Hayots Dzor (Armenian: Հայոց Ձոր, literally "the valley of the Armenians") or Eruandunik/Yervandunik (Armenian: Երուանդունիք, from the name of the Orontid dynasty) was a canton (gavar) of the province of Vaspurakan of historical Armenia encompassing the area to the southeast of Lake Van, namely the valley of the Khoshab (Hoşap River).
[1] It was bordered by the cantons of Rshtunik to the southwest, Tosp to the north, and Kughanovit to the east.
[2] The inhabitants of region irrigated their fields using the Khoshab River and the Shamiram Canal, which was built during the time of the Kingdom of Urartu.
Hayots Dzor was populated almost entirely by Armenians until the 1890s, when Kurdish tribes began to settle in the area following the Hamidian massacres.
[1] According to Manvel Mirakhorian, who traveled to the region in the late nineteenth century, the Armenian-populated villages of Hayots Dzor were as follows (modern-day Turkish names and district in parentheses):[2][4]