Treaty of Kiakhta
Encyclopedia
The Treaty of Kyakhta (1727) :
Along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk
(1689), this regulated the relations between Imperial Russia and the Qing Empire of China until the mid nineteenth century. It was signed by Tulišen
and Count Sava Lukich Raguzinskii-Vladislavich at the border city of Kyakhta
, August 23, 1727. (for other agreements signed at Kyakhta see below.)
). In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk established the northern border of Manchuria north of the present line. The Russians retained Trans-Baikalia between Lake Baikal
and the Argun River
north of Mongolia.
At the time of Nerchinsk what is now Mongolia had just been captured by the Oirat
Zunghar Khanate
. These people were gradually pushed back westward. This raised the question of the Russo-Manchu border in Mongolia and opened the possibility of trade from the Lake Baikal area to Peking. The Manchus wanted an agreement because they were worried about possible Russian support for the Oirats and did not want disobedient subjects fleeing to the Russians. Many of the Cossacks in Siberia were rather close to bandits and could cause trouble if not restrained by the Tsar. The Russians had neither a reason nor the means to push south and were more interested in profitable trade. The Russians had no hope of sending a serious army this far east and the Manchus had no interest in the frozen forests of Siberia.
began to put pressure on Saint Petersburg for an agreement, largely by interfering with the caravan trade. The Lev Izmailov mission in 1719/22 to Peking produced no results.
Just before his death, Peter the Great decided to deal with the border problem. On October 23, 1725 Sava Vladislavich
, a Serb in the Russian service, left Saint Petersburg with 1,500 soldiers and 120 staff including map-makers and priests. Before reaching Peking in November 1726, he picked up Lorents Lange and Ivan Bucholz and sent out cartographers to survey the border. The negotiators on the Manchu side were Tulishen and Dominique Parrenin. After six months a draft treaty was worked up, but it became clear that neither side had adequate maps. In May Vladslavich and Tulishen went back to Selenginsk
near Lake Baikal to get the waiting maps. By August 31 a draft treaty was drawn up ('Treaty of Bura' after a nearby river). Work quickly began setting up border markers starting from Kyakhta
on the Selenga River. The 'Abagaitu Letter' listed 63 markers from Kyakhta east to the Argun River
. The 'Selenginsk Letter' listed 24 markers west from Kyakhta to the "Shabindobaga River on the northwest slopes of the Altay Mountains
" . The 'Treaty of Bura' was sent to Peking to be combined with work already done there. The result was sent back to the frontier and the Treaty of Kyakhta was signed on 25 June, 1728. The treaty had three official versions, in Russian, in Latin and in Manchu. No official Chinese version of the treaty exists.
1768: On 18 October 1768 a Convention was signed modifying Article X of the original treaty making punishments more explicit. This was due to the Qing conquest of the Zunghar Khanate
, causing rebels to cross the border and other problems which led the Chinese to curtail trade in 1762 and suspend it in 1765.
Along with the Treaty of Nerchinsk
Treaty of Nerchinsk
The Treaty of Nerchinsk of 1689 was the first treaty between Russia and China. The Russians gave up the area north of the Amur River as far as the Stanovoy Mountains and kept the area between the Argun River and Lake Baikal. This border along the Argun River and Stanovoy Mountains lasted until...
(1689), this regulated the relations between Imperial Russia and the Qing Empire of China until the mid nineteenth century. It was signed by Tulišen
Tulišen
Tulišen Manchu official and diplomat during the early Qing dynasty.Tulišen was a member of the Manchu Plain yellow banner in the Eight Banners and belonged to the Ayan Gioro clan. In 1712, after having served in several minor positions in the Qing government, the Kangxi emperor appointed him to...
and Count Sava Lukich Raguzinskii-Vladislavich at the border city of Kyakhta
Kyakhta
Kyakhta is a town in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Russian-Mongolian border. Population: The town stands directly opposite the Mongolian border town of Altanbulag.-History:...
, August 23, 1727. (for other agreements signed at Kyakhta see below.)
Results
- Diplomatic and trade relations were established that lasted until the mid nineteenth century.
- It established the northern border of Mongolia (what was then the Qing-Russian border).
- The caravan trade from KyakhtaKyakhtaKyakhta is a town in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Russian-Mongolian border. Population: The town stands directly opposite the Mongolian border town of Altanbulag.-History:...
opened up (Russian furs for Chinese tea). - Agreement with Russia helped China expand westward and annex XinjiangXinjiangXinjiang is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China. It is the largest Chinese administrative division and spans over 1.6 million km2...
.
Background
By the 1640s Russian adventurers had taken control of the forested area north of Mongolia and Manchuria. From 1644 the Manchus made themselves masters of China (Qing DynastyQing Dynasty
The Qing Dynasty was the last dynasty of China, ruling from 1644 to 1912 with a brief, abortive restoration in 1917. It was preceded by the Ming Dynasty and followed by the Republic of China....
). In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk established the northern border of Manchuria north of the present line. The Russians retained Trans-Baikalia between Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal
Lake Baikal is the world's oldest at 30 million years old and deepest lake with an average depth of 744.4 metres.Located in the south of the Russian region of Siberia, between Irkutsk Oblast to the northwest and the Buryat Republic to the southeast, it is the most voluminous freshwater lake in the...
and the Argun River
Argun River (Asia)
Ergune or Argun is the river which is a part of the Russia–China border. Its upper reaches are known as Hailar River in China. Its length is 1,007 mi...
north of Mongolia.
At the time of Nerchinsk what is now Mongolia had just been captured by the Oirat
Oirats
Oirats are the westernmost group of the Mongols who unified several tribes origin whose ancestral home is in the Altai region of western Mongolia. Although the Oirats originated in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the most prominent group today is located in the Republic of Kalmykia, a federal...
Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...
. These people were gradually pushed back westward. This raised the question of the Russo-Manchu border in Mongolia and opened the possibility of trade from the Lake Baikal area to Peking. The Manchus wanted an agreement because they were worried about possible Russian support for the Oirats and did not want disobedient subjects fleeing to the Russians. Many of the Cossacks in Siberia were rather close to bandits and could cause trouble if not restrained by the Tsar. The Russians had neither a reason nor the means to push south and were more interested in profitable trade. The Russians had no hope of sending a serious army this far east and the Manchus had no interest in the frozen forests of Siberia.
Negotiations
From the 1710s the Kangxi EmperorKangxi Emperor
The Kangxi Emperor ; Manchu: elhe taifin hūwangdi ; Mongolian: Энх-Амгалан хаан, 4 May 1654 –20 December 1722) was the fourth emperor of the Qing Dynasty, the first to be born on Chinese soil south of the Pass and the second Qing emperor to rule over China proper, from 1661 to 1722.Kangxi's...
began to put pressure on Saint Petersburg for an agreement, largely by interfering with the caravan trade. The Lev Izmailov mission in 1719/22 to Peking produced no results.
Just before his death, Peter the Great decided to deal with the border problem. On October 23, 1725 Sava Vladislavich
Sava Vladislavich
Count Savva Lukich Vladislavich-Raguzinsky was a Serbian merchant-adventurer in the employ of Peter the Great who conducted important diplomatic negotiations in Constantinople, Rome and Beijing...
, a Serb in the Russian service, left Saint Petersburg with 1,500 soldiers and 120 staff including map-makers and priests. Before reaching Peking in November 1726, he picked up Lorents Lange and Ivan Bucholz and sent out cartographers to survey the border. The negotiators on the Manchu side were Tulishen and Dominique Parrenin. After six months a draft treaty was worked up, but it became clear that neither side had adequate maps. In May Vladslavich and Tulishen went back to Selenginsk
Selenginsk
Novoselenginsk is a rural locality in Selenginsky District of the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Selenge River south of Lake Baikal...
near Lake Baikal to get the waiting maps. By August 31 a draft treaty was drawn up ('Treaty of Bura' after a nearby river). Work quickly began setting up border markers starting from Kyakhta
Kyakhta
Kyakhta is a town in the Republic of Buryatia, Russia, located on the Kyakhta River near the Russian-Mongolian border. Population: The town stands directly opposite the Mongolian border town of Altanbulag.-History:...
on the Selenga River. The 'Abagaitu Letter' listed 63 markers from Kyakhta east to the Argun River
Argun River (Asia)
Ergune or Argun is the river which is a part of the Russia–China border. Its upper reaches are known as Hailar River in China. Its length is 1,007 mi...
. The 'Selenginsk Letter' listed 24 markers west from Kyakhta to the "Shabindobaga River on the northwest slopes of the Altay Mountains
Altay Mountains
The Altai Mountains are a mountain range in East-Central Asia, where Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan come together, and where the rivers Irtysh and Ob have their sources. The Altai Mountains are known as the original locus of the speakers of Turkic as well as other members of the proposed...
" . The 'Treaty of Bura' was sent to Peking to be combined with work already done there. The result was sent back to the frontier and the Treaty of Kyakhta was signed on 25 June, 1728. The treaty had three official versions, in Russian, in Latin and in Manchu. No official Chinese version of the treaty exists.
Articles
The Treaty had eleven articles, the core of which dealt with commercial relations and diplomatic immunities. (note that this list, probably from Perdue, differs somewhat from the list given by March.)- Articles I and XI spoke of eternal peace and cooperation between the two nations, and concerned itself with the language and organization of the rest of the document.
- Article II dealt with the exchange of fugitives.
- Article III, along with VII, delineated the new borders, leaving only territory along the Irtysh River unassigned. The fate of this land, according to the treaty, would be determined in the future by ambassadors or further correspondence between the two nations' capitals.
- Article VI dealt with commercial relations; from this treaty and others, Russia gained far more favorable commercial arrangements with the Chinese than most European countries, who traveled by sea and traded at CantonGuangzhouGuangzhou , known historically as Canton or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of the Guangdong province in the People's Republic of China. Located in southern China on the Pearl River, about north-northwest of Hong Kong, Guangzhou is a key national transportation hub and trading port...
. - Article V allowed for the establishment of a Russian religious institutionChinese Orthodox ChurchThe Chinese Autonomous Orthodox Church is an autonomous Eastern Orthodox church in China. It was granted autonomy by its mother church, the Russian Orthodox Church in the mid-1950s.-Ancient Period:...
in BeijingBeijingBeijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
. - Article VI, along with IX, concerned itself with the forms and modes of diplomatic intercourse between the two nations, both of which had complex systems of bureaucracy and protocol.
- Article VIII, along with X, discussed the methods and procedures for settling future disputes.
1768: On 18 October 1768 a Convention was signed modifying Article X of the original treaty making punishments more explicit. This was due to the Qing conquest of the Zunghar Khanate
Zunghar Khanate
The Zunghar Khanate was a nomadic power on the Eurasian steppe. It covered the area called Dzungaria and stretched from the west end of the Great Wall of China to present-day eastern Kazakhstan, and from present-day northern Kyrgyzstan to southern Siberia .In 1678 Galdan received from the Dalai...
, causing rebels to cross the border and other problems which led the Chinese to curtail trade in 1762 and suspend it in 1765.