During Classical Antiquity, the town was known as Arsissa, and Archesh in Armenian and Arjish in Arabic. The Byzantines knew it as Arzes and the 10th-century emperor Constantine VII Porphyrogennetos wrote in his De administrando imperio (Chapter XLIV) that it was under the rule of the Kaysite emirate of Manzikert.

This small district served as the capital city of a number of ruling states. It was the main center of the province of Turuberan as part of the ancient Kingdom of Armenia. The city changed hands on several occasions between the Arabs and the Byzantines, in the early Middle Ages. From the mid 1020s onwards Archesh was governed by the Byzantines. In 1054, it was captured and sacked by the Seljuk Turks commanded by Tugrul after an eight-day siege. It was fortified in the early 14th century by the Ilkhanid vizier Ali Shah. Archesh became part of the Qara Qoyunlu state and later became a part of the Ottoman Empire.

From 18th century, because of the increase of level of Lake Van the old town (called Archesh) slowly disappeared. By the second half of the 19th century few traces of the buildings, churches and dwelling houses remained. After old Archesh/Ercis was flooded by water, the city was moved to north to a much higher place called Alada in 1841. There the new town was built called Akants, New Artchesh in Armenian and Ercis. In 1890 64% of the population of the district was Armenian.

The Armenian population was wiped out during the Armenian genocide of 1915. That same year Russian forces captured the city during the Caucasus Campaign. They were replaced by makeshift Armenian forces after December 1917. These were eventually driven out by the Ottomans on April 1, 1918.

In July 1930 in Erciş occurred the Zilan Massacre in which the Turkish army massacred thousands of Kurds.

The city was shaken by a major earthquake on 23 October 2011.