![\"Armenia](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenia-on-the-Globe-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
Armenia is a unitary, multi-party, democratic nation-state with an ancient cultural heritage. Urartu<\/a> was established in 860 BC and by the 6th century BC it was replaced by the Satrapy of Armenia<\/a>. The Kingdom of Armenia<\/a> reached its height under Tigranes the Great<\/a> in the 1st century BC and became the first state in the world to adopt Christianity as its official religion in the late 3rd or early 4th century AD. The official date of state adoption of Christianity is 301. The ancient Armenian kingdom was split between the Byzantine<\/a> and Sasanian Empires<\/a> around the early 5th century. Under the Bagratuni<\/a> dynasty, the Bagratid Kingdom of Armenia<\/a> was restored in the 9th century. Declining due to the wars against the Byzantines, the kingdom fell in 1045 and Armenia was soon after invaded by the Seljuk Turks<\/a>. An Armenian principality and later a kingdom Cilician Armenia<\/a> was located on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea<\/a> between the 11th and 14th centuries.<\/p>\n Between the 16th and 19th centuries, the traditional Armenian homeland composed of Eastern Armenia<\/a> and Western Armenia<\/a> came under the rule of the Ottoman and Iranian empire<\/a>s, repeatedly ruled by either of the two over the centuries. By the 19th century, Eastern Armenia had been conquered by the Russian Empire<\/a>, while most of the western parts of the traditional Armenian homeland remained under Ottoman rule. During World War I<\/a>, Armenians living in their ancestral lands in the Ottoman Empire were systematically exterminated in the Armenian Genocide<\/a>. In 1918, following the Russian Revolution<\/a>, all non-Russian countries declared their independence after the Russian Empire ceased to exist, leading to the establishment of the First Republic of Armenia.<\/a> By 1920, the state was incorporated into the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic<\/a>, and in 1922 became a founding member of the Soviet Union<\/a>. In 1936, the Transcaucasian state was dissolved, transforming its constituent states, including the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic<\/a>, into full Union republic<\/a>s. The modern Republic of Armenia became independent in 1991 during the dissolution of the Soviet Union<\/a>.<\/p>\n Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church<\/a>, the world’s oldest national church, as the country’s primary religious establishment. The unique Armenian alphabet<\/a> was invented by Mesrop Mashtots<\/a> in 405 AD.<\/p>\n Armenia is a member of the Eurasian Economic Union<\/a>, the Council of Europe<\/a> and the Collective Security Treaty Organization<\/a>. Armenia supports the de facto independent Artsakh<\/a>, which was proclaimed in 1991.<\/p>\n The original native Armenian<\/a> name for the country was \u0540\u0561\u0575\u0584 (Hayk\u2019), however it is currently rarely used. The contemporary name \u0540\u0561\u0575\u0561\u057d\u057f\u0561\u0576 (Hayastan) became popular in the Middle Ages<\/a> by addition of the Persian suffix -stan (place). However the origins of the name Hayastan trace back to much earlier dates and were first attested in circa 5th century in the works of Agathangelos<\/a>, Faustus of Byzantium<\/a>, Ghazar Parpetsi<\/a>, Koryun<\/a>, and Sebeos<\/a>.<\/p>\n The name has traditionally been derived from Hayk (\u0540\u0561\u0575\u056f), the legendary patriarch of the Armenians and a great-great-grandson of Noah<\/a>, who, according to the 5th-century AD author Moses of Chorene<\/a>, defeated the Babylonian king Bel<\/a> in 2492 BC and established his nation in the Ararat region. The further origin of the name is uncertain. It is also further postulated that the name Hay comes from one of the two confederated, Hittite vassal states\u2014the \u1e2aaya\u0161a-Azzi<\/a> (1600\u20131200 BC).<\/p>\n The exonym<\/a> Armenia is attested in the Old Persian<\/a> Behistun Inscription<\/a> (515 BC) as Armina. The Ancient Greek<\/a> terms \u1f08\u03c1\u03bc\u03b5\u03bd\u03af\u03b1 (Armen\u00eda) and \u1f08\u03c1\u03bc\u03ad\u03bd\u03b9\u03bf\u03b9 (Arm\u00e9nioi, “Armenians”) are first mentioned by Hecataeus of Miletus<\/a> (c. 550 BC \u2013 c. 476 BC). Xenophon<\/a>, a Greek general serving in some of the Persian expeditions, describes many aspects of Armenian village life and hospitality in around 401 BC. He relates that the people spoke a language that to his ear sounded like the language of the Persians<\/a>. According to the histories of both Moses of Chorene and Michael Chamchian, Armenia derives from the name of Aram, a lineal descendant of Hayk. The Table of Nations<\/a> lists Aram as the son of Shem<\/a>, to whom the Book of Jubilees<\/a> attests,<\/p>\n “And for Aram there came forth the fourth portion, all the land of Mesopotamia between the Tigris<\/a> and the Euphrates<\/a> to the north of the Chaldees<\/a> to the border of the mountains of Asshur and the land of ‘Arara.”<\/p>\n Jubilees 8:21 also apportions the Mountains of Ararat to Shem, which Jubilees 9:5 expounds to be apportioned to Aram. The historian Flavius Josephus also states in his Antiquities of the Jews<\/a>,<\/p>\n “Aram had the Aramites, which the Greeks called Syrians<\/a>;… Of the four sons of Aram, Uz founded Trachonitis<\/a> and Damascus<\/a>: this country lies between Palestine<\/a> and Celesyria<\/a>. Ul founded Armenia; and Gather the Bactrians<\/a>; and Mesa the Mesaneans; it is now called Charax Spasini<\/a>.”<\/p>\n Armenia lies in the highlands surrounding the mountains of Ararat<\/a>. There is evidence of an early civilisation in Armenia in the Bronze Age<\/a> and earlier, dating to about 4000 BC. Archaeological surveys in 2010 and 2011 at the Areni-1 cave complex<\/a> have resulted in the discovery of the world’s earliest known leather shoe<\/a>, skirt, and wine-producing facility.<\/a><\/p>\n According to the story of Hayk<\/a>, the legendary founder of Armenia, around 2107 BC Hayk fought against Belus<\/a>, the Babylonian God of War, at \u00c7avu\u015ftepe<\/a> along the Engil river to establish the very first Armenian state. Historically, this event coincides with the destruction of Akkad<\/a> by the Gutian dynasty of Sumer<\/a> in 2115 BC, a time when Hayk may have left with the \u201cmore than 300 members of his household\u201d as told in the legend, and also during the beginning of when a Mesopotamian Dark Age was occurring due to the fall of the Akkadian Empire in 2154 BC which may have acted as a backdrop for the events in the legend making him leave Mesopotamia.<\/p>\n Several Bronze Age states flourished in the area of Greater Armenia, including the Hittites<\/a> (at the height of their power), Mitanni<\/a> (southwestern historical Armenia), and Hayasa-Azzi (1500\u20131200 BC). The Nairi<\/a> people (12th to 9th centuries BC) and Urartu (1000\u2013600 BC) successively established their sovereignty over the Armenian Highlands. Each of the aforementioned nations and tribes participated in the ethnogenesis of the Armenians. A large cuneiform lapidary inscription found in Yerevan<\/a> established that the modern capital of Armenia was founded in the summer of 782 BC by King Argishti I<\/a>. Yerevan is the world’s oldest city to have documented the exact date of its foundation.<\/p>\n During the late 6th century BC, the first geographical entity that was called Armenia by neighboring populations was established under the Orontid Dynasty<\/a> within the Achaemenid Empire<\/a>, as part of the latters’ territories. The kingdom became fully sovereign from the sphere of influence of the Seleucid Empire<\/a> in 190 BC under King Artaxias I<\/a> and begun the rule of the Artaxiad dynasty<\/a>. Armenia reached its height between 95 and 66 BC under Tigranes the Great, becoming the most powerful kingdom of its time east of the Roman Republic<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the next centuries, Armenia was in the Persian Empire’s sphere of influence during the reign of Tiridates I, the founder of the Arsacid<\/a> dynasty of Armenia, which itself was a branch of the Parthian Empire. Throughout its history, the kingdom of Armenia enjoyed both periods of independence and periods of autonomy subject to contemporary empires. Its strategic location between two continents has subjected it to invasions by many peoples, including Assyria (under Ashurbanipal<\/a>, at around 669\u2013627 BC, the boundaries of Assyria<\/a> reached as far as Armenia and the Caucasus Mountains<\/a>), Medes, Achaemenid Empire, Greeks, Parthians, Romans, Sasanian Empire, Byzantine Empire, Arabs, Seljuk Empire, Mongols, Ottoman Empire, the successive Safavid<\/a>, Afsharid<\/a>, and Qajar<\/a> dynasties of Iran, and the Russians.<\/p>\n Religion in ancient Armenia was historically related to a set of beliefs that, in Persia, led to the emergence of Zoroastrianism<\/a>. It particularly focused on the worship of Mithra<\/a> and also included a pantheon of gods such as Aramazd<\/a>, Vahagn<\/a>, Anahit<\/a>, and Astghik<\/a>. The country used the solar Armenian calendar<\/a>, which consisted of 12 months.<\/p>\n Christianity spread into the country as early as AD 40. Tiridates III<\/a> of Armenia (238\u2013314) made Christianity the state religion in 301, partly, in defiance of the Sasanian Empire, it seems, becoming the first officially Christian state, ten years before the Roman Empire granted Christianity an official toleration under Galerius<\/a>, and 36 years before Constantine the Great<\/a> was baptized. Prior to this, during the latter part of the Parthian period, Armenia was a predominantly Zoroastrian country.<\/p>\n After the fall of the Kingdom of Armenia in 428, most of Armenia was incorporated as a marzpanate within the Sasanian Empire<\/a>. Following the Battle of Avarayr<\/a> in 451, Christian Armenians maintained their religion and Armenia gained autonomy.<\/p>\n After the Sasanian period (428\u2013636), Armenia emerged as Arminiya<\/a>, an autonomous principality under the Umayyad Caliphate<\/a>, reuniting Armenian lands previously taken by the Byzantine Empire as well. The principality was ruled by the Prince of Armenia, and recognised by the Caliph<\/a> and the Byzantine Emperor. It was part of the administrative division\/emirate Arminiya created by the Arabs, which also included parts of Georgia and Caucasian Albania<\/a>, and had its centre in the Armenian city, Dvin<\/a>. Arminiya lasted until 884, when it regained its independence from the weakened Abbasid Caliphate<\/a> under Ashot I<\/a> of Armenia.<\/p>\n The reemergent Armenian kingdom was ruled by the Bagratuni<\/a> dynasty and lasted until 1045. In time, several areas of the Bagratid Armenia separated as independent kingdoms and principalities such as the Kingdom of Vaspurakan<\/a> ruled by the House of Artsruni<\/a> in the south, Kingdom of Syunik<\/a> in the east, or Kingdom of Artsakh<\/a> on the territory of modern Nagorno-Karabakh<\/a>, while still recognising the supremacy of the Bagratid kings.<\/p>\n In 1045, the Byzantine Empire conquered Bagratid Armenia. Soon, the other Armenian states fell under Byzantine control as well. The Byzantine rule was short lived, as in 1071 the Seljuk Empire defeated the Byzantines and conquered Armenia at the Battle of Manzikert<\/a>, establishing the Seljuk Empire. To escape death or servitude at the hands of those who had assassinated his relative, Gagik II<\/a> of Armenia, King of Ani, an Armenian named Ruben I, Prince of Armenia<\/a>, went with some of his countrymen into the gorges of the Taurus Mountains<\/a> and then into Tarsus<\/a> of Cilicia<\/a>. The Byzantine governor of the palace gave them shelter where the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia was eventually established on 6 January 1198 under Leo I, King of Armenia<\/a>, a descendant of Prince Ruben.<\/p>\n Cilicia was a strong ally of the European Crusaders<\/a>, and saw itself as a bastion of Christendom in the East. Cilicia’s significance in Armenian history and statehood is also attested by the transfer of the seat of the Catholicos of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the spiritual leader of the Armenian people, to the region.<\/p>\n The Seljuk Empire soon started to collapse. In the early 12th century, Armenian princes of the Zakarid<\/a> family drove out the Seljuk Turks and established a semi-independent principality in northern and eastern Armenia known as Zakarid Armenia, which lasted under the patronage of the Georgian Kingdom<\/a>. The Orbelian Dynasty<\/a> shared control with the Zakarids in various parts of the country, especially in Syunik and Vayots Dzor<\/a>, while the House of Hasan-Jalalyan<\/a> controlled provinces of Artsakh<\/a> and Utik<\/a> as the Kingdom of Artsakh.<\/p>\n During the 1230s, the Mongol Empire<\/a> conquered Zakarid Armenia and then the remainder of Armenia. The Mongolian invasions were soon followed by those of other Central Asian tribes, such as the Kara Koyunlu<\/a>, Timurid<\/a> dynasty and A\u011f Qoyunlu<\/a>, which continued from the 13th century until the 15th century. After incessant invasions, each bringing destruction to the country, with time Armenia became weakened.<\/p>\n In the 16th century, the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid dynasty of Iran divided Armenia. From the early 16th century, both Western Armenia and Eastern Armenia fell to the Safavid Empire. Owing to the century long Turco-Iranian geopolitical rivalry that would last in Western Asia, significant parts of the region were frequently fought over between the two rivalling empires. From the mid 16th century with the Peace of Amasya<\/a>, and decisively from the first half of the 17th century with the Treaty of Zuhab<\/a> until the first half of the 19th century, Eastern Armenia was ruled by the successive Safavid, Afsharid and Qajar empires, while Western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule.<\/p>\n From 1604, Abbas I of Iran<\/a> implemented a “scorched earth” policy in the region to protect his north-western frontier against any invading Ottoman forces, a policy that involved a forced resettlement of masses of Armenians outside of their homelands.<\/p>\n In the 1813 Treaty of Gulistan<\/a> and the 1828 Treaty of Turkmenchay<\/a>, following the Russo-Persian War (1804\u201313)<\/a> and the Russo-Persian War (1826\u201328)<\/a>, respectively, the Qajar dynasty of Iran was forced to irrevocably cede Eastern Armenia, consisting of the Erivan<\/a> and Karabakh Khanates<\/a>, to Imperial Russia.<\/p>\n While Western Armenia still remained under Ottoman rule, the Armenians were granted considerable autonomy within their own enclaves and lived in relative harmony with other groups in the empire (including the ruling Turks). However, as Christians under a strict Muslim social structure, Armenians faced pervasive discrimination. When they began pushing for more rights within the Ottoman Empire, Sultan Abdul Hamid II<\/a>, in response, organised state-sponsored massacres against the Armenians between 1894 and 1896, resulting in an estimated death toll of 80,000 to 300,000 people. The Hamidian massacres<\/a>, as they came to be known, gave Hamid international infamy as the “Red Sultan” or “Bloody Sultan”. This period is known as Russian Armenia<\/a>.<\/p>\n During the 1890s, the Armenian Revolutionary Federation<\/a>, commonly known as Dashnaktsutyun, became active within the Ottoman Empire with the aim of unifying the various small groups in the empire that were advocating for reform and defending Armenian villages from massacres that were widespread in some of the Armenian-populated areas of the empire. Dashnaktsutyun members also formed Armenian fedayi groups that defended Armenian civilians through armed resistance. The Dashnaks also worked for the wider goal of creating a “free, independent and unified” Armenia, although they sometimes set aside this goal in favour of a more realistic approach, such as advocating autonomy.<\/p>\n The Ottoman Empire began to collapse, and in 1908, the Young Turk Revolution<\/a> overthrew the government of Sultan Hamid. In April 1909, the Adana massacre<\/a> occurred in the Adana Vilayet<\/a> of the Ottoman Empire resulting in the deaths of as many as 20,000\u201330,000 Armenians. The Armenians living in the empire hoped that the Committee of Union and Progress<\/a> would change their second-class status. The Armenian reform package (1914)<\/a> was presented as a solution by appointing an inspector general over Armenian issues.<\/p>\n The outbreak of World War I led to confrontation between the Ottoman Empire and the Russian Empire in the Caucasus<\/a> and Persian Campaigns<\/a>. The new government in Istanbul<\/a> began to look on the Armenians with distrust and suspicion, because the Imperial Russian Army<\/a> contained a contingent of Armenian volunteers<\/a>. On 24 April 1915, Armenian intellectuals<\/a> were arrested by Ottoman authorities and, with the Tehcir Law<\/a> (29 May 1915), eventually a large proportion of Armenians living in Anatolia<\/a> perished in what has become known as the Armenian Genocide<\/a>.<\/p>\n The genocide was implemented in two phases: the wholesale killing of the able-bodied male population through massacre and subjection of army conscripts to forced labor, followed by the deportation of women, children, the elderly and infirm on death marches<\/a> leading to the Syrian desert<\/a>. Driven forward by military escorts, the deportees were deprived of food and water and subjected to periodic robbery, rape, and massacre. There was local Armenian resistance<\/a> in the region, developed against the activities of the Ottoman Empire. The events of 1915 to 1917 are regarded by Armenians and the vast majority of Western historians to have been state-sponsored mass killings, or genocide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Turkish authorities deny the genocide took place to this day. The Armenian Genocide is acknowledged to have been one of the first modern genocides. According to the research conducted by Arnold J. Toynbee<\/a>, an estimated 600,000 Armenians died during deportation from 1915\u201316. This figure, however, accounts for solely the first year of the Genocide and does not take into account those who died or were killed after the report was compiled on 24 May 1916. The International Association of Genocide Scholars<\/a> places the death toll at “more than a million”. The total number of people killed has been most widely estimated at between 1 and 1.5 million.<\/p>\n Armenia and the Armenian diaspora have been campaigning for official recognition<\/a> of the events as genocide for over 30 years. These events are traditionally commemorated yearly on 24 April, the Armenian Martyr Day, or the Day of the Armenian Genocide.<\/p>\n Although the Russian Caucasus Army<\/a> of Imperial forces commanded by Nikolai Yudenich<\/a> and Armenians in volunteer units and Armenian militia led by Andranik Ozanian<\/a> and Tovmas Nazarbekian<\/a> succeeded in gaining most of Ottoman Armenia during World War I, their gains were lost with the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917<\/a>. At the time, Russian-controlled Eastern Armenia, Georgia, and Azerbaijan attempted to bond together in the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic.<\/a> This federation, however, lasted from only February to May 1918, when all three parties decided to dissolve it. As a result, the Dashnaktsutyun government of Eastern Armenia declared its independence on 28 May as the First Republic of Armenia under the leadership of Aram Manukian.<\/a><\/p>\n The First Republic’s short-lived independence was fraught with war, territorial disputes, and a mass influx of refugees from Ottoman Armenia, bringing with them disease and starvation. The Entente Powers<\/a>, appalled by the actions of the Ottoman government, sought to help the newly founded Armenian state through relief funds and other forms of support.<\/p>\n At the end of the war, the victorious powers sought to divide up the Ottoman Empire. Signed between the Allied and Associated Powers and Ottoman Empire at S\u00e8vres<\/a> on 10 August 1920, the Treaty of S\u00e8vres<\/a> promised to maintain the existence of the Armenian republic and to attach the former territories of Ottoman Armenia to it. Because the new borders of Armenia were to be drawn by United States President Woodrow Wilson<\/a>, Ottoman Armenia was also referred to as “Wilsonian Armenia<\/a>“. In addition, just days prior, on 5 August 1920, Mihran Damadian<\/a> of the Armenian National Union, the de facto Armenian administration in Cilicia, declared the independence of Cilicia as an Armenian autonomous republic under French protectorate.<\/p>\n There was even consideration of making Armenia a mandate under the protection of the United States. The treaty, however, was rejected by the Turkish National Movement<\/a>, and never came into effect. The movement used the treaty as the occasion to declare itself the rightful government of Turkey, replacing the monarchy based in Istanbul with a republic based in Ankara<\/a>.<\/p>\n In 1920, Turkish nationalist forces invaded the fledgling Armenian republic from the east. Turkish forces under the command of Kaz\u0131m Karabekir<\/a> captured Armenian territories that Russia had annexed in the aftermath of the 1877\u20131878 Russo-Turkish War<\/a> and occupied the old city of Alexandropol (present-day Gyumri<\/a>). The violent conflict finally concluded with the Treaty of Alexandropol<\/a> on 2 December 1920. The treaty forced Armenia to disarm most of its military forces, cede all former Ottoman territory granted to it by the Treaty of S\u00e8vres, and to give up all the “Wilsonian Armenia” granted to it at the S\u00e8vres treaty. Simultaneously, the Soviet Eleventh Army<\/a>, under the command of Grigoriy Ordzhonikidze<\/a>, invaded Armenia at Karavansarai (present-day Ijevan<\/a>) on 29 November. By 4 December, Ordzhonikidze’s forces entered Yerevan and the short-lived Armenian republic collapsed.<\/p>\n After the fall of the republic, the February Uprising<\/a> soon took place in 1921, and led to the establishment of the Republic of Mountainous Armenia<\/a> by Armenian forces under command of Garegin Nzhdeh<\/a> on 26 April, which fought off both Soviet and Turkish intrusions in the Zangezur region of southern Armenia. After Soviet agreements to include the Syunik Province in Armenia’s borders, the rebellion ended and the Red Army took control of the region on 13 July.<\/p>\n Armenia was annexed by Bolshevist Russia<\/a> and along with Georgia and Azerbaijan, it was incorporated into the Soviet Union as part of the Transcaucasian SFSR (TSFSR)<\/a> on 4 March 1922. With this annexation, the Treaty of Alexandropol was superseded by the Turkish-Soviet Treaty of Kars<\/a>. In the agreement, Turkey allowed the Soviet Union to assume control over Adjara<\/a> with the port city of Batumi<\/a> in return for sovereignty over the cities of Kars<\/a>, Ardahan<\/a>, and I\u011fd\u0131r<\/a>, all of which were part of Russian Armenia.<\/p>\n The TSFSR existed from 1922 to 1936, when it was divided up into three separate entities (Armenian SSR, Azerbaijan SSR<\/a>, and Georgian SSR<\/a>). Armenians enjoyed a period of relative stability under Soviet rule. They received medicine, food, and other provisions from Moscow, and communist rule proved to be a soothing balm in contrast to the turbulent final years of the Ottoman Empire. The situation was difficult for the church, which struggled under Soviet rule. After the death of Vladimir Lenin<\/a>, Joseph Stalin<\/a> took the reins of power and began an era of renewed fear and terror for Armenians.<\/p>\n Armenia was not the scene of any battles in World War II<\/a>. An estimated 500,000 Armenians (nearly a third of the population) served in the military during the war, and 175,000 died.<\/p>\n Fears decreased when Stalin died in 1953 and Nikita Khruschev<\/a> emerged as the Soviet Union’s new leader. Soon, life in Soviet Armenia began to see rapid improvement. The church, which suffered greatly under Stalin, was revived when Catholicos<\/a> Vazgen I<\/a> assumed the duties of his office in 1955. In 1967, a memorial to the victims of the Armenian Genocide was built at the Tsitsernakaberd<\/a> hill above the Hrazdan<\/a> gorge in Yerevan. This occurred after mass demonstrations took place on the tragic event’s fiftieth anniversary in 1965.<\/p>\n During the Gorbachev era of the 1980s, with the reforms of Glasnost<\/a> and Perestroika<\/a>, Armenians began to demand better environmental care for their country, opposing the pollution that Soviet-built factories brought. Tensions also developed between Soviet Azerbaijan and its autonomous district of Nagorno-Karabakh, a majority-Armenian region. About 484,000 Armenians lived in Azerbaijan in 1970. The Armenians of Karabakh demanded unification with Soviet Armenia. Peaceful protests in Yerevan supporting the Karabakh Armenians were met with anti-Armenian pogroms<\/a> in the Azerbaijani city of Sumgait<\/a>. Compounding Armenia’s problems was a devastating earthquake in 1988<\/a> with a moment magnitude of 7.2.<\/p>\n Gorbachev’s inability to alleviate any of Armenia’s problems created disillusionment among the Armenians and fed a growing hunger for independence. In May 1990, the New Armenian Army<\/a> (NAA) was established, serving as a defense force separate from the Soviet Red Army<\/a>. Clashes soon broke out between the NAA and Soviet Internal Security Forces (MVD)<\/a> troops based in Yerevan when Armenians decided to commemorate the establishment of the 1918 First Republic of Armenia. The violence resulted in the deaths of five Armenians killed in a shootout with the MVD at the railway station. Witnesses there claimed that the MVD used excessive force and that they had instigated the fighting.<\/p>\n Further firefights between Armenian militiamen and Soviet troops occurred in Sovetashen<\/a>, near the capital and resulted in the deaths of over 26 people, mostly Armenians. The pogrom of Armenians in Baku<\/a> in January 1990 forced almost all of the 200,000 Armenians in the Azerbaijani capital Baku<\/a> to flee to Armenia. On 23 August 1990, Armenia declared its sovereignty on its territory. On 17 March 1991, Armenia, along with the Baltic states<\/a>, Georgia and Moldova<\/a>, boycotted a nationwide referendum<\/a> in which 78% of all voters voted for the retention of the Soviet Union in a reformed form.<\/p>\n On 21 September 1991, Armenia officially declared its independence after the failed August coup<\/a> in Moscow. Levon Ter-Petrosyan<\/a> was popularly elected the first President of the newly independent Republic of Armenia on 16 October 1991. He had risen to prominence by leading the Karabakh movement<\/a> for the unification of the Armenian-populated Nagorno-Karabakh. On 26 December 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist and Armenia’s independence was recognised.<\/p>\n Ter-Petrosyan led Armenia alongside Defense Minister Vazgen Sargsyan<\/a> through the Nagorno-Karabakh War<\/a> with neighbouring Azerbaijan. The initial post-Soviet years were marred by economic difficulties, which had their roots early in the Karabakh conflict when the Azerbaijani Popular Front<\/a> managed to pressure the Azerbaijan SSR to instigate a railway and air blockade against Armenia. This move effectively crippled Armenia’s economy as 85% of its cargo and goods arrived through rail traffic. In 1993, Turkey joined the blockade against Armenia in support of Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n The Karabakh war ended after a Russian-brokered cease-fire was put in place in 1994. The war was a success for the Karabakh Armenian forces who managed to capture 16% of Azerbaijan’s internationally recognised territory including Nagorno-Karabakh itself. Since then, Armenia and Azerbaijan have held peace talks, mediated by the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE)<\/a>. The status of Karabakh has yet to be determined. The economies of both countries have been hurt in the absence of a complete resolution and Armenia’s borders with Turkey and Azerbaijan remain closed. By the time both Azerbaijan and Armenia had finally agreed to a ceasefire in 1994, an estimated 30,000 people had been killed and over a million had been displaced.<\/p>\n As it enters the 21st century, Armenia faces many hardships. It has made a full switch to a market economy. One study ranks it the 41st most “economically free” nation in the world, as of 2014. Its relations with Europe, the Middle East, and the Commonwealth of Independent States<\/a> have allowed Armenia to increase trade. Gas, oil, and other supplies come through two vital routes: Iran and Georgia. Armenia maintains cordial relations with both countries.<\/p>\n Armenia is a landlocked country in the geopolitical Transcaucasus (South Caucasus) region, that is located in the Southern Caucasus Mountains and their lowlands between the Black Sea<\/a> and Caspian Sea<\/a>, and northeast of the Armenian Highlands<\/a>. Armenia is bordered on the north by Georgia, the east by Azerbaijan; the south by Iran; and the southwest and west by Turkey.<\/p>\n The Republic of Armenia has a territorial area of 11,484 sq miles. The terrain is mostly mountainous, with fast flowing rivers, and few forests. The land rises to 13,419 feet above sea level at Mount Aragats<\/a>, and no point is below 1,280 feet above sea level. Average elevation of the country area is 10th highest in the world and it has 85.9% mountain area, more than Switzerland<\/a> or Nepal<\/a>.<\/p>\n Mount Ararat, which was historically part of Armenia, is the highest mountain in the region. Now located in Turkey, but clearly visible from Armenia, it is regarded by the Armenians as a symbol of their land. Because of this, the mountain is present on the Armenian national emblem today.<\/p>\n The economy relies heavily on investment and support from Armenians abroad. Before independence, Armenia’s economy was largely industry-based \u2013 chemicals, electronics, machinery, processed food, synthetic rubber, and textile \u2013 and highly dependent on outside resources. The republic had developed a modern industrial sector, supplying machine tools, textiles, and other manufactured goods to sister republics in exchange for raw materials and energy. Recently, the Intel Corporation<\/a> agreed to open a research centre in Armenia, in addition to other technology companies, signalling the growth of the technology industry in Armenia.<\/p>\n Agriculture accounted for less than 20% of both net material product and total employment before the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. After independence, the importance of agriculture in the economy increased markedly, its share at the end of the 1990s rising to more than 30% of GDP and more than 40% of total employment. This increase in the importance of agriculture was attributable to food security needs of the population in the face of uncertainty during the first phases of transition and the collapse of the non-agricultural sectors of the economy in the early 1990s. As the economic situation stabilized and growth resumed, the share of agriculture in GDP dropped to slightly over 20% (2006 data), although the share of agriculture in employment remained more than 40%.<\/p>\n Armenian mines produce copper<\/a>, zinc<\/a>, gold<\/a>, and lead<\/a>. The vast majority of energy is produced with fuel imported from Russia, including gas and nuclear fuel (for its one nuclear power plant); the main domestic energy source is hydroelectric. Small deposits of coal, gas, and petroleum exist but have not yet been developed.<\/p>\n Like other newly independent states of the former Soviet Union<\/a>, Armenia’s economy suffers from the breakdown of former Soviet trading patterns. Soviet investment in and support of Armenian industry has virtually disappeared, so that few major enterprises are still able to function. In addition, the effects of the 1988 Spitak earthquake, which killed more than 25,000 people and made 500,000 homeless, are still being felt. The conflict with Azerbaijan over Nagorno-Karabakh has not been resolved. The closure of Azerbaijani and Turkish borders has devastated the economy, because Armenia depends on outside supplies of energy and most raw materials. Land routes through Georgia and Iran are inadequate or unreliable. The GDP fell nearly 60% between 1989 and 1993, but then resumed robust growth. The national currency, the dram, suffered hyperinflation for the first years after its introduction in 1993.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, the government was able to make wide-ranging economic reforms that paid off in dramatically lower inflation and steady growth. The 1994 cease-fire in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict has also helped the economy. Armenia has had strong economic growth since 1995, building on the turnaround that began the previous year, and inflation has been negligible for the past several years. New sectors, such as precious-stone processing and jewelry making, information and communication technology, and even tourism are beginning to supplement more traditional sectors of the economy, such as agriculture.<\/p>\n This steady economic progress has earned Armenia increasing support from international institutions. The International Monetary Fund (IMF)<\/a>, World Bank<\/a>, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)<\/a>, and other international financial institutions (IFIs) and foreign countries are extending considerable grants and loans. Loans to Armenia since 1993 exceed $1.1 billion. These loans are targeted at reducing the budget deficit and stabilising the currency; developing private businesses; energy; agriculture; food processing; transportation; the health and education sectors; and ongoing rehabilitation in the earthquake zone. The government joined the World Trade Organization<\/a> on 5 February 2003. But one of the main sources of foreign direct investments remains the Armenian diaspora, which finances major parts of the reconstruction of infrastructure and other public projects. Being a growing democratic state, Armenia also hopes to get more financial aid from the Western World.<\/p>\n 513 miles in common carrier service; does not include industrial lines. There is no service south of Yerevan.<\/p>\n International rail links include:<\/p>\n Azerbaijan – closed The capital city of Armenia, Yerevan, is serviced by the Yerevan Metro<\/a>. The system was launched in 1981 and like most former Soviet Metros, its stations are very deep (20\u201370 meters underground) and intricately decorated with national motifs. The metro runs on a 8.3 mile line and currently serves 10 active stations. As of 2016, the annual ridership of the metro is 15.4 million people.<\/p>\n Total roadways are 7,700 km in length all of which are paved.<\/p>\n Although there are 11 airports in Armenia, only Yerevan’s Zvartnots International Airport<\/a> and\u00a0Gyumri’s<\/a>\u00a0Shirak Airport<\/a> are in use for commercial aviation.<\/p>\n As of 2018, passenger flow at the two main airports of Armenia has reached 2,448,250 million people.<\/p>\n The national flag of Armenia, the Armenian Tricolour, consists of three horizontal bands of equal width, red on the top, blue in the middle, and orange (also described as “colour of apricot”) on the bottom. The Armenian Supreme Soviet adopted the current flag on 24 August 1990. On 15 June 2006, the Law on the National Flag of Armenia, governing its usage, was passed by the National Assembly of Armenia.<\/p>\n Throughout history, there have been many variations of the Armenian flag. In ancient times, Armenian dynasties were represented by different symbolic animals displayed on their flags. In the twentieth century, various Soviet flags represented the Armenian SSR.<\/p>\n The meanings of the colors are interpreted in many different ways. For example, red stands for the blood of the 1.5 million Armenians killed in the Armenian Genocide, blue is for the Armenian pure sky, and orange represents the country’s courage.<\/p>\n The official definition of the colors, as stated in the Constitution of the Republic of Armenia, is:<\/p>\n The red emblematizes the Armenian Highland, the Armenian people’s continued struggle for survival, maintenance of the Christian faith, Armenia’s independence and freedom. The blue emblematizes the will of the people of Armenia to live beneath peaceful skies. The orange emblematizes the creative talent and hard-working nature of the people of Armenia.<\/p>\n Today’s tricolor flag bears little resemblance to the earliest Armenian ‘flags’. In ancient times, armies went into battle behind carvings mounted on poles. The carvings might represent a dragon, an eagle, a lion or “some mysterious object of the gods”. With the advent of Christianity, the Armenian empire adopted many different flags representing various dynasties. The Artaxiad Dynasty’s flag, for instance, consisted of a red cloth displaying two eagles gazing at each other, separated by a flower.<\/p>\n After Armenia was split between the Persian and the Ottoman Empires, the idea of an Armenian flag ceased to exist for some time. The Armenian Catholic<\/a> priest Father Ghevont Alishan<\/a> created a new flag for Armenia in 1885, after the Armenian Students Association of Paris<\/a> requested one for the funeral of the French writer Victor Hugo<\/a>. Alishan’s first design was very similar to today’s Armenian flag: a horizontal tricolor. However, it looked more like an upside-down variation of the current flag of Bulgaria<\/a>.<\/p>\n The top band was red, symbolizing the first Sunday of Easter (called “Red” Sunday), followed by a green band to represent the “Green” Sunday of Easter, and finally an arbitrary color, white, was chosen to complete the combination. While in France<\/a>, Alishan also designed a second flag, identified today as the “Nationalist Armenian Flag”.<\/p>\n It too was a tricolor, but unlike the previous design, this one was a vertical tricolor similar to the French flag<\/a>. Its colors were red, green, and blue, from left to right, representing the rainbow that Noah saw after landing on Mount Ararat.<\/p>\n In 1828, Persian Armenia<\/a> was annexed to the Russian Empire after the last Russo-Persian War, and became known as Russian Armenia. When the Russian Empire collapsed, Russian Armenia declared its independence and joined the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, together with Georgia and Azerbaijan. This unified state hardly lasted a year and was soon dissolved. Since the Republic was short-lived, it did not use any flags or symbols.<\/p>\n Nevertheless, some historians consider a horizontal gold, black, and red tricolor, similar to that of the German flag<\/a> but arranged differently, to have been the flag of Transcaucasia. The federation was dissolved on May 26, 1918, when Georgia declared its independence as the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Both Armenia and Azerbaijan declared their independence two days later, on May 28, 1918, as the First Republic of Armenia and the Azerbaijan Democratic Republic<\/a>, respectively.<\/p>\n After gaining independence, the First Republic of Armenia adopted the modern Armenian tricolor. Upon Stepan Malkhasyants<\/a>‘s appearance in the Armenian National Council, the independent Armenian government selected the colors used during the Lusignan<\/a> period: red, blue and yellow. An earlier prototype, which was eventually rejected, was the rainbow flag.<\/p>\n![\"Garni](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Garni-Temple-300x288.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Etymology:<\/h2>\n
![\"Map](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Map-of-Armenia-300x300.png\" "\\"\\"")
History:<\/h2>\n
Antiquity:<\/h3>\n
![\"Historical](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Historical-Armenia-150-BCE-300x176.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Armenian](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenian-Empire-95-66-BCE-300x170.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Etchmiadzin](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Etchmiadzin-Cathedral-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Middle Ages:<\/h3>\n
![\"Armenian](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenian-Kingdom-of-Cilicia-1198\u20131375-300x214.png\" "\\"\\"")
Early Modern Era:<\/h3>\n
![\"Capture](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Capture-of-Erivan-fortress-by-Russian-troops-in-1827-during-the-Russo-Persian-War-1826\u201328-300x220.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/The-greatest-extent-of-the-Russian-occupation-of-Turkish-Armenia-during-WWI-September-1917.-300x205.png\" "\\"\\"")
World War I and the Armenian Genocide:<\/h3>\n
![\"Armenian](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenian-Genocide-victims-in-1915-300x205.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
First Republic of Armenia:<\/h3>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/The-Government-house-of-the-First-Republic-of-Armenia-1918\u20131920-300x225.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Advance](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Advance-of-the-11th-Red-Army-into-the-city-of-Yerevan-300x221.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Soviet Armenia:<\/h3>\n
![\"Armenian](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenian-SSR-300x221.gif\" "\\"\\"")
Restoration of Independence:<\/h3>\n
![\"Armenian](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenian-soldiers-during-the-Nagorno-Karabakh-War-300x203.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-Republic-of-Artsakh-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
Geography:<\/h2>\n
![\"Topographic](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Topographic-Map-of-Armenia-300x282.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Economy:<\/h2>\n
![\"Yerevan\"](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Yerevan-300x200.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Armenian](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Armenian-Labor-Force-Distribution-300x285.png\" "\\"\\"")
Transportation:<\/h2>\n
Railways:<\/h3>\n
\nGeorgia – open
\nIran – via Azerbaijan – closed
\nTurkey – closed –<\/p>\nMetros:<\/h3>\n
![\"Yerevan](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Yerevan-Metro-214x300.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Roadways:<\/h3>\n
Airports:<\/h3>\n
![\"Yerevan](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Yerevan-International-Airport-300x224.jpg\" "\\"\\"")
Flag of Armenia:<\/h2>\n
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-Armenia-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-the-Transcaucasian-SFSR-1922-1936-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-Soviet-Armenia-1952-1990-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
19th Century:<\/h3>\n
![\"Alishan's](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Alishans-1885-Design-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"19th](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/19th-Century-Flag-of-the-Armenian-Diaspora-300x180.png\" "\\"\\"")
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic:<\/h3>\n
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-the-Transcaucasian-Democratic-Federative-Republic-1918-300x150.png\" "\\"\\"")
First Republic of Armenia:<\/h3>\n
![\"Martiros](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Martiros-Saryan-Proposed-Flag-for-First-Republic-of-Armenia-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-the-First-Republic-of-Armenia-1918-1922-300x200.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"Flag](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/Flag-of-the-Artaxiad-Dynasty-189-BCE-1-CE-300x178.png\" "\\"\\"")
![\"French](\"https:\/\/www.smoketreemanor.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/7\/2019\/06\/French-Armenian-Lusignan-Dynasty-14th-Century.jpg\" "\\"\\"")