page_title: Maralik
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Maralik / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Rublyovka quarter in Maralik as seen from M-1 highway Русский: Микрорайон "Рублёвка" в Маралике. Вид с трассы M-1
context_page_description: Maralik, is a town and the centre of the urban community of Ani, in Shirak Province at the northwest of Armenia. As of the 2011 census, the population of the town is 5,398, down from 5,782 reported in the 2001 census. As per the 2016 official estimate, the population of Maralik is around 5,500.
context_section_description: Historically, Maralik has been part of the Shirak canton of the ancient Ayrarat province of Greater Armenia. During the reign of the Arsacid dynasty (52-428 AD) and later under Sasanid Persia (428-651), the area of Maralik was ruled by the Kamsarakan Armenian noble family.
  With the Arab invasion of Armenia in 654, the region was granted to the Bagratid dynasty, who founded the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia later in 885. Under the Bagratid rule, many religious and educational complexes were built in the area of present-day Maralik, according to inscriptions found among the remains of medieval Armenian  churches and khachkars of the 9th and 11th centuries. After the fall of Armenia to the Byzantine Empire in 1045 and later to the Seljuk invaders in 1064, the entire region of Shirak entered an era of downfall in all aspects.
  With the establishment of the Zakarid Principality of Armenia in 1201 under the Georgian protectorate, the region of Shirak, entered into a new period of growth and stability. After the Mongols captured Ani in 1236, Zakarid Armenia turned into a Mongol protectorate as part of the Ilkhanate. After the fall of the Ilkhanate in the mid-14th century, the Zakarid princes controlled over Shirak until 1360 when they fell to the invading Turkic tribes.
  By the last quarter of the 14th century, the Aq Qoyunlu Sunni Oghuz Turkic tribe took over Armenia, including Shirak. In 1400, Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia, and captured more than 60,000 of the survived local people as slaves. Many districts including Shirak were depopulated. In 1410, Armenia fell under the control of the Kara Koyunlu Shia Oghuz Turkic tribe. According to the Armenian historian Thomas of Metsoph, although the Kara Koyunlu levied heavy taxes against the Armenians, the early years of their rule were relatively peaceful.
  In 1501, most of the Eastern Armenian territories including Yerevan and Shirak were conquered by the emerging Safavid dynasty of Iran. Under the Iranian rule, the area around modern-day Maralik was occupied by a village known as Molla Gökche within the Erivan Khanate.
  In June 1804, the Russian Empire took control of the region of Shirak at the beginning of the Russo-Persian War of 1804–1813. The area became officially part of the Russian Empire at the Treaty of Gulistan signed on 1 January 1813. 59 Western Armenian families (371 individuals) from Basean, Mush and Karin who were resettled in the area, founded an Armenian village upon their arrival in 1828, near the settlement of Molla Gökche. In 1840, the village became part of the newly formed Alexandropol Uyezd, which -in its turn- became part of the Erivan Governorate later in 1849. In 1903, the Holy Mother of God Church was consecrated, built on the foundations of a 5th-century church.
  After World War I, the settlement was included within the borders of the newly founded Republic of Armenia, who enjoyed a sort-lived independence from May 1918 until December 1920, when it fell to the invading Soviet Red Army.
  Under the Soviet rule, the village was renamed Kaputan in October 1927. In 1931, it became the centre of the newly formed Ani raion (known as Aghin raion until 1961). On 26 July 1935, the village of Kaputan was eventually renamed Maralik. In 1962, Maralik was given the status of a town.
  Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Maralik became an urban community within the newly formed Shirak Province as per the administrative reforms of 1995 of independent Armenia.
caption: Rublyovka historic buildings in Maralik
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