About St. Stephen's

Armenia - A Brief History

• Armenia is located in the southern Caucasus and is the smallest of the former Soviet republics. It is bounded by Georgia on the north, Azerbaijan on the east, Iran on the south, and Turkey on the west.
• Although very mountainous, Armenia has a varied terrain including valleys, lush forests, semi-desert, rivers and lakes.
• Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, founded nearly 2800 years ago, is one of the oldest cities in the world.
• The population of Armenia is approximately 3.5 million. Ninety-three percent of the population is Armenian.
• One of the world’s oldest civilizations, Armenia’s ancient borders once included Mount Ararat, which biblical tradition identifies as the final resting place of Noah’s ark after the great flood.
• Armenia was the first country in the world to officially embrace Christianity as its religion (c. 301).
• Armenia has been caught in the middle of warring nations and factions for millennia. The most horrific massacre took place in April 1915 during World War I, when the Young Turks of the Ottoman Empire ordered the deportation of the Armenian population to the deserts of Syria and Mesopotamia. According to the majority of historians, between 600,000 and 1.5 million Armenians were murdered or died of starvation. The Armenian massacre is considered the first genocide in the 20th century. Modern day-Turkey denies that genocide took place, and claims that a much smaller number died in a civil war.
• The country is protected from the worst of Russia's harsh winters by the Northern Caucasus Mountains, and consequently much of its weather blows in from Persia and Syria. November to April/May is the wettest season. The mountains in the south are usually covered with snow during winter, but lower areas like the Ararat Valley often remain warm, (and very hot in summer). The south is sub-tropical.