Interesting Facts about Armenia

1.        The official name of Armenia is ‘Republic of Armenia’.  However, Armenians refer to it as Hayastan because the proper name has always been Hayq/Haqk and the suffix ‘stan’ in Persian means land (so, Land of the Haqk/Haqk).

Armenia

2.       The capital of Armenia is Yerevan, which having been founded nearly 2800 years ago makes it one of the oldest cities in the world; the language spoken is Armenian; and the currency used is the Dram (currently, as of January 2014, there is 661.47 Dram to the Pound Sterling or 402.77 Dram to the American Dollar).

3.       In the 301 AD (the early part of the 4^th century), Armenia was the first state to embrace Christianity and, today, the majority of Armenian citizens follow Armenian Apostolic Orthodox Christianity (one of the oldest Christian communities).  The Armenian Apostolic Church considers the apostles Bartholomew and Thaddeus to be its founders, with its first official governor being St. Gregory the Illuminator. 

4.       Armenia was integrated in to the Ottoman Empire in the 1450s, became a part of the USSR during 1922 before becoming independent in 1991 with the dissolution of the USSR.  It was in 1991 that the country also joined the Commonwealth of Independent States.  However, it did not adopt its own constitution until July 5, 1995.

5.       Armenia is a Unitary Republic, which is a system operated by many states around the world (e.g. France, Italy, England and Japan).  It means that the state is governed as a single unit and that the central government has supreme decision-making powers, apart from those it chooses to delegate to subnational units.

6.       It is currently an active member of more than 40 divergent international organisations, including: The United Nations, The Council of Europe and The World Trade Organisation.

7.       Although it is actually within the borders of Turkey, Mount Ararat is one of the country’s national symbols.  However, the Ararat Valley, in the foothills of the Gegham Mountains, stretches from Mount Aragats in the north to the border of Turkey where it is divided in two by the Aras River (with the rest of it resting within Turkey’s border).  It is an area that is believed to have been inhabited since the Stone Age, making it the one of the oldest colonised areas in the world.  It is also home to a huge underground lake (fantastic if you are interested in the geographical features of a country).  If you want to visit this incredibly beautiful area, the Ararat Valley Country Club is open to public membership – which is surrounded by breath taking scenery in the form of Mts. Aragats, Ararats and Ara.  Definitely worth a visit.

8.       If you are interested in astrology or metallurgy, they are sciences that have been studied in Armenia since 7000 BC, as identified in Metasmor – the excavation and working museum of an ancient city located beside a dormant volcano in Mount Aragats (which is the high point of Armenia).