Yarensk

Yarensk grew beside the Vychegda on a northern route towards the Ural lands. The Vychegda-Vym chronicle mentions the fortified Yeren settlement in 1384 in connection with Stephen of Perm's Christian mission. A monastery dedicated to the Mother of God stood here, but in 1389 non-Christian Permians from Udora and the Pinega attacked, burned and plundered it, and killed its inhabitants. The monastery was later rebuilt.

The river that gave the settlement access to the northern interior also threatened it. By 1631 the changing course of the Vychegda had undermined the stockade and towers, and the bank was crumbling close to the church. The settlement moved to higher ground in 1635, nearer the Archangel Monastery. The Vychegda subsequently changed course again, leaving Yarensk at some distance from its bank. In 1780 Catherine II gave the settlement town status, making it a district centre in the forested Vychegda country.