In the late Middle Ages, the people living along the lower course of the Amur (Nivkh, Oroch, Evenki) were collectively known in China as the "wild Jurchen". The Yuan dynasty Mongols sent expeditions to this area with an eye toward using the region as a base for attack on Japan, or for defending against the SakhalinAinus. According to the History of Yuan, in 1264 the Nivkhs recognized the Mongol sovereignty. In 1263, the Mongols set up the "Command Post of the Marshal of the Eastern Campaign" near the modern settlement of Tyr, some 100 kilometers (62 mi) upstream from today's Nikolayevsk-on-Amur. At roughly the same time, a shrine was built on the Tyr Rock.[11][12]
From 1411 to 1433, the MingeunuchYishiha, a man of Haixi Jurchen origin, led four large missions to win over the allegiance of the "Jurchen" tribes along the Sunggari and Amur Rivers. During this time, the Yongning Temple was constructed at Tyr, and stelae with inscriptions erected.[11]
The settlement quickly became one of the main economic centres on the Pacific coast of the Russian Empire. It became Russia's main Pacific harbour (replacing Petropavlovsk) in 1855 after the Siege of Petropavlovsk of 1854. It was granted town status and renamed Nikolayevsk-on-Amur in 1856, when Primorskaya Oblast was established.[citation needed] Admiral Vasily Zavoyko supervised the construction of a naval base in Nikolayevsk-on-Amur.
The town emerged as an important commercial harbour; however, due to navigational difficulties caused by the sandbanks in the Amur estuary and because sea ice made the harbour unusable for five months each year, the main Russian shipping activities in the Pacific transferred to the better situated Vladivostok in the early 1870s. The town remained the administrative centre of this region until 1880, when the governor relocated to Khabarovsk. Anton Chekhov, visiting the town on his journey to Sakhalin in 1890, noted its rapid depopulation, although this trend slowed somewhat in the late 1890s with the discovery of gold and the establishment of salmon fisheries.
During the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922 the town's population plummeted from 15,000 to 2,000, as a local Soviet partisan leader, Yakov Tryapitsyn, later executed by the same Bolsheviks he was supposed to be aligned with, razed the entire town to the ground and massacred the minority Japanese population along with most of the Russian population. In response to this event, Northern Sakhalin was briefly occupied by Japan between 1920 and 1925. During this time, the town was called Nikō (尼港町, Nikō-chō).
Around 1940 a prison camp of the gulag system was located in the town.[15]
The town is situated on the left bank of the Amur River, 80 kilometers (50 mi) from where it flows into the Amur estuary, 977 kilometers (607 mi) north of Khabarovsk and 582 kilometers (362 mi) from the Komsomolsk-on-Amur railway station. It is the closest significant settlement to the Strait of Tartary separating the mainland from Sakhalin.
Nikolayevsk-on-Amur has a borderline humid continental climate (KöppenDfb), almost cold enough to be a subarctic climate (Dfc). Precipitation is not as low in the winter as over most of Siberia since the coast in on the fringe of influence from the Aleutian Low. The near-maritime location only marginally—by 5 °C (9.0 °F)—moderates the winters compared to interior Siberia, but makes the summers noticeably cool (especially in May and June) though the Oyashio fogs are less prevalent than on Sakhalin itself and sunshine hours therefore rather longer.
Climate data for Nikolayevsk-on-Amur (1991–2020, extremes 1881–present)
^
Mote, Victor L. (June 4, 1998). Siberia: Worlds Apart. Westview series on the post-Soviet republics. Vol. 5. Westview Press (published 1998). p. 46. ISBN9780813312989. Retrieved June 20, 2015. When they unfurled a Russian flag at the mouth of the Amur and christened the site Nikolayevsk in the tsar's honor, Nevel'skoy and Murav'yev aroused a storm of protest [...]
Правительство Хабаровского края. Постановление №143-пр от 18 июля 2007 г. «Об утверждении реестра административно-территориальных и территориальных единиц Хабаровского края», в ред. Постановления №273-пр от 28 августа 2015 г. «О внесении изменений в Постановление Правительства Хабаровского края от 18 июля 2007 г. №143-пр "Об утверждении реестра административно-территориальных и территориальных единиц Хабаровского края"». Вступил в силу 13 августа 2007 г. Опубликован: "Собрание законодательства Хабаровского края", №7(60), 12 августа 2007 г. (Government of Khabarovsk Krai. Resolution #143-pr of July 18, 2007 On the Adoption of the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units of Khabarovsk Krai, as amended by the Resolution #273-pr of August 28, 2015 On Amending the Resolution #143-pr of the Government of Khabarovsk Krai of July 18, 2007 "On the Adoption of the Registry of the Administrative-Territorial and Territorial Units of Khabarovsk Krai". Effective as of August 13, 2007.).
Законодательная Дума Хабаровского края. Закон №191 от 30 июня 2004 г. «О наделении административных центров районов статусом городского, сельского поселения и об установлении их границ», в ред. Закона №172 от 29 февраля 2012 г. «Об упразднении сельского населённого пункта посёлок Фестивальный, находящегося на территории Солнечного района Хабаровского края, и о внесении изменений в отдельные Законы Хабаровского края». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Приамурские ведомости", №№126–127, 15 июля 2004 г. (Legislative Duma of Khabarovsk Krai. Law #191 of June 30, 2004 On Granting the Administrative Centers of the Districts the Status of Urban, Rural Settlements and on Establishing Their Borders, as amended by the Law #172 of February 29, 2012 On the Abolition of the Rural Locality of the Settlement of Festivalny on the Territory of Solnechny District of Khabarovsk Krai and on Amending Various Laws of Khabarovsk Krai. Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
Законодательная Дума Хабаровского края. Закон №264 от 14 марта 2005 г «Об административных центрах сельских поселений и муниципальных районов Хабаровского края», в ред. Закона №239 от 28 ноября 2012 г. «О преобразовании городского населённого пункта рабочий посёлок Тырма, находящегося на территории Верхнебуреинского района Хабаровского края, путём изменения его статуса в сельский населённый пункт — посёлок Тырма и о внесении изменений в отдельные Законы Хабаровского края». Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Приамурские ведомости", №57, 1 апреля 2005 г. (Legislative Duma of Khabarovsk Krai. Law #264 of March 14, 2005 On the Administrative Centers of the Rural Settlements and the Municipal Districts of Khabarovsk Krai, as amended by the Law #239 of November 28, 2012 On the Transformation of the Urban Locality the Work Settlement of Tyrma, Located on the Territory of Verkhnebureinsky District of Khabarovsk Krai, by Changing Its Status to That of a Rural Locality—the Settlement of Tyrma, and on Amending Various Laws of Khabarovsk Krai. Effective as of the day of the official publication.).
[7])
