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AMUR

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Originally appearing in Volume V01, Page 900 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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AMUR , a See also:

government of See also:East See also:Siberia, stretching from the Stanovoi (See also:Yablonoi) mountains southwards to the See also:left See also:bank of the Amur See also:river. It includes the basins of the Oldoi, Zeya and Bureya, left-bank tributaries of the river Amur, and has the governments of See also:Transbaikalia on the W., See also:Irkutsk and See also:Yakutsk on the N., the Maritime See also:province on the E., and See also:Manchuria on the S.W. and S. See also:Area, 172,848 sq. m. Immense districts are quite uninhabited. All the See also:north-western See also:part is occupied by a high See also:plateau, bordered by the See also:Great See also:Khingan range, whose exact position in the region is not yet definitely settled. Next comes a See also:belt of fertile plateaus bounded on the east by the Little Khingan, or Dusse-See also:alin, a picturesque well-wooded range, which stretches in a north-easterly direction from See also:Kirin across Manchuria, is pierced by the Amur, and continues on its left hank, separating the Bureya from the Amgun. To the east of it stretches in the same direction a See also:strip of marshy lowlands. In the ranges which rise above the high plateau in the north-See also:west, in the vicinity of the Stanovoi See also:watershed, See also:gold mines of great richness are worked. See also:Coal of inferior quality is known to exist on the Oldoi, Zeya and Bureya. The Russians are represented by the Amur See also:Cossacks, whose villages, e.g. Albazin, Kumara, Ekaterino-Nikolsk and Mikhailo-Semenovsk, are strung at intervals of 17 to 20 M. along the whole course of the river; by See also:peasant immigrants, chiefly nonconformists, who are the wealthiest part of the See also:population; and by a floating population of gold miners. Nomadic Tungus (Orochons), Manegres and See also:Golds See also:hunt and See also:fish along the See also:rivers.

Steamers ply regularly along the Amur for 61 months, from See also:

Khabarovsk to See also:Stryetensk, on the Shilka See also:terminus of the Trans-Siberian railway; but only See also:light steamers with 2 to 3 ft. See also:draught can navigate the upper Amur and Shilka. In the See also:winter the frozen river is the usual See also:highway. Rough roads and bridle-paths only are found in the interior. The great See also:engineering difficulties in See also:building a railway along the Amur induced the See also:Russian government to obtain from See also:China permission to build a railway through Manchuria, but the project for a railway from Khabarovsk to Stryetensk received imperial See also:sanction in the summer of 1906. The Amur government has a See also:continental See also:climate, the yearly See also:average at See also:Blagovyeshchensk (50° N. See also:lat.) being 30° Fahr. (See also:January, 17°; See also:July, 70°). It benefits from the See also:influence of the monsoons. See also:Cold north-west winds prevail from See also:October to See also:March, while in July and See also:August torrential rains fall, resulting in a sudden and very considerable rise in the Amur and its right-bank tributaries. The only See also:town is Blagovyeshchensk, but the centre of the See also:administration is Khabarovsk in the Maritime province. The settled population in 1897 was 119,909, of whom 31,515 lived in towns. The See also:governor-generalship of Amur includes this government and the Maritime province, the See also:total area being 888,83o sq. m., and the total population in 1897, 339,127. This region became known to the Russians in 1639.

In 1649—1651 a party of Cossacks, under Khabarov, built a fort at Albazin on the Amur river, but in 1689 they withdrew in favour of the See also:

Chinese. From 1847 onwards they once more turned their See also:attention to this region, and began to make settlements, especially after 1854, when a powerful flotilla sailed from Ust-Stryelka down to the mouth of the river. Four years later China ceded to See also:Russia the whole left bank of the Amur, and also the right bank below the confluence of the Ussuri, and in 186o all the territory between the Ussuri and the Eastern See also:Sea. (P. A.

End of Article: AMUR

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