Аrmenians are one of the most ancient nations of the Middle East. Armenians belong to the Indo-European race so does their language which is a branch of Indo-European language family. Armenian highland is historical homeland of Armenians . As independent nation Armenians emerged as a result of disintegration of Indo-European language.
Armenians have history of about 4 thousand years. Geopolitical position of Armenian Highland has its great impact on Armenian history. Being located on the crossroad of Asia and Europe has contributed to enriching Armenian culture from different civilizations and creating historical bonds with other nations, but due to its geographical position Armenia has been attacked by the armies coming from the West and mainly from the East, it has been very decisive factor in Armenian history up to present. Overall number of Armenians in the world is around 13 million.
Due to centuries-long foreign domination and other political, economical and religious factors most of Armenian population today lives outside of modern Armenia.
Diaspora of around 8-9 million people is a proof of difficult history. Since ancient times in Armenian highland existed many small states which later contributed to formation of united Armenian kingdom, today in 1/10 part of its historical homeland exist two Armenian states: The Republic of Armenia and Artsakh , they are populated only by 1/3 part of world Armenian population.
Despite being under foreign domination for a long time Armenians managed to keep originality of their culture.
In 301 AD Armenians adopted Christianity as state religion, becoming the first to do so. Most part of Christian Armenians is linked to Armenian Apostolic Church. Rather small number of Armenians belong to Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant Churches, there is also small number of Muslims among Armenians.
Translated by Anoush Hakobyan
