Tonkinskiy District is a northern district of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, bordering Shakhunskiy District, Urenskiy District, and Sharangskiy District of the Nizhny Novgorod Region, and to the east — Kirov Region. The administrative center of the district is the settlement of Tonkino.
Origin of the name
There are 2 versions of the name TONKINO.
One of them — eight versts from a hermitage located on the bank of the Vaya River, five izbas (traditional wooden houses) were built along the bank of the Yakhta River, in which nine families lived, and their leader was a woman named Antonina — "Tonka."
So goes the folk tradition,
Passed down to us through the centuries:
The Old Believer Antonina
Built a village in the forests.
The village grew and strengthened,
And so the settlement of Tonkino
Was simply called Tonkino.
The other version — the settlement's first resident bore the surname Tonkin. As the settlement grew, it came to be called Tonkino.
Industry
The main industries are food processing, forestry, and timber processing.
Sights
The Tonkino Natural Complex Wildlife Reserve was established on the territory of Tonkinskiy District by order of the Nizhny Novgorod Region administration on 12 February 1997. It is located in the northeast of Nizhny Novgorod Region, in the central part of Tonkinskiy District, in the interfluve of the Usta River and its tributary the Vaya River, on their watershed. The purpose of the reserve is to restore and maintain ecological balance in the river interfluve and to preserve the typical biocenoses of the southern taiga forests.
The district also has a mineral water spring near the village of Nikitin Zavod, which was developed through the efforts of the Tonkino State Forestry Enterprise.
One of the most widely revered feasts in the Orthodox faith is the Exaltation of the Holy Cross. The feast is celebrated in memory of the discovery of the Life-Giving Cross. Since time immemorial, the Orthodox church in Tonkino has borne this blessed name — the Church of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross.