 The current borders are not the same as in the 19th century, when the district of Sasun was situated more to the north (mostly territory now included in the central district of Muş)  

Sasun, as it is called by Armenians, holds a prominent role in Armenian culture and history.It is the setting of "Daredevils of Sassoun", Armenia's national epic.In the late 19th and early 20th centuries it was a major location of Armenian "fedayi" activities, who staged two uprisings against the Ottoman authorities and Kurdish tribes in 1894 and 1904.