Shangaly

Shangaly stands in the valley of the Ustya, a river of the northern forests that joins the Vaga on its way to the Northern Dvina. In the sixteenth century it was the centre of the Ustyanskaya district, also known as the Vvedensky #italic stan#!. This was the largest of five districts along the Ustya and included several taxable divisions, among them Shangalskaya. The village and its neighbours formed part of an established network of rural communities in the forested north.