It is located in the northeast of the autonomous okrug, in the southern half of the Chukchi Peninsula with a northwest extension reaching almost to the Kolyuchinskaya Bay on the Arctic.

[14] The history of human existence in what would become Providensky District can be traced back to the Paleolithic age, when hunter-gatherers lived in the area.

[15] As a result, the southeastern part of the coast is home to a large number of Beringian monuments and archaeological sites, with the area around Arakamchechen Island, Yttygran Island, and the Senyavin Straits having been given protected area status as part of the Beringia Park.

In the 17th century, Semyon Dezhnyov and his Cossacks founded the ostrog (fortress) of Anadyrsk and began to explore Chukotka.

[15] The administrative center Provideniya—the largest inhabited locality east of Anadyr—was established in the 1930s as the port to serve the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route.

The port stands on the Komsomolskaya Bay (named after the Soviet Komsomol youth organization), a branch of the much larger Provideniya Bay, providing a suitable deep water harbor for Russian ships, close to the southern limits of the winter ice fields.

A large number of these, like many indigenous settlements still extant in the beginning of the 20th century, were closed as a result of Soviet collectivization policies.

[17] Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a number of these settlements have been repopulated by indigenous people looking to regain use of traditional hunting areas.

[22] Also called Masiq, Mechigment, and Agritkino,[21] Masik is the site of what was once a very sizable village, even by modern-day Chukotkan standards, stretching over a mile in length[15] and forming two large ovals in plan around two now dry lakes.

[15] The name is derived from the word putulyk, meaning "meandering" in Yupik, and the place is an early-Holocene workshop site that was excavated in 1993.

[15] In addition to the old cells, there is also a more modern structure, which is thought to date from the Cold War days, when local people would have had to man the station to keep a look out for invading armies.

Under the Soviet government several Eskimo families lived in Yarangas (reindeer skin tents) near the whalebone posts.

[15] Though it has somewhat fallen into disrepair, it is said that the radon baths here have the power to help heal wounds and to cure skin ailments and lower back pain.

[15] Prior to the evacuation, Unazik was a large village, even by modern-day Chukotkan standards, with a population of around five hundred and a reputation as an important local trading and whaling center.

[15] In 1927, the population was 254, had increased to 296 in 1943, mainly due to the abandonment of the neighboring village of Tyfliak, further north up the coast,[21] though had fallen by 1950 to only 206.

[15] It is thought that the Whale Bone Alley was used as a central shrine by a number of different villages dotted along the eastern Chukotkan coast.

[19][21] The site is monumental by Chukotkan standards when compared with other early settlements such as Uelen, Ekven, Sireniki, and Kivak, and consists of several lines of whale skulls and jaw bones along the shoreline, several large pits behind them, and a number of meat pits surrounding a central sanctuary and stone path around one third of the way along the site traveling from south to north.

[23] The site extends some 1,800 feet (550 m) along the northern coast of Yttygran Island[25] and lies on a major whale migration path.

[23] As is typical in Chukotka, the majority of the population lives in the district's main urban center, in this case Provideniya, and the immediate surrounding area.

Although the district has an urban center and port in Provideniya, the economy, thanks to the high indigenous population, is still centered around traditional agriculture, marine hunting (for gray and beluga whales)[13] and fishing (for sockeye salmon, chum, Arctic char, and Arctic cod)[13] as well as associated crafts.

Future plans for the district include continuing to grow reindeer farming and related enterprises as well as developing seal fisheries.

The airport has played a significant role in developing relations with the United States since the dissolution of the Soviet Union in the late 1980s, with Alaska Air flights to Provideniya regularly occurring throughout the 1990s.