Emuer

The Emur River winds through the northern forests to join the Amur near Albazin. Its many bends leave oxbow lakes and sandy ground along the valley. In the seventeenth century the river mouth lay close to a frontier contested by Qing and Russian forces. Qing troops advanced by water and land against the Russian fort at Albazin in 1685, making the Amur and its tributaries vital routes for an expedition far from the court's southern centres.