Salli is a village in the Sharur-Daralayaz uezd of the former Iravan governorate, later in the former Kesishkend (Yeghegnadzor) district, and currently in the Vayots Dzor province. The provincial centre lies 18 km to the northwest of the town of Keshishkend, “on the highway from Daralayaz to Goycha”, at a height of 1,550 m above sea level. It was marked as “Salchi” in “The Iravan Province Review Book” compiled in 1828, and marked as “Salli” on the five-verst map of the Caucasus.

The village was solely inhabited by Azerbaijanis: 77 in 1831, 422 in 1873, 560 in 1886, 668 in 1897, 624 in 1904, 675 in 1914, 678 in 1916 and 65 Azerbaijanis in 1919. The native inhabitants of the village, the Azerbaijanis, were deported from the village in 1928–1929, having been exposed to the aggression of Armenian armed groups. The Armenians from Salmas and Khoy provinces of Iran were settled in village. After the establishment of Soviet power in the territory of present-day Armenia, the surviving residents of the village were able to return to their ancestral lands. The village was inhabited by 147 Azerbaijanis and 64 Armenians in 1922, 204 Azerbaijanis and 81 Armenians in 1926, 242 Azerbaijanis and102 Armenians 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 Salyan, a district of Azerbaijan in 1948. Later, part of the population was able to return to their ancestral lands. In November 1988, the Azerbaijanis were again deported by the state of Armenia. At present, the village is inhabited by Armenians.

The toponym was coined by adding the suffix of possession “-li” to the Turkic ethnonym “Sal”, and means “the place inhabited by the Sal tribe”.

According to the law “On the administrative-territorial division of the Republic of Armenia “dated 7 November 1995, it was integrated into the administrative area of the Vayots Dzor province.

Geographic coordinates: latitude 39°52’N., longitude 45°16’E.