Amur Annexation

Between 1858 and 1860, the Russian Empire annexed territories adjoining the Amur River belonging to the Chinese Qing dynasty through the imposition of unequal treaties.

Two years later, the Second Opium War concluded with the Convention of Peking, which affirmed the previous treaty as well as an additional cession including the entire Pacific coast to the Korean border, as well as the island of Sakhalin to Russia.

[2] Beginning in the 1630s, agents of the expanding Russian Empire began to reach the Pacific coast of Eurasia, and through dialogue and intimidation of local peoples they became aware of the Amur region and a potential direct contact with China.

The territorial situation was ultimately clarified in the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk, wherein the Stanovoys and the Argun River were recognized as the border between the two empires, containing the recent pattern of attempted Russian expansion.

[5] In the 18th century, following the voyages of James Cook, British, French, and American vessels began to enter the Pacific in significant numbers; they were followed by Russian explorers such as Grigory Shelikhov and Nikolai Rezanov.

These voyages were primarily concerned with the new Russian colonies in Alaska, which raised the question of defense for the eastern coast of Siberia, and ultimately the possibility of using the Amur as a route to supply the Pacific.

[2] In 1845, the Baltic German explorer Alexander von Middendorff visited the lands on the Amur and wrote a report on behalf of the Russian government.

In 1849, Nevelskoy and his men sailed through a section of the Amur, and then south through the Strait of Tartary, proving that Sakhalin was an island, a fact which was kept a military secret.

[citation needed] To establish a military force, Governor-General Muravyov created the Transbaikalian Cossacks by arming 20,000 serfs from local mines.

Judging that Petropavlovsk could not be reliably defended further, Muravyov ordered Rear Admiral Vasily Zavoyko to move his forces into the Amur area instead.

In May 1855, Charles Elliot's force found Zavoyko at De Kastri Bay, south of Cape Nevelskoy on the Strait of Tartary.

[citation needed] Under the cover of fog, Zavoyko withdrew northward to the mouth of the Amur, a move that baffled the British, who were still under the impression that Sakhalin was connected to the mainland.

When news of this reached Saint Petersburg, Alexander Gorchakov, the foreign minister who had replaced Nesselrode, decided that it was time to "activate Russian Far Eastern Policy".

[11] The result was the Russo-Chinese Convention of Peking, which took place on 14 November 1860 and by which the Treaty of Tientsin was ratified; its terms stipulated that all land north of the Amur and east of the Ussuri would be ceded to Russia.