Totma

a city and administrative center of Tot’ma Raion, Vologda Oblast, RSFSR. Situated on the left bank of the Sukhona River (Severnaia Dvina River basin), 215 km northeast of Vologda.

The earliest mention of Tot’ma dates to 1137. A center of salt-making, Tot’ma was destroyed in 1539 by the Kazan Tatars. A fortress built in the city in the 16th century successfully resisted a siege by Polish interventionists in 1613. In the 17th and 18th centuries, Tot’ma traded extensively with Siberia. In 1796 it became a district center of Vologda Province. Among those who were exiled to Tot’ma were N. V. Shelgunov, P. L. Lavrov, and A. V. Lunacharskii. Soviet power was established in Tot’ma on Jan. 20 (Feb. 2), 1918.

Tot’ma has flax-processing and meat-packing plants and enterprises of the food-processing, logging, and woodworking industries. The city has a museum of local lore. A balneological health resort is located outside the city, on the site of the old saltworks. Summers in Tot’ma are moderately warm, with an average July temperature of 17°C; winters are moderately cold, with an average January temperature of –13°C. Annual precipitation is 580 mm. The health resort’s curative waters, which are used for bathing, come from a mineral spring and have the composition

The sanatorium and bathhouse offer treatment for diseases of the musculoskeletal system and the peripheral nervous system.