The city was founded in 1584, after the establishment of Anglo-Muscovite trade, as Novokholmogory; it was named Arkhangelsk in 1613. It was the embarkation point for the Allied interventionist armies in collaboration with the White Army in their effort to overthrow the newly established Soviet state 1918-20. In World War II, together with Murmansk, Archangel was the destination for Allied convoys bringing essential military supplies to the USSR. Pomor State University in Archangel is the largest institution of higher education in northern Russia. It was founded as a teacher training institute in 1932 and became Pomor State University in 1996.

Plesetsk, to the south, is a launch site for crewed space flight, while Severodvinsk, 40 km/25 mi to the west of Archangel at the mouth of the Dvina, is an important submarine base for the Russian Navy. Famous mathematician Ivan Meshchersky was born in Archangel in 1859. He studied mechanics, in particular the motion of bodies of variable mass. His work formed the basis for the rocket technology developed after 1945.