History of Primorsky Krai

Primorsky Krai ( _ru. Примо́рский край) also known as Primorye ( _ru. Примо́рье), is a federal subject of Russia (a krai). "Primorsky" means "maritime" in Russian, hence the region is sometimes referred to as Maritime Province. Historically it was defined by the Sikhote-Alin (also spelled Sikhotae-Alin) mountain range which extends about 900 km to the northeast of the Russian Pacific seaport of Vladivostok, and the Amur lowlands to the west. Its proximity to the populations of the Asia's north-east dempographic centres had produced an extremely rich history of population interaction, of which the Russians are the newest additions during the recent four centuries of settlement and development of the region.

Primorye in ancient times

Primorye in the stone age

First people on the territory of Primorye

According to the archaeological data, people first appeared in the territory of modern Primorye in the Upper Paleolithic period (ancient stone age) 10 to 30 thousand years ago.

There are not many sites of ancient people here. The most ancient site is considered to be the one near Osinovka village near Ussuriysk, where archaeologist A.P.Okladnikov found human stone tools, which were made of river pebbles.

The finds from the Geograficheskogo Obshchestva (Geographic Society) Cave (located in Partizansky District) were very useful in understanding life and economy of the ancient people. This was the only cave where archaeologists had found the bones of animals that had been eaten by peopl:e mammoth, bison, rhinoceros, deer, cave tiger, etc.

The sites at the Zerkalnaya (Mirror) River Valley near Ustinovka and Suvorovo villages (Kavalerovsky District) date from later times. The stone tools from these sites are different from the finds near Osinovka village; they were made in a different way (using the lamellar technique of stone processing). The similarity of all stone tools from the Zerkalnaya River Valley let the researchers put them into one Ustinovsky archaeological culture. It is interesting that the materials of the Ustinovsky archaeological culture are somewhat similar to the finds from the territories which have boundaries with Primorye, especially in Japan.

In the Paleolithic period people led nomadic life. Small groups of several dozens people were moving within their territories. Men were occupied with hunting and fishing, women - with collecting and housekeeping, elder people - with children's education. The most wise and able of them were put at the head of a group.

In the Palaeolithic period the main occupation of the ancient people was hunting. People were skillful hunters; they were using spears, darts, and different kinds of traps. The climate conditions allowed for active collecting of edible plants.

Primorye in the Neolithic period

The Neolithic period (New Stone Age) in Primorye started in the 7th-6th millennium BC. In the New Stone Age the activities of ancient people changed drastically. In many regions the economies became production-based, not appropriation-based as before. This process is called the Neolithic revolution. In Primorye it was accompanied with the appearance of earthenware (ceramics), the wide spreading of polishing techniques, sawing, and new kinds of tools.

One of the typical Neolithic monuments of in Primorye is the site in Chyortovy Vorota (Devil's Gates) cave (Dalnegorsky District). In this cave the traces of wooden dwelling, which burnt in the middle of the 5th millennium BC, were discovered. The site contained a lot of unharmed archaeological materials, which included hundreds of stone- and bone-made wares, ceramic vessels, and the fragments of five human skeletons. Among the stone- and bone-made wares there were polished and retouched arrow, dart, and spear tips, axes, chisels of schist, various decorations. Flat-bottomed ceramic utensils were decorated with geometrical pattern.

During transition to the New Stone Age the population of Primorye started fishing. Fishing became dominant in the New Stone Age. Excavations held a lot of pebble-made sinkers. In the Chyortovy Vorota cave remains of fishing nets were found. The cartiloginous fish caught during spawning was stored for winter. People knew and were using fire since the Stone Age already. It is possible that fish was not only dried and jerked, but also smoked.

One of the Neolithic monuments of Primorye, which is not similar to the others, is Valentin-Peresheyek (Valentin-Isthmus) settlement (Lazovsky District). This was a specialized settlement for iron ore mining and mineral paint making. For this purpose the ancient people were using stone mattocks, pestles, grating slabs. Special researches determined the purpose of many different tools such as scrapers, piercers, adzes, drills, etc. It was found that handicrafts, such as pelt, bone, and horn processing, etc, were very important for the life of settlement's ancient dwellers. The settlement subsisted in the first half of the 3rd millennium BC.

The Neolithic monuments are also common in the south and south-west of Primorye. Some of them form Zaysanovsky archeological culture. Many of them were excavated. In Boysman Bay (Chernigovsky District) the first in Primorye Neolithic burial ground was discovered.

In Siny (Blue) Gay settlement (Chernigovsky District) the remains of 30 Neolithic dwellings were found. The remains included various tools, ceramics with vertical zigzag ornaments, and works of applied art.

During the New Stone Age due to the transition to the settled way of life, the possibilities for community enlargement appeared. Its typical traits were collectivism and mutual aid. The territory of Primorye was opened up from the seashore to river valleys.

By the end of the New Stone Age the population of Primorye started to show premises of agriculture. The process of transition from appropriation to production started, bringing stabilization of food supply.

Theory of the Far Eastern nidus of Neolithic cultures

Any study of archaeological monuments and cultures of a certain region inevitably leads to the necessity of their comparison with neighboring and distant territories'. Such an analysis lets reveal general and special traits of the population development of different regions. In 1930s A.P.Okladnikov assumed the south of the Russian Far East to be a special center of Neolithic cultures. This theory was further developed in 1950-60s. It was found that the Neolithic cultures of Primorye and Priamurye had principle differences from the cultures of taiga Siberia in material culture, economy, and lifestyle. If for Neolithic Siberia the nomadic way of life was typical, in Primorye and Priamurye ancient people were settled. Excavations of the Neolithic settlements commonly discover long-term half-dug-out dwellings. For ceramic vessels in Primorye and Priamurye flat bottoms are common, while in Siberia they are bulging. Fishing was common among Neolithic tribes of the southern Far East of Russia, while in taiga Siberia hunting was more wide-spread. The art of Primorye and Priamurye had its own original traits.

The economy of Neolithic tribes of Primorye and Priamurye was well-developed. Recently it was found that they had agriculture, which means the transition of primitive economy to the higher level of development.

Primorye in the Iron Age

The Bronze Age

A new cultural and historical period - the Bronze Age - began in Primorye in the end of the 2nd millennium BC. At that time people discovered properties of a new type of raw materials for their tools. It was iron. Even now there are no reliable data if the region had its own bronze metallurgy in the 2nd - 1st millennium BC, or all of the bronze articles were imported to the region. Excavations of the Bronze Age monuments usually reveal not the bronze articles themselves, but their stone imitations (replicas).

One of the most famous Bronze Age monuments in Primorye is Siny Gay settlement. Seventeen dwellings, several ritual animal burial grounds, and, most important, numerous bronze articles were excavated here. Amphora-type vessels, pots, and cups (almost without ornaments) were found in this settlement. Stone articles mostly contained polished tools. The settlement dates from the last centuries of the 2nd millennium BC to the first centuries of the 1st millennium BC. Many Bronze Age monuments are located on the eastern coast of Primorye. Archaeologists find stone imitations of spear and knife bronze tips, "blocks" of soft light stone. The most intensive excavations were held in Lidovka (Dalnegorsky District) and Blagodatny (Terneysky District) settlements (a so-called Lidovsky archaeological culture). A lot of retouched and polished articles had been found there. Crockery was usually thin-walled and without ornament, but pots with rims decorated with impressions of different forms were also common. These monuments date from the 10th-5th centuries BC.

The Bronze Age in Primorye was a period of the production economy development (agriculture and stock-raising). Excavations extracted the remains of burnt millet and pigs' bones. In this period small groups were being replaced with stable communities counting from tens to thousands people. Inside the communities the elders' power was strengthening. The communities united into tribes on the basis of blood, marriage, economy, culture, and other relationships. With the tribes appearance the struggle among the communities for leadership began.

In general, the Bronze Age in Primorye is viewed by the researchers as a period of spreading of bronze items imitations, of prosperity of stone tools production, and production economy development. In Primorye, the transition from the Bronze to Iron Age was rather quick.

Mohe (Utszi) tribes

Primorye in the iron culture settlements

Kingdom of Balhae (ca.650 - ca. 950)

From 698 to 926, the kingdom of Balhae occupied northern Korea and parts of Manchuria and Primorsky Krai, consisting of the Nanai, the Udege, and the Evenks and descendants of the Tungus-speaking people and the people of the recently fallen Goguryeo kingdom of Korea. Primorsky Krai settled at this moment by Northern Mohe tribes were incorporated to Balhae Kingdom under King Seon's reign (818-830) and put Balhae territory at its height.After subduing the Yulou Mohe (Hangul : 우루말갈 Hanja/Hanzi : 虞婁靺鞨 pinyin : Yúlóu Mòhé) first and the Yuexi Mohe (Hangul : 월희말갈 Hanja/Hanzi : 越喜靺鞨 pinyin : Yuèxǐ Mòhé) thereafter, King Seon administrated their territories by creating four prefectures :

::* Solbin Prefecture (Hangul : 솔빈부 Hanja : 率賓府) corresponding to the, Vladivostok, Artyom, Nadezhdinsky, Ussuriysk, Oktyabrsky, Mikhaylovsky, Khorolsky , Chernigovsky, Shkotovsky and Anuchinsky districts, with Hwaju (Hangul : 화주Hanja :華州), present-day Ussuriysk as its administrative centre

::* Jeongli Prefecture (Hangul : 정리부 Hanja : 定理府) corresponding to the Fokino, Nakhodka, Lazovsky, and Partizansky Districts, with Jeongju (Hangul : 정주 Hanja :定州) present-day Partizansk, as its administrative centre

::* Anbyeon Prefecture (Hangul : 안변부 Hanja : 安邊府) corresponding to the Chuguyevsky, Olginsky, Kavalerovsky, Dalnegorsk, and the southern half of Terneysky districts, with Anju (Hangul : 안주 Hanja :安州) present-day Olga, as its administrative centre

::* Anwon Prefecture (Hangul : 안원부 Hanja : 安遠府), corresponding to the Spassky, Yakovlevsky, Kirovsky, Lesozavodsk, Dalnerechensky, Krasnoarmeysky, Pozharsky and the northern part of Terneysky distrcits with Yeongju (Hangul :영주, Hanja : 寧州), present-day Dalnerechensk or Yiman/Iman ( _ru. Иман; _ko. 언만, Unman; _zh. 伊曼, Yiman), as its administrative centre

Balhae was an early feudal medieval state of Eastern Asia, which developed its industry, agriculture, animal husbandry, and had its own cultural traditions and art. People of Balhae maintained political, economic and cultural contacts with the southern Chinese Tang dynasty, as well as Japan.

Tang influence (ca. 950 - ca. 1250)

* Dongdan Kingdom
* Liao Dynasty
* Jurchens : Tamed/Cooked Jurchens or Shu Jurchens
* Jin Dynasty, 1115–1234
* Dongxia Kingdom of Puxian Wannu

Yuan Dynasty incorporation (ca.1250 - ca. 1350)

* Yuan Dynasty

Jurchen subjugation (ca. 1350 - ca.1600)

* Jianzhou Jurchens
* Yeren Jurchen (Wild Jurchen)

Primorye in the Russian Imperial expansion

* Primorye was incorporated within the Gouvernement-general of Jilin of the Qing Dynasty,,having its administrative centre based at Ninguta

Russian Empire in Eastern Asia during the 19th century

In 1860, after several centuries under Qing control, Primorye was ceded to Russian control. The area was traditionally part of the Jilin province.

Russo-Japanese War

Establishment of Soviet control in the Krai

Border clashes with the Japanese

Role during the Great Patriotic War

Role during the Cold War

Primorsky Krai within the Russian Federation

References

* _ru. А. Р. Артёмьев и др. "История Российского Приморья". Дальнаука, 1998. (A. R. Artyomyev et al. "History of Russian Primorye". Dalnauka, 1998)