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| | Need to Know | Capital City Yerevan | | Tipping 10-15% | | Electricity 220 V | | Weights and Measurements Metric system |
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Sneak Preview
If you aren’t a homebody and willing to pass comfort for excitement and the thrill of the unexpected – welcome to Armenia in East Europe on the isthmus of the Black and the Caspian Sea ! This is not a country for the visitor in a hurry. There are many jewels to be discovered by the traveller. Armenia has had a hard time for most of its existence. It’s been run over time and again and almost vanished in the early part of the 20th century.
Then the erstwhile Soviet Union walked in and held it in a vice like grip for close to 70 years. All that they left on their departure is ugly architecture and a garrison mentality among the people. Now, though independent of Soviet Russia, Armenia hasn’t fared too well – an ongoing battle with neighbouring Azerbaijan and a relentless economic blockade has drawn too much blood out of the economy.
But there are treats in store for the traveller in a country like Armenia that is not exactly traveller-friendly. The countryside is a breathtaking bedspread of wildflowers, tall snowy mountains stand proud in the background, and you are assured of historical exploration of 4000 odd churches and monuments. Amazing that so many still stand after years of fighting and wars!
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Historically Speaking
Armenia is like the poor kid who is the favourite target of every bully in school. The country and its people have been shifted, shuffled and pushed around as part of empire building exercises by various kingpins. National boundaries both past and present are an undecided entity. Every variety of tension – political, ethnic, religious, military has had a stint here.
King Argistis – monarch of the Urartu Empire that was one of the first empires to rule over the country, built one of the fortresses at Yerevan. After this there was a long string of other kingdoms - The Macedonian Empire of Alexander the Great, the Seleucid, the Roman and the Byzantine. By the 11th century Armenia was part of the Byzantine Empire and close on their heels the Turks came in. A little more than a 100 years on and it was the turn of the Egyptian Mamluks and European crusaders to visit. Next the Persians and the Ottoman Turks fought over the region but the Ottoman’s held on to most of Armenia – for the next 400 years.
Armenian literature, the arts and religion did well under the Ottoman Empire and laid the foundations of the political movements of the future. Armenian nationalism stirred out of its slumber in the 18th century. However the hope of a nation built up over the next century died with World War I. Armenians were persecuted and decimated by the Turks in 1915. 1916 saw Armenia under Russian rule and then being handed back to the Ottoman Empire because of Russian Military limitations. Transcaucasia was born but one month and four days later it stood divided into Azerbaijan, Georgia and Armenia. Turkey wrested away some territory which the Russians came and grabbed back in 1921. Unclear local borders kept tensions high and with the Soviet stronghold giving way at the end of the century, there was enough to fuel fresh violence.
Natural calamity also took its toll in 1988 – an earthquake destroyed 25,000 people, left half million homeless and wiped out 10% of the country’s already weak industrial capacity. A Political referendum in Nagorno-Karabakh, the Armenian Christian colony located in Muslim Azerbaijan voted for unification with Armenia. The region is disputed also because it has vast resources of oil and the Russians had placed it under Azerbaijan. This meant a fresh flare up, and renewed killings. To stop the killing of the Armenians in Baku – the Azerbaijani capital the Russian Army stepped in. Eventually in 1990, an Armenian nationalist president, Levon Ter Petrosian, secured control in Armenia.
In 1991 Armenia voted in favour of independence. In 1993, Armenia had control over a fifth of Azerbaijan, including most of Nagorno-Karabakh. A ceasefire signed in 1994 has been maintained, though only precariously. Though Nagorno-Karabakh is considered a part of Azerbaijan, it is accessible only from Armenia and is controlled by the Armenian army.
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Habitat
The land in the north is sloping and forms the Caucasus mountain range. Towards the south is dry flatland. The Araks River runs along the Armenian-Iranian border for most of its length. The charm of the country lies in the fact that you can cross from arid foothills into alpine heights within a few kilometres.
Travelling through here, the animals you’ll see are the Armenian wild goat or Tur, the mouflon (a wild sheep), and delightful visual treat of an exquisite assortment of flowers – wildflowers - primarily between spring to summer. If you are around Lake Sevan in September / October – the country’s only fresh water lake which unfortunately now is considerably depleted (they use it to generate hydropower), you will be astounded at the varied autumn hues you see in the surrounding forests.
Take a trip at the earliest because the forests are running out of time – the Azerbaijani blockade has resulted in natives converting the forests to firewood rapidly.
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Travel Tools
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