- Armenian Highland
The Armenian Highland (Russian "Armyanskoye Nagorye"; also known as the Armenian Upland or Armenian Plateau, also referred as
eastern Armenia ) is aplateau ofTranscaucasia , connecting theLesser Caucasus with theTaurus Mountains .Its total area is about 400,000 km². [ [http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9009517/Armenian-Highland "Armenian Highland." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2007. Encyclopædia] ] At an average elevation of 1500 to 2000 metres, its highest point is
Mount Ararat , 5,165 metres (16,945 ft). It is a mixture oflava plateau s,volcanic cone s, and fault-fold ranges featuring mountainsteppe s andsemi-desert s. There are a number of lakes intectonic depressions (Lake Sevan ,Lake Van ,Lake Urmia ).Most of the Armenian Highland is in
Turkey 'sEastern Anatolia Region (Doğu Anadolu Bölgesi), and also includes northwesternIran , all ofArmenia , southern Georgia and westernAzerbaijan .Its eastern parts are also known as the Transcaucasian highland ("Zakavkazkoye nagorye"). [Clifford Embleton, Geomorphology of Europe (1984), p. 393.]The Armenian Plateau has been called the "epicenter of the
Iron Age ", since it appears to be the location of the first appearance ofIron Age metallurgy in the late2nd millennium BC . [S. K. Dikšit. Introduction to Archaeology, Moscow, 1960.] It is also traditionally believed to be one of the possible locations of theGarden of Eden . [Mesopotamian Trade. Noah's Flood: The Garden of Eden, W. Willcocks, H. Rassam pp. 459-460]The
apricot , a native to China, spread to Europe through the Armenia Highlands. It came to be known throughout the ancient world as the Armenian fruit, and its botanical name "Prunus armeniaca", derives from theLatin vernacular for apricot, "Armeniacum".In the 1980s, the ministry of education in
Turkey ordered that names that could be conceived as reminiscent of pre-Turkic peoples of Anatolia like "Armenian highland" (Armenians ) and "Pontic range " (Pontic Greeks ) be effaced in atlases in Turkish schools. The official term of the plateau in Turkish usage is "Eastern Anatolian Highland".ee also
*
Eastern Armenia
*Western Armenia
*Kingdom of Armenia
*Greater Armenia (political concept)
*Lesser Armenia
*Lesser Armenia (Cilicia)
*Russian Armenia
*Armenian Genocide
*Wilsonian Armenia
*Eastern Anatolia References
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