[5] Maku is 22 kilometres (14 mi) from the Turkish border in a mountain gorge at an altitude of 1,634 metres.

[citation needed] Maku was a region of the old Armenia c. 300–800, previously known as Artaz according to Aziz Atiya's History of Eastern Christianity.

[8] The Castle of Maku, original Shavarshan, was the center of the domains of the princely Armenian family of Amatuni.

[12] Maku served as the capital of the Kurdish Jalali dynasty into the 1860s when the centralizing Qajar government in Persia/Iran removed them, appointing a governor instead.

[2] Maku has a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) owing to its location in the rain shadow of the Zagros Mountains.