Konosha
Description
Konosha is an urban locality (an urban-type settlement) and the administrative center of Konoshsky District, Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia, located on the Konosha River, 400 km south of Arkhangelsk. It also serves as the administrative center of Danilovsky Selsoviet, one of the ten selsoviets into which the district is administratively divided. Municipally, it is incorporated as Konoshskoye Urban Settlement. Population: 12,432 (2010).
Name
The name of the settlement is derived from the name of the Konosha River. The name of the river contains two element: -sha, which means "water" in the relevant Finnic languages, and -kon, which unclear etymology. If it is considered to be a Slavic word, it may mean either "beginning" or "border".
History
The settlement was founded in 1896 in connection with the construction of the Yaroslavl–Vologda–Arkhangelsk railway line. It was granted urban-type settlement status in 1931. Konosha became the district center on July 15, 1929, when Konoshsky District was established as part of Nyandoma Okrug of Northern Krai In 1931, Konoshsky District was abolished, but on March 21-22, 1935, it was restored. Since 1937, Konosha has been part of Arkhangelsk Oblast.
Culture and recreation
Konosha hosts the Konoshsky District Museum, which opened in 2003.
In 1964-1965, the future literature Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky was exiled to the village of Norinskaya (which is now a part of Konoshskoye Urban Settlement) after being charged with social parasitism and convicted to eighteen months of hard labor. In 1965, the sentence was commuted. In the exile, Brodsky chopped wood and also studied Russian and American literature.