Kashatagh (Lachin) province

    The toponym Zarist was first recorded in 1246, in the building inscription of the Gtich monastery as a village (or a small district) subject to this Episcopal See, The toponym designating a small district was mentioned again in the records of the 19th century. Thus a record executed in 1841 mentioned the villages Gharaghshlagh Arkatali, Karintak and Harare included into the Zarist district and inhabited by Armenians. Zarist, as a district was also mentioned by Archbishop Jalaliants 11. Contemporaneous documents mentioned also some priest Hovhannes as the benefactor of the Zarist district.
    The record of 1862 relating to some priest Hakob, the spiritual shepherd of the Armenian village Alghuli, mentioned that the village entered into the Zarist district.
    However since the end of the 19th century Zarist was more commonly mentioned under its Kurdish name - Haji-Samlu, for instance, in 1906 the same Alghuli is already included into the Haji-Samlu district. Bishop Barkhutariants directly indicated the fact that Haji-Samki was identical to the historical Zarist: "... Zarist, the present-day Hajisamlu or Hajilar."
    Bishop Makar Barkhutariants noted also that the historical Zarist abounded in Armenian monuments: "Ruined villages and churches are not scarce both in the resort of Zarist and in its environs."
    Official records of the pre-soviet period use only the toponym Haji-Samlu. In the first decade of the 20th century Haji-Samlu was the administrative center of 28 villages.