The article considers the early history of Chita, from the wintering place to a log storage-and-bundling area, and then to a suburb, fortress, settlement, and finally to a town – center of Zabaikalsk region. Chronologically, the article covers a period of 1653–1851s, the beginning of the 1860s is described in the epilogue. Being located on the river Ingoda, in the upper Amur river system, at the foot of the mountain ridge, Chita played an important role in the development of Trans-Baikal territory and Amur River region. The authors introduce a various range of historical documents from the State Archives of Zabaikalsky Krai, as well as generalize results of the research on this issue done by the historians and area studies specialists. Furthermore, the paper reconstructs historical perspective of events, concerning development indifferent closely interlaced areas like government, church, military, scientific and others, that represented the early history of Chita and, at the same time, the history of Zabaikalsk region, considering its geopolitical situation and relationship with China.