Arkhangelsk (until 1613 – Novye Kholmogory, Novokholmogorsk)

Arkhangelsk (until 1613 – Novye Kholmogory, Novokholmogorsk) – is a large city and administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, North-Western Federal District, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River, at the point where Nikolsky Arm separates from the river, and estuary islands, forming Dvina Bay. The city has a seaport, a railway, and an airport. Population: 365.6 thousand (2009 Census). It was founded in 1584 under the order of Ivan IV on the right bank of the Northern Dvina River, Cape Pur-Navolok as a wooden fortress near Archangel Michael monastery (founded by Novgorodians in twelfth century) – a port (Archangel Michael churchyard). During first decades, it was called Novyi Gorod, Novokholmogory. From 1613 it was known as Arkhangelsk Gorod, Gorod of the Archangel Michael (after the monastery), later – Arkhangelsk. At that time, it was the first and the only large port of the Russian state (up to the foundation of Petersburg in 1703). In the seventeenth century...