Ashtarak district was established on September 9, 1930. The administrative center of the district with an area of 926 km² was the city of Ashtarak, which was subordinated to the republic. The distance from the district center to the city of Iravan is 22 km.

The territory of the district was included in the Korpubasar district of the historical Iravan Khanate, and during Tsarist Russia it was part of the Echmiadzin district.

Armenian scientists claim that the toponym “Ashtarak” is derived from the word “ashtarak”, which means “tower” in the Armenian language. However, the toponym “Ashtarak” is derived from the word “ashu” (→ash), which means “high mountain pass”, and the word “tarak”, which means “tall, wrinkled mountain height” in Turkish. Currently, the name of the settlement is written as “Ashtarak” in official documents in the Armenian language.

Since 1987, the native inhabitants of the district – Azerbaijanis were forced to leave their places of residence. In 1995, the district was abolished and included in the administrative territory of Aragatsotn province of Armenia.