Gardman ( hy, Գարդման), also known as Gardmank, was one of the eight cantons of the ancient province of Utik in the Kingdom of Armenia and simultaneously, together with the canton of Tuchkatak, an Armenian

principality A principality (or sometimes princedom) can either be a monarchical feudatory or a sovereign state, ruled or reigned over by a regnant-monarch with the title of prince and/or princess, or by a monarch with another title considered to fall un ...

. It roughly corresponded within the

Gazakh Qazax (; ) is a city in and the capital of the Gazakh District of Azerbaijan. It has a population of 20,900. Gazakh is a city and administrative district in the west of Azerbaijan, the "western gate" of Azerbaijan. History Early history In ...

, Shamkir,

Aghstafa Agstafa ( az, Ağstafa) is a town, municipality (assigned in 1941) and the capital of the Aghstafa District of Azerbaijan. Agstafa district was established in 1939, abolished in 1959 and merged with Gazakh district, became an independent distric ...

, Dashkasan, Goygol, Tovuz, Gadabay districts of modern-day

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and the original Tavush Region of

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

. Gardman was also the name of the central fortress of the canton.

History

In prehistoric times Gardman was the homeland of the proto-Armenian tribe Gardman. Contemporary Armenian authors referred to the historical area of Gardman as Northern Artsakh. During the reign of the Arshakuni kings of Armenia (66–428 A.D.), Gardman was the seat of the ''

nakharar ''Nakharar'' ( hy, նախարար ''naxarar'', from Parthian ''naxvadār'' "holder of the primacy""նախարար" in H. Ačaṙean (1926–35), ''Hayerēn Armatakan Baṙaran'' (Yerevan: Yerevan State University), 2nd ed., 1971–79) was a here ...

s'' of Utik'. For this reason, it was sometimes called "Gardmantsvots ishkhanutyun", or the principality of Gardman. Gardman was acquired by

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among t ...

in 387 following the partition of Armenia. In the seventh century the local house of Gardman was replaced by the

Mihranid The Mihranids were an Iranian family which ruled several regions of Caucasus from 330 to 821. They claimed to be of Sasanian Persian descent but were of Parthian origin. History The dynasty was founded when a certain Mihran, a distant relative ...

family (of

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

n or

Parthia Parthia ( peo, 𐎱𐎼𐎰𐎺 ''Parθava''; xpr, 𐭐𐭓𐭕𐭅 ''Parθaw''; pal, 𐭯𐭫𐭮𐭥𐭡𐭥 ''Pahlaw'') is a historical region located in northeastern Greater Iran. It was conquered and subjugated by the empire of the Med ...

n origin), which later became the ruling dynasty in the region of Arran. The region was conquered by the

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

s in 855. Contemporary Armenian historians repeatedly noted the presence of two well known venues in Gardman: a fortress called Getabakk' (in the current-day Azerbaijani region of Gadabay) and a copper mine. In 982, Gardman and Parisos, the northern district of Artsakh, became the small Armenian

kingdom of Parisos P'arisos was a city, fortress, and monastery located in the upper basin of the Shamkir river, near the present-day Azerbaijani village of Qalakənd. The ruins of P'arisos are located on a crag on the left bank of a stream also historically called ...

, which lasted until 1017 and thereafter became part of the

Kingdom of Lori The Kingdom of Tashir-Dzoraget ( hy, Տաշիր-Ձորագետի Թագավորություն ''Tashir-Dzorageti t'agavorut'yun''), alternatively known as the Kingdom of Lori or Kiurikian Kingdom by later historians, was a medieval Armenian kingd ...

. In 1601, the princely family of Melik-Shahnazaryan established the ''

melik Мelik (also transliterated as ''Meliq'') ( ''melikʿ''; from ar, ملك '' malik'' (king)) was a hereditary Armenian noble title, in various Eastern Armenian principalities known as ''melikdom''s encompassing modern Yerevan, Kars, Nakhi ...

dom'' of Gardman. The ruling family belonged to a branch of the House of

Khachen The Principality of Khachen ( hy, Խաչենի իշխանություն, Khacheni ishkhanutyun) was a medieval Armenian principality on the territory of historical Artsakh (present-day Nagorno-Karabakh). The provinces of Artsakh and Utik we ...

, and their residence was in the village of Voskanapat (and for this reason, the statelet was sometimes referred to as the Voskanapat melikdom). The territorial rights of the meliks were confirmed after the Russian Empire took control of the region in the early nineteenth century.

References

Bibliography

* * * * {{Historical regions of Caucasian Albania Former regions of Armenia Historical regions in Azerbaijan Caucasian Albania Ancient Armenia Ancient history of Azerbaijan