Mughamli is a village in the Iravan uezd of the Iravan province, later in the former Gamarli (Artashat) district, and currently in the Ararat province. In the works of Armenian authors, the name of the village is indicated as “Mughamli”. In the work by I. Chopin, the name of the village is marked as “Bogamli”. The provincial centre lies 11 km to the northwest of the town of Gamarli, at a height of 825 m above sea level.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 243 in 1831, 388 in 1873, 371 in 1886, 392 in 1897, 513 in 1908, 811 in 1914 and 350 Azerbaijanis in 1919. In 1919 the Azerbaijanis were exposed to genocide by Armenian armed forces, massacred or deported, and the Armenians relocated from abroad were settled in the village. Following the establishment of Soviet power in present-day Armenia, the Azerbaijanis managed to return to their native village. The village was inhabited by 58 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 64 in 1926, and 28 Azerbaijanis in 1931. 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. Currently, the village is inhabited only by Armenians.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the ethnonym “Mughanli” of Turkic origin. It is an ethnotoponym.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 20 August 1945, the name of the village was changed to “Mugham”, and by decision dated 25 January 1978, it was renamed “Hovtashen”. According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia” dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative territory of the Ararat province.

Geographical coordinates: latitude: 40°01’ N., longitude: 44°27’ E.