Muscovy began to awaken more actively to its position
in world affairs toward the end of the 17th century,
but its overall development remained well behind
western Europe's, and only slightly ahead of the
stagnation then afflicting West Asia. During the
late 17th century, West Asian potentates failed
to sustain the energy that had driven their once
grand empires. The deterioration of institutions,
the stagnation in religious thinking and leadership,
and the isolation of these regimes from worldwide
intellectual and social development led to complacency.
Into this scene marched a new ruler, Peter I
(r. 1682–1725). Unlike the sultans and khans
of West Asia, he sought to modernize his state
according to European models in the maritime, military,
and educational fields. Toward West Asia, Peter
adopted an aggressive approach, in contrast to
the caution shown by his predecessors. In 1696,
Peter triumphed over the Ottoman Empire at Azov,
a fortress and port that opened up access to the
Black Sea, and to the Aegean Sea beyond. A subsequent
peace treaty stipulated that Russia could have
a permanent envoy in Istanbul. However, the Russians
could not obtain free navigation for their ships
on the Black Sea, which the Turks insisted on preserving
as an Ottoman "lake."
Results from his various moves against West
Asia, Persia, and territories controlled by the
Ottoman
Empire proved ephemeral. He launched inconclusive
military actions against the Ottomans in the
Balkans, and disastrous campaigns onto the plains
of Central
Asia, and was forced to withdraw from the invasion
he personally led along the west shore of the
Caspian Sea against petty khanates dependent
upon Persia.
Russia—engaged in a protracted conflict with
Sweden—could not sustain his military gains.
Peter's successors, especially his niece Anna
Ioannovna (r. 1730–40), succeeded in enlarging
Russia's holdings temporarily in and near West
Asia. Russia, though intimidating militarily, had
yet to overwhelm West Asian strengths—namely,
the tenacity of the population, geographical
remoteness, and a hostile climate.
In 1692, a Dutchman named Evert Ysbrants Ides
(1657–1708/9) was asked by Peter to serve
as ambassador to the Emperor of China. Before his
return to Moscow in 1695, he passed through many
countries and regions, including Perm, Siberia,
and "Great Tartary" (West Asia).
In 1719, Tsar Peter the Great sent Lev Izmailov
(d. 1738) as ambassador to China, to ask for complete
free trade on reciprocal terms and for the establishment
of a Russian consulate-general in Beijing. Izmailov
agreed to kowtow (an act involving kneeling and
repeatedly touching one's forehead to the floor)
to the Emperor Kangxi, and therefore had numerous
audiences with him. Russia's failure to repatriate
the Oirat people of northwest China under the terms
of the Treaty of Nerchinsk led Beijing to reject
requests for the extension of trade and establishment
of a consulate-general. The emperor did approve
the building of a Russian church in his capital
and permitted the Russian secretary to remain after
Izmailov's departure.
Catherine I (r. 1725–27)
succeeded Peter the Great in 1725. In that year
Count Savva Lukich
Raguzinskii-Vladislavich (ca. 1670–1738),
a South Slavic diplomat, was sent as Envoy Extraordinary
to Beijing to negotiate a new treaty. After many
meetings with envoys of the Qing dynasty, the
Treaty of Kiakhta (known also in Russia as Troitskosavsk)
was signed in 1728, setting the boundary line
between
Mongolia and Siberia and thereby resolving a
point of contention since the 17th century. This
treaty
was favorable to Russia, as China lost territory.
The principal point of contact
between Russia and China remained a border city
divided in two:
a Chinese part, Maimaicheng (meaning "a
trading city"), and a Russian part, Kiakhta,
a major center for traders in fur and other native
products.
© 2003-2004
The New York Public Library
are specific to Muscovy/Russia's internal development.
are important world historical or cultural events.
indicates specific points of sociocultural or military engagement
between Muscovy/Russia and foreign powers or individuals.
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