Outer Manchuria

{{neologism|date=November 2011}} {{no footnotes|date=February 2010}} {{refimprove|date=February 2010}} [[Image:Manchuria.png|300px|thumb|Outer Manchuria is in light red on this map. Some also consider the island of [[Sakhalin]] to be part of Outer Manchuria.]] {{ChineseText}} '''Outer Manchuria''' (formerly known as ''Priamurye'' Приаму́рье in Russia), is the territory ceded by [[Qing Dynasty|China]] to [[Russia]] in the [[Treaty of Aigun]] in 1858 and the [[Treaty of Peking]] in 1860. ( See [[Amur Annexation]] ). The northern part of the area was also in dispute between 1643 and 1689 (see [[Russian–Manchu border conflicts]]). The area comprises the present-day Russian areas of [[Primorsky Krai]], southern [[Khabarovsk Krai]], the [[Jewish Autonomous Oblast]] and [[Amur Oblast]]. Another interpretation also adds the island of [[Sakhalin]]. According to the [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] in 1689, the Sino-Russian border was the [[Stanovoy Mountains]] and the [[Argun River (Asia)|Argun River]], establishing Outer Manchuria as a part of [[Qing Dynasty]] China. After losing the Opium War, a series of treaties were forced upon the [[Qing Dynasty]] gave away land and ports to the European powers, these were known as the [[Unequal Treaties]]. Starting with the [[Treaty of Aigun]] in 1858 and the [[Treaty of Peking]] in 1860, the Sino-Russian border was realigned on the Amur and [[Ussuri]] rivers, in Russia's favour. As a result, China lost Outer Manchuria, as well as access to the [[Sea of Japan]]. ==Name== Outer Manchuria and its counterpart Inner Manchuria are neologisms coined by analogy with Outer and Inner [[Mongolia]]. The analogy, however, has been criticized because whereas the Mongols who were under two different relations to the [[Qing]] Court were a recognized ethnic group, 'Manchus' were an ethnic group constructed by [[Nurhaci]] in the early 17th century, mainly for the purposes of military conquest in China. According to this view, there were no Manchus north of the [[Nen River]] and the [[Songhua River]], so that region cannot properly be called 'Outer Manchuria'. It is conceded that the term is useful, however, in reference to the broad area formerly known as Priamurye. ==Place names== Today there still exist certain reminders of the ancient [[Manchu]] domination in English-language [[toponym]]s: for example the [[Sikhote-Alin]], the great coastal range; the [[Khanka]] Lake; [[Amur River|Amur]] and [[Ussuri]] Rivers; [[Yam Alin]]; [[Miao-Shan Alin]]; [[Il-Kuri Alin]]; the [[Greater Khingan]], [[Lesser Khingan]] and others small ranges and the [[Shantar]] coastal [[archipelago]]. Note that [[Evenks]], speaking [[Tungusic languages|a closely related language]], comprise a significant part of indigenous population. ==History== {{History of Manchuria}} [[File:CEM-44-La-Chine-la-Tartarie-Chinoise-et-le-Thibet-1734-NE-2571.jpg|thumb|left|Northeast of the Qing Empire on a French map from 1734]] Different ancient nations lived in this area. The original inhabitants apparently were the [[Mohe people|Mohe]] and other [[Tungusic people|Tungus]] tribes. Others were the ancient tribes of [[Goguryeo]] and [[Balhae]], whose territories extended from the Korean peninsula to inner and outer Manchuria. According to the [[Treaty of Nerchinsk]] in 1689, the Sino-Russian border was the [[Argun River, Asia|Argun River]] and the [[Stanovoy Mountains]] until the [[Pacific]] coast. This latter was defined differently in the three versions of the Treaty, ''viz.'' [[Latin]], [[Russian language|Russian]] and [[Manchu]]. The eastern end of the boundary was generally held to be the [[Uda River (Khabarovsk Krai)|Uda]] river, so leaving Outer Manchuria to [[China]]. However, Outer Manchuria was ceded by the [[Qing Dynasty]] to [[Russia]] in the [[Treaty of Aigun]] of 1858 and the [[Treaty of Peking]] of 1860. A small region to the north of the Amur known as the [[Sixty-Four Villages East of the River|Sixty-Four Villages, east of the Heilongjiang river]], was kept by China according to the [[Treaty of Aigun]], but invaded and annexed by [[Russia]] in 1900. From 1860 to 1917 Outer Manchuria was part of the [[Russian Empire]]. After the [[October Revolution]] of 1917 the [[Japan]]ese and a group of [[Ukrainian]]s (see [[Green Ukraine]]) tried to gain control of this region, but in 1920, the [[Far East Republic]] was established which became a buffer republic between Russia and Japan, before it was absorbed into the [[Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic]] two years later. Outer Manchuria formed part of the Far Eastern provinces of the USSR and was used as the launch-pad for [[Operation August Storm|the Soviet assault]] on [[Manchukuo|Japanese occupied Inner Manchuria]] in 1945. During the [[Chinese Civil War]] Chinese communist forces began the war with large amounts of Inner Manchuria already in their hands; in 1949 the victorious communists established the [[People's Republic of China]]. In 1959 tension arose between [[China|Chinese]] Inner Manchuria and Russian Outer Manchuria over the interpretation of the treaties of [[Treaty of Aigun|Aigun]] and [[Treaty of Peking|Peking]]. This was as much an attempt to undo European [[colonialism]] as an ideological split between [[Mao Zedong]] and [[Nikita Khrushchev]]. In 1969, tensions led to considerable loss of human lives in an open military conflict for control of the [[Damansky Island]]. In 2004, Russia agreed to transfer [[Yinlong Island]] as well as one half of [[Heixiazi Island]] ([[:zh:黑瞎子岛]]) to China, ending a long-standing border dispute between Russia and China. Both islands are found at the confluence of the Amur and [[Ussuri]] Rivers, and were until then administered by Russia and claimed by China. The event was meant to foster feelings of reconciliation and cooperation between the two countries by their leaders, but it has also sparked different degrees of discontents on both sides. Russians, especially [[Cossack]] farmers of [[Khabarovsk]] who would lose their plowlands on the islands, were unhappy about the apparent loss of territory. The transfer has been ratified by both the Chinese [[National People's Congress]] and the Russian [[State Duma]]. The official transfer ceremony was held on-site 14 October 2008. ==Disputes== Outer Manchuria is regarded by some [[Manchus|Manchu]], and for that matter [[Han Chinese]], as territory that was unfairly taken away.{{Citation needed|date=March 2009}} However, outstanding boundary issues between [[People's Republic of China|China]] and [[Russia]] have been officially settled and relations are cordial. Article 6 of the [[2001 Sino-Russian Treaty of Friendship]] provides that the contracting parties, the People's Republic of China and the Russian Federation, have no territorial claims. As the [[Republic of China]] now based in [[Taiwan]] has never recognized the [[People's Republic of China]] or its border treaties with other countries, some Chinese maps published in Taiwan still consider the entire Heixiazi Island and the [[Sixty-Four Villages East of the Heilongjiang River]] to be Chinese territories, although these maps do show Outer Manchuria, sometimes called "lost territories in the Northeast (China)" ({{lang|zh|東北失地}}), to be Russian territory. ==See also== * [[Hulun (Manchuria)]] * [[Outer Mongolia]] * [[Northwest China#Outer Northwest China]] * [[1991 Sino-Russian Border Agreement]] ==External links== *[http://books.google.com/books?id=ym0AAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA508,M2 1903 illustrated article - ''Russia in Manchuria''] {{reflist}} {{coord missing|Russia}}