Prehistory

The earliest known culture in what is now Armenia was the Shulaveri-Shomu culture , that occupied the central Transcaucasus roughly 6000 - 4000 BC. Another early culture in the area was the Kura-Araxes culture (4000 - 2200 BC,) which developed into the Trialeti culture (2200 - 1500 BC.)

Early History

Armenia first emerged into written history around 800 BC as part of the Kingdom of Urartu or Van, which flourished in the Caucasus and eastern Asia Minor until 600 BC.

Armenian State

After the destruction of the Seleucid Empire, the first Armenian state was founded in 190 BC. At its zenith, from 95 to 65 BC, Armenia extended its rule over parts of Caucasus and the area that is now eastern Turkey, Syria and Lebanon. For a time, Armenia was one of the most powerful states in the Roman East. It became part of the Roman Empire in 66 BC and the Armenian People adopted a Western political, philosophical, and religious orientation.

Armenia was often a focus of contention between Rome and Persia. The Parthians forced Armenia into submission from 37 to 47, when the Romans retook control of the kingdom. The Sassanid Persians occupied Armenia in 252 and held it until the Romans returned in 287. In 384 the kingdom was split between Rome and the Persians. Western Armenia quickly became a province of the East Roman Empire; Eastern Armenia remained a kingdom within Persia until 428, when the local nobility overthrew the king and the Sassanids installed a governor in his place.

Christianisation

In 301 AD, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion, establishing a church that still exists independently of both the Catholic and the Eastern Orthodox churches, having become so in AD 451 as a result of its excommunication by the Council of Chalcedon. The Armenian Apostolic Church is a part of the Oriental Orthodox communion, which must not be confused with the Eastern Orthodox communion. During its later political eclipses, Armenia depended on the church to preserve and protect its unique identity. From around 1100 to 1350, the focus of Armenian nationalism moved south, as the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, which had close ties to European Crusader States, flourished in southeastern Asia Minor until conquered by Muslim states.

Between the 4th and 19th centuries, Armenia was conquered and ruled by, among others, Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, and Turks. In the 1820s parts of historic Armenia under Persian control centering on Yerevan and Lake Sevan were incorporated into Russia. World War I saw the depopulation of large parts of Historic Armenia ruled by the Ottoman Turks during the Armenian Genocide.

During the turmoil of the Russian Revolution and the take over of the Bolsheviks Stepan Shaumyan was placed in charge of Armenia, but an Islamic rebellion overthrew Shaumyan and declared a Transcaucasian Federation independent from Russia. Shaumyan was executed by British troops in September 1918 and the independence of Armenia lasted until late 1920 when the communists came to power following an invasion of Armenia by the Red Army, and in 1922, Armenia became part of the Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic. In 1936, it became the Armenian SSR.

Armenia declared its independence from the Soviet Union on September 21, 1991.

References

Books

• Chahin, M. 1987. The Kingdom of Armenia. Reprint: Dorset Press, New York. 1991.

• Lang, David Marshall. 1980. Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. 3rd Edition, corrected. George Allen & Unwin. London.

• Luttwak, Edward N. 1976. The Grand Strategy of the Roman Empire: From the First Century A.D. to the Third. Johns Hopkins University Press. Paperback Edition, 1979.

Publications

• The Free Republic of Armenia 1918. Armenian National Committee, San Francisco. [1980].

See also

• Armenian Genocide
• List of Armenian Kings
• List of Patriarchs of Armenia

External links

• History of Armenia (book by Vahan Kurkjian)
• Armenia at Livius.Org (ancient history)
• All about Armenia by www.haias.net
• Historical Maps of Armenia on Atlas of Conflicts (by Andrew Andersen)

Much of the material in this article comes from the CIA World Factbook 2000 and the 2003 U.S. Department of State website.