Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 02.djvu/39

ARMENIA. been resorted to for centuries past. The flora varies considerably, in accordance with the elevation of the surface. Trees are found at an altitude of nearly 9000 feet, and even higher on the southern slopes. Wheat grows freely as high as 7000 feet above the sea. Southern fruits, such as olives and figs, are cultivated successfully in the warmer regions, while the common fruits are found everywhere. Tobacco, flax, and cotton are also cultivated. The domestic animals of Armenia, and especially horses and sheep, are well known for their good qualities, while the wild animals, such as the bear, wolf, tiger, hyena, leopard, etc., are still found in the woods. The soil of Armenia is generally fertile and well adapted for agricultural purposes.

The turbulent state of the country under the despotic rule of Turkey, however, has always been a serious obstacle to the natural development of the region, and as a result agriculture is very much neglected. Armenia has considerable mineral wealth. The chief minerals are marble, saltpetre, iron, copper, quicksilver, lead, and gold. The population of Turkish Armenia (the chief city of which is Erzerum) is between 2,000,000 and 2,500,000. Of this number, about 650,000 are Armenians, the bulk of the population consisting of Turks and Kurds. The Armenians in Transcaucasia number nearly 1,000,000. The number of Armenians in European Turkey is estimated at about 400,000, and there is a considerable Armenian population in Asiatic Turkey outside of Armenia. Persia is supposed to contain about 100,000 Armenians, and there are about 30,000 in Ciscaucasia. Hungary. Transylvania, and Galicia have about 15,000, and there are several thousand in India and also in Africa. Since the recent massacres by the Turks, considerable numbers have emigrated to the United States.

By language the Armenians, or, as they call themselves, Haik, are entitled to rank as a very old branch of the Aryan stock, in some respects intermediate between the Aryans of Europe and the Aryan peoples of Greater Asia, Physically also they are of a primitive type, short and thickset, dark-skinned, and of exaggerated bra- chycephalism, in part artificially induced. They are related on the one hand to the 'Alpine' stock in Europe, and on the other to the Galt- chas, etc., of Central Asia, Their physical type is probably less pure than is assumed by Ripley (1899), but not so mixed as Deniker (1900) supposes. They inhabited in early prehistoric times a considerable portion of Asia Minor, and have contributed to, or borrowed from, Aryans of other types, Semites, Caucasic peoples, and later intruding Europeans and Turks. Their racial, social, and religious solidarity, and their position in a land that has seen so much of the beginnings of the civilizations of the white race, make them one of the most interesting peoples of Asia. The Armenians are conspicuous by their industry, intelligence, and aptitude for commercial pursuits, and in many cities of the East they are the principal merchants and money-lenders. The bulk of the Armenians belong to the so-called Armenian Church (q.v.). Cities abounding in superb palaces and temples existed in Armenia from remote antiquity, Armais, grandson of Haig, the conqueror of Nimrod, is said to have built the town of Armavir, long the capital of Armenia, on the banks of the Araxes. When, according to the tradition, Semiramis conquered the country, Semiramocerte, now Van, was built, where important excavations and discoveries have been made in recent years. Christianity, introduced by Saint Gregory, and adopted by his royal convert, Tiridates, c. 312, resulted in the demolition of the pagan temples throughout the kingdom and the endowment and building of Christian churches. Among the most interesting examples of Armenian architecture dating from this period are the remains of fortifications, the castle, cathedral, and chapel at Ani, the ruins at Akhlat and at Talin, the troglodyte city of Vardzia, the mediæval castle of Khertvis, the church at Saba, built by Atabeg Sargis (1306-34), and the one at Etchmiadzin, the cathedral of Saint Gregory, the monastery and the churches of Saint Gaine, Saint Ripisme, and of Shoghakath, with its finely sculptured stones.

The Armenians trace their descent from Haig, the grandson of Japhet. His descendant, Aram, is the eponymous hero of the land, which was called Armina by the Persians, and Haik, or Haiastan, by the Armenians themselves. Though possessed of an old civilization, the Armenians first appear in history about the middle of the Sixth Century B.C., when Dikran, or Tigranes, of the Haig dynasty, freed his nation from its subjection to the Assyrians and Medes. Subdued by Alexander the Great, the country was ruled by the representatives of the Seleueid kings until B.C. 190, when the satraps Artaxias and Zariadres revolted against Antiochus the Great and divided the province between them, the former taking the country east of the Euphrates, or Armenia Major; the latter the western portion, or Armenia Minor. Armenia Major was subdued by the Parthians about B.C. 150, and ruled, except for a brief period of Persian domination (A.D. 232-260), till A.D. 428 by the family of the Arsacidæ. The most celebrated prince of the line was Tigranes the Great, who, drawn by his father-in-law, Mithridates, into a quarrel with Rome, was completely overthrown at Tigranocerta (B.C. 69), but was left in power as a client king of the Romans. Armenia thus became a buffer state between the Roman Empire and the Parthians, and was controlled in rapid alternation by the two powers. In A.D. 387 the Byzantines and Persians definitively partitioned the country, the line of the Arsacidæ continuing to rule in Persarmenia forty years longer.

About the year 285 Christianity was intro- duced into Armenia by Gregory the Illuminator, who succeeded in converting the King, Tiridates III. Zoroastrianism, the old religion of the country, collapsed, the people imitated the ex- ample of their monarch, and the earliest national Christian Church in the world arose. The Sassanid rulers of Persia vainly endeavored to extirpate Christianity, and succeeded only in plunging the country into anarchy. The first 250 years of Arab rule (636-885) were marked by bitter conflicts between Mohammedans and Byzantines, but in 885 Ashod I., a descendant of the ancient Jewish family of the Bagratids, or Pagratids, was made king, under the suzerainty of the Caliph, and for more than 100 years the land enjoyed peace. Then ruin came upon it in the shape of Byzantine and Mongol invasions. The Seljuk Turks, and after them Timur, de- vastated the land, and occupied a portion of it, while the Byzantines seized the rest. Subjugated by the Persians in 1472, part of it was wrested