On November 25, 2020, under the terms of the Trilateral Ceasefire Declaration signed on November 10, 2020 between Azerbaijan, Armenia and Russia, Kalbajar district (including the city of Kalbajar) was returned to Azerbaijan. Qarabag.com has prepared a material on the history of the administrative and territorial division of the city of Kalbajar from the beginning of the XIX century to the present.

The administrative center of the Kalbajar district, the city of Kalbajar (formerly Kyalbajar, Kelbajary) is located on rocky terrain, on the banks of the Terter river.
[The Caucasian calendar as of 1856. Tiflis, 1855. Section 3, p. 365]
[Map of the Elizavetpol Governorate with indication of rural societies and distribution of population by religion. 1888]
[Administrative and territorial division of the USSR (Districts and cities) 1931, p. 228]

In 1813, according to the Treaty of Gulistan, the Karabakh Khanate (including Kalbajar) became a part of the Russian Empire.

In 1835, the Karabakh province (including Kalbajar) became a part of the Muslim provinces of Transcaucasia of the Russian Empire.
[E. Veidenbaum A Guide to the Caucasus. Tiflis, 1888., p. 146]
[O. Evetsky. Statistical description of the Transcaucasian region.  St. Petersburg, 1835., p. 24]

In 1840, the Karabakh province (including Kalbajar) was included in the newly formed Caspian region, all magals were renamed into districts, and provinces were renamed into uyezds.  Consequently, the Karabakh province was renamed to Karabakh Uyezd.
[The Caucasian calendar as of 1871. Tiflis, 1870.  Section 2. Historical overview of the Baku  governorate, pp. 44-45]

In 1846, Karabakh Uyezd, which included Kalbajar, was renamed to Shusha Uyezd.
[The Caucasian calendar as of 1868. Tiflis, 1868.  Section 3. The Historical overview of civil institutions of the Caucasus and the Transcaucasian region., p. 398]

In 1855, Kalbajar was indicated as the Kalbajar resettlement as part of Karachorli minbashestvo, the Zangezur region of Shusha Uyezd.
[The Caucasian calendar for 1856. Tiflis, 1855. Section 3, p. 365]

In 1868, Shusha Uyezd (including Kalbajar) became part of the Elizavetpol Governorate.

In 1873, Kalbajar was incorporated into the newly formed Javanshir Uyezd of the Elizavetpol Governorate.
[A.  Sh. Milman. The political system of Azerbaijan in the XIX – early XX centuries. (administrative apparatus and court, forms and methods of colonial administration). 1966., p. 157]
[Map of the Elisavetpol Governorate with indication of rural societies and distribution of population by religion. 1888]
[The list of the populated places in Azerbaijan. The publication of Namcomprod. Based on the agricultural censuses of 1917 and 1921.  Baku, 1922, p. 32]

During the years of the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920), the village of Kalbajar was a part of the Javanshir Uyezd of the Ganja Governorate.
[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920). Legislative acts (documents and materials) of 1998, // Law on the establishment of the post of inspector of the publiс schools in Shusha, the Zangezur, the Javanshir and the Jabrayil Uyezds. No 111., p. 157]

In 1919-1920, the village of Kalbajar was included in the Karabakh Governorate-General.
[Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (1918-1920). Legislative acts (Collection of documents) 1998, // p. 389]

On the map available in the first volume of the “Great Soviet Encyclopedia” of 1926, Kalbajar is indicated as Kalbadjan and in the book of the Russian historian V.M.Sysoev “Azerbaijan in the first volume of the “Great Soviet Encyclopedia” of 1927,  Kalbajar is referred to as Kalbadj.
[The Great Soviet Encyclopedia.Volume 1.1926]
[“Azerbaijan in the first volume of the Great Soviet Encyclopedia” 1927, p. 294]

During 1926-1929, Kalbajar was designated as part of Kurdistan Uyezd.

In 1926, Kalbajar was indicated as part of the Kalbajar region, and in 1929 it became a part of the Kalbajar dayr (presumably the district, region) of Kurdistan Uyezd.
[Territorial and administrative division of the USSR as of January 1, 1926, 1926, p.191]
[Administrative and territorial division of the USSR and the list of the most important settlements with a chronological list of resolutions on changing the borders of provinces, regions and republics from 1917 to 1929, 1929, p. 115]
[All-Union Census of the population, which was held in 1926. Schematic map of the administrative division of the Transcaucasian SFSR (TSFSR) as of January 1, 1927, Volume XIV. 1929]

In 1930, Kalbajar was designated as part of the Kalbajar district of the Kurdistan region.
[T.F.  Aristova.  Kurds of Transcaucasia (historical and ethnographic essay). 1966, p. 40]

In accordance with the resolution “On the liquidation of Okrugs” of the Central Executive Committee and the Council of People’s Commissars of the USSR of July 23, 1930, and pursuant to the eponymous resolution of the Central Executive Committee and the CPC (Council of People’s Commissars) of the Azerbaijani SSR of August 8, 1930, the Kurdistan Okrug was abolished. In the same year, the Kalbajar district with the center in the village of Kalbajar was withdrawn from it.
[The history of the state and law of the Azerbaijan SSR. (1920-1934) 1973, p. 412]
[Azerbaijan SSR. Administrative and territorial division as of January 1, 1977.1979 p. 7]
[Administrative and territorial division of the USSR.  10th edition.  According to the data received on November 15, 1930, 1930, p. 51]

On February 21, 1960, Kalbajar received the status of an urban-type settlement.
[The Azerbaijani SSR. Administrative and territorial division as of January 1, 1977.1979 p. 11]

In 1980, Kalbajar was given the status of a city.
[The USSR: Administrative division of the Union Republics as of 1 January 1983. 1983, p. 458]

Following the independence of Azerbaijan, in 1991, the Kalbajar district retained its administrative and territorial status with its centre in the city of Kalbajar.

On March 27-April 5, 1993, the Kalbajar district was occupied by Armenian armed formations.
[Thomas de Waal. Black Garden. Armenia and Azerbaijan through Peace and War. 2003, p. 385]