Kumayri

Kumayri lies on the high plain of Shirak, surrounded by the mountains of northern Armenia. Its name appears in Armenian historical sources as early as the eighth century. The settlement occupied a fertile district below the volcanic heights of Aragats, in a region repeatedly contested by the powers of the Caucasus and Iran.

In the sixteenth century Kumayri came under Safavid rule along with much of eastern Armenia. Russian forces occupied the Shirak region during the war with Persia that began in 1804; the Treaty of Gulistan in 1813 confirmed its passage to Russia. After the Russian advance against the Ottomans, Armenian migrants from the west also settled in the area. The old settlement grew into a fortified town, renamed Alexandropol in 1837.