Armenia
From Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia written in simple English for easy reading.
Republic of Armenia Hayastani Hanrapetutyun |
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Armenia is a country in Asia Minor. It is also near Europe and Iraq. Its capital city is Yerevan. Armenia got its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
Armenia touches Turkey, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Iran.
Armenia is not a very diverse (differing in people) country. Although there are small Greek, Russian, and Azeri minorities, more than 90% of the people are ethnic Armenians. Also, the Armenian Apostolic Church, is by far the largest religion in the country. There are a small amount of other Christians, Muslims and atheists.
Armenia is the place that many Christians believe Noah's Ark landed, and Noah's family settled. The Armenian name for Armenia means Land of Haik. They say that Haik was a great-great-grandson of Noah.
Throughout history, Armenia's size has changed many times. The Armenia right now is much smaller than it was once. In 80 BC, the Kingdom of Armenia covered parts of what is today Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Azerbaijan, and, of course, Armenia.
When it was part of the Ottoman Empire in the early 1900s, the Ottoman Turks killed up to 1.5 million Armenians. This is called by the Armenians and many scholars the Armenian Genocide. This caused many Armenians to leave the area, and move to places like Russia, France, and the United States.
From 1920 to 1991, Armenia was a Communist country. (Communism is a political idea.) It was a member of the Soviet Union.
Today, Armenia has bad relationships with Turkey and Azerbaijan. In 1992, Armenia and Azerbaijan had a war over the land of Nagorno-Karabakh. The fighting stopped in 1994, and Armenia has control over this land, but Armenia and Azerbaijan have not agreed on a solution for peace.
[edit] External links
- Armenia.org - Complete history of Armenia, covering 800B.C. to 2004
- PanARMENIAN.Net - Daily Armenian News
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Armenia
Countries and territories of Asia |
Afghanistan | Armenia2 | Azerbaijan | Bahrain | Bangladesh | Bhutan | Brunei | Cambodia | China (PRC) | Cyprus2 | East Timor | Gaza Strip | Georgia2 | Hong Kong3 | India | Indonesia | Iran | Iraq | Israel | Japan | Jordan | Kazakhstan | Kuwait | Kyrgyzstan | Laos | Lebanon | Macau3 | Malaysia | Maldives | Mongolia | Myanmar | Nepal | North Korea | Oman | Pakistan | Philippines | Qatar | Russia1 | Saudi Arabia | Singapore | South Korea | Sri Lanka | Syria | Taiwan (ROC) | Tajikistan | Thailand | Turkey1 | Turkmenistan | United Arab Emirates | Uzbekistan | Vietnam | West Bank | Yemen |
1. Includes territory in both Europe and Asia. 2. Usually thought of as Asia, but sometimes counted as part of Europe for cultural and historical reasons. 3. Special territories. |