Primorsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast Novgorod Republic. Novgorod merchants reached the White Sea in the 13th century; the Pomors, who inhabit the White Sea coast now, are the descendants of the original Novgorod population. After the fall of Novgorod, the area became a part of the Grand Duchy of Moscow. Until the 1700s, Arkhangelsk was the main trading harbor for the sea trade of Russia and Western Europe, and the Northern Dvina was the main trading route connecting central Russia with Arkhangelsk. The traditional occupation of the population of the Dvina Bay was fishery and trade. Peter the Great drastically changed the situation, by founding
Arkhangelsk Oblast most of these became unprofitable and have been destroyed. In the 1970s and 1980s the aviation was active, with all district centers connected to Arkhangelsk with regular flights, Kotlas being the second important hub. Currently, it has almost disappeared. There are two airports in Arkhangelsk, but regular local flights are only carried out to the destinations which do not have rail or road connections, such as Novaya Zemlya, Solovetsky Islands, the Nenets Autonomous Okrug, the Onega Peninsula, and the north of the oblast. The exceptions with functioning airports are Mezen, Leshukonskoye, and Onega. The oil transport system, Baltic Pipeline System,