Nikolayevsk-on-Amur (russian: Никола́евск-на-Аму́ре, translit=Nikoláyevsk-na-Amúrye) is a

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an o ...

Khabarovsk Krai Khabarovsk Krai ( rus, Хабаровский край, r=Khabarovsky kray, p=xɐˈbarəfskʲɪj kraj) is a federal subject (a krai) of Russia. It is geographically located in the Russian Far East and is a part of the Far Eastern Federal Distr ...

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

located on the

Amur River The Amur (russian: река́ Аму́р, ), or Heilong Jiang (, "Black Dragon River", ), is the world's tenth longest river, forming the border between the Russian Far East and Northeastern China (Inner Manchuria). The Amur proper is long ...

close to its liman in the

Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...

. Population:

Geography

The town is situated on the left bank of the Amur River, from where it flows into the Amur estuary, north of

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( rus, Хабaровск, a=Хабаровск.ogg, r=Habárovsk, p=xɐˈbarəfsk) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of ...

and from the

Komsomolsk-on-Amur Komsomolsk-on-Amur ( rus, Комсомольск-на-Амуре, r=Komsomolsk-na-Amure, p=kəmsɐˈmolʲsk nɐɐˈmurʲə) is a city in Khabarovsk Krai, Russia, located on the west bank of the Amur River in the Russian Far East. It is located ...

railway station. It is the closest significant settlement to the Strait of Tartary separating the mainland from

Sakhalin Sakhalin ( rus, Сахали́н, r=Sakhalín, p=səxɐˈlʲin; ja, 樺太 ''Karafuto''; zh, c=, p=Kùyèdǎo, s=库页岛, t=庫頁島; Manchu: ᠰᠠᡥᠠᠯᡳᠶᠠᠨ, ''Sahaliyan''; Orok: Бугата на̄, ''Bugata nā''; Nivkh ...

History

Medieval and early-modern history

In the late Middle Ages, the people living along the lower course of the Amur ( Nivkh, Oroch, Evenki) were collectively known in China as the "wild

Jurchen Jurchen may refer to: * Jurchen people, Tungusic people who inhabited the region of Manchuria until the 17th century ** Haixi Jurchens, a grouping of the Jurchens as identified by the Chinese of the Ming Dynasty ** Jianzhou Jurchens, a grouping of ...

". The

Yuan Dynasty The Yuan dynasty (), officially the Great Yuan (; xng, , , literally "Great Yuan State"), was a Mongol-led imperial dynasty of China and a successor state to the Mongol Empire after its division. It was established by Kublai, the fif ...

Mongols sent expeditions to this area with an eye toward using the region as a base for attack on Japan, or for defending against the

Ainu Ainu or Aynu may refer to: *Ainu people, an East Asian ethnic group of Japan and the Russian Far East *Ainu languages, a family of languages **Ainu language of Hokkaido **Kuril Ainu language, extinct language of the Kuril Islands **Sakhalin Ainu la ...

s. According to the History of Yuan, in 1264 the Nivkhs recognized the Mongol sovereignty. In 1263, the Mongols set up the "Command Post of the Marshal of the Eastern Campaign" near the modern settlement of Tyr, some upstream from today's Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. At roughly the same time, a shrine was built on the Tyr Rock.В. Ц. Головачёв (V. Ts. Golovachеv)
"Тырские стелы и храм «Юн Нин» в свете китайско-чжурчжэньских отношений XIV-XV вв."
(ййThe Tyr stelae and the Yongning Temple viewed in as an aspect of Sino-Jurchen relationsйй), ''Etno-zhurnal'', November 14, 2008. From 1411 to 1433, the

Ming The Ming dynasty (), officially the Great Ming, was an imperial dynasty of China, ruling from 1368 to 1644 following the collapse of the Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming dynasty was the last orthodox dynasty of China ruled by the Han pe ...

eunuch A eunuch ( ) is a male who has been castrated. Throughout history, castration often served a specific social function. The earliest records for intentional castration to produce eunuchs are from the Sumerian city of Lagash in the 2nd millenni ...

Yishiha, a man of Haixi Jurchen origin, led four large missions to win over the allegiance of the "Jurchen" tribes along the Sunggari and Amur Rivers. During this time, the Yongning Temple was constructed at Tyr, and stelae with inscriptions erected.

Russian period

The Russian settlement, likely preceded by the

Manchu The Manchus (; ) are a Tungusic East Asian ethnic group native to Manchuria in Northeast Asia. They are an officially recognized ethnic minority in China and the people from whom Manchuria derives its name. The Later Jin (1616–1636) an ...

village of Fuyori, was founded as Nikolayevsky Post by Gennady Nevelskoy on 13 August 1850 and named for

Tsar Nicholas I , house = Romanov-Holstein-Gottorp , father = Paul I of Russia , mother = Maria Feodorovna (Sophie Dorothea of Württemberg) , birth_date = , birth_place = Gatchina Palace, Gatchina, Russian Empire , death_date = ...

. The settlement quickly became one of the main economic centres on the Pacific coast of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War ...

. It became Russia's main Pacific harbour (replacing Petropavlovsk) in 1855 after the

Siege of Petropavlovsk The siege of Petropavlovsk was a military operation in the Pacific theatre of the Crimean War. The Russian casualties are estimated at 115 soldiers and sailors killed and seriously wounded, whilst the British suffered 105 casualties and t ...

of 1854. It was granted town status and renamed Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in 1856, when

Primorskaya Oblast Primorskaya Oblast (russian: Примо́рская о́бласть) was an administrative division of the Russian Empire and the early Russian SFSR, created on October 31, 1856 by the Governing Senate.''History of Soviet Primorye'', pg. 31 The n ...

was established. Admiral Vasily Zavoyko supervised the construction of a naval base in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. The town emerged as an important commercial harbour; however, due to navigational difficulties caused by the sandbanks in the Amur estuary and because

sea ice Sea ice arises as seawater freezes. Because ice is less dense than water, it floats on the ocean's surface (as does fresh water ice, which has an even lower density). Sea ice covers about 7% of the Earth's surface and about 12% of the world's o ...

made the harbour unusable for five months each year, the main Russian shipping activities in the Pacific transferred to the better situated

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( rus, Владивосто́к, a=Владивосток.ogg, p=vɫədʲɪvɐˈstok) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai, Russia. The city is located around the Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, ...

in the early 1870s. The town remained the administrative centre of this region until 1880, when the governor relocated to Khabarovsk.

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; 29 January 1860 Old Style date 17 January. – 15 July 1904 Old Style date 2 July.) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer who is considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career ...

, visiting the town on his journey to Sakhalin in 1890, noted its rapid depopulation, although this trend slowed somewhat in the late 1890s with the discovery of gold and the establishment of

salmon Salmon () is the common name for several commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family Salmonidae, which are native to tributaries of the North Atlantic (genus '' Salmo'') and North Pacific (genus '' Onco ...

fisheries. During the

Russian Civil War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Russian Civil War , partof = the Russian Revolution and the aftermath of World War I , image = , caption = Clockwise from top left: {{flatlist, *Soldiers ...

of 1917-1922 the town's population plummeted from 15,000 to 2,000, as a local Soviet partisan leader, Yakov Tryapitsyn, later executed by the same

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

he was supposed to be aligned with, razed the entire town to the ground and massacred the minority Japanese population along with most of the Russian population. In response to this event, Northern Sakhalin was briefly occupied by Japan between 1920-1925. During this time, the town was called . Around 1940 a prison camp of the

gulag The Gulag, an acronym for , , "chief administration of the camps". The original name given to the system of camps controlled by the State Political Directorate, GPU was the Main Administration of Corrective Labor Camps (, )., name=, group= ...

system was located in the town. Like many other places in the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East (russian: Дальний Восток России, r=Dal'niy Vostok Rossii, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in Northeast Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asian continent; and is admin ...

, the town has seen a drop in population since the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, dropping from 36,296 inhabitants recorded in the ( 1989 Census), to 22,772 in 2010.

Administrative and municipal status

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Nikolayevsk-on-Amur serves as the

administrative center An administrative center is a seat of regional administration or local government, or a county town, or the place where the central administration of a commune is located. In countries with French as administrative language (such as Belgium, Lu ...

of Nikolayevsky District, even though it is not a part of it. As an administrative division, it is incorporated separately as the town of krai significance of Nikolayevsk-na-Amure—an administrative unit with the status equal to that of the

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions ...

. As a municipal division, the town of krai significance of Nikolayevsk-na-Amure is incorporated within Nikolayevsky Municipal District as Nikolayevsk-na-Amure Urban Settlement.

Economy

Fishing Fishing is the activity of trying to catch fish. Fish are often caught as wildlife from the natural environment, but may also be caught from fish stocking, stocked bodies of water such as fish pond, ponds, canals, park wetlands and reservoirs. ...

and fish processing are the main industries of the town, along with ship maintenance and some agricultural production in the surrounding area.

Transportation

Nikolayevsk-on-Amur has no land transport connections. Traffic to and from the town enters via the port on the Amur, or the small airport, namely Nikolayevsk-on-Amur Airport , which is home to Nikolaevsk-Na-Amure Air Enterprise.

Climate

Nikolayevsk-on-Amur has a borderline

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

( Köppen ''Dfb''), almost cold enough to be a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, g ...

(''Dfc''). Precipitation is not as low in the winter as over most of Siberia since the coast in on the fringe of influence from the

Aleutian Low The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low-pressure system located near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea during the Northern Hemisphere winter. It is a climatic feature centered near the Aleutian Islands measured based on mean sea-level press ...

. The near-maritime location only marginally—by —moderates the winters compared to interior Siberia, but makes the summers noticeably cool (especially in May and June) though the Oyashio fogs are less prevalent than on Sakhalin itself and sunshine hours therefore rather longer.

Gallery

Администрация Морского порта.jpg, Administration office of seaport Аэровокзал 2015г постройки.jpg, Airport built in 2015 Аэропорт 2015г постройки.jpg, 2015-built airport building Братская могила 3-х офицеров 16 армии, погибших при исполнении служебного долга, с надгробным сооружением.jpg, The grave of 3 officers of the 16th Army who died in the line of duty, with a tombstone Вид со сквера.jpg, View from the square Городская площадь.jpg, City square Здание почты 1905г постройки.jpg, Post office built in 1905 Каменный храм.jpg, Stone Temple Кинотеатр Модерн ныне музей имени В.Е.Розова.jpg, Cinema Modern, now a museum named after V.E.Rozov Кинотеатр Родина.jpg, Cinema Rodina Клуб моряков ныне продуктовый магазин Гавань.jpg, The Seamen's Club is now a grocery store. Маяк Николаевск-на-Амуре.jpg, Nikolayevsk-on-Amur lighthouse Николаевск-на-Амуре вид с Лыжной базы отдыха.jpg, Nikolaevsk-on-Amur view from the ski resort Николаевск-на-Амуре ночью.jpg, Nikolaevsk-on-Amur night view of Lunacharskogo street Обелиск Г.И.Невельского на набережной.jpg, Monument of G. I. Nevelsky on the waterfront Памятник 2-го экипажа Морского флота.jpg, Monument of the 7th crew of the Maritime College Памятник беспосадочному перелету.jpg, Monument to a non-stop flight

References

Notes

Sources

* * * {{Authority control Cities and towns in Khabarovsk Krai Amur River Ports and harbours of the Russian Pacific Coast Port cities and towns in Russia Populated places established in 1850 1850 establishments in the Russian Empire Road-inaccessible communities of Russia