Inta was founded around 1940 as a settlement to support a geological expedition to explore coal deposits and projecting of mines. The city and a separate forced labor camp (
Intalag) was built by deportees and political prisoners working in the coal mines of the
Pechora coal basin. The city's name is in the
Nenets language and means 'well-watered place.' During the
Soviet era, a "
corrective labor camp",
Intalag, was located here. ==Administrative and municipal status==