Garashamb is a village in the Echmiadzin uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Ashtarak district, and currently in the Kotayk province. It lies at a distance of 5 km from the Nairi settlement. It had been within the former Nairi district from 1972.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 28 in 1831, 207 in 1873, 192 in 1886, 306 in 1897, 363 in 1908, 417 in 1914 and 381 Azerbaijanis in 1916. In 1918 the population of the village was deported having been exposed to aggression by Armenian armed forces, and the Armenians removed from Türkiye were settled in the village. Currently, the village is inhabited by Armenians only.

The toponym was coined by combining the word “gara” in the meaning of “big” in Old Turkic and the word “sham” used in the Turkish language to mean “a watery place on the banks of rivers, at the confluence of two rivers where reeds, tamarix, glycyrrhiza, etc. grow, and wild animals and birds nest”. The word “sham” is used in the Armenian language as “shamb” to mean “reed”.

Currently, the name of the settlement is written as “Karashamb” in official documents in Armenian. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative area of the Kotayk province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 40°24’ N., longitude: 44°35’ E.