Illija was a village in the territory of the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Gamarli (Artashat) district, and present-day Ararat province. It was located 28 km to the northeast of the settlement of Gamarli, near the village of Boyuk Gilanlar and the Illija River and in the Milli valley. The village was marked as Yelinja on the five-verst map of the Caucasus. In the 1930s the village was integrated into the administrative-territorial division of the former Vedi (Ararat) district.

The village was inhabited by 197 Azerbaijanis in 1873, 327 in 1897, 215 in 1904, 377 in 1914 and 407 Azerbaijanis in 1916. The Azerbaijanis were attacked, massacred or expelled from the village by Armenian armed units in 1918. After the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia, the Azerbaijanis who survived managed to return to the village. The village was inhabited by 58 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 85 in 1926, 96 in 1931 and 181 Azerbaijanis in 1939. In accordance with the decision of the USSR Council of Ministers “On the resettlement of collective farmers and other Azerbaijani population from the Armenian SSR to the Kur-Araz lowland of the Azerbaijan SSR” dated 23 December 1947, the Azerbaijani population of the village was forcibly deported to Azerbaijan. Later, the village was abolished.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the Old Turkic word “el/il” meaning “a tribal confederation”.