n.
officially Republic of Armenia
Country, Transcaucasia.
Area: 11,484 sq mi (29,743 sq km). Population (2002 est.): 3,008,000. Capital: Yerevan . Armenians constitute nine-tenths of its population; there are also small numbers of Azerbaijanians, Kurds, Russians, and Ukrainians. Languages: Armenian (official), Russian. Religion: Christianity (Armenian Apostolic, Armenian Catholic). Currency: dram. Armenia is a mountainous country with an average elevation of 5,900 ft (1,800 m). The Lesser Caucasus ranges lie across its northern portion, and Lake Sevan lies in the east-central part. Armenia has a dry and continental climate that changes dramatically with elevation. Though it has become highly industrialized (as a result of the development of hydroelectric power during Soviet rule) and increasingly urbanized, agriculture is still important. Armenia is a successor state to a historical region in Caucasia. Historical Armenia's boundaries have varied considerably, but old Armenia extended over what is now northeastern Turkey and the Republic of Armenia. The area was equivalent to the ancient kingdom of Van, which ruled 0441; 1270850 BC. It was later conquered by the Medes (see Media ) and Macedonia and still later allied with Rome. Armenia adopted Christianity as its national religion in AD 303. For centuries the scene of strife among Arabs, Selj 016B; qs, Byzantines, and Mongols, it came under the rule of the Ottoman Empire in 1514. Over the next centuries, as parts were ceded to other rulers, nationalism arose among the scattered Armenians; by the late 19th century it had caused widespread disruption. Fighting between Ottomans and Russians escalated when part of Armenia was ceded to Russia in 1878, and it continued through World War I (191418), leading to widespread Armenian deaths (see Armenian massacres ). With the Ottoman defeat, the Russian part was set up as a Soviet republic in 1921. Armenia became a constituent republic of the U.S.S.R. in 1936. As the U.S.S.R. began to dissolve in the late 1980s, Armenia declared its independence in 1990. In the years that followed, it fought Azerbaijan for control over Nagorno-Karabakh until reaching a cease-fire in 1994. About one-fifth of the population has left the country since 1993 because of an energy crisis. Political tension escalated, and in 1999 armed dissidents killed the prime minister and several legislators.