After the Treaty of Nerchinsk (1689), the area became an uncontested part of the Qing Empire for the next century and a half. Modern historical maps of the Qing period published in China mark the site of future Khabarovsk as "Boli". All of the middle and lower Amur region was nominally part of the Jilin Province, run first out of Ninguta and later out of Jilin City.
French Jesuits who sailed along the Ussury and the Amur in 1709, preparing the first more or less precise map of the region. According to them, the indigenous Nanai people living on the Ussuryand on the Amur down to the mouth of the Dondon River (i.e., in the region including the site of the future Khabarovsk) were known to the Chinese as Yupi Dazi ("Fishskin Tartars")
From Khabarovka to Khabarovsk
In 1858, the area was ceded to Russia under the Treaty of Aigun. The Russians founded the military outpost of Khabarovka, named after a Russian explorer Yerofey Khabarov. The post later became an important industrial center for the region. Town status was granted in 1880.
In 1894, a department of Russian Geographical Society was formed in Khabarovsk and began initiating the foundation of libraries, theaters, and museums in the city. Since then, Khabarovsk's cultural life has flourished. Much of the local indigenous history has been well preserved in the Regional Lore Museum and Natural History Museum and in places like near the Nanai settlement of Sikhachi-Alyan, where cliff drawings from more than 13,000 years ago can be found. The Khabarovsk Art Museum exhibits a rare collection of old Russian icons.
In 1916, Khabarovsk Bridge across the Amur was completed, allowing Trans-Siberian trains to cross the river without using ferries (or temporary rail tracks over the frozen river in winter). By 1941, a rail tunnel was constructed as well.
After the defeat of Japan in World War II, Khabarovsk was the site of the Khabarovsk War Crime
