Blagoveshchensk ( ;
Hǎilánpào or 布拉戈维申斯克 Bùlāgēwéishēnsīkè) is a
city in
Russia
, the administrative center of Amur Oblast
, located 7,985 km east of Moscow
.
Population:
Geography
The city
of Blagoveshchensk is located at the confluence of the Amur
and Zeya Rivers, opposite
to the Chinese city of Heihe
.
The Amur
has formed Russia's border with China
since the
1858 Aigun Treaty and 1860 Treaty of Peking. The area north of
the Amur had previously belonged to imperial China (
see
Nerchinsk Treaty).
The
Trans-Siberian railroad
passes some 110 km to the north-east of Blagoveshchensk; the
city is connected with the mainline by a branch line.
It is also served by
Ignatyevo
Airport
.
History
Early history of the region
The early residents of both sides of the Amur in the region of
today's Blagoveshchensk were the
Daurs and
Duchers. An early settlement in the area of
today's Blagoveshchensk was the Ducher town whose name was reported
by the Russian explorer
Yerofey
Khabarov as Aytyun (Айтюн) in 1652; it has been identified with
what is currently known to the archaeologists as the Grodekovo site
(Гродековское городище), after the nearby village of Grodekovo
(which is located on the left (western, i.e. presently Russian)
bank of the Amur at , some 25-30 km south of Blagoveshchensk). The
Grodekovo site is thought by archaeologists to have been populated
since ca. 1000 AD.
As the
Russians tried to assert its control over the region, the Ducher
town was probably vacated when the Duchers were evacuated by the
Qing
to the
Sungari
or Hurka in the
mid-1650s. Since 1673, the Manchus re-used the site for
their fort ("Old Aigun", in modern literature), which served in
1683-85 as a base for the Manchus' campaign against the Russian
fort of Albazin
further
north..
After the
capture of Albazin in 1685 or 1686, the Manchus relocated their
town, to a new site on the right (southwestern, i.e. presently
Chinese) bank of the Amur, about 3 miles downstream from the
original site; it later became known as Aigun
.
The
series of
conflicts between Russians and Manchus ended with Russia's
recognition of the Chinese sovereignty over both sides of the Amur
by the
Nerchinsk Treaty of
1689.
The Russian settlement
As the
balance of power in the region has changed by the mid-19th century,
Russian
Empire
was able to take over the left (generally northern,
but around Blagoveshchensk, eastern) shore of the Amur from
China. Since the 1858 Aigun
Treaty and the 1860 Treaty of
Peking, the river has remained the border between the two
countries, although the Qing subjects
were allowed to continue to live in the so-called Sixty-Four Villages
east of the Amur and the Zeya (i.e, within today's
Blagoveshchensk's eatsern suburbs).
Although Russian settlers had lived in the area as early as 1644 as
"Hailanpao", the present-day city began in 1856 as the military
outpost of
Ust-Zeysky, its name meaning
settlement at
the mouth of the Zeya River in
Russian.
Tsar
Alexander II gave approval
for the founding of the city in 1858, with the town to be named
Blagoveshchensk, after the parish Church of the Annunciation
(
Blagoveshchenie in Russian) and declared to be seat of
government for the Amur region.
According to the city authorities, by 1877 the city had some 8,000
residents, with merely 15 foreigners (presumably, Chinese) among
them.
The city
was an important river port and trade center during the late 19th
century, with growth further fuelled by a gold
rush early in the 20th century and by its position on the Chinese
border, just hundreds of metres across from the city of Heihe.
Local historian note the preeminence of Blagoveshchensk in the
economy of the late 19th century
Russian Far East, which was reflected by a
"small detail": when the heir to Russian throne, HRH
Nicholas Alexandrovich (future Tsar
Nicholas II) visited the city in 1891 during his
grand tour of Asia, the
locals presented him with
bread and
salt on a gold tray, rather than on a silver one, as it was
done in other cities of the region.
The Boxer Rebellion
In the course of the
Boxer
Rebellion, Chinese insurgents shelled the city in July 1900.
According to the
Orthodox
tradition, the city was saved by a miraculous
icon of Our Lady of Albazin, which was prayed to
continuously during the shelling which lasted almost two
weeks.
On July 3 (
Old Style), a decision was made
by the city's Police Chief Batarevich and the Military Governor
Gribsky to deport the city's entire ethnic Chinese community
(which, according to the official statistics, numbered 4,008 in
1898), viewed as potential "
fifth
columnists". As the cross-river shipping was interrupted by the
rebellion, a question arose how to get them from the Russian side
of the Amur to the Chinese side. Batarevich suggested that the
deportees could be first taken east of the
Zeya, where they could try to obtain boats from the
local Chinese
villagers.The plan, however, was vetoed by the governor, and
the decision was made instead to take the deportees to the
Verkhneblagoveshchenskaya village (
stanitsa) - the place where the Amur is at its
narrowest - and made them to leave the Russian shore. As the local
ataman refused to provided the
deportees with boats to take them across the river (despite the
orders of his superior), few of them made it to the Chinese side.
The rest drowned in the Amur, or were shot or axed by the police,
Cossacks and local volunteers, when refusing to leave the dry land.
According to Chinese sources, about 5,000 people reportedly
died during these events of July 4-8, 1900.
The expulsion of local Chinese caused some hardships for
Blagoveshchensk consumers. Historians note that during the second
half of 1900, it became almost impossible to buy any green
vegetables in town; ten eggs would cost 30-50 kopecks (and in
winter, as much as a rouble), while before it had been possible to
buy ten eggs for 10-15 kopecks.
Civil war and the Soviet era
The city was also the site of conflict during the
Russian Civil War, with Japanese troops
occupying the city in support of the
White
Army. From 1920 until 1922, the city was declared part of the
Far Eastern Republic, an area
which was nominally independent, but in reality a buffer zone under
control of the
Russian SFSR.
The city
became capital of the Amur
Oblast in the Soviet Union
in 1932.
During the
Cultural revolution
the city was subject to the
Maoist propaganda blasted from loudspeakers across the
river 24 hours a day.
Economy and Infrastructure
Since the
collapse of the Soviet
Union, the city's economic focus has turned to border trade
with China, the town is
now home to a large Chinese expatriate community.
Main industries in the town include
metal and
timber processing, as well as
paper production.
The city is served by a branch railway connecting it to the
Trans-Siberian railway, as
well as a river port and
airport.
Sister city
External links
References
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