Yerevan
(2002 pop. 1.3 million). Yerevan is the capital and the largest city of Armenia, as well as its largest cultural, scientific, and industrial center (producing electronics, chemicals, textiles, and food products). The site was fortified as early as the eighth century BCE, when a ruler of the ancient kingdom of Urartu (thirteenth–seventh centuries BCE) established a fortress there in 782 BCE. In the sixth century BCE, Yerevan was the capital of Armenia when the region was under Achaemenid Persian rule.
Because of its strategic location on the trade route through the Caucasus, Armenia was overrun through the centuries by various powers, including the Romans, Parthians, Arabs, and Mongols. Between 1513 and 1735, it was repeatedly devastated by Persian and Turkish forces. The Russians conquered Yerevan in 1827; under the Treaty of Turkmanchai (1828), the city, together with east Armenia, became part of the Russian empire.
After a short-lived period of independence between 1918 and 1920, Yerevan became the capital of the Armenian Socialist Soviet Republic within the Soviet Union. Since 1991, it has been the capital of the independent Republic of Armenia.
Architectural monuments include the Katoghike Church (thirteenth century), the Church of Zoravar (1691–1705), and a sixteenth-century Ottoman fortress. In the 1930s–1950s, the city was completely redesigned in accordance with plans developed by A. I. Tamanian. Yerevan boasts a state university founded in 1919, several other institutions of higher education, research institutions, and the Academy of Sciences. Cultural institutions include the opera house, several theaters, museums such as the National Museum of Armenia, art galleries, and the Matenadaran, a library with a large collection of Armenian manuscripts.
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