Armenia surprised me. Here are the things I did not know before I arrived.
1. One of the oldest civilisations in the world. Armenia has been inhabited for at least 4,000 years. It sits at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. Empires came and went. The Persians. The Romans. The Mongols. The Ottomans. The Soviets. Armenia outlasted them all.
2. The first Christian nation. Armenia adopted Christianity as its state religion in 301 AD. That makes it the first country in the world to do so. It happened before Rome. Before Constantinople. The Armenian Apostolic Church is still the dominant institution in the country. It is not just religion. It is identity.
3. The alphabet is its own. The Armenian alphabet was invented in 405 AD by a monk named Mesrop Mashtots. He created it specifically for the Armenian language. It has 38 letters. It is used only for Armenian. It looks like this: Հայաստան. That means Armenia. The alphabet is considered one of the most important symbols of national identity.
4. A genocide that still defines everything. Between 1915 and 1923, the Ottoman government systematically killed an estimated 1.5 million Armenians. Armenia recognises this as genocide. Over 30 countries do the same. Turkey does not. The wound is still open. It shapes how Armenians see themselves, how they see Turkey, and how they see the world. You cannot understand Armenia without knowing this.
5. A massive diaspora. There are roughly three million people living in Armenia today. There are also between seven and ten million Armenians living outside the country. Los Angeles alone has around one million. Yerevan and the diaspora maintain a close relationship. Many Armenians in the diaspora send money home. Some return. The country exists in two places at once.
6. Surrounded by closed borders. Armenia borders four countries. The border with Turkey is closed. The border with Azerbaijan is closed. Only Georgia to the north and Iran to the south are open. This is not a minor inconvenience. It limits trade, travel, and economic development in a fundamental way.
7. Nagorno-Karabakh. For decades, Armenia and Azerbaijan fought over a mountainous region called Nagorno-Karabakh. It was populated mostly by Armenians but internationally recognised as Azerbaijani territory. A ceasefire held for years. In September 2023, Azerbaijan recaptured the region by force. Within days, over 100,000 Armenians fled. Almost the entire Armenian population of the region left within a week. It was one of the largest and fastest ethnic displacements in recent history.
8. Armenia used to be much bigger. At its peak, around 83 BC under King Tigran the Great, the Armenian Empire stretched from the Caspian Sea to the Mediterranean. It was one of the most powerful kingdoms in the region at the time. Today, Armenia covers about 29,000 square kilometres. That is roughly the size of Belgium. What remains is a fraction of what once existed.
9. Mount Ararat is not in Armenia. The most famous symbol of Armenian culture and identity is a snow-capped volcano. It appears on the national coat of arms. It features in art, literature, poetry, and on wine labels. It rises to 5,137 metres. And it sits entirely inside Turkey. Armenians can see it clearly from Yerevan on a good day. They cannot go there.
10. Independent only since 1991. For most of the 20th century, Armenia was part of the Soviet Union. There was a brief first republic from 1918 to 1920, but it was quickly overrun by the Soviet Red Army. Armenia then spent 70 years as a Soviet republic. It declared independence on September 21, 1991, following the collapse of the Soviet Union. For most Armenians alive today, independence is still a relatively new experience.
11. Armenians you already know. The diaspora punches well above its weight. Cher — born Cherilyn Sarkisian — is Armenian. So is André Agassi, one of the greatest tennis players of all time. Serj Tankian, the lead singer of System of a Down, is Armenian. Charles Aznavour, who sold over 100 million records and is considered one of the greatest French chansonniers of the 20th century, was Armenian. The famous chess player Garry Kasparov, same thing. In tech, Alexis Ohanian co-founded Reddit. Noubar Afeyan co-founded Moderna, the company behind one of the main Covid vaccines. Avie Tevanian was the CTO of Apple and the main architect of macOS. Kirk Kerkorian, who built and sold MGM three times and was one of the largest individual donors in American history, was Armenian. The Kardashians are Armenian on their father’s side. And the ATM was invented by an Armenian. His name was Luther George Simjian. He filed his final patent at the age of 92.
12. The driving. Armenian drivers are fast and unpredictable. There is a reason for that. Until recently, corruption meant that a driving licence was something you could simply buy. No proper training required. Several scandals were uncovered, and since 2021 the rules have tightened. Exams are now more rigorous. The practical test takes place in real traffic. But the old habits are still visible on the road. BTW: this also applies to Georgia and it explains a lot.