Gashga is a village in the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Vedi (Ararat) district, and currently in the Ararat province. The centre of the province lies 56 km to the southeast of the town of Gamarli (Artashat), in the Aghdere valley, adjacent to the Chalakhchi River, at a height of 1,800 m above sea level. It was marked on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

In 1831 the village was inhabited by eight Azerbaijanis. Later, the Armenians relocated from the Khoy and Salmas provinces of Iran were settled in the village. Consequently, the village became an Armenian settlement as a whole.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the ethnonym “Gashqay”, one of the ancient Turkic tribes. “Gashqa” is a phonetic form of the ethnonym “Gashqay”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 10 September 1948, the village was renamed “Vardashat”. According to the law “On the Administrative- Territorial Division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative territory of the Ararat province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 39°49’ N., longitude: 45°01’ E.