Armenia

Country Briefs: The foremost name of Armenia was Hayq. Hayq was later translated to Hayastan or the land of Haik. According to many people Haik was a great-grandson of Noah and the forefather of all Armenians. Armenia got its name by its neighboring states. They named it so because Armenia was the strongest tribe living in the historic Armenian lands who named themselves Armens.

In 190 BC Armenia was established as a Hellenistic state under Alexander the Great. During this time Armenia was one of the most powerful states in the Roman east. It was extended to parts of Caucasus, eastern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. In 66 BC Armenia came under the domination of Romans.

Romans fought against the Parthians for domination over Armenia. The treasonous son of Tigranes led the Partians in the war. Tigranes had joined his father’s enemy after marrying the Parthian princess. After the offensive expedition of Romans under Pompey the Great, Tigranes was made to sing a peace treaty that yielded several lands to Rome.

In 252 BC the Sassanid Persians occupied Armenia and held it until the Romans returned in 287 BC. In 384 BC Armenia was divided into Eat and West Armenia. The Romans ruled the western Armenia while the eastern part remained under Persia till 428 BC.

In AD 301 Armenia adopted Christianity. Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. During that time was the famous Armenian Apostolic Church was established. This church exists independent of catholic and eastern orthodox churches. At present it is a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion.

In 591, the great Byzantine warrior emperor Maurice overpowered the Persians and occupied much of Armenian territory.

In 645 Armenia came under the rule of Caliphs, when the Muslim Arab armies of the Caliphate attacked the country.

In 1071 Seljuk Turks attacked the Byzantines and captured the Byzantine province of Greater Armenia. This brought an end to the Christian leadership of Armenia for the next millennium.

Over the years from 4^th to 19^th century Armenia was variously conquered and ruled by the Romans, Greeks, Persians, Byzantines, Mongols, Arabs, Ottoman Turks and Russians. Amongst these perhaps the most wicked were the Ottoman Turks who ruled in the 17^th century and through the First World War. Turks gave rise to and encouraged discrimination, religious persecution, heavy taxation, and armed attacks. Turks also massacred numerous Armenians when the latter revolted against them. A paradigm instance of the atrocious massacre was the deportation of the Armenian men and women to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia by the Turks in April 1915. As a result of this many around 1.5 million Armenian died of starvation or were murdered. This Armenian massacre is termed as first genocide in 20^th century.

Turkey was defeated in the First World War and so the independent Republic of Armenia was established on may 28, 1918. But this republic did not last long as soon i.e. on November 29, 1920, the Soviet Army annexed the state. On March 12, 1922 the Soviets joined Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan to form the Transcaucasian Soviet Socialist Republic which became part of USSR. In 1936 after reorganization Armenia became a separate constituent republic of USSR. Since 1988 Armenia is involved in a dispute with Azerbaijan regarding the domination over the Nagorno- Karabagh. Many Armenians also died in the disastrous earthquake in 1988.

Armenia was declared independent on September 23, 1991 after the downfall of the soviet rule. In the years that followed Armenia and Azerbaijan reached a cease-fire agreement in 1994. As a result of this agreement the Armenian forces held not only the Nagorno- Karabagh but also a significant portion of Azerbaijan proper.

Due to the Armenian Diaspora throughout history, Armenians are scattered everywhere on the globe. US and Russia particularly have large number of Armenians.

At present this county located in the Southwestern Asia or to the East of turkey, Armenia, has made remarkable progress in every aspect. The population of America has gradually augmented and has reached around 2,982,904.

The Armenian Highland with mountains, the forestland, swift rivers and beautiful lakes especially the Sevana Lich (Lake Sevan) which is the largest lake in this mountain region, are timeless tourist attractions of Armenia.

Armenia Provinces

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