Garanlig district was established on September 9, 1939. The center of the district with an area of 1185 km² was the city of Garanlig. It is located 36 km southeast of Kavar city, 130 km from Iravan, south of Goycha Lake, at an altitude of 1930 m above sea level.

The territory of the district was historically included in the Goycha district of the Iravan Khanate, and during the period of Tsarist Russia, it was included in the Novo-Bayazid district of the Iravan governorate.

The toponym has received the suffix “-liq” which means space in Azerbaijani, and was formed based on the word “gara” which means “hill”, “rock” in Turkish and can be translated as “hilly, mountainous, rocky place”. “n” between the word “gara” and the suffix “-liq” performs the function of a connecting consonant. Indeed, the village is located in a rocky, mountainous area, and all sides are hilly and mountainous. The terrain of the village matches its name.

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 Gegarkunik province of Armenia.