Sava Vladislavich
Count Savva Lukich Vladislavich-Raguzinsky (Russian: Савва Лукич Владиславич-Рагузинский; Serbian: Сава Владиславић Рагузински; 1669 in Herceg Novi, Republic of Venice - 17 June 1738 in Saint Petersburg, Russia) was a Bosnian Serbian merchant-adventurer in the employ of Peter the Great who conducted important diplomatic negotiations in Constantinople, Rome and Beijing. His most lasting achievement was the Treaty of Kiakhta, which regulated relations between the Russian Empire and the Qing Empire until the mid-19th century.
Background
His father, Luca Vladislavich, was a Serbian landlord driven by the Turks from Herzegovina. Having settled with his family in Ragusa, he assumed the name "Raguzinsky", in order to distinguish himself from those relatives who remained in the land of his forebears. The well-being of the citizens of Ragusa depended on maritime commerce; Sava Vladislavich was no exception.
Russian service
A commercial project brought the young merchant to Constantinople, where, in the absence of a permanent Russian mission, he was entrusted with various tasks by the Russian foreign ministers Vasily Galitzine and Emelian Ukraintsev. It so happened that his own commercial interests always went hand-in-hand with those of the Russian government. In 1702 he made the acquaintance of Peter the Great in Azov.
With an eye toward profitting from the fur trade with Russia, Vladislavich visited Moscow in the next year, but, after obtaining important privileges from the Tsar, returned to Constantinople, where he represented Russia's interests, in tandem with Pyotr Tolstoy, until the Battle of Poltava. It was he who purchased for the Tsar a black page, Ibrahim Hannibal, the ancestor of the great Pushkin. In 1708 he relocated to Moscow and soon received from the Tsar the lands in Little Russia, where Nezhin was made the centre of his commercial operations.
The "Illyrian Count" (as Vladislavich liked to style himself) maintained trade contacts with fellow Serbs and was under the impression that they would rise in revolt against the Sultan as soon as the Tsar invaded the Danubian Principalities. Having launched the invasion in 1711, Tsar Peter sent him on a mission to Moldavia and Montenegro, whose population Vladislavovich was expected to incite to rebellion. Little came of these plans, despite the assistance of a pro-Russian colonel, Michael Miloradovich (the ancestor of Count Miloradovich).
From 1716 to 1722 Vladislavovich resided in Italy, dividing his time between the advocacy of his own private interests and those of the Tsar. Among other commissions, he supervised the education of Russian nobles (such as painter Ivan Nikitich Nikitin) and prepared a concordate with Pope Clement XI. It was he who acquired in Venice an assortment of marble statues that still decorate the Summer Garden in St. Petersburg.
Treaty of Kiakhta
In 1725 Vladislavich retraced the steps of Spathari's travels, leading a large Russian mission to negotiate a new treaty with the Qing Empire. The extended and fractious negotiations with the Qing Emperor and his officials resulted in the Treaty of Burya, which adopted the doctrine of Uti Possidetis Juris for delimiting the Russo-Chinese border. In 1728, these provisions were finalized in the Treaty of Kyakhta, which also incorporated Vladislavich's proposal on the construction of an Orthodox chapel in Beijing.[1]
Viewing the commonly agreed border as an "everlasting demarcation line between the two empires",[2] Vladislavich spared no effort to further trade and commerce on the border. He personally selected the location for the Russian trade factory of Kyakhta, where the district of Troitskosavsk commemorates his name. As a reward for his part in securing a favourable treaty with China and establishing the Tea Road between the two countries, he was invested with the Order of Alexander Nevsky. He also drafted a comprehensive project of financial reform and left a detailed description of the Qing Empire. In a secret memorandum (1731), Vladislavich cautioned the Russian government against ever going to war with China.
References
- ^ Stephen Uhalley, Xiaoxin Wu. China and Christianity: Burdened Past, Hopeful Future. M.E. Sharpe, 2001. ISBN 0765606615. Page 169.
- ^ Quoted from: Peter C. Perdue. China Marches West: The Qing Conquest of Central Eurasia. Harvard University Press, 2005. ISBN 067401684X. Page 250.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (in Russian). 1906.
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