Editing Ulaanbaatar (section)

===Urga and the Kyakhta trade===
Following the [[Treaty of Kyakhta]] in 1727, Urga (Ulaanbaatar) was a major point of the [[Kyakhta trade]] between Russia and China – mostly Siberian furs for Chinese cloth and later tea. The route ran south to Urga, southeast across the [[Gobi Desert]] to [[Kalgan]], and southeast over the mountains to Peking. Urga was also a collection point for goods coming from further west. These were either sent to China or shipped north to Russia via Kyakhta, because of legal restrictions and the lack of good trade routes to the west.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

By 1908,<ref>Lindon Wallace Bates, ''The Russian Road to China'', 1910</ref> there was a Russian quarter with a few hundred merchants and a Russian club and informal Russian mayor. East of the main town was the Russian consulate, built in 1863, with an [[Russian Orthodox Church|Orthodox]] church, a post office and 20 [[Cossacks|Cossack]] guards. It was fortified in 1900 and briefly occupied by troops during the [[Boxer Rebellion]]. There was a telegraph line north to Kyakhta and southeast to Kalgan and weekly postal service along these routes.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

Beyond the Russian consulate was the Chinese trading post called [[Bayanzürkh|Maimaicheng]], and nearby the palace of the Manchu viceroy. With the growth of Western trade at the Chinese ports, the tea trade to Russia declined, some Chinese merchants left, and wool became the main export. Manufactured goods still came from Russia, but most were now brought from Kalgan by caravan. The annual trade was estimated at 25 million rubles, nine-tenths in Chinese hands and one-tenth in Russian.{{citation needed|date=March 2018}}

The Moscow trade expedition of the 1910s estimated the population of Urga at 60,000, based on [[Nikolay Przhevalsky]]'s study in the 1870s.<ref name="archives.gov.mn">[https://www.archives.gov.mn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=424:-100-&catid=3:newsflash&Itemid=118 "From Khutagtiin Khuree to Niislel Khuree"]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171010143305/http://www.archives.gov.mn/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=424:-100-&catid=3:newsflash&Itemid=118 |date=2017-10-10 }}. Presentation of the Director of the General Archives Authority D. Ulziibaatar, archives.gov.mn; accessed 26 March 2018.</ref>

The city's population swelled during the [[Naadam]] festival and major religious festivals to more than 100,000. In 1919, the number of monks had reached 20,000, up from 13,000 in 1810.<ref name="archives.gov.mn"/>

[[File:Jugder 001.jpg|upright=3|A 1913 panorama of the city. The large circular compound in the middle is the Zuun Khuree temple-palace complex. The Gandan temple complex is to the left. The palaces of the Bogd are to the south of the river. To the far bottom right of the painting is the Maimaicheng district. To its left are the white buildings of the Russian consulate area. [[Manjusri Monastery]] can be seen on Mount Bogd Khan Uul at the bottom-right of the painting.|center|alt=A 1913 panorama of Urga. The large circular compound in the middle is the Zuun Khuree temple-palace complex. The Gandan temple complex is to the left. The palaces of the Bogd are to the south of the river. To the far bottom right of the painting is the Maimaicheng district. To its left are the white buildings of the Russian consulate area. Manjusri Monastery can be seen on Mount Bogd Khan Uul at the bottom-right of the painting.|thumb]]