Historedia
EuropeEvent

Treaty of Saint Petersburg returns the eastern Ili Basin to Qing China

When
1881
Where
Saint Petersburg
Episodes
1

The Treaty of Saint Petersburg, signed on 24 February 1881, returned the eastern Ili Basin to Qing China. This agreement followed the Russian occupation of the region since 1871. The treaty established the Ili River as a border and facilitated the evacuation of Russian forces by 1883.

Episodes

  1. 24 February 1881 · Saint PetersburgSigning of the Treaty

    The Treaty of Saint Petersburg was signed on 24 February 1881, returning the eastern Ili Basin to China.

Background and detail

Background. Russia occupied the eastern Ili Basin, known as Zhetysu, starting in 1871 during the Dungan Revolt. The treaty was an unequal agreement between the Russian Empire and the Qing dynasty. It was signed in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on 24 February 1881, providing for the return of the region to China.

Treaty Terms. The treaty provided for the return of the eastern Ili Basin to China. It established the Ili River as the border between the two states. Article 8 allowed for minor border adjustments east of Lake Zaysan. The agreement was ratified within six months of its signing.

Implementation. Russia evacuated the province in March 1883, two years after the treaty. Several thousand Dungan and Taranchi families moved to Russian-controlled territory. A final protocol addressing minor border problems was signed on 31 October 1883. The border set by Article 7 remains the boundary between Kazakhstan and China.

Sources

  1. Treaty of Saint Petersburg (1881) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-16
  2. Ili River Wikipedia, revision of 2026-08-24

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.