The village of Vandam in the Kutkashen district

2026-09-08

Vandam village in the Kutkashen district is located approximately 9 km southeast of the district center, Kutkashen (present-day Gabala). The village is also known as Vantam. According to the ethnographer and bishop M. Barkhudaryan, the name of the village means “lodging,” “to provide accommodation.”

There is no clear evidence on when Armenians first settled in Vandam. However, there are references indicating that Vandam was among the Armenian settlements of eastern Transcaucasia whose inhabitants were forcibly converted to Islam in the second half of the eighteenth century.

According to statistical data, in 1874 the village had a population of 3,572. In 1889, Vandam had 766 households, while by 1898 the number had reached approximately 1,000 households. By 1907, the village’s population had doubled, reaching 2,290. In 1914, Vandam was inhabited by 3,082 people.

The Armenian cemetery in the area also provides evidence of the village’s Armenian heritage.

Today, Vandam is one of the larger villages in the district, and its inhabitants identify themselves as Azerbaijanis.

References

Barkhutareants, M. The Land of Aghvank and Its Neighbors. Artsakh, Yerevan, 1999, pp. 147-148․

Karapetyan, S. Aghvank Proper. The Research on Armenian Architecture (RAA) Foundation, 2024, Vol. XXII, Part 1, pp. 324-325.

Paluni. “The Turks in the Lower Parts of Dagestan.” Nor-Dar, 1898, No. 79, May 9, p. 2.

The Caucasian Calendar for 1910. Tiflis, 1909, p. 211.

The Caucasian Calendar for 1915. Tiflis, 1914, p. 103.

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