Shamshaddin district was established on September 9, 1930. The administrative center of the district with an area of 824 km² was the city of Tovuzgala. The distance from there to Iravan is 211 km. The district is surrounded by Murguz mountains along its border with Chambarak distrcit.

The territory of the district was historically included in the Shamshaddil district of the Iravan khanate, and during the period of Tsarist Russia, it was included in the Gazakh district of the Yelizavetpol (Ganja) governorate.

The toponym was formed on the basis of the Turkish ethnonym “Shamseddinli”. It is shown that the ethnonym “Shamseddinli” belongs to the Zulgadar tribe of the Qizilbash. It is an ethnotoponym.

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 Tavush province of Armenia.