Where is Armenia on the map

Armenia FlagArmenia is a landlocked mountainous country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Situated at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe. It has Turkey to the west and Georgia to the north. On another of its other borders is with Azerbaijan.

In the immediate post Soviet era there was an armed confrontation between the Karabakh Armenians and Azerbaijan, which lead to blockades of the country by Azerbaijan and Turkey, who supported Azerbaijan. Armenia is a poor country and the blockade made things worse still. It is currently the case that the two countries are not able to cooperate with each other. On the other the hand, Iran is a neighbour with whom they have trading relations, including a gas pipeline running from Iran to Armenia.

Genocide of Armenians

During the period of the first world war around 1915 to 1917, a large proportion of the Armenians living in Anatolia died and if is generally acknowledged by a majority of Western historians to have been state-sponsored mass killings. It has become known as the Armenian Genocide. Armenia still has poor relations with Turkey because of their refusal to acknowledge that there was any genocide of Armenians.

Politics of Armenia

Armenia is a former republic of the Soviet Union, it took its independence from the USSR in 1991. Russia still has influence over Armenia and many learn the Russian language to the point it could be considered a second language of Armenia. During the soviet era there was a lot of environmental pollution from the factories which had been set up in the Soviet state. Witin the period of Glasnost the Armenians demanded better environmental protection of the environment from the industries.

Some facts about Armenia

  • The people of Armenia suffered an earthquake in 1988 centred on Spitak. The earthquake which measured 7.2, caused devastation, killed more than 25,000 people and made more than half a million people homeless.
  • There has been a decline in the population since the split with the USSR, due to the greater ease of travel to other parts of the world suddenly being possible.
  • Armenia has followed the Christian religion since the 4th Century and the Republic of Armenia recognises the Armenian Apostolic Church.
  • Armenia is part of Nato and would like to be a part of the European Union.
  • The population is just over three million inhabitants, with even more Armenians scattered around the world.
  • Yereban is the capital of the country.

The Arts of Armenia

Much of the music of Armenia currently, is a mix of Armenian folk music using traditional instruments such as the duduk combined with and influenced by Western music from the modern worldwide entertainment business. The metal rock group System Of A Down all have roots in Armenia although only one of them was born there.

There is a tradition of arts and crafts in the country, with woodcarving, lace, and the hand-made knotted wool carpets.

Obsidian, a naturally occurring volcanic glass formed as an extrusive igneous rock is found locally, and gets made into into all types of jewellery and ornamental objects.