History of Russia’s Advance into Siberia: Focusing on the 1st Amur Expedition

After Ermak left the Siberian expedition in the 16th century, Russia had already reached the Sea of Okhotsk in the first half of the 17th century. In the process, an expedition led by V. Poyarkov and E. Khabarov surveyed vast territories in the Priamourie region and began subjugating the territory. This expansion of Russia caused a conflict with China, which was on the way to advance, and as a result, the border line was cleared by signing the Treaty of Nerchinsk with China in 1689. In the process, Russia lost sovereignty over the Amur River basin. Afterwards, the most important issue of Russian international politics in the Far East was the recovery of the Amur coastal region lost after the Treaty of Nerchinsk. The Russian government tried several times after 1689 to establish more precise borders with China, but the threat of cessation of trade with China made things difficult. The Amur River is the only passage from Siberia to the Pacific Ocean. However, in order to be able to connect the Siberian inland with the Pacific Ocean, ships must be able to operate in the Amur River estuary. This is because it must be able to navigate through the mouth of the Amur River in the Pacific Ocean to have a function as a transportation route. Prior to the 19th century exploration of Nevelskoy, several expeditions had concluded that the mouth of the Amur River was navigable and that Sakhalin was a peninsula. However, questioning this, the young officer Nebelskoy proceeds with an independent exploration without government permission and eventually makes a discovery that overturns his previous conclusions. This paper examines the process and contents of Nevelskoy’s Amur exploration, which has a very important meaning in Russia's advance into Siberia, and tries to derive its meaning.