Domestic and Japanese Retrospective Maps: Manchurian-Mongolian Border Area in the Zone of Events on the Khalkhin Gol River in 1939

Introduction. The presented article reveals the visual background of the causes of the military conflict on the Khalkhin Gol river in 1939 on the eve of the 85th anniversary of these events, and the authors focus the reader’s attention on the importance of timely demarcation and delimitation of the borders between participants in international relations and aim to analyze Russian-language and Japanese retrospective maps of the 1900s-1930s visualizing the Khalkha-Manchurian border area in the zone of the Khalkhin Gol river and Lake Buir-Nur, giving a description of the border line between Khalkha and Barga in the conflict zone. Materials and methods. The study is based on the analysis of twelve cartographic sources with diagrams included into the secret reports of the Trans-Amur district officers, the maps of famous researchers and cartographers of the imperial and Soviet periods, the diagrams from the journal “Bulletin of Manchuria” and the Japanese maps of the 1930s. An interdisciplinary approach has been applied, combining methods of historical and geographical sciences, namely historical-typological, historical-systemic, comparative-historical and historical-genetic methods, a retrospective approach, source analysis, cartographic method, as well as geoinformation analysis. Results. The differences in the depiction of the Khalkha-Barga border, the Lake Buir-Nur and the Khalkhin-Gol river on the maps of different periods and origin were revealed. The Khoshuns (principalities) affected by the military actions of 1939 have been identified. It has been established that the Japanese maps of the 1930s are of high cartographic quality and the degree of information load requires additional study with the involvement of an interpreter. The analysis of retrospective maps demonstrates the evolution of the ideas about the Khalkha-Manchurian border area and emphasizes the importance of the cartographic sources in the study of historical territorial disputes. Conclusions. The study contributes to the understanding of the preconditions of the conflict on the Khalkhin Gol river and opens up prospects for further study of cartographic materials of this period.