Historically, the area of modern-day Tashir was included in the
Tashir canton of the historical
Gugark province, the 13th province of
Greater Armenia. With the Arab invasion of Armenia in 654, the region was granted to the
Bagratid dynasty, who founded the
Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia later in 885. It was the location of a major
battle in 1040, part of the
Shaddadid–Armenian wars. at the beginning of the 11th century The region became a prominent centre of the Armenian culture and scholars under the rule of the Zakarid princes of Armenia. However, after the Mongols captured
Ani in 1236, Zakarid Armenia turned into a
Mongol protectorate as part of the
Ilkhanate. After the fall of the Ilkhanate in the mid-14th century, the Zakarid princes controlled over Tashir until 1360 when they fell to the invading Turkic tribes. After suffering from the invasion of
Aq Qoyunlu,
Kara Koyunlu,
Ottomans and Persians from the 14th to 18th centuries, most of the territories in northern Armenia were annexed from Qajar Persia in favour of the
Russian Empire In 1801. The region of Tashir became officially part of the Russian Empire at the
Treaty of Gulistan signed on 24 October 1813 between Imperial Russia and
Qajar Persia. The newly-established settlement was named Vorontsovka (Воронцовка) after the
Viceroy of the Caucasus Mikhail Semyonovich Vorontsov. In 1846, it was included in the
Borchaly uezd of the
Tiflis Governorate. In 1935, during the Soviet rule, the settlement was renamed
Kalinino after the Russian Bolshevik revolutionary leader
Mikhail Kalinin and was called. In 1961, Kalinino was granted the statues of an
urban-type settlement to become the centre of
Kalinino raion. In 1983, it was granted with the status of a town. With the independence of Armenia in 1991, the town was renamed Tashir after the historic Tashir canton of
Gugark, and was eventually included within the Lori Province formed as per the 1995 administrative reforms of independent Armenia. == Geography ==