Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk (Russian: Nerchinskiy Zavod), is a town of Eastern Siberia, in the government of Chita Oblast, 183 miles by rail east of Chita, and 400 miles to the east of Lake Baikal. It is located on the left bank of the Nercha, 21 miles above its confluence with the Shilka River, which flows into the River Amur.

Related Topics:
Russian - Siberia - Chita Oblast - Chita - Lake Baikal - Nercha - Shilka River - Amur

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The fort of Nerchinsk dates from 1654, and the town was founded in 1658 by Pashkov, who in that year opened direct communication between the Russian settlements in Transbaikalia and those on the Amur which had been founded by Cossacks and fur-traders coming from the Yakutsk region.

Related Topics:
Amur - Cossack - Yakutsk

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In 1689 was signed between Russia and China the Treaty of Nerchinsk, which stopped for two centuries the farther advance of the Russians into the basin of the Amur.

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After that Nerchinsk became the chief centre for the trade with China. The opening of the western route through Mongolia, by Urga, and the establishment of a custom-house at Kiakhta in 1728 diverted this trade into a new channel. But Nerchinsk acquired fresh importance from the influx of immigrants, mostly exiles, into eastern Transbaikalia, the discovery of rich mines and the arrival of great numbers of convicts, and ultimately it became the chief town of Transoaikalia.

Related Topics:
Mongolia - Urga - Kiakhta

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Nerchinsk was visited by the famous English adventurer and engineer Samuel Bentham in 1782. Bentham had seen a potential for Nerchinsk as a base for an access to the Sea of Okhotsk, provided the navigation of the Amur river would be authorized by the Chinese. It would have opened up the possibility of fur trade with the Pacific Ocean, as far as the Chinese port of Canton.

Related Topics:
Samuel Bentham - 1782 - Sea of Okhotsk - Amur - Pacific Ocean - Canton

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In 1812 Nerchinsk was transferred from the banks of the Shilka to its present site, on account of the floods.

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The town lost its importance in the late 19th century, when it was bypassed by the Trans-Siberian Railway.

Related Topics:
19th century - Trans-Siberian Railway

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

Related Topics:
China - Russia

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Today, it is home to some small electromechanical and food-processing industries.

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Pop. (1897) 6,713, (1991) 16,900.

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