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Mongolia

FIRST STAMPS Russia 1858-1924.
FIRST STAMPS ISSUED August 1924.

CURRENCY
1924, 100 cents = 1 Chinese dollar.
1926, 100 mung = 1 tugrik.

The Mongols had carried their banners of empire under Genghis Khan (1206-27) to the gates of Vienna and under Kublai Khan (1260-94) to Peking. Their empire soon broke up into various khanates. Russian influence, however, remained dominant. The Mongolian People's Republic was proclaimed on 26 November 1924.

Postal History
A frontier PO was opened for government mails at Kyakhta before 1898. A Russian consular post began in 1863 at Urga, while Russian merchant guilds at Kyakhta, Urga and Sair-Ussu on the 'Tea Road' operated posts across the Gobi Desert to Kalgan (Peking) until these were taken over in 1870 by the Russian postal administration. A Chinese PO operated also at Urga in 1909-12 and 1919-21. The Russian offices became the basis of the Mongolian posts in 1924.

Tannu Tuva

FIRST STAMPS Russia from 1914.
FIRST STAMPS ISSUED October 1926 (occasionally found in combination with stamps of Russia).

CURRENCY
1926, as Russia.
1935, 100 kopecks = 1 tugrik.
1936, 100 kopecks = 1 aksha.

Uryankhai, or Wu-Lyang-Hai, a nomadic area ringed by mountains, was first recognized as Chinese in 1864, though by this time Russian traders were established. The region was cut off geographically from China by Mongolia's declaration of independence in 1911. A Russian protectorate in 1914 moved the capital to Byelotsarsk, and though Chinese rule was re-established for a short time following the Russian Revolution, the Red Army re-occupied the territory in 1921. It is now an autonomous republic of the Soviet Union.

Postal History
There were no organized posts before 1914. A Russian PO at Byelotsarsk from about this time remained after 1921 when the town's name changed to Kizil. The country never joined the UPU so that its stamps were valid only internally or to Russia and Mongolia.

Inscriptions: POSTA TOUVA or TUBA. Only post town known: Kizil and Turan. Has used only stamps of USSR since 1944.