BACKGROUND ON ARMENIAN CULTURE
THERE IS AN ARMENIA WHICH WAS PART OF RUSSIA UNTIL 1991. THIS COMING YEAR (2011) WILL MARK 20 YEARS OF ARMENIAN INDEPENDENCE.
THERE ARE ARMENIANS ALL OVER THE WORLD.
2 TYPES OF ARMENIANS
THERE ARE 2 TYPES OF ARMENIANS:
A.) THE 3 MILLION LIVING WITHIN ARMENIA
B.) THE 6 MILLION LIVING IN OTHER REGIONS OF THE WORLD.
HISTORICALLY, ARMENIA WAS A CROSSROADS OF MANY EMPIRES AND CULTURES. TODAY 90% OF HISTORIC ARMENIA LIES IN TURKEY.
THE LAND OF 2 EMPIRES
UNTIL 1826, ARMENIANS LIVES IN 2 EMPIRES. . .
A.) THE PERSIAN EMPIRE TO THE EAST
B.) THE OTTOMAN EMPIRE TO THE WEST
RUSSIAN INFLUENCE
FROM 1826 TO 1828 THERE WAS A WAR BETWEEN THE PERSIAN EMPIRE AND THE RUSSIAN EMPIRE TO THE NORTH. THE RUSSIANS, HAVING WON THE WAR, ABSORBED TERRITORY FROM THE PERSIANS. THUS ARMENIANS TO THE EAST BECAME PART OF RUSSIA AND WERE SEPERATED FROM THE WESTERN (OTTOMAN) ARMENIANS.
– TO THIS DAY, ARMENIANS LIVING IN IRAN ARE CONSIDERED TO BE PART OF THE EASTERN ARMENIAN CULTURE.
FOREIGN INFLUENCE ON ARMENIAN LANGUAGE
THROUGHOUT ITS HISTORY, ARMENIA HAS BEEN INVADED BY FOREIGN POWERS, MANY OF WHICH HAVE MADE AN IMPACT IN ARMENIAN CULTURE. EXAMPLES OF THIS CAN FOUND WITHIN THE ARMENIAN LANGUAGE ITSELF.
-FOR EXAMPLE, IN SOME REGIONS, THE ARABIC WORD “TAZA” (MEANING NEW) HAS MADE ITS WAY INTO ARMENIAN LANGUAGE, REFLECTING A TIME WHEN ARABIC NATIONS DOMINATED ARMENIA.
GEOGRAPHY
GEOGRAPHY HAS IMPACTED ARMENIAN LIFE AND CULTURE. BECAUSE ARMENIA IS A PLATEAU, ARMENIANS THAT LIVED IN THE VALLIES WERE SUBJECT TO MORE INVASIONS WHILE THOSE LIVING AMDIST THE MOUNTAINOUS HIGHLAND WERE GENERALLY SAFE.
THE EFFECT OF THE GENOCIDE ON ARMENIA’S GEOGRAPHY
MOST ARMENIANS PRIOR TO THE GENOCIDE WERE PEASANTS.
MUCH OF THE POPULATION THAT ONCE CONSTITUTED ARMENIA WAS WIDELY DISPERSED THROUGHOUT VARIOUS REGIONS OF THE WORLD FOLLOWING THE GENOCIDE.
IN FACT TBILISI, THE CAPITAL OF GEORGIA (USED TO BE ONE OF THE 15 REPUBLICS OF SOVIET UNION), WAS PRIMARILY ARMENIAN PRIOR TO THE GENOCIDE.