The Armenians are a nation or ethnic group, originating in the Caucasus and eastern Asia Minor. A large concentration remain there, especially in Armenia, but almost as many are scattered elsewhere throughout the world.
This article covers the Armenians as an ethnic group, not Armenians in the sense of citizens of Armenia.
Total population: | 2004: 6.5 million (est.) | |
Significant populations in: | Armenia: 3 Million (est.) United States: 700,000 (est.) | |
Language | Armenian language, local languages of various countries | |
Religion | Armenian Apostolic Church Armenian Catholic | |
Related ethnic groups | Greeks |
History
Until modern times, the history of the Armenians is the history of Armenia, a name which designated a shifting region, but a reasonably continuous people in the Caucasus and eastern Asia Minor. Armenia first emerged into history around 800 BC as part of the Kingdom of Urartu or Van; the first Armenian state, founded in 190 BC. At its zenith (95–65 BC), that state extended from the all the way to what is now eastern Turkey and Lebanon. It became part of the Roman Empire in 64 BC.
In AD 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion (see #Religion. 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 was the kingdom of Cilicia, which had close ties to the Crusader States.
As with virtually all other nations of this region, between the 4th and 19th centuries, Armenia was conquered and ruled by, among others, Persians, Byzantines, Arabs, Mongols, and Ottoman Turks. This last was to prove particularly disastrous, with two genocidal campaigns against the Armenians in 1894–1896 and 1915–1916.
In the 1820s parts of historic Armenia under Persian control centering on Yerevan and Lake Sevan were incorporated into Russia. Following the breakup of Russian empire in the aftermath of World War I for a brief period from 1918 to 1920, it was an independent republic. In late 1920, 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, later the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936–September 21, 1991), now the independent state of Armenia.
Geographic distribution
Armenians today are scattered all over the world.
About 3 million Armenians live in Armenia, but there are also 532,000 in Russia, 248,000 in Georgia, 700,000 in the United States, 270,000 in France, 200,000 in Iran, 170,000 in Syria, 146,000 in Nagorno-Karabakh, 150,000 in Lebanon, 150,000 in Turkey and more scattered in other counties, all together about 6.5 million.
Persecution in the Ottoman Empire
See Armenian Genocide.
Armenia has a long history of conquering, or being conquered by, a vast number of peoples. Almost beyond doubt, the worst persecution of Armenians was in the last decades of the Ottoman Empire. In 1894–1896, Ottoman policy toward the Armenians bordered on the genocidal; the policy in the years 1915–1916 clearly stands as one of the paradigms of what constitutes genocide. With World War I in progress, the Turks saw the (Christian) Armenians as liable to ally with Imperial Russia and, essentially, chose to deal with an entire ethnic population as an enemy within their empire.
The exact numbers of deaths in the latter period is a very controversial matter; see Armenian Genocide#Statistics of the Second Massacre for discussion.
Culture
Main article: Culture of Armenia, Music of Armenia.
Language
Main article: Armenian language.
Classification
Is there any larger ethnic classification under which this group falls? any significant subgroups?
Applicability of the term "ethnic group" to the Armenians
The Armenians have long been viewed as a nation; however, in diaspora, especially since the era of World War I, they have typically been viewed as an ethnic group.