Kanavinskaya Sloboda. The first mentions of the village date back to the 17th century. Kunavino was located in a lowland, in “ditches” (kanavy), which may have given the village its name. In spring, the area was always flooded. Nearby there was another, larger sloboda—Grivki. It stood higher up, so floods were not a concern there. For a long time, Grivka and Kunavino competed for leadership, and in 1678 these two slobodas merged.
The population of Kunavino grew and developed rapidly. For more than 300 years, Kanavinskaya Sloboda was considered a separate town, but in 1928 the territory was incorporated into Nizhny Novgorod and became one of its districts.
Today, the Kanavinsky District is one of the eight inner-city districts of Nizhny Novgorod, located in the city’s Zarechnaya (across-the-river) part.