Treaty of Nerchinsk

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The Nerchinsk Treaty was the first treaty between Russia and the Qing Empire. It was signed on August 27, 1689 as a result of a military conflict over the region by the Amur River (Amur krai, or Priamurye) in the small town of Nerchinsk.

According to this treaty, Russia lost access to the Sea of Japan, but established trade relations with Qing Dynasty China. The Russian outpost of Albazin, which had been a source of conflict between China and Russia, was to be abandoned and destroyed. The border between Russia and China was established to follow the Stanovoy Ridge and the Argun River. The treaty had three official versions, one Russian, one Latin and one Manchu; no official Chinese version of the treaty was drafted.

The treaty conditions were revised to Russia's benefit by the Aigun Treaty of 1858 and the Beijing Treaty of 1860, which established the Russo-Chinese border roughly corresponding to that of today. The Chinese signatory was Songgotu on behalf of the Qing Emperor.

[edit] Further reading

Perdue, Peter C. China marches west: The Qing conquest of Central Eurasia. Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2005.
Sebes, Joseph, and Thomas Pereira. The Jesuits and the Sino-Russian Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689): The Diary of Thomas Pereira. Bibliotheca Instituti Historici S.I.; V. 18. Rome: Institutum Historicum S.I., 1962.