Sabunchu is a village in the Iravan uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Gamarli (Artashat) district, and currently in the Ararat province. Another name for the village was “Sheykhzadeh Ali Sabunchu”. The provincial centre lies 8-9 km to the north-west of the town of Gamarli, near the ditch flowing from the Garni River, at a height of 827 m above sea level. It was marked as “Saatli Sabunchu” in “The Iravan Province Review Book” and as “Sabunchu” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The village was inhabited by 474 Azerbaijanis in 1831, 951 in 1873, 1,050 in 1886, 1,000 in 1897, 1,397 in 1904, 1,537 in 1914, and 202 Azerbaijanis in January 1918. In 1918 the Azerbaijanis were subjected to the genocide commited by Armenian armed groups and deported from the village. After the establishment of the Soviet government in present-day Armenia, the surviving villagers were able to return to their homes. The village was inhabited by 219 Azerbaijanis in 1922, 285 in 1926, and 319 in 1931. According to 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 in 1948.

The toponym was coined on the basis of the Turkic tribal name “Sabunchu”.

By the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the Armenian SSR dated 25 January 1978, the village was renamed “Araksavan”. 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.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 40°00’ N., longitude 44°28’ E.