It was ceded to the Russian Empire by Qing China in 1860 as part of a region known as Outer Manchuria, forming most of the territory of Primorskaya Oblast.

During the Russian Civil War it became part of the Far Eastern Republic before joining the Soviet Union, going through numerous changes until reaching its current form in 1938.

Primorsky Krai is home to the Russian Navy's Pacific Fleet and is also known as the birthplace of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

The ranges are cut by the picturesque narrow and deep valleys of the rivers and by large brooks, such as the Partizanskaya, the Kiyevka, the Zerkalnaya, the Cheryomukhovaya, the Yedinka, the Samarga, the Bikin, and the Bolshaya Ussurka.

As part of the coastal flora, there are many valuable medicinal, technical and food plants, many relict and endemic species.

There are mountainous tundra areas, conifers and coniferous-deciduous forests, and forest-steppe, which is sometimes called the Far Eastern Prairie, where many ancient plant species have been preserved, including ferns, lotus, and the willow Salix arbutifolia (syn.

The flora of the territory contains such plants as Taxus cuspidata, Juniperus rigida, Phellodendron amurense, Kalopanax, Aralia elata, Maackia amurensis, Alnus japonica, Actinidia kolomikta, Schisandra chinensis, Celastrus orbiculatus, Thladiantha dubia, Weigela, Eleutherococcus, Flueggea suffruticosa, Deutzia, Nelumbo nucifera, Betula schmidtii, Carpinus cordata, Acer mandshuricum, Parthenocissus tricuspidata, Vitis amurensis, Panax ginseng and many others.

The following animals are found in the Krai: Ussuri black bear (Ursus thibetanus), Amur tiger, Amur leopard (Panthera pardus orientalis), Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), wild boar (Sus scrofa), Manchurian deer (Cervus elaphus xanthopygos), Siberian roe deer (Capreolus pygargus), musk deer (Moschus moschiferus), long-tailed goral (Naemorhedus caudatus), sika deer (Cervus nippon), sable (Martes zibellina), Blakiston's fish owl (Bubo blakistoni), mandarinka duck (Aix galericulata), black stork (Ciconia nigra), scaly goosander (Mergus squamatus), chestnut-cheeked starling (Sturnia philippensis), black griffon (Aegypius monachus), large-winged cuckoo (family Cuculidae), and others.

The Udege people are said to have traditionally settled in territories along the Bikin River long ago, however, they are possibly of Jianzhou Jurchen origin.

The Nerchinsk Treaty of 1689 demarcating the borders of the two states gave all lands lying south of the Stanovoy Mountains, including Primorye, to the Qing Empire.

However, with the weakening of the Qing Empire[further explanation needed] in the second half of the 19th century, Russia began its expansion into the area.

In the period from 1859 to 1882, ninety-five settlements were established in the Primorye region, including Vladivostok, Ussuriysk, Razdolnoye, Vladimiro-Aleksandrovskoye, Shkotovo, Pokrovka, Tury Rog, and Kamen-Rybolov.

Coal mining became a prominent industry, as did the export of sea-kale, velvet antlers, timber, crab, dried fish, and trepangs.

The rapid economic expansion of Primorye was financed in large measure by Russian and foreign capital investment.

After the Russian Revolution and the victory of the communists, the new government renamed Primorskaya Oblast as the Zemstvo of Maritime Territory.

The Soviet Government spent the following ten years combating "bourgeois ideology" in many areas of life and culture.

As in the rest of the Soviet Union, priority was given to heavy industry, with a special emphasis on mining and commercial fishing.

On April 18, 1942, the region became accidentally involved in World War II, which the United States had entered after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

Primorsky Krai was the location where one of 16 United States Army Air Corps B-25 Mitchell medium bombers landed.

The landing occurred 40 miles (65 km) west of Vladivostok; the bomber's crew could not return to their base, the aircraft carrier Hornet, by the mission plan.

The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as the guarantor of the observance of the krai Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Primorsky Krai's economy, the most balanced in the Russian Far East,[citation needed] is also the largest in absolute terms.

The krai's proximity to Pacific Rim markets gives it an edge over most other Russian Far East administrative divisions in developing foreign trade.

Major trading partners are Japan, China, and South Korea.The economy will be further diversified with the addition of as many as 8 government sanctioned casinos to be built in the Primorye Gambling Zone, which encompasses the entire Primorsky Krai.

The deposits are the major sources of fuel for the largest heat and power stations of Primorye: Luchegorskaya and Vladivostokskaya.

There are numerous deposits of granites, porphyrites, and marbles which, when polished, acquire a smooth surface of beautiful color.

The krai's largest stocks, a total of more than fifteen million tons, is the Uglovskaya group of deposits located in Uglovoye settlement.

Several Tungusic and Paleosiberian peoples lived here before Russian colonization: Udege, Nanai, Nivkh, Orochs, Ulchs, Oroks, and Manchus.

[26] Due to its geographical location, the krai boasts a mixture of not only ethnic Russians, but also Ukrainians, Koreans, Volga Germans, Buryats, Nanai, and Orochs.

Vital statistics for 2022:[27][28] Total fertility rate (2022):[29] 1.43 children per woman Life expectancy (2021):[30] Total — 68.61 years (male — 63.98, female — 73.45) In the 2021 Census, the following ethnic groups were listed: According to a 2012 survey[32] 26.6% of the population of Primorsky Krai adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 6% are unaffiliated Christians, 1% adheres to other Eastern Orthodox churches or is an Eastern Orthodox believer without belonging to any church, and 1% of the population adheres to the Slavic native faith (Rodnovery) or to local Siberian native faiths.