Nikolaevsk-on-Amur (until 1926 - Nikolaevsk) is a city (since 1856) in Russia, the administrative center of the Nikolaevsky district of the Khabarovsk Territory. Port on the Amur River, airport. Population - 17 939 people. (2020).
On August 1 (13), 1850, Russian navigator Captain I
rank Gennady Nevelskoy during the Amur expedition of 1849-1855 at
the mouth of the Amur, founded the military-administrative
settlement of Nikolaevsky post. The first population of the post
consisted of six people. The Yakutsk hut-urasa became the first
building in the future city.
The ownership of the lower
reaches of the Amur River, including its mouth, according to the
Treaty of Nerchinsk in 1689, was not legally defined. According to
the text of the treaty, only the rivers flowing into the Amur and
the mouth of the Amur from the "half-day sides of these Mountains"
(the southern side of the Stanovoy Range and the mountain ranges
adjacent to the coast of the Sea of Okhotsk) were indicated as
"the possession of the Khin State." Nevelskoy's expedition did not
meet here either the permanent administrative bodies of the Qing
Empire, or its border garrisons. However, the establishment of a
Russian military post on this territory was initially not supported
by the Amur Committee of the Russian government. But subsequently
the actions of Nevelskoy were approved by the Emperor Nicholas I.
On November 14, 1856, the city of Nikolaevsk was founded on the
site of the Nikolaev post. Also in the East Siberian province the
Primorsk region was created with the capital in Nikolaevsk. By that
time, Nikolaevsk had become the largest port in the Russian Far
East.
On February 24, 1858 Nikolaevsk became a regional city.
At that year, the city had up to 200 buildings and a population of
1,757 people. A ship repair and assembly plant appears. A local
history museum, a library, and a naval school were also opened.
Steamships with commercial flights begin to sail along the Amur, and
merchant ships from abroad also come to the city.
In 1870,
the main port in the Russian Far East was transferred from
Nikolaevsk to Vladivostok, after which the decline began in
Nikolaevsk. On April 28, 1880, the capital of the Primorsky Region
moved from Nikolaevsk to the south, to Khabarovka.
In
1855-1875 a navigational school functioned in the city.
At
the end of the 80s of the XIX century, there was the discovery of
gold deposits. The city is gradually becoming the center of the Far
Eastern gold miners. A gold-alloy laboratory, as well as offices of
the Okhotsk and Amur-Orel gold-mining companies appeared.
In
1890, A.P. Chekhov stopped in Nikolaevsk, following his way to
Sakhalin. In the first chapter of the book "Sakhalin Island" [8] the
writer notes the gloomy atmosphere of the once prosperous city. By
1895, the city's population had dropped to 1,000.
Gold mining
is gradually attracting settlers, and by 1897 the population reaches
5668 people.
In 1896-1899, the boom of the fishing industry
began in Nikolaevsk. Shipbuilding is reviving, enterprises for the
manufacture of barrels, timber processing, etc. are also being
created. The city becomes the second most important port in the Far
East.
By 1913, the number of city residents reached 14.4
thousand people. There are 2,136 buildings in the city, a network of
vocational schools and schools has been created anew. Soon
Nikolaevsk once again becomes a regional city - this time, the
center of the Sakhalin region. In 1914, the Udsky district, the
center of which was Nikolaevsk-on-Amur, was transferred from the
Primorsky region to the Sakhalin region of the Russian Empire. By
the 1917 revolution, the city's population reached 15 thousand
people.
In 1918, the Japanese intervention begins, since
Nikolaevsk is the center of gold mining in the entire Russian Far
East. In addition to the Japanese garrison, the Kolchak
administration also operated in the city and there was a garrison of
the Chnyrrakh fortress, which covered Nikolaevsk from an attack from
the sea. In late 1919 - early 1920, the bulk of the Sakhalin Oblast
was liberated by a partisan unit under the command of Yakov
Tryapitsin. At the end of February 1920, after the garrison of the
Chnyrrakh fortress went over to the side of the partisans, the city
was also surrendered.
As a result of a surprise attack by the
Japanese garrison and the hostilities of the formation of Soviet
troops under the command of Yakov Tryapitsin on March 12-14, part of
the city was burned. The battles ended in victory for the Soviet
troops. At the end of May 1920, fearing a new offensive by the
Japanese interventionists, the population was evacuated to the area
of the village of Kerbi and the nearest villages. The city and the
fortress of Chnnyrakh were finally destroyed, in accordance with the
scorched earth tactics. Japanese prisoners of war, captured during
the military clash on March 12-14, 1920, were shot (see the Nikolaev
incident).
In 1920-1922 Nikolaevsk was a part of the Far
Eastern Republic and is the capital of the Sakhalin Region.
In 1922, the city was liberated from the Japanese invaders,
Soviet power was established. Nikolaevsk was appointed the center of
the Nikolaevsky district of the Primorsky province of the Far
Eastern region.
On March 15, 1926, the new name of the city
was approved - "Nikolaevsk-on-Amur". In connection with the
abolition of the division of the Far Eastern region into the
province, it becomes the center of the Nikolaev district of the Far
Eastern region. The district consisted of 7 districts:
Bolshe-Mikhailovsky, Kerbinsky, Nizhne-Tambovsky, Nikolaevsky,
Olsky, Okhotsk and Tugur-Chumukansky. It was also at the same time
the center of the Nikolaev region.
Under Soviet rule, the
fishing industry is actively developing in the city. In the 1920s,
one third of all Far Eastern fish production was carried out in the
region. In 1934 the city was designated the center of the
Nizhne-Amur Region.
In 1941, thousands of Nikolaevsk
residents were sent to the front of the Great Patriotic War. In
1942, the operating shipyard and shipyard were launched.
The
city became one of the regional centers of the Khabarovsk Territory
in 1956, after the abolition of the Nizhneamur Region. In 1960, a
shipyard was opened.
In 1985, the Nizhneamursk mining and
processing plant began work.
In 1998, by order of a Japanese
company, a research vessel NIS-4 was created at the shipyard. In
2007, the wage debts of the plant to workers amounted to 13 million
rubles.