Onezhsky District are the Pomors who inhabit the White Sea coast and traditionally are engaged in fishery. Many localities in the district along the coast, such as Unezhma (now abandoned), have historical significance as old Pomor villages. The western coast of the Onega Bay is known as the Pomor Coast ("Pomorsky Bereg"). In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, the area was included into Archangelgorod Governorate. In 1780, the governorate was abolished and transformed into Vologda Viceroyalty, and Onega was granted town rights. In 1796, the area was transferred to Arkhangelsk Governorate. The current
Lake Onega area containing the Kondopozhskaya (, depth up to ), Ilem-Gorskaya (), Lizhemskoy () and Unitskoy () bays. To the southwest of Greater Onega lies Petrozavodskoye Onego () containing the large Petrozavodsk and small Yalguba and Pinguba bays. To the east of Zaonezhye there is a bay, northern part of which is called Povenetsky Bay and the southern part is Zaonezhsky Bay. There, deep sections alternate with banks and islands which split the bay into several parts. The southernmost part of them, Lesser Onega, is deep. All the shores there are rocky. The average depth of the lake is , and