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Owing to its natural isolation by high mountain ranges. Karvajar had been perceived as a separate district within the Artsakh province since at least early Middle Ages. Early medieval sources name this region Vaykunik (Anania Shirakatsi, Movses Kaghankatvatsi), while the sources of later period use the toponym "the Land of Tzar" or the "province (gavar) of Tzar". To denote the same province (see, e.g. the epigraphic inscriptions of Dadi Vank) the records of the XII-XIIIcent. often used the toponym Upper Khachen alongside with Tzar. At the beginning of the XVIIcent. the foreigners especially, more often called the Tzar or Upper Khachen province - Zaruzibil / Zaruzivil," This toponym occurred as a combination of names of the princely residence Tzar (pronounced by the Turks as Zar), and the neighboring village Zibil / Zivil (historical Armenian Zuar)". During the Persian rule the latter as a separate administrative entity was subordinated to the beklerbek - the governor of Yerevan province." Since the middle of the XVIIIcent. the present day Karvajar was more often called Kolani district. The etymology of this toponym is apparently connected with the ethnonym of Kolani - one of the nomadic tribes that used to frequent the pastures of Karvajar.
It should be added, that while foreign sources mention the district as Zaruzibil/Zaruzivil, Kolani, or Jvanshir, all the contemporary Armenian sources persistently use the ancient Armenian toponym Tzar."
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