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OFFICIAL NAME: Hayastan
CAPITAL CITY: Yerevan
POPULATION: 2,980,000 (Source: COUNTRYaah)
AREA: 28,200 km²
OFFICIAL LANGUAGE (S): Armenian, Azerbaijani, Russian
RELIGION: Armenian Christians 90%, others 10%
COIN: dram
CURRENCY CODE: AMD
ENGLISH NAME: Armenia
INDEPENDENCE: 1991
POPULATION COMPOSITION: Armenians 90%, Azerbaijani 5%, Russians 2%, Kurds 2%, others 1%
GDP PER residents: 1127 $ (2007)
LIFE EXPECTANCY: men 68 years, women 75 years (2007)
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, HDI: 0.768
INDEX OF LIVING CONDITIONS, POSITION: 80
INTERNET DOMAIN NAME: .am
According to DIGOPAUL, Armenia
is a republic south of the Caucasus Mountains. Armenia was part of
the USSR and the smallest of the Soviet republics; the country is a member of
the CIS, the association of independent states. Armenia is also a natural
geographical region, roughly similar to historic Armenia, which includes
300,000-400,000 km2 from eastern Turkey to the Caspian Sea.
- AbbreviationFinder.org: Find two-letter abbreviation for each
independent country and territory, such as AM which stands for Armenia.
Armenia - religion
Over 90% of Armenians are considered to belong to the Armenian Church. In
the Soviet Union, this church, like others, was exposed to church closures,
etc., but throughout the Soviet period it maintained a strong position in
community life and mediated close cooperation with Armenian emigrant communities
outside Armenia.
Armenia - Constitution
The Constitution of the Republic of Armenia is from 1995 with subsequent
amendments. The executive power lies with the president, who is elected by
direct universal suffrage for a term of five years, after which he can be
re-elected once. The President appoints a Prime Minister and, on his
recommendation, members of the Government; he also chairs government
meetings. The Prime Minister and the Government must resign if the National
Assembly refuses to accept their program. The National Assembly, Azgayin
Zhogov, has 131 members elected for five-year terms; 90 are elected on
party lists and 41 by direct election.
Armenia - architecture and visual arts
As in ancient Armenia (see Armenian art), in the present state great
emphasis is placed on architecture. With the explosive growth of the capital
Yerevan from village to million-dollar city over the course of two generations,
urban planners and architects have had ample opportunity to work on both the
urartic (see Urartu) as the ancient Armenian traditional material and unite it
with Soviet monumentalism. The buildings are often built in the local,
reddish tuff, which is easy to cut and therefore also used for building
decorations, eg designed as pastiches over medieval reliefs. Historical events
and people are depicted in the monumental sculpture - from David of Sassun (the
hero of a medieval epic) to the victims of 1900's massacres and the heroes of war
or work.
The cultural openness of the Armenians has provided space for inspiration
from both Western and Eastern art, in the painting in addition to the church
traditions also romantic landscape and marine images by IK Ajvazovski
(1817-1900) and V. Makhokian (1863-1937), symbolist and religiously inspired
motifs with Y. Tadevosian (1870-1936) and G. Bashindjaghian (1857-1925) as well
as impressionist landscapes and portraits of one of the most significant newer
Armenian painters, MS Sarjan (1880-1972), who has his own museum in Yerevan.
In addition to a doctrinal social realism in the Soviet period,
e.g. Yerevan's museum of children's art - a pioneer in its kind - that in art
pedagogy there is also room for experiments and a more personal adaptation of
old traditions, eg within the arts and crafts.
Armenia - literature
Cuneiform -inskriptioner from Urarturiget is the oldest written
tradition. From pre-Christian times, a few hymns are known, eg the songs
from Goghthn. Incidentally, the early Armenian literature is of Christian
character, as the Armenians only got their alphabet in the early 400's, after the
introduction of Christianity. Therefore, the earliest literature consists
largely of translations of the Bible and ancient church literature. The earliest
known Armenian writer is Eznik (400-t.), Who wrote against heresies, including
Hellenistic and Persian religion. Also female poets, Sandukht (700-t.),
Gained importance.
Armenians' opposition to the Arabs is sung in the great, popular epic David
of Sassun, which has played a huge role in national consciousness. Another
highlight in Armenian medieval literature is Gregor fra Nareks (approximately 945-1010)
The Book of Lamentations. The learned monk Johannes (or Hov (h) annes)
from Erznka wrote about grammar, astronomy, history and commerce. The first
Armenian books were printed in Venice in the 16th century, and the first
newspaper was published in the Indian city of Madras in 1794. Since then,
Armenian literature has been published throughout the diaspora. Under Persian
and Turkish rule, Armenian literature became a weapon in the struggle for
freedom. A notable example is Sayat Nova (1722-95), whose real name is Arutiun
Sajatian, who wrote poetry in the new literary language Ashkelon, in
addition to Georgian and Azerbaijani. The founder of modern Armenian prose is
Khachatur Abovian, who studied philology in Tartu (Estonia), and whose novel Armenia's
Wounds(1841-43) gained great literary and political significance. After the
incorporation of Eastern Armenia into Russia in 1828, a number of writers made
common cause with the radical Russian intelligentsia. Western Armenia had even
more difficult conditions under Ottoman rule, as depicted by e.g. the satirist
Hakop Baronian (1842-91). The novelist Raffi (1835-88) was highly valued by
Georg Brandes. The female author Srbuhi Dussabe (1842-1901) portrayed the "Nora
type" in her novels. During the Soviet era, 1922-91, the official Armenian
literature received state support and widespread use in Russian
translations. Prominent writers and poets such as Hovhannes Tumanian
(1869-1923), Vahan Terian (1885-1920) and E. Kharents (1897-1937) sided with the
Soviet regime. Others emigrated or became dissidents in the struggle for the
uniqueness of language and culture. After the thaw, a new, non-ideological
generation came to the fore. Here, Hrant Matevosian (b. 1935) became a central
figure with his depictions of everyday life and of fundamental human conflicts.
From the 1960's, literature and theater became a semi-legal forum for debates
and experiments. After the upheavals of the late 1980's, Armenian literature was
given full freedom - but in an impoverished and war-torn country. Armenian
emigrants have in other languages given a greater world insight into the
country's culture, above all the American Armenian William Saroyan, who never
wrote a word in Armenian. Available in DanishEske K. Mathiesen The fugitive
nightingale. Repetitions of Armenian poetry (1977).
Armenia - music
Folk music was especially formerly characterized by dance songs (parerger),
instrumental chain dances and traveling troubadours (ashugher). In
Soviet times, state ensembles were also created, playing arranged folk
music. Church music includes 1166 canonized hymns (sharakan). They
were created in the 1500's, but have much older roots. Among the country's
classical composers is A. Khatjaturjan.
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