August 14: Nevelskoy raised the Russian flag on Cape Kuegda – thus Russia “annexed” the Amur region and Sakhalin
On August 14, 1850, the Amur Expedition led by Gennady Nevelskoy raised the Russian flag on Cape Kuegda. The navigator acted in defiance of a direct ban from St. Petersburg and nearly suffered a demotion to the rank of sailor. Thus, the Amur Region and Sakhalin were ceded to Russia.
After two guns were installed on the shore and a flagpole erected for raising the flag, the crew formed up, and I gave the command for prayer. To cries of "Hurrah!" and a volley of rifles and cannons, I raised the Russian military flag.
Sakhalin, which was considered a peninsula
The first Russian expeditions explored the shores of Sakhalin as early as the 17th and 18th centuries. But by the beginning of the reign of Nicholas I, the island was of little interest to the authorities: it was considered a peninsula, and the Amur River was inaccessible to navigation.
In 1848, setting out on an expedition from Kronstadt, 34-year-old navigator Gennady Nevelskoy received instructions "not to go beyond Kamchatka." By 1849, he and his crew had arrived there on the small military vessel Baikal.
Nevelskoy dreamed of the Far East since his youth.
He was an energetic man of hot temperament, educated, selfless, humane, imbued with the idea to the marrow of his bones and fanatically devoted to it, pure in morality.
This is what Anton Chekhov wrote about Nevelsky.
"The age-old error is positively dispelled."
That summer, Nevelskoy entered the Amur Estuary, explored Sakhalin Island, and returned to the port of Ayan in the Sea of Okhotsk. There, he was met by Siberian Governor-General Nikolai Muravyov (later Muravyov-Amursky). He reported to him:
A centuries-old misconception has been dispelled: Sakhalin is an island, and the entrance to the estuary and the Amur River is accessible to seagoing vessels!
Nevelskoy returned to St. Petersburg to explain the importance of his discoveries to the authorities. The following summer, he was sent back to the Far East—this time with the rank of captain first rank—and again with instructions "not to touch the mouth of the Amur."
Flag in defiance of the ban
Despite the prohibitions, in August 1850 he raised the Russian flag on Cape Kuegda, declaring that “the entire Amur region up to the Korean border with Sakhalin Island constitutes Russian possessions,” and founded the Nikolaevsky outpost (now the city of Nikolaevsk-on-Amur).
At the time, the Russian government was terrified of diplomatic complications with China and Great Britain. A special committee in St. Petersburg accused Nevelskoy of arbitrary action, deemed his actions "impudent and harmful," and nearly demoted him to the rank of sailor.
The Siberian governor-general interceded for him before the emperor. Nicholas studied Nevelskoy's reports and recognized the officer's actions as "brave, noble, and patriotic." He added his famous resolution to the committee's decision:
Where once the Russian flag is hoisted, there it should not go down
Instead of disgrace, Nevelskoy received the Order of St. Vladimir, 4th degree.
Expedition price
Over the next five years, the expedition continued to explore new lands, as well as the life, language, and culture of Sakhalin's indigenous people—the Nivkh and Ainu. Conditions were sometimes extremely harsh: during one wintering, Nevelskoy and his wife lost their 10-month-old daughter to starvation.
The flag was raised on Sakhalin itself in 1853. By that time, Nevelskoy had established Russian military posts in four more places.
Gold, coal and military positions
The lands were rich in gold, silver, platinum, chromium, gas, and coal.
The new territories also strengthened Russia's military position. Soon, barges carrying troops and cannons began arriving there, and thanks to them, an attack by an Anglo-French squadron was repelled.
China and Japan recognized Russia's rights to the new territories later: the Amur region in the 1860s under the Treaties of Aigun and Beijing, and Sakhalin in 1875 under the Treaty of St. Petersburg.
Hard labor, Chekhov and Japan
In the late 19th century, Sakhalin became a place of penal servitude and exile. Chekhov traveled there to study local life, later writing his book "Sakhalin Island."
If you listen carefully and for a long time, then, my God, how far life here is from Russia!
The atmosphere is casual, as if the family were living in an apartment rather than their own home, or as if they had just arrived and hadn't yet had time to settle in; there was no cat, no cricket to be heard on winter evenings, and, most importantly, no homeland.
From 1920 until the end of World War II, part of the island belonged to Japan. Sakhalin Oblast, with its current borders, was formed only in 1947.