Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the Biblical mountains of Ararat, upon which Noah's Ark came to rest after the Great Flood.
Recent archaeological studies have found the earliest leather shoe, skirt and wine-producing facility in Armenia, dated to about 4000 B.C. The shoe and wine making facility was found in the same cave.
Yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by King Argishti I of Urartu. It is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.
"Armenians" were first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus (476 BC). Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians.
Recent archaeological studies have found the earliest leather shoe, skirt and wine-producing facility in Armenia, dated to about 4000 B.C. The shoe and wine making facility was found in the same cave.
Yerevan, the modern capital of Armenia, was founded in 782 BC by King Argishti I of Urartu. It is one of the world's oldest continuously inhabited cities.
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| Yeerevah. By Սէրուժ Ուրիշեան (Serouj Ourishian) |
"Armenians" were first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus (476 BC). Xenophon, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians.
According to tradition, the Armenian Church was founded by two of Jesus' twelve apostles – Thaddaeus and Bartholomew – who preached Christianity in Armenia between AD 40–60
Through the apostolic work of Gregory the Illuminator, Tiridates III, the King of Armenia (AD 238–314) became the first state leader to convert to Christianity. Members of his court became Christians as well and Armenia was the first country to recognize Christianity as it’s official religion in 301 AD.
Across the country, idols were destroyed, pagan temples cleansed and then consecrated as churches, and thousands of people were baptized. However, after a decade as a Christian nation, the Armenians lost their long-term protector, the Roman empire, when in 311 the Romans went to war against the Armenians because of their new Christian identity.
Armenians have their own distinctive alphabet and language. The alphabet was invented in AD 405 by Saint Mesrob Mashtots and consists of thirty-eight letters, two of which were added during the Cilician period.
An earthquake destroyed the city of Dvin in 893 resulting in about 30,000 casualties. Most of its buildings were destroyed, including its defensive walls, the palace of the catholicos and all the other monumental buildings; just 100 houses were left standing.
Between 1915–16 up to 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or deported by the Turks. These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on April 24th, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is a public holiday in Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. It commemorates the deportation of Armenian intellectuals on April 24, 1915 from Constantinople (current Istanbul, Turkey).
Armenian forces defeated Ottoman troops at the Battle of Sardarabad on May 29, 1918. In doing so, they not only stopped the Turkish invasion but also prevented the complete destruction of the Armenian nation.
Talaat Pasha, mastermind of Armenian Genocide, was assassinated by Armenian revolutionary and genocide survivor Soghomon Tehlirian on March 15, 1921. Despite the assassination occurring in broad daylight, and with Soghomon Tehlirian pleading guilty, the assassin was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity. Soghomon Tehlirian is a national hero in Armenia.
During Joseph Stalin's Great Purge in the 1930s, thousands of Armenians were deported or executed.
Adolf Hitler gave a speech to military officers a week before the German invasion of Poland with the line "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" regarding the plan for his genocide of the Poles.
"Mer Hayrenik", the national anthem of the First Republic of Armenia, became a protest song when it was banned during the Soviet era.
An earthquake struck the Spitak region of Armenia on December 7, 1988. The quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, devastated the country killing more than 25,000, injuring 30,000 and leaving 500,000 homeless out of a population of 3,500,000.
The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolor, was adopted on August 24, 1990. The orange on the Armenian flag is the color of apricots, which are a national symbol.
In a referendum held on September 21, 1991, shortly after the failed anti-Gorbachev coup in Moscow, 94% of Armenians voted for secession from the USSR.
Through the apostolic work of Gregory the Illuminator, Tiridates III, the King of Armenia (AD 238–314) became the first state leader to convert to Christianity. Members of his court became Christians as well and Armenia was the first country to recognize Christianity as it’s official religion in 301 AD.
Across the country, idols were destroyed, pagan temples cleansed and then consecrated as churches, and thousands of people were baptized. However, after a decade as a Christian nation, the Armenians lost their long-term protector, the Roman empire, when in 311 the Romans went to war against the Armenians because of their new Christian identity.
Armenians have their own distinctive alphabet and language. The alphabet was invented in AD 405 by Saint Mesrob Mashtots and consists of thirty-eight letters, two of which were added during the Cilician period.
An earthquake destroyed the city of Dvin in 893 resulting in about 30,000 casualties. Most of its buildings were destroyed, including its defensive walls, the palace of the catholicos and all the other monumental buildings; just 100 houses were left standing.
Between 1915–16 up to 1.5 million Armenians were massacred or deported by the Turks. These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on April 24th, Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day
Armenian Genocide Remembrance Day is a public holiday in Armenia and the Republic of Artsakh. It commemorates the deportation of Armenian intellectuals on April 24, 1915 from Constantinople (current Istanbul, Turkey).
Armenian forces defeated Ottoman troops at the Battle of Sardarabad on May 29, 1918. In doing so, they not only stopped the Turkish invasion but also prevented the complete destruction of the Armenian nation.
 |
| The Sardarapat Memorial near the Turkish border in Armenia. By Սէրուժ Ուրիշեան (Serouj Ourishian) |
Talaat Pasha, mastermind of Armenian Genocide, was assassinated by Armenian revolutionary and genocide survivor Soghomon Tehlirian on March 15, 1921. Despite the assassination occurring in broad daylight, and with Soghomon Tehlirian pleading guilty, the assassin was acquitted by reason of temporary insanity. Soghomon Tehlirian is a national hero in Armenia.
During Joseph Stalin's Great Purge in the 1930s, thousands of Armenians were deported or executed.
Adolf Hitler gave a speech to military officers a week before the German invasion of Poland with the line "Who, after all, speaks today of the annihilation of the Armenians?" regarding the plan for his genocide of the Poles.
"Mer Hayrenik", the national anthem of the First Republic of Armenia, became a protest song when it was banned during the Soviet era.
An earthquake struck the Spitak region of Armenia on December 7, 1988. The quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, devastated the country killing more than 25,000, injuring 30,000 and leaving 500,000 homeless out of a population of 3,500,000.
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| Severely damaged masonry buildings in Spitak |
The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolor, was adopted on August 24, 1990. The orange on the Armenian flag is the color of apricots, which are a national symbol.
In a referendum held on September 21, 1991, shortly after the failed anti-Gorbachev coup in Moscow, 94% of Armenians voted for secession from the USSR.
The Independence Day of Armenia, the main state holiday in Armenia is celebrated on September 21.
Following their secession from the USSR, Armenia continued to be ruled and abused by former communists. They looted the rich natural and nuclear resources of Armenia, investing their illegally gotten gains outside the country in Russia and in the West - leaving the people impoverished.
Under the Soviet Union, the mountainous territory of Nagorno-Karabakh, with its fourth century churches and monasteries and its history as an important center of Armenian culture, was made a part of Muslim majority Azerbaijan.
The predominantly Armenian population of Nagorno-Karabakh declared independence in 1992 and a war erupted with Azerbaijan, who saw this as a violation of its borders. The Armenian forces drove out the Azeri army amid a bloody conflict that saw massive internal displacement of Armenians. The conflict ended with a ceasefire in 1994 with the enclave of Nagorno-Karabakh remaining under Armenian control.
In April 2011 a 75-year-old woman deprived the whole of Armenia of its internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade.
A constitutional referendum was held in Armenia on 6 December 2015, proposing changing the Armenia's constitution from a semi-presidential system to a parliamentary republic. The referendum was passed with 66.2% of voters supporting it.
In April 2011 a 75-year-old woman deprived the whole of Armenia of its internet access when she sliced through a buried cable with her garden spade.
A constitutional referendum was held in Armenia on 6 December 2015, proposing changing the Armenia's constitution from a semi-presidential system to a parliamentary republic. The referendum was passed with 66.2% of voters supporting it.
In 2018 Nikol Pashinyan was elected Prime Minister of Armenia, a man of very simple personal lifestyle. He began immediately to fulfil his election pledge to root out the corruption that was destroying the country.
In September 2020 Azari forces attacked Nagorno-Karabakh, which was defended by Armenian troops. Far better armed than their opponents, the Azeris took much of a territory and after six weeks the Armenians had to accept a ceasefire and a Russian-brokered deal which allowed Azerbaijan to keep all the territory it had gained. Thousands of people were killed on each side and 90,000 Armenians were displaced. The significant involvement of Israel and Turkey, who provided advanced armaments and military support to Azerbaijan, stoked real concerns of a regional war erupting.
When Nikol Pashinyan signed the peace agreement with Azerbaijan after they seized Nagorno-Karabakh, many regarded it as a betrayal of the national interests. The Prime Minister stood down in acknowledgement of this. He was returned to office in elections that followed.
Azerbaijan launched a large-scale military offensive against Nagorno-Karabakh on September 19, 2023. This was a significant escalation of the ongoing conflict in the region and was widely condemned by the international community. The offensive was seen as a violation of the ceasefire agreement that ended the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.
Azerbajan's invasion displaced almost the entire population - 120,000 hungry and traumatised Armenians. They had to flee their beloved homeland, which was a land filled with ancient churches and vibrant Christian faith, leaving behind practically everything they owned.
Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, Armenia is considered a European country by the European Union.
Zorats Karer, the Armenian Stonehenge, includes 223 stones, some weighing up to ten tons.
Playing musical instruments or singing loudly at night is a public order offence in Armenia.
Chess has been a compulsory subject in Armenian schools since 2011.
Sources Wikipedia, Daily Express, Hutchinson Encyclopedia © RM 2011. Helicon Publishing is division of RM.
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