[3] In the second half of the 18th century, the area was settled by the Russian and Ukrainian Cossacks.

In 1771, after being wounded at the siege of Bender, the future Cossack insurgency leader Yemelyan Pugachev came to live at Ishcherskaya with his family.

It was a part of Stavropol Krai prior to 1944 when it was transferred to newly created Grozny Oblast.

After the Chechens were allowed to return in 1957, the district remained a part of the restored Chechen-Ingush ASSR.

Its agriculture is dominated by livestock breeding, especially in the north of the district (often subject to field erosion, caused by severe climatic circumstances), but there are vineyards in the south.