Tayk (Armenian: Տայք, Armenian pronunciation: [tajkʰ] Taykʿ) was a historical province of the Kingdom of Armenia, one of its 15 ashkarhs (worlds). Tayk consisted of 8 cantons:
- Kogh
- Berdats por
- Partizats por
- Tchakatk
- Bokha
- Vokaghe
- Azordats por
- Arsiats por
There was a proto-Armenian confederation, Hayasa-Azzi, in this area in the 2nd millennium BC. It was probably the same as (and with a name likely related etymologically to) the Daiaeni and Diauehi of Assyrian and Urartian sources. From the 2nd century BC to the 9th century AD Tayk was a part of Armenian kingdoms or "autonomies": Greater Armenia, Marzpan Armenia and Bagratid Armenia.[citation needed]
In the 999 A.D., Tayk or Tao became part of the Georgian Bagratid principality of Tayk-Kharjk or Tao-Klarjeti. The Tayk province covered the contemporary Turkish districts of Yusufeli (Kiskim) in Artvin Province and Oltu, Olur (Tavusker), Tortum and Çamlıkaya (Hunut) to the north of İspir in Erzurum Province. To its southwest is found the ancient region of Sper. After World War I, Armenia and Georgia contested the region, with particular conflict over Oltik. As a result, in 1920, after the Russo-Turkish attacks Armenia lost the region of Oltik, which become a part of Turkey.
Sources
edit- Arutyunova-Fidanyan, Viada A., Some Aspects of the Military-Administrative Districts and Byzantine Administration in Armenia During the 11th Century, REArm 20, 1986-87: 309–20.
- Garsoian, Nina. The Byzantine Annexation of the Armenian Kingdoms in the Eleventh Century, 192 p. In: The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times, vol. 1, edited by Richard G. Hovannisian, St. Martin's Press, New York, 1977.
- Hewsen, Robert. Armenia. A Historical Atlas. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001, Pp 341.
- Tayk - Tayots Ashhar (Тайк - Тайоц ашхар)