From as early as 1636, Russian adven turers made excursions into the Chinese territories of the lower Amur. In 1854 1856 two military expeditions were con ducted by Count Muravieff, who twice descended the river, unopposed by the Chinese, and established the stations of Alexandrovsk and Nikolaevsk. In 1858 China agreed to the Treaty of Tientsin, by which the boundaries of Russia and China were defined. The left bank of the Amur, and all the territory N. of it, became Russian; and below the conflu ence of the Ussuri, both banks. In 1860, after the occupation of Pekin by the British and French, General Ignatieff se cured the signature of Prince Kung to a treaty, by which Russia acquired the broad and wide territory comprised be tween the river Amur and the mouth of the Tumen, extending 10° of latitude nearer the temperate regions, and run ning from the shore of the North Pa cific eastward to the banks of the river Ussuri, a principal affluent of the Amur.
In September, 1900, Russia took formal possession of the right bank of the river.
This vast territory was divided into two Russian provinces—the Maritime province between the Ussuri and the sea, and the government of Amur, N. of the
river. The latter has an area of 175,000 square miles. Pop. about 250,000. The country is richly timbered, and is ad mirably adapted for pasturage and agri culture. Fur bearing animals are still plentiful, and the river abounds in fish. The capital is Blagovestschensk. Niko laevsk, once the only important place in these regions, is on the Amur, 26 miles from its mouth, where the river is 1Y4 miles wide, and in places 15 feet deep; but the political center tends south ward to the more temperate maritime province (area, 730,000 square miles), near the southern end of which is sit uated the important harbor of Vladivos tok ("Rule of the East"), or Port May, which, in 1872, was placed in telegraphic communication with Europe by the China submarine cable, and is now the capital of the Amur provinces. As a result of the World War and the Russian revolu tion the political future of the region is doubtful. Japan has made steady in roads, but may not be able to maintain herself eventually.