Yemetsk

Yemetsk stands on the Yemtsa near its meeting with the Northern Dvina. Its position at the junction of waterways made it an old centre of trade and crafts in the Russian North. The upper Yemtsa approaches the Onega, and a portage between the rivers formed part of a route used by Novgorodians travelling toward the White Sea.

The old fortified site of Yemetsk lies south of the later settlement, on a narrow strip of land between two lakes. Yemetsk appears in the medieval list of Russian towns near and far, a reminder of its place among the northern settlements known to the chroniclers. In the eighteenth century it served as the centre of the Yemetsk district within the Dvina lands. The river continued to connect it with Kholmogory and Arkhangelsk downstream, as well as with the smaller communities of the Yemtsa valley.