Amur Oblast /

Amur Oblast (Russian: Аму́рская о́бласть, Amurskaya oblast) is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast), situated about 8,000 kilometres (5,000 mi) east of Moscow on the banks of the Amur and Zeya Rivers. It shares its border with the Sakha Republic in the north, Khabarovsk Krai and the Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the east, People's Republic of China in the south, and Zabaykalsky Krai in the west. Amur Oblast had a population of 869,600 in 2008. Amur Krai (Аму́рский край) or Priamurye (Приаму́рье) were unofficial names for the Russian territories by the Amur River used in the late Russian Empire that approximately correspond to modern Amur Oblast. The administrative center of the oblast, Blagoveshchensk, is one of the oldest settlements in the Russian Far East, founded in 1856. It is a traditional center of trade and gold mining. The territory is accessed by two railroads, the Trans-Siberian railway and the Baikal Amur Mainline. The Stanovoy Range forms the dividing line between the Sakha Republic and Amur Oblast and spreads across the oblast's entire northern border. Dwarf Siberian pine and alpine tundra grow at higher elevations on these mountains and larch forests with small