Nerchinsk

Nerchinsk (nyĕr`chĭnsk), city, SE Siberian Russia. Founded in 1654, the city was a Russian outpost in E Asia from the 17th to the 19th cent. A Russo-Chinese border treaty signed at Nerchinsk in 1689 was the first treaty concluded between China and a European power; it granted the Transbaikalia area to Russia and left the Amur valley to China. The treaty also permitted Russian trading caravans to go to Beijing; Nerchinsk became an important customs and trade center on the caravan route.

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Nerchinsk 

a city and center of Nerchinsk Raion, Chita Oblast, RSFSR. Located on the left bank of the Nercha River, 7 km from the river’s confluence with the Shilka (Amur River basin) and 305 km east of Chita. It is linked by a railroad branch line (7 km) with the Priiskovaia railroad station (on the Trans-Siberian Railroad). The city has an electrical machinery plant, a liqueur and spirits distillery, and a meat-packing plant. It also has a sovkhoz technicum and a museum of local lore.

Nerchinsk was founded in 1654 by the Enisei voevoda (military governor) A. Pashkov, who named it Nerchinsk Ostrog (fortified settlement). In 1689 the Treaty of Nerchinsk with China was concluded there. The ostrog was designated a city in 1696. In 1812 the city was moved to its present location. Between 1826 and 1917, Nerchinsk was a place of political exile and hard labor. It became the the principal city of a district of Transbaikal Oblast in 1851; from 1926 to 1937 it was part of the Far East Krai.

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Nerchinsk 

a mountain range in southeastern Transbaikalia, in Chita Oblast, RSFSR. Extending southwest from the source of the Urov River (Amur River basin) to the border with the Mongolian People’s Republic, it measures approximately 200 km long. Elevations of 1,000–1,100 m predominate, with a maximum elevation of 1,477 m (Mount Kedrovnik). The range is composed of granites and coal-bearing aleurolites, sandstones, and conglomerates. In the northeastern, uplifted section it is covered with larch forests and with mountain meadows on slopes having southern exposures; in the southwestern, lower section tansy steppes alternate with birch forests.