territories. An inscription on a rock attributed
to Persia’s King Darius refers to Armina, show-
ing that Armenia was known to its neighbors as
early as the sixth century b.c.e. Native dynasties
ruled Armenia for five centuries until the area was
conquered by the Romans. In the fourth century
c.e., Christianity, to which many Armenians had
already voluntarily converted, became the state
religion of the Roman Empire and as such was
imposed on all Armenians.
From the seventh to the 11th centuries, arab,
Mongol, and Turkic peoples conquered the ter-
ritories inhabited by Armenians, a transformation
that made many Armenians the subjects of Mus-
lim rulers. However, Christianity, together with
the unique Armenian language, helped Armenians
resist assimilating to the cultures of those who
ruled them over them. With the fall of Constan-
tinople to the Ottomans in the 15th century, all
Armenians in western Asia (the Middle East)
became subjects of Muslim rulers, either Ottoman
or Persian. In the early 19th century, Russia suc-
cessfully conquered much of the South Caucasus,
including Georgia, eastern Armenia, and northern
Azerbaijan. Many Armenians left iran and Ana-
tolia and moved to Russian controlled territories,
believing that their status and living conditions
would improve in the Orthodox Christian Russian
Empire. Some Armenians living in the Ottoman
Empire during the tanzimat reforms also hoped
that their status would improve.
However, many Armenian intellectuals believed
that Armenians’ security and status would improve
only with autonomy and that they would have to
fight to obtain it. The revolutions that occurred
in the early 20th century in Russia, Persia, and
the Ottoman Empire inspired many Armenians
to join in armed struggle against their imperial
leaders. Armenian solidarity strengthened after
the Young Turks orchestrated the extermination of
the Armenian population in 1915. Their system-
atic campaign to expel Armenians through forced
migration caused the deaths of an estimated 1
million to 1.5 million Armenians. Many survivors
emigrated, increasing the numbers of Armenians
living in the diaspora. A number of countries they
migrated to are in the Arab Middle East: syria,
lebanon, palestine, and egypt. In the chaotic
conditions created by World War I and the Bolshe-
vik revolution in Russia, Armenians established
an independent republic in eastern Armenia, one
that survived only briefly until the Bolsheviks
extended their control in the South Caucasus. For
70 years, Armenia was a socialist republic within
the framework of the Soviet Union under the lead-
ership of the Communist Party in the Kremlin.
In the late 1980s, Gorbachev’s glasnost inspired
many Armenians to push for change, and Armenia
declared independence from the Soviet Union in- In 1991, a political dispute between Arme-
nia and Azerbaijan over the region of Nagorno-
Karabagh escalated into a military conflict. This
war lasted until 1994, when a cease-fire was in
place, leaving Armenians in control of Karabagh.
Armenians have successfully established the inde-
pendent Republic of Armenia. However, like other
republics of the former Soviet Union, Armenia
suffers from economic stagnation, corruption, and
inadequate development of democratic institu-
tions.
See also christianity and islam; ottoman
dynasty.
Leslie Sargent
Further reading: George A. Bournoutian, A History of
the Armenian People (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda Pub-
lishers, 1994); Richard G. Hovannisian, ed. The Arme-
nian People from Ancient to Modern Times (New York:
St. Martin’s Press, 1997); Ronald Grigor Suny, Looking
toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History (Bloomington
and Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 1993).art
Pop artist Andy Warhol (1928–87) defined art
as whatever the artist deemed it to be by affix-
ing his signature to it. Swiss painter Paul Klee
(1879–1940) likened the artist to a tree trunk thatart 63 J