As far back as 12 thousand years b.c. our region was inhabited by hunters and reindeer-breeders (towards the end of the palaeloith). Their remains have been found in the region of Wójtowskie Włóki – at the mouth of Kamienny Bór to Necko Lake. In the Neolithic age agricultural cultures appeared (IV-III millennium b.c.). The prehistoric grave-mound burial ground in Necki Borek (between Białobrzegi and Netta)dates back to the III -V century A.D. that is from the Roman Iron Age. It was used by the people of Baltic origin who were called Jacwiegs in the Middle Ages. The tribes of Zlincs and Poleksans lived there. Jacwiez was wiped from the map of Europe by crusades at the end of XIII century, which were fought by Polish and Ruthenian dukes and the Teutonic Order. The area became a bone of contention between Lithuania, the Monastic State and Mazovia. Then the area was covered by a huge forest and was treated as a natural border.
The next permanent colonization didn’t appear until the beginning of the 16th century. In 1422 the area of today’s territorial division was within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Although Ruthenian, Jacvings descendants, Lithuanians and Poles from the farther parts of the country took part in the colonization, these were Mazovian settlers who were in the majority. The first villages came into being on the Prussian border (Grabowo, Rutki). All western part of today’s territorial division was settled by the middle of the 16th century ( the times of the reign of Sigismund August). The villages had different statutes and some of them were included into private properties (Radziwił, Wołłowicz, Pav-Janówka-Mazurki, Preytfouss-Grabowo). In 1569 the land south of Kamienny Bród and Necko Lake and west of the Netta River came under the Polish Crown as part of Podlasie, making up the Starost of Augustów (created in1672, with its seat in Netta). The name came from the town established by King Zygmunt August.

The four villages: Żarnowo, Turówka, Biernatki and Uścianka were suburbs of Augustów and their inhabitants had the same rights as the townspeople. The remaining territories in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania belonged to the Grodno District, Trocki Vojevoideship. The majority of villages on the left bank of Netta River came into being in the 18th century. They grew up around minor industries (smelting plants, wood distilleries and potash plants) and settlements of woodcutters and gamekeepers. The hard work of inhabitants was interrupted by natural calamities and wars (in 1656 Tatar horde by Gąsiewski Hetman, 1710 – big plague brought by the army in the North-War). In the course of time the settlements were rebuilt. The youngest villages are Gabowe Grądy and Bór funded by Russians – followers of the old Rites in 1867. After the downfall of the Polish State our region was included into Prussia (1795-1806- and divided into administrative districts – Wigry, Goniądz and Dąbrowa) then it passed to the Duchy of Warsaw and after the fall of Napoleon, to the Kingdom of Poland. The Agustów forest were the partisan’s mainstay during the November Uprising (Szarkowski, Zaliwski, Mirski, Bagiński’ detachments) and January Uprising (Andruszkiewicz, ‘Wawer’ – Ramotowski, Reklewski, Szukiewicz). The inhabitants also took an active part in the fight for independence within Pow in 1918-1919 and as volunteers in the fight with Lithuanians and Bolsheviks.
Soviet invaders (1939-1941) started repression, they shot people, kept them in the prisoner-of-war camps, and transported whole villages (Netta Folwark, Mazurki) to Siberia.
Painful moments are also connected with Hitler’ occupation. Many people lost their lives in mass executions and concentration camps. The organization of Home Army (district VII) was very strong here. The July raid of NKWD in July 1954 took a heavy toll of human life. In independent Poland the area of the territorial district came into Augustów administrative district (town Augustów, territorial districts Kolnica, Augustów, Bargłów).Then after 1945 there were districts Żarnowo, Janówka, Rutki Nowe, Netta II, Białobrzegi, which in 1973 formed the territorial district in its present form.