Armenian highlands
The Armenian Highland (Armenian: Հայկական լեռնաշխարհ Haykakan leṙnašxarh; Russian: Армянское нагорье Armyanskoye nagor'e; also known as the Armenian Upland, Armenian plateau, simply Armenia[1]; erroneously[citation needed] referred to as Eastern Anatolia or Eastern Asia Minor[2]) is the central-most and highest of three land-locked plateaus that together form the northern sector of the Middle East.[1] To its west is the Anatolian plateau which rises slowly from the lowland coast of the Aegean Sea and rises to an average height of 3,000 feet.[1] In Armenia, the average height rises dramatically to 3,000 to 7,000 feet.[1] To its southeast is the Iranian plateau, where the elevation drops rapidly to an average 2,000 to 5,000 feet above sea level.[1]
Name
When the Treaty of Lausanne was signed in 1923, the Republic of Turkey was established. In its attempts to shroud the Armenian heritage of Turkey, the authorities of the republic began a systematic campaign to alter Armenian placenames. These attempts included the name change of the geographical expression "Armenian plateau" to "Eastern Anatolia."[3]
Geography
Its total area is about 400,000 km².[4] Geologically recent volcanism on the area has resulted in large volcanic formations and a series of massifs and tectonic movement has formed the three largest lakes in the Highland, Lake Sevan, Lake Van and Lake Urmia.[5]
Most of the Armenian Highland is in Turkey's Eastern Anatolia Region (Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi), and also includes northwestern Iran, all of Armenia, and western Azerbaijan.[4] Its eastern parts are also known as the South Caucasian highland or Lesser Caucasus.
History
From 4,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C., tools and trinkets of copper, bronze and iron were commonly produced in this region and traded in neighboring lands where those metals were less abundant.[6] It is also traditionally believed to be one of the possible locations of the Garden of Eden.[7] The Armenian Plateau has been called the "epicenter of the Iron Age", since it appears to be the location of the first appearance of Iron Age metallurgy in the late 2nd millennium BC.[8] In the Early Iron Age, the kingdom of Ararat controlled much of the region.
Throughout Classical Antiquity and the Middle Ages, the Armenian Highland was a heavily contested territory of the Byzantine, the Ottoman, the Persian, and Arab spheres of influence. It was finally conquered by the Ottoman Empire in the 16th century, and during the 19th century, it was the boundary of the Ottoman and the Russian spheres of influence. Since the dissolution of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, it has been the boundary region of Turkey, Syria, Iraq, Iran and the Soviet Union and, since the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan.
Flora and fauna
The apricot was known by the Romans as the prunus armenicus (the Armenian plum) and was brought to Europe from Armenia.[1]
Notable peaks
| Rank | Mountain | Prominence | Location |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mount Ararat | 5,165 m |  Iğdır Province
|
| 2 | Mount Aragats | 4,095 m |  Aragatsotn Province
|
| 3 | Mount Süphan (Sipan) | 4,058 m | Bitlis Province
|
| 4 | Kaputchugh, Mount Qapichigh | 3,906 m | Syunik,  Ordubad
|
| 5 | Mount Azhdahak | 3,597 m | Gegharkunik Province
|
| 6 | Mount Kezelboghaz | 3,594 m | Syunik Province
|
| 7 | Mount Artos | 3,515 m | Van Province
|
See also
- History of Armenia
- Eastern Anatolia Region of Turkey
Notes
- ^ a b c d e f Hewsen, Robert H. "The Geography of Armenia" in The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times Volume I: The Dynastic Periods: From Antiquity to the Fourteenth Century. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997, pp. 1-17
- ^ Kouymjian, Dickran. "Armenia from the Fall of the Cilician Kingdom (1375) to the Forced Migration under Shah Abbas (1604)" in The Armenian People From Ancient to Modern Times, Volume II: Foreign Dominion to Statehood: The Fifteenth Century to the Twentieth Century. Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.) New York: St. Martin's Press, 1997, p. 1. ISBN 1-4039-6422-X.
- ^ Hovannisian, Richard G. "Etiology and Sequelae of the Armenian Genocide" in Genocide: Conceptual and Historical Dimensions. George J. Andreopoulos (ed.) Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1994, p. 127.
- ^ a b "Armenian Highland." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia
- ^ Emerald Network Pilot Project in Armenia, Council of Europe.
- ^ Samuelian, Thomas J. "Armenian Origins: An Overview of Ancient and Modern Sources and Theories1." Ararat-Center.
- ^ Mesopotamian Trade. Noah's Flood: The Garden of Eden, W. Willcocks, H. Rassam pp. 459-460
- ^ Lang, David M. Armenia: Cradle of Civilization. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1970, pp. 50-51, 58-59.
