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
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