Zaoche is a historical-geographical name for the trans-Oka (left-bank) part of Nizhny Novgorod and the territories adjoining the city across the Oka River. In sources the concept is used in two senses: as a toponymic designation of the city's industrial left bank, and as the name of a historical-administrative district in Nizhny Novgorod Uyezd — Strelitsky Stan — known since the Middle Ages.
The historical Strelitsky Stan of Zaoche
In the 14th century, the Karpovka existed in the Strelitsky Stan of Zaoche, taking its name from the beekeeper Karp, the first settler of these parts. In the 16th century the village of Karpovka was listed among the old sovereign's beekeeping settlements of Nizhny Novgorod Uyezd. The name "Zaoche" reflected the location of these lands beyond (za) the Oka River relative to Upper Part. Subsequently the village of Karpovka and the surrounding territories became part of Nizhny Novgorod.
Zaoche as the industrial left bank
In the Soviet period the term "Zaoche" was applied to the trans-river (trans-Oka) side of Gorky as its main industrial and transport core. From the high right bank of the Oka, in the area of Gagarin Avenue and Myza, a wide panorama of industrial Zaoche opens up. A characteristic feature of the left bank in that period remained the "island-like" arrangement of residential districts amid factory territories, as well as the contrast between new and old enterprises that defined the appearance of this part of the city.