The first people settled in these places immediately after the advance of glaciers about 10 thousand years ago. In about 5 thousand years the region was inhabited by the ancestors of Samoyed and Finno-Ugric tribes. 3-4 thousand years ago the place was occupied by nomadic Nenets tribes who came to Tundra from behind the Urals. In XIII century the first permanent settlements of Slavs appeared here.

The oldest Russian settlement was Lampozhnya Sloboda (a large industrial settlement). Another settlement that was destined to become the centre of Mezensky Region emerged at the end of XV century. This was the falcon’s Sloboda of Okladnikovs (later referred to as Okladnikovaya Sloboda).

In 1780 Okladnikova Sloboda merged with Kuznecovskaya (Blacksmiths’ settlement), jointly they received the status of a town and the title of Mezen, due to its location on the Mezen River. Beginning from XVIII century the town of Mezen became a place for exile.

Mezen Pomors early got to know the sea and navigated in the Arctic seas. Already in XV century they had known the way to Grumant (Svalbard archipelago) and to Novaya Zemlya. In XVI century they knew the marine way to Pechora and Ob. And in early XVII century, together with the Russians, they went to the East from the Urals – “to meet the Sun”. In 1929 Mezen became an administrative centre of the eponymous district.

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