, 1020–1166 Historically Zangezur was the southern part of the
ancient Armenian province of
Syunik. A. Redgate notes that the discovery of an Athenian coin of the 6th century BC in Zangezur indicates the presence of trade relations between Armenia and Asia Minor. Inscriptions of the king of Great Armenia
Artashes I (189–160 BC) have been found on the territory of Zangezur. At the beginning of the 4th century, Syunik, along with other provinces of Armenia, was converted to Christianity. Of the twelve
gavars (regions) of Syunik, seven were located within Zangezur (Chaguk, Agakhechk, Gaband, Bagk or Balk, Dzork, Arevik and Kusakan). At the beginning of the 5th century, the Armenian scientist and educator
Mesrop Mashtots conducted preaching and educational activities here. From 428 to the beginning of the 7th century it was a part of the Armenian province of Persia. In the middle of the 7th century, Zangezur, along with the whole of Armenia, was conquered by the Arabs. At the end of the 9th century, Zangezur, as a part of Syunik, became a part of the
Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia. Later, it became a part of the
Kingdom of Syunik (this was due to the fact that in 970–980s the political center of the Syunik region began to move to the south, to the
gavar of Balk). In 1170 the Kingdom of Syunik was defeated by the Seljuks. After the expulsion of the Seljuks, an Armenian principality ruled by the
Orbelians existed in this territory (in 1236 they submitted to the Mongols). The principality fell in the first half of the 15th century as a result of several invasions of Khan
Tokhtamysh, Timur, the Turkoman tribes of
Kara-Koyunlu, and the Timurid
Shah Rukh. In the 15th century, Zangezur fell under the rule of the Kara-Koyunlu confederation of Turkic nomadic tribes, and later under the rule of the
Ak-Koyunlu. The domination of the Mongol Ilkhans and especially the Turkmen conquerors Kara-Koyunlu and Ak-Koyunlu had extremely grave consequences: the productive forces were destroyed, part of the population was plundered and exterminated, and many cultural monuments were destroyed. Lands were taken away from the local population and were settled by newcomer nomads, and part of the Armenian population was forced to emigrate from their historical lands. In the 16th century, Zangezur became a part of the Tabriz beglerbegdom of the
Safavid state, and from the second half of the 18th century it was a part of the
Karabakh Khanate. During the 16th-17th centuries,
Armenian feudal meliks continued to exist in Zangezur, along with
Karabakh and
Lori. In the 17th–18th centuries, Zangezur and some neighboring regions became the area of the liberation
struggle of the Armenian people against the Ottoman Empire and Persia. In 1722, an Armenian uprising broke out in Zangezur and Karabakh. A few years later, under the leadership of
David Bek,
Mkhitar Bek and Ter-Avetis, the Armenians fought against the Ottoman invaders. The Persian Shah
Tahmasp II recognized the authority of David Bek over this region. According to the
Treaty of Gulistan of 1813, Zangezur was ceded to the
Russian Empire. On January 25, 1868, when the
Elisabethpol Governorate was created, the
Zangezur district was formed from a part of the
Shusha district of the
Baku province and the Ordubad district of the
Erivan province.
20th and 21st centuries After the
October Revolution of 1917 and the creation and disintegration of the
Transcaucasian Democratic Federal Republic, disputes arose between the newly created republics of
Armenia and
Azerbaijan over the ownership of a number of territories with a mixed population, including Zangezur, which also became the site of fierce Armenian-Azerbaijani clashes. Having entered into conflict with both the British interventionists and the Armenian government, the Armenian military commander
Andranik withdrew his army from Zangezur to Echmiadzin and in April 1919 disbanded it. In September 1919, after the withdrawal of British troops,
Garegin Nzhdeh was appointed head of the defense of the southern part of Zangezur (Kapan), while Poghos Ter-Davtyan was charged with defending its northern part (Sisian). In November, near Geryusy (Goris), Armenian troops managed to stop an Azerbaijani offensive, after which they launched a counterattack. On April 27, 1920, the units of the
11th Army of the Red Army crossed the border of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic and entered Baku on April 28. Here the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic was proclaimed. On August 10, 1920, an agreement was concluded between the
First Republic of Armenia and the RSFSR, according to which Soviet troops were sent to the disputed regions (Karabakh, Zangezur and Nakhichevan) until the settlement of territorial disputes. After the signing of the agreement,
General Dro, who commanded the Armenian troops in Zangezur, left Zangezur, but his assistants – the commander of the Kapan region Garegin Nzhdeh and the commander of the Sisian region Poghos Ter-Davtyan – refused to recognize the agreement, fearing that Zangezur would be surrendered to Soviet Azerbaijan. Dashnak detachments began a partisan war against Soviet troops and allied Turkish units. In early October 1920, a massive uprising against Soviet power broke out in the region. Ter-Davtyan soon died in battles with the Red Army, and Nzhdeh single-handedly led the uprising. By the end of November, two brigades of the 11th Army of the Red Army and several Turkish battalions (a total of 1200 Turks) were defeated by the rebels, and Zangezur completely came under the control of the rebels. On December 25, the congress held in the
Tatev Monastery proclaimed the "Autonomous Syunik Republic", which was actually headed by Nzhdeh, who assumed the ancient title of sparapet (commander-in-chief). Subsequently, Nzhdeh also extended his power to part of Nagorno-Karabakh, joining with the rebels operating there. Meanwhile, on November 29, 1920, Soviet power was proclaimed in Armenia, after which on November 30, the AzRevCom of Soviet Azerbaijan, declaring its intention to end territorial disputes, agreed to the inclusion of Zangezur in the newly formed Soviet Armenia. In December 1920, an agreement was concluded between the RSFSR and Armenia, according to which Zangezur was assigned to the Armenian SSR. After the defeat of the
February Uprising in central Armenia, parts of the rebels moved to Zangezur and joined the Nzhdeh's forces. On April 27, 1921, the
Republic of Mountainous Armenia was proclaimed in the territory controlled by the rebels, in which Nzhdeh took the posts of Prime Minister, Minister of War and Minister of Foreign Affairs. In connection with the transition of the Red Army units to the offensive, on July 9, 1921, Nzhdeh, having secured guarantees from the leadership of Soviet Armenia regarding the preservation of Zangezur as a part of Armenia, went to Iran with the remaining rebels. According to the agricultural census of 1922, the population of the part of the Zangezur district that seceded from the Armenian SSR numbered 63,533 thousand people, including 56,886 thousand (89.5%) Armenians, 6,464 thousand (10.2%) Turko-Tatars (Azerbaijanis) and 182 (0.3%) Russians. The Armenian percentage has been cited as somewhat smaller before the First World War but that figure took in several lowland districts and even so had always shown a clear Armenian majority. Another aggravation of interethnic relations in this region took place in the late 1980s, against the backdrop of the
Karabakh conflict, during which all of the Azerbaijanis living in Zangezur and other parts of Armenia fled to Azerbaijan concurrently with the flight of Armenians from Azerbaijan to Armenia. In Soviet times, the railways Ordubad-Agarak-Meghri-Minjivan and Kapan-Zangelan-Minjivan passed through the territory of Zangezur. The railway communication in this section was stopped with the beginning of the first
Karabakh war. The land connection of Nakhichevan with Azerbaijan through Armenia was interrupted. ==Industry==