For a couple of decades around the middle of the 19th century an extravagant delusion overcame a Russia that was all too ripe for some escapism. Russians rediscovered a river that for centuries had hung forgotten off the eastern edge of their realm, flowing through empty Chinese lands. Onto the river they first projected dreams of mineral and agricultural wealth, and then of national renewal. It was to be their country's route to greatness, a golden chance to replace an oppressive European identity with a vibrant one facing the hopeful Pacific. Looking across that ocean, some were nourished by New World dreams. The river would be "Russia's Mississippi". The apparently lush region it drained was to be a new America. The natives were crying out for a civilising hand. Russians just had to have the Amur. They launched a grab in 1854.
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