The Historical Geography of Nagorno-Karabakh

Nagorno-Karabakh is a mountainous region in the southeastern Lesser Caucasus, historically known to Armenians as Artsakh. The term Nagorno-Karabakh combines the Russian adjective meaning mountainous with the regional name Karabakh.

The boundaries of historical Artsakh, the former Soviet autonomous oblast, and the territory claimed or administered by the self-proclaimed Nagorno-Karabakh Republic were not identical. Distinguishing them is essential to understanding the war.

The region includes mountains, highland valleys, river systems, fortified settlements, monasteries, churches, cemeteries, and agricultural communities. Its geography influenced both settlement patterns and military operations.

Mountain passes and roads were particularly important because they connected towns and villages separated by difficult terrain. During the war, control of roads, elevated positions, and transport corridors often determined whether civilian populations could obtain food, medical supplies, and protection.

Ancient and medieval historical background

Armenian historical traditions identify Artsakh as one of the provinces of ancient Greater Armenia. The region was associated with Armenian political and cultural institutions during antiquity and the Middle Ages.

Following the partition and transformation of ancient Armenian political structures, Artsakh passed through changing arrangements of regional authority. The Caucasian Albanian kingdom, Iranian empires, Armenian princely houses, Arab rulers, Turkic dynasties, and later Persian authorities all formed part of the region's complicated political history.

Armenian ecclesiastical and princely institutions remained important in medieval Karabakh. The region contained major religious centers, including Gandzasar Monastery and Dadivank, along with churches, inscriptions, manuscripts, and other material evidence of Armenian Christian life.

The medieval Armenian principalities and later the Armenian melikdoms of Karabakh preserved elements of local Armenian political authority under larger imperial systems.

The history of Caucasian Albania and its religious inheritance is also significant to Azerbaijani historical narratives. Some medieval monuments are claimed within competing national historiographies. The attribution of particular monuments requires examining construction inscriptions, archaeological findings, contemporary records, and the evolution of ecclesiastical institutions rather than relying solely on modern national claims.

The Karabakh Khanate

During the eighteenth century, the Karabakh Khanate emerged as a significant political entity under Panah Ali Khan and his successors. Its principal fortress, Shusha—known to Armenians as Shushi—became an important political, military, commercial, and cultural center.

The khanate contained Armenian and Muslim communities, and its political structure reflected the complex relationships among Persian imperial authority, local Muslim rulers, and Armenian meliks.

Following the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813, the Treaty of Gulistan brought the Karabakh region under Russian imperial sovereignty.

The nineteenth century saw administrative reorganization, demographic changes, migration, urban development, and the growth of Armenian and Azerbaijani cultural institutions.

Shusha became especially important for Armenian and Azerbaijani intellectual, religious, musical, and commercial life.

These intertwined histories help explain why both communities developed powerful attachments to the same territory.