The eastern part of the district is a plateau which drains into the Soyana, a major tributary of the Kuloy.

Minor areas in the southeast of the district belong to the basins of other tributaries of the Kuloy, such as the Kyolda and the Polta.

[11] The area was originally populated by speakers of Uralic languages and then colonized by the Novgorod Republic.

Peter the Great drastically changed the situation, by founding St. Petersburg in 1703, thus opening the way for the Baltic Sea trade.

In the course of the administrative reform carried out in 1708 by Peter the Great, the area was included into Archangelgorod Governorate.

In 1780, the governorate was abolished and transformed into Vologda Viceroyalty, and the area was included into Arkhangelsky Uyezd.

In 1930, the okrug was abolished, and the district was subordinated to the central administration of Northern Krai.

Railroads connect the cities of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk with Obozyorskaya railway station, and further with Vologda and Belomorsk.

Kholmogorskaya railway station on the railroad between Moscow and Arkhangelsk is located in Plesetsky District.

There is also regular, albeit infrequent, sea passenger navigation connecting Arkhangelsk with the settlements on the Onega Peninsula (including Pertominsk, Lopshenga, and Letnyaya Zolotitsa) which are not connected to the all-season road network.

The Malye Korely Open Air Museum is located approximately 30 kilometers (19 mi) south of Arkhangelsk.

It was created to protect the oeuvres of the Russian wooden architecture, and contains many buildings from various parts of Arkhangelsk Oblast.

Other monuments protected at the federal level include: Russian North and Primorsky District in particular is an area notable for its folklore.

These folkloric motives and fairy tales inspired the literary works of Stepan Pisakhov, a native of Arkhangelsk.