The Amur basin. Nerchinsk is part way up the Shilka. The Stanovoy Range extends along the northern edge of the Amur basin.
Changes in the Russo-Chinese border in the 17th–19th centuries
The Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 was the first treaty between Russia and China under Qing dynasty. The Russians gave up the area north of the Amur River as far as the Stanovoy Range and kept the area between the Argun River and Lake Baikal. This border along the Argun River and Stanovoy Range lasted until the Amur Acquisition in 1858 and 1860. It opened markets for Russian goods in China, and gave Russians access to Chinese supplies and luxuries.
The authoritative version was in Latin, with translations into Russian and Manchu, but these versions differed considerably. There was no official Chinese text for another two centuries,[2] but the border markers were inscribed in Chinese along with Manchu, Russian and Latin.[3]
Later, in 1727, the Treaty of Kiakhta fixed what is now the border of Mongolia west of the Argun and opened up the caravan trade. In 1858 (Treaty of Aigun) Russia annexed the land north of the Amur and in 1860 (Treaty of Beijing) took the coast down to Vladivostok. The current border runs along the Argun, Amur and Ussuri Rivers.
The northern border of "Chinese Tartary", as shown on this map from 1734, was more or less the Sino-Russian border line settled at Nerchinsk. Nerchinsk itself is shown on the map (on the Russian side of the border) as well.
The Qing Empire with provinces in yellow, military governorates and protectorates in green, tributary states in orange.
From about 1640, Russians entered the Amur basin from the north, into land claimed by the Manchus who at this time were just beginning their conquest of China. The Manchus had, by the 1680s, completed the conquest of China and eliminated the last Ming successor states in the south.[4] With the Manchu Qing dynasty now firmly in control of the South, it was in a position to deal with what they saw as Russian encroachment in Manchuria, the dynasty's ancient homeland.[5] By 1685 most of the Russians had been driven out of the area. See Sino–Russian border conflicts for details.
After their first victory at Albazin in 1685, the Qing government sent two letters to the Tsar (in Latin) suggesting peace and demanding that Russian freebooters leave the Amur. The Russian government, knowing that the Amur could not be defended and being more concerned with events in the west, sent Fyodor Golovin east as plenipotentiary. Golovin left Moscow in January 1686 with 500 streltsy and reached Selenginsk near Lake Baikal in October 1687, from whence he sent couriers ahead. It was agreed the meeting would be in Selenginsk in 1688. At this point the Oirats (western Mongols) under Galdan attacked the eastern Mongols in the area between Selenginsk and Peking and negotiations had to be delayed. To avoid the fighting Golovin moved east to Nerchinsk where it was agreed that talks would take place. The Manchus with 3,000 to 15,000 soldiers under Songgotu left Peking on June 1689 and arrived in July. Talks went on from August 22 to September 6.
The language used was Latin, the translators being, for the Russians, a Pole named Andrei Bielobocki and for the Chinese the Jesuits Jean-Francois Gerbillon and Thomas Pereira. To avoid problems of precedence, tents were erected side by side so that neither side would be seen as visiting the other. Russian acceptance of the treaty required a relaxation of what had been, in Ming (the former dynasty) times, an iron rule of Chinese diplomacy, requiring the non-Chinese party to accept language which characterized the foreigner as an inferior or tributary.[6][7] The conspicuous absence of such linguistic gamesmanship from the Treaty of Nerchinsk,[8] together with the equally conspicuous absence of Chinese language or personnel, suggests that the Kangxi emperor was using the Manchu language as a deliberate end-run around his more conservative Han bureaucracy. The Yuan Empire's rule of Mongol tribes living around Lake Baikal was claimed by the Qing, who incited the defection of the Nerchinsk Onggut and Buryat Mongols away from the Russians.[9]
The Manchus wished to remove the Russians from the Amur. They were interested in the Amur since it was the northern border of the original Manchu heartland. They could ignore the area west of the Argun since it was then controlled by the Oirats. The Kangxi Emperor (i.e. the reigning Qing (Manchu) dynasty emperor of China) also wished to settle with Russia in order to free his hands to deal with the Dzungar Mongols of Central Asia, to his northwest.[10][11] The Manchus also wanted a delineated frontier to keep nomads and outlaws from fleeing across the border.[12]
The Russians, for their part, knew that the Amur was indefensible and were more interested in establishing profitable trade, which the Kangxi Emperor had threatened to block unless the border dispute were resolved.[13] Golovin accepted the loss of the Amur in exchange for possession of Trans-Baikalia and access to Chinese markets for Russian traders. The Russians were also concerned with the military strength of the Manchus, who had demonstrated their capability, in 1685 and 1686, by twice overrunning the Russian outpost at Albazin.[14]
The Crimean Tatars were defeating the Russians and the Qing's enemies, the Dzungars under Galdan, were seizing Mongolia, so both the Russians and Qing were eager to end the conflict.[15]
The agreed boundary was the Argun River north to its confluence with the Shilka River, up the Shilka to the "Gorbitsa River", up the Gorbitsa to its headwaters, then along the east-west watershed through the Stanovoy Mountains and down the Uda River (Khabarovsk Krai) to the Sea of Okhotsk at its southwest corner.
The border west of the Argun was not defined (at the time, this area was controlled by the Oirats). Neither side had very exact knowledge of the course of the Uda River. The Gorbitsa is hard to find on modern maps.
The treaty had six paragraphs: 1 and 2: definition of the border, 3. Albazin to be abandoned and destroyed. 4. Refugees who arrived before the treaty to stay, those arriving after the treaty to be sent back. 5. Trade to be allowed with proper documents. 6. Boundary stones to be erected, and general exhortations to avoid conflict.
The treaty was "a triumph of intercultural negotiation" that gave Russians access to Chinese markets for expensive furs; Russians purchased porcelain, silk, gold, silver, and tea as well as with provisions for the northern garrisons.[16] The cross-border trade created a multiethnic character to Nerchinsk and Kyakhta in Siberia. They became locales for the interaction of Russian, Central Asian, and Chinese cultures. The trade extended European economic expansion deep into Asia. Profitable trade fell off in the 1720s because the policies of Peter I limited private initiative and ended Siberia's role as a major economic link between the West and East.[17]
Russian interest in the Amur River was revived in the 1750s. In 1757 Fedor Ivanovich Soimonov was sent to map the area. He mapped the Shilka, which was partly in Chinese territory, but was turned back when he reached its confluence with the Argun. In 1757 Vasili Fedorovich Bradishchev was sent to Peking to investigate the possibility of using the Amur. He was received cordially and given a definite no. After that the matter was dropped.[18]
In 1799, when Adam Johann von Krusenstern visited Canton he saw an English ship that had brought furs from Russian America in five months as opposed to the two years or more for the Okhotsk–Yakutsk–Kyakhta route. He saw that this could replace the overland trade. He submitted a memoir to the Naval Ministry which led to his command of the first Russian circumnavigation. He was able to sell American furs at Canton after some official resistance. Only when he returned to Kronstadt did he learn that his presence in Canton had provoked an edict making clear that Russian trade with the Middle Kingdom would be confined to Kyakhta.[19]
^On the difference between version of the treaty, see V. S. Frank, "The Territorial Terms of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk, 1689", The Pacific Historical Review 16, No. 3 (August 1947), 265–170.
^Elman, Benjamin A (2007), "Ming-Qing border defense, the inward turn of Chinese Cartography, and Qing expansion in Central Asia in the Eighteenth Century", in Diana Lary (ed.) Chinese State at the Borders. Univ. Wash. Press, pp. 29–56.
^Perdue, Peter C (1996), "Military mobilization in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century China, Russia, and Mongolia". Modern Asian Studies 30: 757-793, 763-764.
^Gang Zhao (2006), "Reinventing China: Imperial Qing ideology and the rise of modern Chinese national identity in the early Twentieth Century". Modern China 32: 3-30, 14.
^Peter C. Perdue, "Nature and Power: China and the Wider World." Social Science History 37.3 (2013): 373-391.
^Eva-Maria Stolberg, "Interracial Outposts in Siberia: Nerchinsk, Kiakhta, and the Russo-Chinese Trade in the Seventeenth/Eighteenth Centuries." Journal of Early Modern History 4#3-4 (2000): 322-336.
Bao, Muping. "trade centres (maimaicheng) in Mongolia, and their function in Sino–Russian trade networks." International Journal of Asian Studies 3.2 (2006): 211-237.
Chen, Vincent. Sino Russian Relations in the Seventeenth Century. (Martinus Nijhoff, 1966).
Frank, V.S. "The Territorial Terms of the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk, 1689". The Pacific Historical Review (August 1947): 265-170.0
Gardener, William. "China and Russia: The Beginnings of Contact" History Today, 27 (January 1977): 22-30.
Maier, Lothar. "Gerhard Friedrich Müller's memoranda on Russian relations with China and the reconquest of the Amur." Slavonic and East European Review (1981): 219-240. online
Mancall, Mark. Russia and China: Their Diplomatic Relations to 1728. Harvard University Press, 1971.
Perdue, Peter C. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005.
Perdue, Peter C. "Boundaries and trade in the early modern world: Negotiations at Nerchinsk and Beijing." Eighteenth-Century Studies (2010): 341-356. online
Perdue, Peter C. "Nature and Power: China and the Wider World." Social Science History 37.3 (2013): 373-391.
Perdue, Peter C. "Military Mobilization in Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century China, Russia, and Mongolia." Modern Asian Studies 30.4 (1996): 757-793. online
Stolberg, Eva-Maria. "Interracial Outposts in Siberia: Nerchinsk, Kiakhta, and the Russo-Chinese Trade in the Seventeenth/Eighteenth Centuries." Journal of Early Modern History 4#3-4 (2000): 322-336.
The Treaty of Aigun was an 1858 treaty between the Russian Empire, and the empire of the Qing Dynasty, the Manchu rulers of China, that established much of the modern border between the Russian Far East and Manchuria, which is now known as Northeast China. It reversed the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689) by transferring the land between the Stanovoy Range and the Amur River from China to the Russian Empire. Russia received over 600,000 square kilometres (231,660 sq mi) from China.
Outer Manchuria
Outer Manchuria or Outer Northeast China is an unofficial term for a territory in Northeast Asia that was formerly controlled by the Qing dynasty and now belongs to Russia. It is considered part of Manchuria by some definitions. Russia officially received this territory by way of the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860. The northern part of the area was also in dispute between 1643 and 1689.
Argun River (Asia)
The Argun or Ergune is a 1,621 kilometres (1,007 mi) river that forms part of the eastern China–Russia border, together with the Amur River. Its upper reaches are known as Hailar River in China. The Ergune marks the border between Russia and China for about 944 kilometres (587 mi), until it meets the Amur River.
Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin
Count Feodor Alekseyevich Golovin was the last Russian boyar and the first Chancellor of the Russian Empire, field marshal, general admiral (1700). Until his death he was the most influential of Peter the Great's associates.
History of Sino-Russian relations
Prior to the 1600s China and Russia were on opposite ends of Siberia, which was populated by independent nomads. By about 1640 Russian settlers had traversed most of Siberia and founded settlements in the Amur River basin. From 1652 to 1689, China's armies drove the Russian settlers out, but after 1689 China and Russia made peace and established trade agreements. By the mid-1800s China's economy and military lagged far behind the colonial powers, so it signed unequal treaties with Western countries and Russia, through which Russia annexed the Amur basin and Vladivostok. The Russian Empire and Western powers exacted many other concessions from China, among which were indemnities for anti-Western riots, control over China's tariffs, and extraterritorial agreements including legal immunity for foreigners and foreign businesses. That happened at a time when Russian culture and society itself and especially the elite was westernized. During this time, the ruler of Russia officially was no longer called tsar, but emperor, which was imported from the European model. Contracts which only affected Russia and China mainly included questions about the Russian-Chinese border as Russia was, unlike the Western countries, a direct neighbor of China. Many Chinese people felt humiliated by China's submission to these foreign interests, and this contributed to widespread hostility towards the emperor of China. In 1911 public anger led to a revolution, which marked the beginning of the Republic of China. However, China's new regime was forced to sign further unequal treaties with Western countries, and Russia. In recent years Russia and China signed a border agreement.
Albazino
Albazino is a village (selo) in Skovorodinsky District of Amur Oblast, Russia, noted as the site of Albazin (Албазин), the first Russian settlement on the Amur River.
Sino-Russian border conflicts
The Sino-Russian border conflicts (1652–1689) were a series of intermittent skirmishes between the Qing dynasty, with assistance from the Joseon dynasty of Korea, and the Tsardom of Russia by the Cossacks in which the latter tried and failed to gain the land north of the Amur River with disputes over the Amur region. The hostilities culminated in the Qing siege of the Cossack fort of Albazin (1686) and resulted in the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689 which gave the land to China.
Albazinians
The Albazinians are one of the few groups of Chinese of Russian descent. There are approximately 250 Albazinians in China who are descendants of about fifty Russian Cossacks from Albazin on the Amur River that were resettled by the Kangxi Emperor in the northeastern periphery of Beijing in 1685. Albazin was a Russian fort on the Amur River, founded by Yerofey Khabarov in 1651. It was stormed by Qing troops in 1685. The majority of its inhabitants agreed to evacuate their families and property to Nerchinsk, whereas several young Cossacks resolved to join the Manchu army and to relocate to Beijing. See Russian-Manchu border conflicts.
Novoselenginsk
Novoselenginsk is a rural locality in Selenginsky District of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Selenge River south of Lake Baikal. Formerly called simply Selenginsk, it was one of the most important towns in Siberia before 1800.
Amur Acquisition
The Amur Acquisition was the annexation of the southeast corner of Siberia by Russia in 1858–1860 through a series of unequal treaties forced upon the Qing dynasty. The two areas involved are the Priamurye between the Amur River and the Stanovoy Range to the north and the Primorye which runs down the coast from the Amur mouth to the Korean border, and does not include the island of Sakhalin. The territory of Outer Manchuria was formerly under the control of the Qing dynasty.
Jaxa (state)
Jaxa was a state in 17th century with a capital in Albazino.
Siege of Albazin
The Siege of Albazin was a military conflict between the Tsardom of Russia and the Qing dynasty from 1685 to 1686. It ultimately ended in the surrender of Albazin to the Qing and Russian abandonment of the Amur River area in return for trading privileges in Beijing.
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