Amur

Amur, oblast (province), far eastern Russia. It occupies the basins of the middle Amur River and its tributary the Zeya and extends up to the crest of the Stanovoy Range. In 1689 Russia yielded the Amur region to China by the Treaty of Nerchinsk, but Russian Cossacks reincorporated it in the latter part of the 19th century. Amur oblast was formed in 1932 from Khabarovsk kray (region), and its present boundaries were established in 1948.

The southern part of the oblast, the fertile, black-earth lowland of the Zeya-Bureya Plain, is now largely under cultivation. The higher north and east are almost entirely forested. Most of the population is Russian; the largest of the indigenous groups are the Sakha (Yakut) and Evenk. The chief city and administrative centre is Blagoveshchensk. Wheat is the dominant crop of the lowland. Soybeans, sunflowers, and flax are the main industrial crops. Open-pit coal mining is carried on in the south around Raychikhinsk, and gold and iron ore are found farther north. There is also some timber production. The Zeya dam and hydroelectric station on the Zeya River, completed in 1978 with a rated capacity of 1,260 megawatts, was surpassed by the Bureya dam and 1,700-megawatt hydroelectric station, which began operation in 1994.

River navigation is important during the summer. The Trans-Siberian Railroad has crossed the region since 1916, and another major railroad, the BAM (Baikal-Amur Magistral), was constructed in the 1980s. Area 140,400 square miles (363,700 square km). Pop. (2006 est.) 881,091.