THE KARGOPOLSKY DISTRICT

Kargopol belongs to the oldest Russian towns, its history starts in 1146. Centuries-old history of Kargopol is rich in events. Daniel Zatochnik and Prince Ivan Shuisky were exiled here; a leader of peasants’ riot Ivan Bolotnikov was executed here. The Kargopol Land is a native place of F.S. Pryadunov, the founder of the first Russian oil extracting enterprise, of A.A. Baranov, the first governor of the Russian colonies in Alaska.

THE KONOSHA DISTRICT

The lands that today belong to the Konosha District once were inhabited by Finno-Ugric tribes. The evidence of it is the non-Slavic names of rivers, river valleys which have survived to the present day – Konosha, Tavrenga, Vokhtoma, etc. Slavs came to live here only at the end of the 1st millennium A.C.

THE MEZEN DISTRICT

The first penetration of Russians into the land is attributed to the 9th century, in the 13th century there appeared the first settlements of the Slavs. The most ancient settlement is the village of Lampozhnya known as a trading centre on the ‘chrezkamenny’ (‘a way through stones’) way to Siberia. At the end of the 15th century there appeared one more village, which was destined to become later a centre of the Mezen Land, a falcon-breeders’ village of the Okladnikovs (later it was called the Okladnikovs’ Sloboda (‘village’)).

THE PINEGA DISTRICT

People’s settling in the Pinega lands dates back to the remote past. Archeologists found a Mesolithic settlement – a site of ancient people of the 9th - 7th millennium B.C. - on the river Yavronga, a trbutory of the river Yula. Later here came the tribes from the South, the country between the Volga and the Oka rivers, they all were called ‘Chud beloglazaya» (‘White-eyed Chud’). It was not just a nickname. The legend says it was due to the fact that the people had a natural peculiarity – their iris was white and merged with the white of the eye.

THE USTYANSKY DISTRICT

The Ustyansky District covers the area of 10.72 thousand square km. The District administrative centre is the settlement of Oktyabrsky. Other administrative units in the District are 4 workers’ settlements, 229 villages, 4 settlement and 14 village administrations. The number of District population for 01.01.2000 is 42.0 thousand people. The main production is timber, there are some building materials and agricultural productions.