Russian – Manchu border conflicts The Russian – Manchu border conflicts ( 1652 – 1689 ) were a series of intermittent skirmishes between the Manchus and the Russians in which the latter tried and failed to gain the land north of the Amur River . The hostilities culminated in the Manchu siege of the Cossack fort of Albazin ( 1686 ) and resulted in the Treaty of Nerchinsk , concluded between the Russia and the Qing Empire in 1689 which gave the land to China . Background . This article concerns the southeast corner of Siberia south of the Stanovoy Mountains which was twice contested between Russia and China . Hydrologically , the Stanovoy Mountains separate the rivers that flow north into the Arctic from those that flow south into the Amur River . Ecologically , the area is the southeastern edge of the Siberian boreal forest with some areas good for agriculture . Socially and politically , from about 600 AD , it was the northern fringe of the Chinese - Korean - Manchu world . Various Chinese , Korean and Manchu - like states would claim sovereignty , build forts and collect tribute when they were strong enough . There were posts at Haishenwai ( Vladivostok ) , Boli ( Khabarovsk ) , Deren on the lower Amur and Tyr above Nikolaevsk - on - Amur . From 698 to 926 the Korean kingdom of Balhae ruled part of the area from an administrative center at Shuaibinbu ( Ussuriisk ) . Tributary delegations from Kuyedao In 1643 russian adventurers spilled over the Stanovoys , but by 1689 they were driven back by the Manchus . In 1859 / 60 the area was annexed by Russia and quickly filled up with a Russian population . The Qing Perspective . 1639 - 1643 : Campaign led by Manchus against the indigenous rulers of the region 1643 - 1644 : Vasili Poyarkov 1649 - 1653 : Yerofey Khabarov 1654 - 1658 : Onufriy Stepanov 1654 - 1658 : The Manchu - Korean alliances expeditions against Russians In the following operations significant Korean forces were included into Manchu - led troops . The campaigns became known in Korean historiography as " Naseon Jeongbeol " . 1685 - 1687 : The Albazin / Yakesa Campaign see also Outer Manchuria Russian Point of View . This section retells the story from the Russian side ( or rather from a Western reading of Russian sources ) . The sources , for the most part are Forsyth Lincoln and March . Russian expansion into Siberia began with the conquest of the Khanate of Sibir in 1582 . By 1643 they reached the Pacific at Okhotsk . East of the Yenisei River there was little land fit for agriculture , except Dauria , the land between the Stanovoy Mountains and the Amur River which was nominally subject to the Manchus . The Manchus had recently reëstablished their authority in the area and were just beginning their conquest of China ( Qing Dynasty ) . The land was populated by some 9 , 000 Daurs on the Zeya River , 14 , 000 Duchers downstream and several thousand Tungus and Nivkhs toward the river mouth . The first Russians to hear of Dauria were probably Ivan Moskvitin and Maxim Perfilev about 1640 . 1643 - 46 : Poyarkov : In 1643 Vassili Poyarkov traveled from Yakutsk south to the Zeya River . He then sailed down the Amur River to its mouth and then north along the Okhotsk coast , returning to Yakutsk three years later . 1649 - 50 : Khabarov : In 1649 Yerofei Khabarov found a better route to the upper Amur and quickly returned to Yakutsk where he recommended that a larger force be sent to conquer the region . 1650 - 53 Khabarov again : He returned the same year and built winter quarters at Albazin at the northernmost point on the river . Next summer he sailed down the Amur and built a fort at Achansk ( Wuzhala ( 乌扎拉 ) ) probably near present - day Khabarovsk . Again there was fighting and the natives called in their Manchu overlords . On 24 March 1652 , Achansk was unsuccessfully attacked by a large Qing force [ 600 Manchu soldiers from Ninguta and about 1500 Daurs and Duchers led by the Manchu general known as Haise ( 海色 ) , or Izenei ( Изеней or Исиней ) . Haise was later executed for his poor performance . ] . As soon as the ice broke up Khabarov withdrew upriver and built winter quarters at Kumarsk . In the spring of 1653 reinforcements arrived under Dmitry Zinoviev . The two quarreled , Khabarov was arrested and escorted to Moscow for investigation . 1653 - 58 : Stepanov : Onufriy Stepanov was left in charge with about 400 - 500 men . They had little difficulty plundering the natives and defeating the local Qing troops . The Qing responded with two policies . First they ordered the local population to withdraw , thereby ending the grain production that had attracted the Russians in the first place . Second they appointed the experienced general Sarhuda ( who himself was from the Nierbo village from the mouth of Sungari ) as the garrison commander at Ninguta . In 1657 he built more than 40 ships at the village of Ula ( modern Jilin ) . . In 1658 a large Qing fleet under Sarhuda caught up with Stepanov and killed him and about 220 Cossacks . A few escaped and became freebooters . 1658 - 65 : No man ' s land : By 1658 the Chinese had wiped out the Russians below Nerchinsk and the deserted land became a haven for outlaws and renegade Cossacks . In 1660 a large band of Russians was destroyed . They had some difficulty pursuing the Cossacks since their own policy had removed most of the local food . In the 1670s the Chinese attempted to drive the Russians away from the Okhotsk coast , reaching as far north as the Maya River . 1665 - 1689 : Albazin : In 1665 Nikifor Chernigovsky murdered the voyvoda of Ilimsk and fled to the Amur and reoccupied the fort at Albazin , which became the center of an unofficial colony . In 1670 it was unsuccessfully attacked . In 1672 Albazin received the Czar ' s pardon and was officially recognized . From 1673 to 1683 Manchu forces were tied up suppressing a rebellion in the south . In 1682 or 1684 a voyvoda was appointed by Moscow . In 1685 the Manchus , now freed from their wars , invested the fort which surrendered on liberal terms . Most of the Russians withdrew to Nerchinsk , but a few joined the Manchus , becoming the Albazin Cossacks at Peking . The Chinese withdrew from the area , but the Russians , hearing of this , returned with 800 men under Aleksei Tolbuzin and reoccupied the fort . ( their original purpose was merely to harvest the local grain , a rare commodity in this part of Siberia . ) From June 1686 , the fort was again besieged . Either ( the siege was raised in December when it was learned that the two empires were engaged in peace negotiations ) or ( the fort was captured after an 18 month siege and Tolbuzin killed ) . At that time less than 100 defenders were left alive . Treaties . In 1689 , by the Treaty of Nerchinsk , the Russians abandoned the whole Amur country including Albazin . The frontier was established as the Argun River and the Stanovoy Mountains . In 1727 the Treaty of Kyakhta confirmed and clarified this border and regulated Russo - Chinese trade . In 1858 , almost two centuries after the fall of Albazin , by the Treaty of Aigun , Russia annexed the land between the Stanovoy Mountains and the Amur ( commonly referred to in Russian as " Priamurye " , i . e . the " Lands along the Amur " ) . In 1860 , with the Convention of Beijing , Russia annexed the Primorye ( i . e . the " Maritime Region " ) down to Vladivostok , an area that had not been in contention in the 17th century . See Amur Annexation . References and Bibliography . 1 . Page 133 - 152 China Marches West : The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia By Peter C . Perdue Published by Harvard University Press , 2005