This article is about the province in Armenia. For the rapper, see
Tay-K.
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:
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
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.