Armenia is located on the border of Europe and Asia, bounded by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran, and Turkey. Its area is 29,800 square kilometers (18,517 square miles) and its capital city is Yerevan. Armenia's population of 3.2 million (according to 2003 estimates) is homogeneous: 98 percent Armenian. An additional 7million Armenians live outside of the country—more than twice the resident population. Many members of this Armenian diaspora are descendants of refugees who fled the country during the Armenian Genocide of 1915; they continue to exert significant influence over Armenia's economic and political processes.

About 94 percent of Armenians practice the Christian Apostolic faith. Armenia was the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion in 301 B.C.E., eleven years before Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire.

Founded in 190 B.C.E., the Armenian Kingdom expanded steadily; by 55 B.C.E. its borders stretched from the Caspian Sea in the east...