Until 1972, in
Primorsky Krai, the names of many geographical objects were of Chinese (because of China's proximity) or
Tungus-
Manchu (native) origin. To a lesser extent, such toponyms were found in Khabarovsk Krai and Amur Oblast. The current territory of the region, before the
Beijing Treaty of 1860 (when the region joined the
Russian Empire), was considered a vassal territory of the
Manchu people, who in the middle of the 17th century conquered China (along with Mongolia) and placed the Manchu-led
Qing dynasty on the imperial throne. The Russian settlers who founded military posts and the first estates lived for several decades on the territory of modern Primorsky Krai together with the peoples of the Manchu-Tungus group:
Orochs,
Udege,
Nanai, a small number of Manchus and descendants of other peoples who were previously part of
Jurchen and Manchu statehood by the indigenous population. In the territory annexed to Russia by the Convention of Peking, a number of Chinese lived, mostly otkhodniks, since the permanent residence of the Chinese in the Manchu lands
was limited, and at times outright prohibited, by the
Qing dynasty. On the territory of what is now Primorsky Krai,
ethnic Chinese were engaged in agriculture, hunting, fishing, robbery, mining (primarily gold), collecting wild plants (
Ginseng), and trading. By the time the first Russian sea posts of
Posyet,
Vladivostok, and
Slavyanka appeared in the southern part of the region, native names of the
Tungus-Manchu languages (Adimi, Sidimi, Hadimi, Talmi, Tuluchekoritsig) and Chinese (Suifun-he, Yanchi-he) coexisted. Russian names appeared mainly around islands, capes and bays (
Russky Island, Slavyanka Bay), since Russian colonization was initially naval. Native names were subsequently used by Russian settlers and remained until 1972.
Renaming campaign In 1972–1974, as a result of the
USSR's armed conflict with China over Damansky Island (1969), in
Primorsky Krai and, to a lesser extent, in neighboring regions, a massive renaming of geographical objects and settlements was carried out in order to get rid of toponyms of Chinese origin. At the same time, not only Chinese names were replaced (Suifun-he was renamed to the river
Razdolnaya, Yanchi-he to the Tsukanovka River), but also
Tungusic names (Adimi renamed to the
Poyma river, Sidimi to the Narva River, Tulamu Bay to Slavyanka Bay). Non-indigenous place names also suffered: for example, Amerika Bay and Manchzhur Bay were renamed
Nakhodka Bay and Baklan Bay, respectively. These objects were originally named after the Russian sea vessels that explored the Pacific coast in the 19th century: the corvette
Amerika and the gunboat
Mandzhur. Any toponym whose sound showed unfavorable political connotations for that period was considered unreliable, regardless of the origin of this toponym. As a result of the renaming, Primorsky Krai has largely lost its toponymic identity. Most of the new names are not associated with the region historically, ethnographically or geographically - for example, the Ilistaya River ("muddy", formerly Lefou), the Tikhaya River ("quiet", formerly Telyanza), Mount Obzornaya ("lookout", formerly Khalaza), Lazurnaya Bay ("azure", formerly Feldhausen or Shamora), - or they duplicate the Russian-language names of nearby objects - for example, the
Arsenyevka River (formerly Daubikhe), the
Razdolnaya River (formerly Suifun),
Mount Livadiyskaya (formerly Pidan). Among the small number of indigenous place names that have been preserved are the names of the
Ussuri,
Sungacha and
Bikin rivers, as well as
Lake Khanka. ==References==