The biggest tributary of the Western Dvina within the district is the Kasplya River, which crosses the northern part of the district from east to west; its major left tributary is the Rutovech River.

Rudnya (as the settlement of Rodnya) is first mentioned in 1363 since the lands were occupied by Andrei of Polotsk and included in the Principality of Smolensk.

[8] Since 1404, it belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, then to Poland, which was confirmed in 1667 by the Truce of Andrusovo.

[9] After the First Partition of Poland in 1772 the area was included into newly established Babinovichsky Uyezd of Mogilev Governorate.

Virtually all Jews who stayed until World War II were massacred in 1941 during the Holocaust.

On 12 July 1929, governorates and uyezds were abolished, and Rudnyansky District with the administrative center in Rudnya was established.

[8][10] On 12 July 1929, Kasplyansky District with the administrative center in the selo of Kasplya was established as well in the areas which previously belonged to Demidovsky, Dukhovshchinsky, and Smolensky Uyezds.

[11] The main agricultural specialization of the district is cattle breeding for meat and milk production.

[12] The railway connecting Smolensk with Vitebsk and further with Daugavpils crosses the southern part of the district.

Yegorov, who was born close to Rudnya, was one of the two Soviet soldiers who raised a flag over the Reichstag on 2 May 1945, after the Battle of Berlin.