Sharangsky District is located in the northeastern part of Nizhny Novgorod Region. The district borders Voskresensky District and Tonkinsky Districts, as well as the Republic of Mari El and Kirov Region.
History
The present-day territory of Sharangsky District belonged to Vyatka Governorate for centuries and was therefore most closely bound up with its history. The indigenous population of the Vyatka region consisted of tribes of the Finno-Ugric ethnic branch. In the 8th–10th centuries, distinct peoples took shape, the most prominent of which were the Udmurts (Votyaks), the Mari (Cheremis), the Komi, and the Chud Zavolochskaya.
In the 13th–14th centuries, a considerable number of Russian settlements appeared on the Vyatka, founded by migrants from the Novgorod, Suzdal, Ustyug, and Nizhny Novgorod lands. The bulk of the Russian settlers were peasants. They practiced agriculture using slash-and-burn and three-field systems. In their kitchen gardens they grew vegetables: onions, turnips, beets, and carrots. Livestock farming played a major role in the economy of the Vyatka settlers. Hunting, fishing, and beekeeping served as supplementary occupations. Cottage crafts developed, bearing a subsistence character.
The Vyatka land enjoyed a degree of autonomy. In the last quarter of the 15th century, the Vyatka region was already fairly populous and economically developed. Contemporaries spoke of the Vyatka land of the 16th century in the most flattering terms, regarding it as a land of abundance. Monasteries appeared in the region during this period.
In 1780, the Vyatka Viceroyalty was established with its center at Khlynov, which on that occasion was renamed the city of Vyatka by a special decree of Empress Catherine II.
By 1876, the selo (a larger village) of Sharanga already had 74 households with more than 400 residents, a church, and a water mill. Twenty years later, in 1896, it had 550 residents, a stone church, and a zemstvo public school. Three times a year, fairs and markets were held in the selo.
By the time of the formation of the Sharanga volost (a rural administrative unit) in 1903, with its center in the selo of Sharanga, it had 200 residential houses, a church, a parish school, a two-grade zemstvo school, two taverns, six shops, a dyeing factory, a water mill, and two smithies.
The geographic position of the Sharanga volost was such that it stood at the junction of three governorates: Nizhny Novgorod, Kostroma, and Vyatka. Within its territory, 23 factories operated for processing flaxseed into oil, along with several factories producing tar (from birch bark) and charcoal.
Residents of the volost engaged in active trade with neighboring governorates. Exported to external markets from the volost were grain, flaxseed, flax fiber (long and short), hides, wool, animal and vegetable oils, and rope; imported from other towns were woolen fabrics, cotton prints, footwear, crockery, sugar, hardware, nails, and craft goods.
In connection with the reorganization of the administrative divisions of the Soviet Union, Sharangsky District was formed on June 16, 1929, and became part of the Kotelnichesky Okrug of the Nizhny Novgorod Krai. At that time the district comprised 20 rural soviets, had a population of 38,700, and covered an area of 1,800 km². From December 1934 it was part of Kirov Krai, and from 1936 of Kirov Region. On January 6, 1960, by a Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR, Sharangsky District was transferred to Gorky Region — now Nizhny Novgorod Region.
Landmarks
- Sacred groves
- "Zvyozdochka" (pond spillway structure).