|
Please note that the ArmeniaGenWeb Project is need of a permanent host.
If you'd be interested in hosting this website, please contact the AsiaGenWeb
Coordinator.
Welcome to the ArmeniaGenWeb Project. This website
was designed to assist
researchers in their quest for their ancestry in the Republic of Armenia.
General information about Armenia
The origins of the Armenian people are obscure. According to ancient
Armenian writers, their people descend from Noah's son Japheth. A branch of
the Indo-Europeans, the Armenians are linked ethnically to the Phrygians, who
migrated from Thrace in southeastern Europe into Asia Minor late in the second
millennium B.C., and to the residents of the kingdom of Urartu, with whom the
Armenians came into contact around 800 B.C. after arriving in Asia Minor from
the West. Although ethnologists disagree about the precise timing and elements
of this ethnic combination (and even about the origin of the term Armenian),
it is generally agreed that the modern Armenians have been a distinct ethnic
group centered in eastern Anatolia since at least 600 B.C.
In the nineteenth century, the Armenians were the most urban of the
Transcaucasian peoples, but they were also the most dispersed. A merchant
middle class was the most powerful social group among the Armenians, although
the church and secular intellectuals also provided leadership. Armenians
pioneered exploitation of the oil deposits in and around Baku, and the
economic growth of the ancient Georgian capital, Tbilisi, was largely an
enterprise of Armenian merchants and small industrialists.
The massacres and displacements that occurred between 1895 and 1915 removed
nearly all the Armenian population in the Turkish part of historical Armenia.
In 1965 the Soviet Union estimated that 3.2 million Armenians lived in all its
republics. The Turkish census the same year showed only 33,000 Armenians in
Turkey, most of them concentrated in the far west in Istanbul. In 1988
Armenia's population declined by 176,000, reversing a trend over the previous
decade of average population growth of 1.5 percent per year. According to the
1989 census, the population of Armenia was about 3,288,000, an increase of 8
percent from the 1979 census figure. An official estimate in 1991 put the
population at 3,354,000, an increase of 2 percent since 1989. In 1989
Armenians were the eighth largest nationality in the former Soviet Union,
totaling 4,627,000. At that time, only about twothirds of the Armenians in the
Soviet Union lived in Armenia. Some 11.5 percent lived in Russia, 9.4 percent
in Georgia, 8.4 percent in Azerbaijan, and the remaining 4 percent in the
other republics. In recent years, Armenian refugees from Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Russia, and the Central Asian republics have settled in Armenia, compounding
an already severe housing shortage. The number of Armenians living in other
countries, primarily France, Iran, Lebanon, Syria, and the United States, has
been estimated at between 3 million and 9 million.
The People
About 90 percent of the population are Armenian.
The Languages
The official language is of Armenian.
The Government
The government of Armenia is a republic with a president and a parliament.
The Provinces
Armenia is divided into 1 city; Yerevan and 10 provinces; Aragatsotn,
Ararat, Armavir, Geghark'unik', Kotayk', Lorri, Shirak, Syunik', Tavush, and
Vayots' Dzor.
History
The Republic of Armenia declared its sovereignty on August 23, 1990, and
became an independent state a year later, on September 23, 1991.
Bulletin Boards and Surname Resource Pages
Submit
and View Queries and Surnames Submit a Query or Surnames for
your lost Armenian ancestor.
Mailing List(s)
Armenia - a list for anyone with a genealogical and historical
interest in Indonesia.
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
for the list mode
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
for the digest mode
Include the word subscribe in the
body of the message to subscribe.
Include the word unsubscribe in the
body of the message to unsubscribe.
Send a message:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
You must be a member of the list to post a message.
Resources
|
AsiaGenWeb 
