A people who came from Armenia, now NE Turkey and the republic of Armenia. Of Indo-European origin, they speak a language of that family with some Caucasian features, and are Christians, affiliated to the Armenian Catholic branch of the Roman Catholic Church, or the Monophysite Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) Church. Their highly developed ancient culture, particularly in fine art, architecture, and sculpture, reached its zenith in the 14th-c. Highly nationalistic, their resentment of foreign domination during the 19th-c provoked their Russian and Turkish rulers. During World War 1, the Turks deported two-thirds of Armenians (1·75 million) to Syria and Palestine, resulting in many deaths, and Armenian accusations of genocide; later, many settled in Europe, America, and the USSR. Today 4·15 million live in the republics of the former Soviet Union, including 2·7 million in Armenia; very few still live in Turkey.
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Armenians (Հայեր) |
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Tigranes the Great, Gregory the Illuminator, Ivan Aivazovsky, William Saroyan, Viktor Hambardzumyan and Tigran Petrosian |
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| Total population | 2004: 7-8 million (est.) |
| Regions with significant populations |
Armenia: 3,000,000 (2005 est.)
Russia: |
| Language | Armenian |
| Religion | Predominantly Armenian Apostolic with Catholic, Evangelical and various Protestant denominations, especially in the diaspora. |
| Related ethnic groups | Hamshenis, other Indo-European peoples |
The Armenians (Armenian: Հայեր, Hayer) are a nation and an ethnic group originating in the Caucasus and eastern Anatolia. A large concentration of them have remained there, especially in Armenia, but many of them are also scattered elsewhere throughout the world (see Armenian diaspora).
History
Prior to the 6th century BC, the predecessors of the Armenian Kingdom were the Hayasa-Azzi, Hittite Empire, Kingdom of Urartu, as well as other small states and tribal confederations. Atkinson) that applied the statistical tools used in timing genetic evolution to the lexical evolution of Indo-European languages strongly implied that the Indo-European homeland indeed appears to be in Asia Minor, and Armenian language (hence a well-defined group speaking it) split from it (along with Greek) at around 5300 BC, and split from Greek shortly thereafter (but the "split" from Greek was statistically less obvious, probably implying some interaction between the diverging populations until the split was "complete").
The first state that was called Armenia (which is not the name Armenians themselves use) by neighboring peoples (Hecataeus of Miletus and Behistun Inscription) was established in the early 6th century BC. The word has traditionally been linked to the name of the mythical founder of the Armenian nation, Haik, which is also a popular Armenian name. Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia created by Armenians pushed westward by the invading Seljuk Turks could also be added in that regard, although demographics in the region might have already shifted by the time the newest wave arrived and the kingdom was established. From around 1080 to 1375, the focus of Armenian nationalism was the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, which had close ties with the Crusader States.
The ethnic cleansing of Armenians during the final years of the Ottoman Empire is widely considered a genocide, with one wave of persecution in the years 1894 to 1896 culminating in the events of the Armenian Genocide in 1915 and 1916. With World War I in progress, the Turks accused the (Christian) Armenians as liable to ally with Imperial Russia, and used it as a pretext to deal with the entire Armenian population as an enemy within their empire. In late 1920, the communists came to power following an invasion of Armenia by the Red Army, and in 1922, Armenia became part of the Transcaucasian SFSR of the Soviet Union, later forming the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (1936 - September 21, 1991).
Geographic distribution
Armenians today are scattered all over the world, constituting the Armenian Diaspora. Within the Armenian community there is an unofficial classification of the different kinds of Armenians. Armenians who originate from Iran are referred to as Parska-Hye, Armenians from Lebanon are usually referred to as Lipana-Hye and Armenians who are from Armenia (that is, they or their ancestors were not forced to flee in 1915) are referred to as Hyeastansees meaning those that are from Armenia. In general, Armenians from Armenia, Iran, and Russia speak the Eastern dialect of Armenian while Armenians of the Diaspora speak the Western dialect of Armenian.
A small Armenian community has existed for over a millennium in the Holy Land, and one of the four quarters of the walled old city of Jerusalem is the Armenian Quarter.There are also Armenian populations in India and Myanmar and South East Asia.
Since the arrival of Martin the Armenian to the Jamestown Colony around 1618 , Armenians have dispersed all throughout the United States.
Culture
Language
It is estimated that there are at least 10 million Armenian speakers in the world. 6 million of the Armenian speakers live in the Caucasus and Russia, and perhaps another 1-2 million people in the Armenian diaspora are also Armenian speakers.
According to US Census figures, there are 300,000 Americans who speak Armenian at home.
Armenian is a sub-branch of the Indo-European family, and with some 7 million speakers one of the smallest surviving branches, comparable to Albanian or Greek, with which it may be connected (see Graeco-Armenian).
While the Armenian Apostolic Church remains the most prominent church in the Armenian community throughout the world, Armenians (especially in the diaspora) subscribe to any number of other Christian denominations. These include the Armenian Catholic Church (which follows its own liturgy but recognizes the Roman Catholic Pope), the Armenian Evangelical Church, which started as a reformation in the Mother church but later broke away, and the Armenian Brotherhood Church, which was born in the Armenian Evangelical Church, but later broke apart from it.
Institutions
The nation-state of Armenia is the most prominent Armenian institution today. Other important institutions include:
The Armenian Apostolic Church The Armenian Catholic Church The Armenian Evangelical Church The community was formally recognized in 1846 by the Ottoman Empire. The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) founded in 1906 and the largest Armenian non-profit organization in the world with educational, cultural and humanitarian projects on six continents. Hamazkayin, an Armenian cultural and educational society founded in Cairo in 1928, and responsible for the founding of Armenian secondary schools and institutions of higher education in several countries. The ARF is the strongest worldwide Armenian political organization and the only diasporan Armenian organization with a significant political presence in the Republic of Armenia.
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