Artik district was established on September 9, 1930. The administrative center of the district, with an area of 632 km², was the city of Artik, which was subordinated to the republic. The distance from the district center to the city of Iravan is 122 km.

A large part of Alagoz mountain and its highest peak (4095 m) fall in the territory of Artik district, and other parts fall in the territory of Duzkend and Talin districts.

The territory of the district was historically included in the Shoreyel district of the Iravan khanate, and during the Tsarist Russia it was part of the Alexandropol uezd.

Armenians show that the toponym is derived from the Armenian word “ayr” which means male and the Persian word “tik” which means “high”. It should be noted that “tik” is not a Persian word, but a real Azerbaijani word. The toponym was created by adding the suffix “-ik” to the word “art”, which means “mountain pass”, “mountain, mountainous” in the ancient Turkish language. The suffix “-ik” was added to nouns denoting space in the ancient Turkish language. Artik is located in a mountainous area. So, the oeconym is given according to the area.

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 Shirak province of Armenia.