Armenia

Most of Armenia lies above a thousand metres, a landlocked country in the southern Caucasus. Mount Aragats, a volcano with four summits, is its highest point, while Mount Ararat, where tradition sets Noah’s Ark, rises across the Turkish border over the Ararat plain, where the Aras waters apricots, grapes and melons. Lake Sevan spreads across the eastern mountains, and in the north the Debed cuts a deep canyon. Pink volcanic tuff gives many towns their colour.

Erebuni, a fortress of the kingdom of Urartu, was founded in 782 BC, and Tigranes the Great extended Armenian rule towards the Mediterranean in the first century BC. Armenia adopted Christianity as its state religion, by tradition in 301, and around 405 Mesrop Mashtots devised its alphabet. In 1915 the Ottoman authorities began deporting the empire’s Armenians, and very large numbers were killed in massacres or died on forced marches into the Syrian desert. A republic proclaimed in 1918 became Soviet in 1920; independence came in 1991.

The Armenian Apostolic Church has its seat at Etchmiadzin, and carved stone crosses called khachkars stand in churchyards across the country. The duduk, a double-reed pipe of apricot wood, has a mournful voice, and lavash bread is slapped onto the walls of a clay oven. Chess is taught in schools, and a cave near Areni held one of the earliest known wineries. The economy draws on copper and molybdenum from Kajaran, brandy, cut diamonds, software firms and a worldwide diaspora.