Verkhnyaya Toyma

Verkhnyaya Toyma stands on the high right bank of the Northern Dvina, at the mouth of the river that gave it its name. It is mentioned in the 1137 charter of the Novgorod prince Svyatoslav Olgovich as a place where tribute in furs was collected for the church. The furs gathered here were sent under guard to Novgorod, linking the forest communities of the Dvina to that city's northern trade.

The district came under Moscow after the fall of Novgorod in 1478. From 1552 Verkhnyaya Toyma served as the centre of a local district with its own administrative house. The traveller Ivan Lepekhin visited in 1771 and described a village on a bend of the Dvina, distinguished by a well-built wooden church. Its position at the river junction made it a natural centre for the communities of the surrounding forest country.