Nizhneudinsk

Nizhneudinsk belongs to the Uda river country of southern Siberia, where valleys and forested uplands connect the Yenisei approaches with routes towards Irkutsk. Agriculture occupies suitable land, while fishing, hunting and woodland resources supplement household production. Rivers and overland paths provide movement through difficult terrain, making reliable supplies and local knowledge important. The settlement's position gives it a role within a transport network much larger than its immediate surroundings.

In 1648 the Cossack leader Yelisey Tyumentsev founded a Russian wintering post on the Uda. By 1664 it was known as the Pokrovsky or Uda ostrog, a fortified settlement later rebuilt more than once. In the eighteenth century the Moscow road passed nearby and a postal station was established. The settlement received its present name and town status in 1783, according to the Great Russian Encyclopedia.