What was the traditional size of Russian territory

History of Russia History of Russian Territorial Expansion

Before the end of the 16th century, present-day Siberia and the Far East of Russia were not yet Russian territory. During this period, Russia had just formed a united, centralized state with a territory of only 2.8

million square kilometers, and was located in the corner of northeastern Europe, far away from Siberia. It was only in the mid-16th century, under the rule of Tsar Ivan IV, that Russia began to expand to the east, gradually annexing large territories in Siberia and the Far East, and extending its boundaries to the Pacific coast. The first obstacle to Russia's expansion to the east was the Siberian Khanate, which was adjacent to Russia.

In 1556, the Tsar summoned the Stroganovs, who were contiguous to the Siberian Khanate, to inquire about the situation on the border and to authorize them to resist the Siberian Khanate. In 1574, the Tsar again ordered that the Stroganovs be allowed to build cities and raise troops on the eastern side of the Urals - the Ob River and its tributaries, the Tula River, the Tobol River and the Irtysh River - thus Russia expanded its power directly into the territory of the Siberian Khanate. In this way, Russia expanded its power directly into the territory of the Siberian Khanate. In 1579, the Stroganovs contacted Yermak, a Cossack leader who had been sentenced to death by the Tsar, and encouraged him to join them in conquering the Siberian Khanate and expanding its territory for the Tsar.

In 1581, after a long preparation, Yermak led a force of 840

men, under the arms of the Stroganov family, to conquer Siberia. The Tsarist army proceeded along the waterways, passed the Chusovaya River, crossed the Ural Mountains, crossed the Serebryanka, Tagil, Tula, Tobol rivers, and finally invaded the Irtysh River. on October 26, 1581, the capital of the Siberian khanate, Kashrek, was captured. Yermak's group had been instrumental in the expansion of Russia. The Tsar's government decided to pardon Yermak and the others, recognizing their actions and awarding them large salaries. The Stroganov family was also encouraged and rewarded with two cities. The aggression of the Russian army aroused great indignation among the people of the Siberian Khanate, who resisted the Russian invaders for more than 20 years, and in 1598 the Russians defeated Kuchum Khan, who fled to the steppes and died soon after. Thus, Tsarist Russia finally conquered the Siberian Khanate. Its aggressive forces crossed the Ural Mountains, and Yermak's expedition inaugurated the massive expansion of Russia into Siberia. By the 1730s and 1740s, Tsarist Russia had crossed the Yenisei River and reached the Lena River, the Chukchi Peninsula, and the Sea of Okhotsk.

After the conquest of the Siberian Khanate, Tsarist Russia dispatched heavy troops, built castles, and held military strongholds to consolidate the newly occupied areas. These strongholds were used as the base camps to further dominate the Balabin steppe. In order to occupy the middle and lower reaches of the Ob River, Tsarist Russia also swept north and destroyed the Emirate of Perem and the Emirate of Yipancha successively, and built the cities of Perem and Turinsk here. The northern part of the Ural Mountains and the lower reaches of the Ob River were called "Yugra" and "Bersaura" in Russian history. This region was long inhabited by Samoyeds, Khants and Chuds, who were famous for their aquaculture and fur industry, and the Russians had long coveted its wealth. After Tsarist Russia destroyed the Siberian Khanate, it paved the way for the complete conquest of the Lower Ob region, and in 1593, after defeating the Churches, the Tsarist Russia built the city of Berezov on the former site of the city of Sugmutvash of the Khanty, and continued to advance to the Tazar River on the basis of the city of Mangalya on the lower stream of the Tazar River in 1601, which signified that the Russians had basically taken over the Lower Ob region. This marked that Russia had basically occupied the lower reaches of the Ob River. At the same time, the Tsarist Russians stepped up their advance to the upper reaches of the Ob River and established the city of Tomsk at the mouth of the Toms River. In this area, the Russian army and the local Mongolian and Kyrgyz and other ethnic groups had a fierce struggle, and began to push into the northwestern border of China.

From the beginning of the 17th century, Tsarist Russia continued to expand eastward, occupying the Yenisei River region in the 1920s. Tsarist Russia's eastward advance was mainly based on the long rivers and giant streams of Siberia, sailing from one stream to the other along crisscrossing large rivers and streams. In the middle of two similar water, river, the Russians called "even water and land". In winter it was possible to travel through the ice. The "overland route" shortened the journey by a great deal. By the beginning of the 1730s, the Russians had occupied the middle, lower and upper parts of the Yenisei. In the course of their colonization, the Cossacks had already heard about the Lena River. And some information about the route to the Lena River was obtained. After occupying the two major water systems in Siberia, the Tsarist government also wanted to occupy the third major water system, the Lena River. So they sent troops from both Mangagoya in the north and Yeniseisk in the south to occupy the Lena River at the same time. The Cossack army came to the Lena River basin mainly through the northern road of the Lower Tunguska River, the southern road of the Upper Tunguska River, and the ancient paths often used by the ancient Evangelicals, along the land and water routes, crossing numerous rivers of various sizes. They went up and down the river plundering possessions and establishing strongholds. In 1638, the Russian government ordered the establishment of the Yakutsk Viceroyalty, which forcibly incorporated a large area of the Lena River region into the Russian territory. Yakutsk was initially built on the right bank of the Lena River, but in 1643 Viceroy Golovin ordered the city to be moved to the left bank of the river. After that Yakutsk became the center of command for further Tsarist Russian expeditions into Northeast Asia.

The geography of Northeast Asia was even more complex. In addition to high mountains and rivers, it was bordered by the Arctic Ocean and the Sea of Okhotsk. From the late 1730s, Russian Cossacks began their expeditions to Northeast Asia. Thaksin mainly took the sea route from the mouth of the Lena River into the Arctic Ocean, utilized the Lena River and its tributaries or took the dry route to reach various parts of Northeast Asia, or reached the Sea of Okhotsk through several different routes. In the process of gradually advancing eastward, Tsarist colonialism established a number of castles and winter camps in this region. For example, Verkhoyansk was established on the Yana River in 1638 and Nizhniyansk in 1642; Petershvilsk was established on the Indigirka River, etc. In 1645, Mikhail Stadukhin and others arrived at the Kolyma River and successively established 3 winter camps, the Upper, Middle, and the Lower Kolymaisk, etc. In 1647, the Okhotsk Castle was established.

By the 1750s and 1860s, the Cossacks had spread all over Northeast Asia. Then they began to advance to the Kamchatka Peninsula. At this time Kamchatka was inhabited by Ijelmen, Koryaks, Eskimos, enslaved people and others. In 1695 Yakutsk sent Cossacks to Fort Anadyr under the governor. Some of them visited Kamchatka in the following year. In the beginning of 1697, Atlasov, a Cossack fifty-man chief, gathered a group of 120 men and went to conquer Kamchatka, where he fought fiercely with the natives, and afterward built castles such as Upper Kamchatka, which were guarded by men. By 1711, the entire Kamchatka Peninsula was conquered and incorporated into Russia. After occupying Northeast Asia and Kamchatka, Russia stepped up its advance toward Alaska and the Aleutian Islands in the North Pacific.

In the course of Russia's expansion into Siberia and the Far East, it also extended its aggression to Lake Baikal and the Heilongjiang River region. in the 1730s and 1840s, Russia invaded the Baikal region from the west and the north, centering on Yeniseisk and Yakutsk, respectively. Cossacks founded Balagansk (1654) and Irkutsk (1652) in the Angara River basin and Verkhorensk (1642) on the upper Lena River. In the northeastern corner of Lake Baikal the Cossacks founded Verkhnaya Angarsk (1647) and the fortress of Barguzin (1648), and in 1652 the fortress of Bayontovsk. In this way, the Russian army largely surrounded Lake Baikal with strongholds from the north, laying the groundwork for further southward and eastward advances.

From the southern shore of Lake Baikal, the Russian army marched southward straight into the Mongolian region of China, a kind of eastward advance to reach the Shilka River in the upper reaches of the Heilongjiang River, and then invaded the Heilongjiang River. The Russians built a number of towns and forts on the road to the east and south, choosing the key land and water points. For example, Nerchinsk (Nerchinsk) was built in 1658

, Terembinsk in 1658, Selengeisk in 1665, and Udinsk in 1666

. These castles played an important role in Russia's military, diplomatic, and economic activities, as well as in trade and commerce with China.

In the 1740s and 50s, Tsarist Russia invaded the Heilongjiang basin. in 1643, Cossack Boyarko did not take the Aldan River, a tributary of the Lena River, and then followed the Uchur River into the New York Mka River, then crossed the Waihingan Mountains and took the Lianshan Overland Route, and finally entered the Jingchili River (Jieya River), a tributary of the Heilongjiang. Another route was to start from the Oryokma River and follow its tributary, the Tugil River, to reach the Heilongjiang River. It was this route that Khabarov took in his expedition to Heilongjiang. In order to strengthen the administration, the Russian government established the Oryokminsk Fortress at the mouth of the Oryokma River in 1656.

Russia conquered the vast Siberia and the Far East, and immediately established administrative and military institutions to control and implement colonial rule. The whole of Siberia was administered by a centralized Siberian government. Each region was divided into governor's districts and counties. The governor's district *** there are 4

, namely, Tobolsk, Tomsk, Yakutsk and Yeniseisk, each under the jurisdiction of a few counties. 17th century in Siberia *** there are 19 counties, such as Tulinsk, Tyumen, Tara. In the 17th century, there were 19 districts in Siberia, including Turinsk, Tyumen, and Tara. All districts and counties had their own governors, who were responsible for military, administrative, judicial, and economic affairs in their respective areas.

After 1850, taking advantage of the decline of China's Qing Dynasty, forceful invasion of the Heilongjiang basin. In the area of Yaksa, the Russian invaders even took Solomons as food, really cannibalistic demons; Nikolaev seized the Temple Street, brutally killed the local Herzhe and Ewenki inhabitants, creating the Temple Street tragedy and renamed it Nikolaevsk; at the same time, forced the Qing Dynasty to sign the "Sino-Russian Treaty of Aigun", "Sino-Russian Treaty of Beijing" seized one million square kilometers of Chinese territories in the Heilongjiang River Basin, including north of the Heilongjiang River This territory included the northern part of the Heilongjiang River, the southern part of the Outer Hinggan Mountains, and the eastern part of the Ussuri River to the Kuril Islands. This territory inhabited by the Herzhe were slaughtered, the Oroqen of the Jieya River were forced to move into the Daxingan Mountains, the Jurchen were forced to move into the south of the Heilongjiang River, west of the Ussuri River, and finally the Russian immigrants became the main ethnic group in the area, I do not know if the Buryat Mongols east of Lake Baikal were assimilated or not?

The end of the Qing Dynasty, the Han Chinese immigrated to the Northeast in large numbers and became the main ethnic group in the Northeast, which ensured the centripetal force of the Northeast to China, and became the strongest force to consolidate the Northeast border defense. Hailanbao Jiangdong sixty-four tunnels had been cultivated by the Han Chinese for many years, so in the Treaty of Aigun, it was specially declared to be retained as Chinese territory, and it became the only Chinese territory in the north of Heilongjiang River. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, the Russians violated the Treaty of Aigun and drove the Han and Oroqen inhabitants of the area into the Heilongjiang River to drown or kill them, which was the Hailanbao tragedy!

The invasion of Jiangdong 64 tunnels, through the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai, the Beiyang Warlords and the Kuomintang regime all refused to recognize it and insisted that it was part of China's territory.

In 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded China, and Tsarist Russia took advantage of the situation to occupy and colonize all of Northeast China.

Japan defeated the Tsarist Russians in 1905, seizing the southern section of the Kuril Islands, the southern part of the Kuril Islands, and Vladivostok, and taking control of Jilin and Liaoning. Later, south of the Heilongjiang River, under Zhang Zuolin, and north of the Heilongjiang River, in 1917, the Far East **** and the State was established, and Japan took control of the whole of the Kuril Islands.

In 1931, Japan occupied the Northeast and established the pseudo-Manchukuo state, which confronted the Soviet Union in Heilongjiang. The Soviet Union drove out or killed the Han Chinese in the Far East and forcibly relocated the Koreans from the Far East to Central Asia.

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