Outer Manchuria

Outer Manchuria or Outer Northeast China (Chinese: 外 东 北 ;

pinyin: Wài Dōngběi; Russian: Приаму́рье,
romanized: Priamurye)[note 1] is an unofficial term for a territory in
Northeast Asia that was formerly controlled by the Qing dynasty and
now belongs to Russia. It is considered part of Manchuria by some
definitions. Russia officially received this territory by way of the Treaty
of Aigun in 1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860. The northern part
of the area was also in dispute between 1643 and 1689.

Outer Manchuria comprises the present-day Russian areas of

Primorsky Krai, southern Khabarovsk Krai, the Jewish Autonomous
Oblast, the Amur Oblast and the island of Sakhalin. Currently, the
People's Republic of
China has no claim to
the territory.

The Treaty of
Nerchinsk signed in
1689 after a series of
conflicts, defined the
China–Russia border
as the Stanovoy
Mountains and the
Argun River, making
Outer Manchuria a part
Outer Manchuria is the light red region outside the
of Qing dynasty China.
current border of China on this map.
After losing the Opium
Wars, the Qing dynasty
was forced to sign a series of treaties that gave away land and ports to
the imperialist Western powers, Russia and Japan; 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
in Russia's favor along the Amur and Ussuri rivers. As a result, China
lost Outer Manchuria, and access to the Sea of Japan.

Contents
History of the term
Place names
History
Disputes
See also
Notes
 References
External links

History of the term

The terms "Outer Manchuria" and "Inner Manchuria", modeled on
Inner and Outer Mongolia, were coined to support Chinese claims to
Russian territory and were never used in scientific literature.
"Manchuria" (subdivided into Northern and Southern Manchuria) is
an accepted term for the area now belonging to China. Critics of this
analogy, however, suggest that while Mongols under the Qing dynasty
were a recognized ethnic group, "Manchus" were a group constructed
by the chieftain 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". However, the
native population of Outer Manchuria were southern Tungusics,
closely related to the Manchu and no more different from them than
the differences found among various Mongol groups. The only
exception was the Nivkh people inhabiting the lowest reaches of the
Amur River and the island of Sakhalin.

Place names
Today, there are reminders of the ancient Manchu domination in
English-language toponyms: for example, the Sikhote-Alin, the great
coastal range; the Khanka Lake; the Amur and Ussuri rivers; the
Greater Khingan, Lesser Khingan and other small mountain ranges;
and the Shantar coastal archipelago. Evenks, who speak a closely
related Tungusic language, make up a significant part of the
indigenous population.
History
The original inhabitants of the region were apparently the Mohe and
other Tungusic tribes. Other entities occupying parts of Outer
Manchuria include the ancient mixed Mohe and proto-Korean
kingdoms of Goguryeo and Balhae, whose territories extended from
the northern Korean peninsula to the southern and central parts of
Inner and Outer Manchuria.

According to the Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, the Manchu-Russian

border was the Argun River and the Stanovoy Mountains until the
Pacific coast. The eastern end of the boundary was generally held to be
the Uda River, leaving Outer Manchuria to China. However, the Qing
dynasty ceded Outer Manchuria to Russia in the Treaty of Aigun in
1858 and the Treaty of Peking in 1860. A small region to the north of
the Amur, known as the Sixty-Four Villages East of the (Heilongjiang)
River, was kept by the Qing dynasty under the Treaty of Aigun, but was
 invaded and annexed by Russia in
1900.Outer Manchuria formed
part of the far eastern provinces of
the Soviet Union and was used as
the launch-pad for the Soviet
assault on Japanese-occupied
Inner Manchuria in 1945. During
the Chinese Civil War, Chinese
communist forces began the war
The northeastern Qing Empire on a
French map from 1734.
with large amounts of Inner
Manchuria already in their hands;
in 1949, the victorious communists
established the present-day People's Republic of China.

In 2004, Russia agreed to transfer Yinlong Island and half of Heixiazi

Island to China, ending a longstanding 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 transfer was meant to foster reconciliation and
cooperation between the two countries, but it has also sparked
different degrees of discontent on both sides. Russians, especially
Cossack farmers in Khabarovsk who had plowlands on the islands,
were unhappy about the 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 on 14 October
2008.

Disputes
Some Manchu and Han Chinese regard Outer Manchuria as territory
that was unfairly taken away, as in Mao's comments leading up to the
Sino-Soviet border conflict. However, outstanding boundary issues
between China and Russia have been officially settled. 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 River to
be Chinese territories. However, these maps show Outer Manchuria,
sometimes called "lost territories in the Northeast" (東 北 失地), to be
Russian territory.

See also
1991 Sino-Russian Border Agreement
Hulun
Inner Manchuria
 Outer Mongolia
Tannu Uriankhai
Outer Northwest China
Sixty-Four Villages East of the River
Blagoveshchensk massacre and Sixty-Four Villages East of the
River massacre
Amur Acquisition

Notes
1. Now Priamurye usually refers to a narrower region of Amur Oblast
and parts of Khabarovsk Krai.

References
Fletcher, Joseph. "Sino-Russian Relations, 1800-62: The loss of
north-east Manchuria". In Fairbank, John K (ed.). The Cambridge
 History of China. 10. Cambridge University Press. pp. 332–351.

External links
Books.google.com: Russia in Manchuria (https://books.google.co
m/books?id=ym0AAAAAYAAJ&printsec=titlepage#PPA508,M2) —
1903 illustrated article.

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