was the starting point of the boundary markers that defined what is now the northern border of Mongolia. Kyakhta's founder, Serb Sava Vladislavich, established it as a trading point between Russia and the Qing Empire. The Manchus built Maimaicheng just south of Kyakhta on their side of the border. Before 1762, state caravans traveled from Kyakhta to Peking. After that date, trade was mostly by barter at Kyakhta-Maimaicheng, with merchants’ crossing the border to make their business. In 1782, the Russians sold furs, textiles, clothing, hides, leather, hardware, and cattle, while the Chinese sold silk, cotton stuffs, teas, fruits, porcelain, rice, candles, rhubarb, ginger, and musk.
JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW
 
Hour One
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 1, Block A: An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (1 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 1, Block B:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (2 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 1, Block C: An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (3 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 1, Block D:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (4 of 12)
 
Hour Two
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 2, Block A:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (5 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 2, Block B:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (6 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 2, Block C:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (7 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 2, Block D:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (8 of 12)
 
Hour Three
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 3, Block A:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (9 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 3, Block B:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (10 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 3, Block C:  An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (11 of 12)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 3, Block D:   An Empire on the Edge: How Britain Came to Fight America, by Nick Bunker (12 of 12)
 
Hour Four
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 4, Block A: West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, by Claudio Saunt (1 of 4)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 4, Block B: West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, by Claudio Saunt (2 of 4)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 4, Block C: West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, by Claudio Saunt (3 of 4)
Saturday 17 October 2015 / Hour 4, Block D: West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, by Claudio Saunt (4 of 4)