Armenia

The country today known as Armenia was once part of ancient Armenia, considered an advanced ancient culture, which extended from the Black Sea to the Caspian Sea, and from the Mediterranean to Lake Urmia in Iran. Ancient Armenia was incorporated into the Achaemenian Empire of Persia (from the 6th-4th century BCE), and later into the Macedonian Empire (from 330 BCE). Under Roman rule in the 2nd century BCE, a Greater Armenia was formed. Over the following centuries, the area was conquered by Persians, Byzantines, and Arabs. In the 11th century CE, a second Armenian state was formed in the Cicilian Plane, to the west. Greater Armenia was the subject of several power struggles until it lost its autonomy in the 14th century. Eastern Armenia was appended to Russia in the 19th century. Western Armenia was controlled by Turkey, and in the late-19th to the early-20th centuries, the country's populace was the subject of massacres and deportations by the Turks. In 1920, the Soviet Republic of Armenia was established, later dissolving in 1936, with Armenia becoming a separate constituent republic of the Soviet Union. In 1991, Armenia declared independence from the Soviet Union. Although the Soviets had helped to modernize the country, the 1990s brought an economic crisis which has seen a fifth of the population emigrate. Major industries in Armenia include chemicals, clothing, and machinery, as well as textiles.