Russian forts and towns built across 'Great Tartary'
Editorial contextFontaney explains how the Muscovites had pushed from Moscow through Siberia along the Irtysh, Ob, Yenisei and Angara to the Selenga and the Amur ('Sangalien-oula' to the Tartars, the Black Dragon river to the Chinese), building forts and towns as they went. The nearest to China were Selenginsk, Nerchinsk and Albazin. In this corner of 'Tartary' the builders were Russians.
The Muscovites were not content with making these discoveries; they built forts and towns at intervals on all these rivers to secure possession of them. The nearest to China were Selinga, Nipchou and Yacsa.
Working translation
Original wording
Les Moscovites ne se contenterent pas de faire ces découvertes; ils bâtirent de distance en distance des forts & des villes sur toutes ces rivieres, pour s'en assurer la possession. Les plus proches de la Chine étoient Selinga, Nipchou & Yacsa.
About Russians (Muscovites); Eastern Tartars, subjects of the Qing
Continue in this sourceEdifying and curious letters: Jesuit reports from China and Tartary1699 to 1779 · 11 passagesThe 'Water Tatars' re-spelled out of existence
Editorial contextQuoting the History of the Yuan on the Hailan and 'Water Tatar' circuits of Manchuria, the editors change 水達達 (Shui Dada, 'Water Tatars') to 碩達勒達, explained as Manchu for 'a hidden place', and note that the old form has been 'now corrected'. The Qing court thus removed the Tatar name from the history of its own homeland.
Hailan prefecture, Shuo Dalda and other circuits. The History of the Yuan: Hailan (see the Jin Upper Capital entry above) prefecture, Shuo Dalda (Manchu for 'a hidden, sheltered place'; formerly written Shui Dada, 'Water Tatars'; now corrected) and other circuits: the land is broad and the people live scattered.
Working translation
Original wording
海蘭府碩達勒達等路元史海蘭(詳前金上京條)府碩達勒達(滿洲語隠避處也舊作水達達)(今改正)等路土地廣濶人民散居
About 'Water Tatars' of Yuan sources
Keep in mind
The Manchu etymology is a Qianlong-era reinterpretation; Yuan sources clearly meant 'Water Tatars'.
'Water Tatars' in Manchuria
Editorial contextBretschneider summarises the Ming imperial geography of 1461 on the Jurchen homeland: after the Mongols overthrew the Jin, the Yuan set up military posts there, and the country was inhabited by Jurchens and 'Water Tatars', who gave their name to an administrative circuit. His footnote compares Carpini's 'Su-Mongal' or Water Mongols, who Carpini said called themselves Tartars after a river.
The country was inhabited by the Nü-chi and the Shui Ta-ta (Water Tatars), and formed the circuits of Ho-lan-fu and Shui Ta-ta.
About Jurchens (Nu-chi) and 'Water Tatars' (Shui Ta-ta)
Keep in mind
A 19th-century summary in English of a Ming source, not the Yutang jiahua itself.
Fleeing to China: 6,000 Yakuts in one year
Editorial contextSauer reports that Yakuts and Tungus unhappy under Russian rule were slipping away to the upper Amur valleys under Chinese protection, where they had reportedly built strong places. Russian officials told him more than 6,000 Yakuts moved to China in 1787 with all their goods, and his footnote remarks that such migrations reduced 'the number of Tartars tributary to Russia'. Elsewhere he blames heavy exactions by Russian officials for the Yakuts' decline.
In the year 1787, there migrated to China, from the districts of Olekma, Yakutsk, and the Vilui, more than 6000 Yakuti, with all their possessions
About Yakuts and Tungus (Evenks)
Keep in mind
The figure is second-hand, from two Russian assessors.
