Armenians
This article is about the Armenians as an ethnic group. For information on residents or nationals of Armenia, see Demographics of Armenia.The
Armenians (,
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). They have populated primarily eastern Anatolia and the southern Caucasus for some 3,500 years.
Until modern times, the history of the Armenians is the
history of Armenia. 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.
Herodotus claims that Armenians were colonists of the
Phrygians. Hypotheses based on this narrative could place Armenians in their traditional homeland of eastern Asia Minor anywhere from around 1200 BC ("colonizing" at the same time as the Phrygian influx) to around
700 BC (pushed eastward by the invasions of the
Cimmerians who ravaged Phrygia in
696 BC).
A competing view was suggested by
Thomas Gamkrelidze and
Vyacheslav V. Ivanov in
1984 in the context of their
Glottalic theory, placing the
Proto-Indo-European urheimat (i.e. homeland) in the
Armenian Highland, implying that the Armenian language, as one of the daughter languages of Proto-Indo-European, is native to the area and was spoken there for much longer. A recent study (Gray & 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. At its zenith (
95–
65 BC), the state extended from northern Caucasus all the way to what is now central
Turkey,
Lebanon, and north-western
Iran. Later it briefly became part of the
Roman Empire (AD
114–
118). Historically the name
Armenian has come to internationally designate this group of people but interestingly enough Armenians don't call themselves
Armenians in the Armenian language, instead they call themselves
Hay (pronounced
Hye; plural:
Hayer), the roots of the word may have links to the popular Armenian name
Haik, the name of the legendary founder of the Armenian nation.
In
301 AD, Armenia became the first nation to adopt
Christianity as a state religion (
see Religion). During its later political eclipses, Armenia depended on the church to preserve and protect its unique identity.
|
Haik, the legendary patriarch of Armenians. |
The history of Armenia consists of periods of independence interrupted by conquests by other peoples, during which time Armenia continued being an autonomous kingdom subject to various empires. The span of time during which Armenia itself conquered areas populated by other peoples is mainly limited to the imperial period (83 BC - 66 BC) during the reign of
Tigranes the Great.
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. As with virtually all other nations of Near East and Asia Minor, between the
5th and
19th centuries, Armenia was conquered and ruled by, among others,
Persians,
Byzantines,
Arabs,
Mongols, and
Ottoman Turks. In the
1820s, parts of historic Armenia under Persian control centering on
Yerevan and
Lake Sevan were later incorporated into the
Russian Empire.
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. The exact numbers of deaths in the latter period is hard to establish. It is estimated by many sources that close to a million perished in camps, which excludes Armenians who may have died in other ways. Most estimates place the total number of deaths between 800,000 and 1.5 million. Turkish governments since that time have consistently rejected charges of genocide, typically arguing either that those Armenians who died were simply in the way of a war or that killings of Armenians were justified by their individual or collective support for the enemies of the Ottoman Empire.
Following the breakup of the Russian Empire in the
aftermath of World War I for a brief period, from
1918 to
1920, Armenia was an independent republic. 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
USSR, later forming the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic (
1936 -
September 21,
1991). In 1991,
Armenia declared independence from the
USSR and established the second Republic of Armenia.
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. The dialects vary considerably, however, Armenians of differing dialect can usually understand one another. In diverse communities (such as in Canada and the U.S.) where many different kinds of Armenians live amongst one another, there is a tendency for the different groups to cluster together.
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.
Since the arrival of "Martin the Armenian" to the
Jamestown Colony around 1618 [
1], Armenians have dispersed all throughout the United States.
Watertown, Massachusetts,
Fresno, California,
Detroit, Michigan and
Glendale, California are four centers of Armenian population in the United States; there is also a significant concentration in
New York City. In Canada, large numbers of Armenians can be found in
Toronto, Ontario, and
Montreal, Quebec. Armenians are also present in every country in Latin America, with the largest concentrations being found in
Brazil,
Argentina,
Chile,
Costa Rica,
Nicaragua,
Venezuela, and
Mexico.
Glendale, California, in particular, is famous for its high concentration of Armenians; there are approximately 78,000 Armenians, according to the 2000 U.S. census. Armenian residents of the city are active members in the municipal government and chamber of commerce. In Hollywood, California, a small portion is known as "Little Armenia" - it covers Wilton Place to Vermont Avenue from the east to west, and Hollywood Blvd. down to Melrose avenue from north to south.
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. It is the 20th most commonly spoken language in the United States, having slightly fewer speakers than
Haitian Creole, and slightly more than
Navaho.
Religion
In
301 AD, Armenia adopted
Christianity as a state religion, establishing a church that still exists independently of both the
Catholic and the
Eastern Orthodox churches, having become so in AD
451 as a result of its
excommunication by the
Council of Chalcedon. The
Armenian Apostolic Church is a part of the
Oriental Orthodox communion, not to be confused with the
Eastern Orthodox communion. During its later political eclipses, Armenia depended on the church to preserve and protect its unique identity.
The Armenians have, at times, constituted a Christian "island" in a mostly
Muslim region. The
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia, had close ties to European
Crusader States. The religiously based sympathies that some Armenians presumably held for Imperial Russia provided the pretext for the
genocide of 1915â€"1916 by the Ottoman Turks.
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. There are other numerous Armenian churches belonging to Protestant denominations of all kinds.
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.
* The
Armenian Relief Society, founded in
1910.
*
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
Armenian Revolutionary Federation was founded in
1890. It is generally referred to as the
Dashnaktsutyun, which means
Federation in Armenian. 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.
Armenians are a sub branch of the
Indo-European family, which are "autochthons" and not migrants from the north
Caucasus or from the Balkans in multiple directions around 4500 BC. Armenia is the fatherland of all the Indo-European people (Iranians, Indo-Arians, Germans, Slavs, Greeks, Celts. Romans etc.). See Academician Tamaz or
Thomas Gamkrelidze's and Professor
Viacheslav V. Ivanov's "Indoeuropean language and Indoeuropeans" (Tbilisi, 1984, vol. I-II). "Autochthonic" view was supported by
Thomas Gamkrelidze and
Vyacheslav V. Ivanov in 1984 in the context of their Glottalic theory, placing the Proto-Indo-European urheimat (i.e. homeland) in the Armenian Highland, implying that the Armenian language, as one of the daughter languages of Proto-Indo-European, is native to the area and was spoken there for much longer. Armenians are their own sub-group in the Indo-European family and one of the smallest by population of the family. Whereas other Indo-European ethnic groups such as the
Slavs and the
Germanics have their own sub-groups, the Armenians do not.
The Armenians have long been viewed as a
nation; however, in
diaspora, especially since the era of
World War I, they have typically been viewed as an ethnic group.
*
List of Armenians*
Armenian-Iranian*
History of the Armenians in Egypt
*
* The categorization of Armenian churches in Los Angeles used information from
Sacred Transformation: Armenian Churches in Los Angeles a project of the
USC School of Policy, Planning, and Development.
* Some of the information about the history of the Armenians comes from the multi-volume
History of the Armenian People, Yerevan, Armenia, 1971.
*George A. Bournoutian,
A History of the Armenian People, 2 vol. (1994)
*George A. Bournoutian,
A Concise History of the Armenian People (Mazda, 2003, 2004).
*I. M. Diakonoff,
The Pre-History of the Armenian People (revised, trans. Lori Jennings), Caravan Books, New York (1984), ISBN 0-882067-039-2.
*Russell D. Gray and Quentin D. Atkinson, "Language-tree divergence times support the Anatolian theory of Indo-European origin", Nature, 426, 435-439 (2003)
