Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk (Russian: Не́рчинск, Chinese: 尼布楚) is a town and the administrative center of Nerchinsky District in Zabaykalsky Krai, Russia, located on the left bank of the Nercha River, 7 kilometers (4.3 mi) above its confluence with the Shilka River, 644 kilometers (400 mi) east of Lake Baikal, about 225 kilometers (140 mi) west of the Chinese border, and 305 kilometers (190 mi) east of Chita, the administrative center of the krai. Population: 14,959 (2010 Census);15,748 (2002 Census);16,961 (1989 Census); 6,713 (1897).

Town name in other languages

Nerchinsk is mentioned in two important treaties between the Russian Empire and Manchu China: the 1689 Treaty of Nerchinsk and the 1727 Treaty of Kyakhta. Non-Russian comments on these treaties or on the history of the town may mention other names:

History

The fort of Nerchinsk dates from 1654 and the town was founded four years later by Afanasy Pashkov, who in that year opened direct communication between the Russian settlements in Transbaikalia and those on the Amur River which had been founded by Cossacks and fur-traders coming from the Yakutsk region. In 1689, the Treaty of Nerchinsk was signed between Russia and China, which stopped the farther advance of the Russians into the basin of the Amur for two centuries (see Sino-Russian border conflicts).