Nerchinsk ( rus, Не́рчинск; bua, Нэршүү, ''Nershüü''; mn, Нэрчүү, ''Nerchüü''; mnc, m=, v=Nibcu, a=Nibqu; zh, t=涅尔琴斯克（尼布楚）, p=Niè'ěrqínsīkè (Níbùchǔ)) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

and the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Nerchinsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai,

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, located on the left bank of the

Nercha River The Nercha ( rus, Нерча, bua, Нэршүү, ''Nershüü''; mn, Нэрчүү, ''Nerchüü'') is a river in Zabaykalsky Krai in Russia, left tributary of the Shilka (Amur's basin). The length of the river is . The area of its basin is . T ...

, above its confluence with the Shilka River, east of Lake Baikal, about west of the Chinese border, and east of Chita, the administrative center of the krai. Population: 6,713 (1897).

Town name in other languages

Two important treaties between the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

and Manchu China mention Nerchinsk: the 1689

Treaty of Nerchinsk The Treaty of Nerchinsk () of 1689 was the first treaty between the Tsardom of Russia and the Qing dynasty of China. 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 the 1727

Treaty of Kyakhta The Treaty of Kyakhta (or Kiakhta),, ; , Xiao'erjing: بُلِيًاصِٿِ\ٿِاكْتُ تِيَوْيُؤ; mn, Хиагтын гэрээ, Hiagtiin geree, along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), regulated the relations between Imperial ...

. Non-Russian comments on these treaties or on the history of the town may mention other names: *

Latin Latin (, or , ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally a dialect spoken in the lower Tiber area (then known as Latium) around present-day Rome, but through ...

: Nipchou or Nipcha (however, the Treaty of Kyakhta called the town Nipkoa) * Manchu: Nibcu hoton * Chinese: 尼布楚;

Pinyin Hanyu Pinyin (), often shortened to just pinyin, is the official romanization system for Standard Mandarin Chinese in China, and to some extent, in Singapore and Malaysia. It is often used to teach Mandarin, normally written in Chinese fo ...

: Níbùchǔ

History

The fort of Nerchinsk dates from 1654. founded the town four years later; in that year he opened direct communication between the Russian settlements in Transbaikalia and those on the

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...

which had been founded by Cossacks and fur-traders from the Yakutsk region. In 1689 Russia and

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...

signed the

, which stopped the farther advance of the Russians into the basin of the Amur for two centuries (see Sino-Russian border conflicts). After that, Nerchinsk became the chief center for Russian trade with China. The opening of the western route through

Mongolia Mongolia; Mongolian script: , , ; lit. "Mongol Nation" or "State of Mongolia" () is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south. It covers an area of , with a population of just 3.3 million ...

, via Urga, and the establishment of a custom-house at Kyakhta in 1728 diverted this trade into a new channel. But Nerchinsk acquired fresh importance from the influx of immigrants, mostly exiles, into eastern Dauria, from the discovery of rich mines and from the arrival of great numbers of convicts to the Nerchinsk katorga. Ultimately Nerchinsk became the chief town of Transbaikalia. The famous English adventurer and engineer Samuel Bentham visited Nerchinsk in 1782. Bentham had seen a potential for Nerchinsk as a base for access to the Sea of Okhotsk, provided the Chinese would authorize navigation on the

. Such a venture would have opened up the possibility of fur trade with the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

, as far as the Chinese port of

Canton Canton may refer to: Administrative division terminology * Canton (administrative division), territorial/administrative division in some countries, notably Switzerland * Township (Canada), known as ''canton'' in Canadian French Arts and ente ...

. In 1812, Nerchinsk was transferred from the banks of the Shilka to its present site, on account of floods. The town relinquished its supremacy to Chita in the late 19th century, when the Trans-Siberian Railway bypassed it. According to George Kennan, "a few of the Decembrist conspirators of 1825" and "thousands of Polish insurgents" from their unsuccessful insurrection of 1863" were transported to the Nerchinsk silver-mining district.

20th century

In the early 20th century, Nerchinsk was built of wood, and its lower areas frequently suffered from inundations. The inhabitants supported themselves mainly by agriculture, tobacco-growing and cattle-breeding; a few merchants traded in furs and cattle, in brick-tea from

, and in manufactured wares from

. Gold-mines in the vicinity were owned and developed by the Butin family of merchants, whose Neo-Moorish palace now accessible for visitors.

Nerchinsk today

Nerchinsk is home to some small electromechanical and food-processing industries. It has a small museum, established in 1884. Among its sights are the Resurrection Cathedral, built in the Neoclassical style in 1825 to commemorate the city's relocation, its belltower destroyed by the Communists. The site of old Nerchinsk is marked by the Assumption Monastery, the oldest in

Dauria Transbaikal, Trans-Baikal, Transbaikalia ( rus, Забайка́лье, r=Zabaykalye, p=zəbɐjˈkalʲjɪ), or Dauria (, ''Dauriya'') is a mountainous region to the east of or "beyond" (trans-) Lake Baikal in Far Eastern Russia. The steppe and ...

, founded in 1664. Its cathedral, consecrated in 1712, is the easternmost building in the Muscovite Baroque style.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Nerchinsk serves as the

of Nerchinsky District, to which it is directly subordinated.''Registry of the Administrative-Territorial Units and the Inhabited Localities of Zabaykalsky Krai'' As a municipal division, the

of Nerchinsk, together with one rural locality (the '' selo'' of Makeyevka), is incorporated within Nerchinsky Municipal District as Nerchinskoye Urban Settlement.Law #317-ZZK

Transportation

The Nerchinsk Airport is a former air-base located northwest of the town. It was abandoned in the 1990s.Энциклопедия Забайкалья. Нерчинск.
/ref> The substandard runway length suggests a 1950s design.

References

Notes

Sources

* * * * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Zabaykalsky Krai Transbaikal Oblast Populated places established in 1658 17th-century establishments in Russia 1658 establishments in Russia