East Tartary

East Tartary and Maritime Tartary are old names for Manchu territory extending from the confluence of the River Amur with the River Ussuri to Sakhalin Island. This area is now the Primorsky Krai with Vladivostok as regional administrative center.

These lands were once occupied by the Mohe tribes and Jurchen nation; and also by the old Korean kingdom of Balhae, and the Liao (Khitan) kingdoms.

According to Sheng-Wu-Chi's Ming dynasty chronicle ("Our dynasty is informed by military realizations"), in this land the Tungus Weji,Warka and Kurka tribes were established. Later these were unified in Manchu Qing Empire with Nurhaci as their leader and founder. These lands were lost to Peking under a treaty.

Nearest this land lies the Ku-Ye-Dao (Chinese: 庫頁島; pinyin: Kùyèdǎo) or Fu-Sang (Korean Hangul : 후상) island, better known as Karafuto or Sakhalin; in recent times Russian archaeologists have found here remains of ancient cities with walls and castles. These may correspond with the ancient Manchu nation, or possibly during Mongol or Tungus times, or the Balhae kingdom.

These lands were visited by Japanese explorers, Mamiya Rinzo and others, who reported on the various important cities and ports, such as Haishenwei (present day Vladivostok). From these lands and nearby Hulun (Amur area), the Japanese have claimed North Asian ancestors, who settled North Japan.

Other ancient cities in the region are: Tetyukhe (now Dalnegorsk) and probably Deleng, an important commercial imperial post according to some records.

External links

* [http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/historical/asia_1808.jpgMap of East Tartary]