Tuzluca, Turkey

History

Known by Armenians as Koghb, Tuzluca was historically part of various Armenian kingdoms.

In 631, it was given by Byzantine Emperor Heraclius to Armenian Patriarch Ezra I in reward for his compliance at accepting the Byzantine position at the Council of Thedosioupolis.

The town and the surrounding area later became an Ottoman frontier Kurdish chiefdom and a scene of constant warfare between the Ottoman Empire and Persia. It was especially renowned for its salt mines.

In 1746, the region was finally ceded to Persia and became part of the Erivan Khanate. After the Russo-Persian War, 1826–1828 and Treaty of Turkmenchay, it passed from Persian to Russian control. Under Russian rule, the town, now known as Kulp, became part of the Surmalu uezd of the Armenian Oblast and later the Erivan Governorate. In 1829, shortly after the Russian annexation, Baltic German explorer Friedrich Parrot of the University of Dorpat (Tartu) travelled to Surmalu as part of his expedition to climb Mount Ararat. Two members of Parrot's expeditionary team, medical students Carl Schiemann and Maximilian Behaghel von Adlerskron, travelled to Kulp with four Cossacks to examine the salt mines.

From the History section of Tuzluca on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.