Historical Sketch

The Tuvan territories came under Mongol rule in the 13th century, and China exercised a loose control after the decline of the Mongol empire, which was tightened under the Qing dynasty when the Tuvans were organized into the dominion of Tannu Uriankhai. The Chinese revolution of 1911 and subsequent civil led to a secession of the borderlands. Like neighboring Mongolia, Tuva did declared independence as Republic of Uriankhai, since 1914 under Russian protectorate. In the Russian civil war after the October Revolution the Red Army occupied Uriankhai in 1919, and two years later, the Tuvan People's Republic got established. During World War II the already close ties with the Soviet Union tightened further, and in October 1944, the Tuvan government decreed the adherence to the USSR.

Monetary History Overview

The Tuvan economy was traditionally based on subsistence and barter, payments were done in silver bullion, complemented with silver coins entering from neighbouring China and Russia. In 1925, the state-owned Tuvan Bank for Trade and Industry was founded. The circulating Chinese and Tsarist Russian moneys were withdrawn and replaced by Soviet currency. In December 1933, the National People's Congress decreed the creation of a national currency. The Tuvan Aksha was at par with the Soviet Ruble, and according to the currency ordinance a gold currency in the Russian standard of 1897. The circulating Soviet banknotes were overprinted until national banknotes and coins could be issued beginning of 1936. The Ruble peg was adjusted when the Soviet currency went off the gold standard in 1937. In October 1944, Tuva decided to abandon statehood and to join the USSR. The Soviet Ruble was introduced and the Tuvan currency withdrawn until end April 1945.

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