Treaty of Nerchinsk

Treaty of Nerchinsk

A copy of the Treaty of Nerchinsk in Latin
Type	Border treaty
Signed	27 August 1689 (1689-08-27)
Location	Nerchinsk
Expiration	28 May 1858 (1858-05-28)
Negotiators	Fyodor Alexeyevich Golovin Songgotu
Signatories	Ivan V Kangxi Emperor
Parties	Tsardom of Russia Qing dynasty
Languages	Latin Russian Manchu
Full text at Wikisource
la:Pactum Nertschiae ru:Нерчинский договор (1689) zh:尼布楚條約

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 Lake Baikal. This border along the Argun River and Stanovoy Range lasted until the Amur Annexation via the Treaty of Aigun in 1858 and the Convention of Peking in 1860. It opened markets for Russian goods in China, and gave Russians access to Chinese supplies and luxuries.

The agreement was signed in Nerchinsk on 27 August 1689.^[1] The signatories were Songgotu on behalf of the Kangxi Emperor and Fyodor Golovin on behalf of the Russian tsars Peter I and Ivan V.

The authoritative version was in Latin,^[2] with translations into Russian and Manchu, but these versions differed considerably. There was no official Chinese text for another two centuries,^[3] but the border markers were inscribed in Chinese along with Manchu, Russian and Latin.^[4]

Later, in 1727, the Treaty of Kiakhta fixed what is now the border of Mongolia west of the Argun and opened up the caravan trade. In 1858 (Treaty of Aigun) Russia annexed the land north of the Amur and in 1860 (Treaty of Beijing) took the coast down to Vladivostok. The current border runs along the Argun, Amur and Ussuri rivers.