1689年ネルチンスク会議 --ロ清両国の国境交渉--

Abstract

In 1689 Russia and Qing concluded the Nerchinsk Treaty, demarcating the border of the Amur district between the two empires, and ending the warfare in this district that had continued for almost ten years. The border stipulated in the Nerchinsk Treaty started from the upper course of the Argun' River in the west, andwent eastwards along the Silka and Gorbitsa Rivers, and stretched from the headwaters of the Gorbitsa to the sea in the east, following the watersheds of the Amur River. The territory south of the border was to belong to Qing, and that to the north to Russia. Jurisdiction of the district between the mountainous border and the Uda River was not demarcated at that time, and the decision was postponed for future settlement. As regards the position of this border, there have been many different opinions, and they remain confused today. For example there are two Gorbitsa Rivers, and it is not clear which Gorbitsa River is being referred to in the Nerchinsk Treaty. Some people also insist that the sea to which the watersheds of the Amur reached is not the Okhotsk Sea, but the Japan Sea. In this paper I carefully trace the border negotiations in the Nerchinsk conference, and especially clarify over which issues the delegates of two countries opposed one another, how they resolved them, and what problems arose from the agreements. The results of this study are as follows. (1) The Gorbitsa stipulated in the Nerchinsk Treaty is the upper tributary that flows into the Silka. As a result, Russia lost Albazin and more than twenty villages, but as compensation took possession of a district to the north of the Argun', and furthermore obtained the rights of free passage and free commerce from Qing. (2) As regards the inland district, both countries agreed that the border extended to the Okhotsk Sea at its eastern terminus. As a result, there was no change in the territory occupied by the two countries before the Nerchinsk conference, and border was demarcated midway between the two countries.