Geography

The Republic of Armenia is a landlocked country in Asia Minor, between the Black and Caspian Seas, bordered on the north and east by Georgia and Azerbaijan and on the south and west by Iran and Turkey.

Covering an area of 29,800 square kilometres, the country is located in the north-east of the Armenian Highland (which covers 400 000 sq km or 154,000 sq. mi), otherwise known as historic Armenia and considered as the original homeland of Armenians. Armenia is the 141st largest country in the world (after Lesotho) and is approximately a third of the size of Portugal.

The terrain is mostly mountainous, with fast flowing rivers and few forests. The climate is highland continental: hot summers and cold winters. The land rises to 4,095 metres (13,435 ft) above sea-level at Mount Aragats, and no point is below 400 metres (1,312 ft) above sea level.

Mount Ararat, historically part of Armenia and regarded by the Armenians as a symbol of their land, is located in present-day Turkey. The mountain was conquered several times and eventually fell into the hands of the Russian Empire in the aftermath of the last Russo-Persian War. After achieving independence from the Russian Empire and the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic, the Democratic Republic of Armenia gained control of the mountain. However, after the republic's conquest by Bolshevik forces, it was ceded to Turkey as part of the Turkish-Soviet friendship agreement, the Treaty of Kars.

Topography and Drainage

Twenty-five million years ago, a geological upheaval pushed up the earth's crust to form the Armenian Plateau, creating the complex topography of modern Armenia. The Lesser Caucasus range extends through northern Armenia, runs southeast between Lake Sevan and Azerbaijan, then passes roughly along the Armenian-Azerbaijani border to Iran. Thus situated, the mountains make travel from north to south difficult. Geological turmoil continues in the form of devastating earthquakes, which have plagued Armenia. In December 1988, the second largest city in the republic, Leninakan (now Gyumri), was heavily damaged by a massive quake that killed more than 25,000 people.

About half of Armenia's area of approximately 29,800 square kilometres has an elevation of at least 2,000 metres, and only 3 % of the country lies below 650 metres. The lowest point is at the Debet River in the far north, which has an elevation of 400 metres. Elevations in the Lesser Caucasus vary between 2,640 and 3,280 metres. To the southwest of the range is the Armenian Plateau, which slopes southwestward toward the Aras River on the Turkish border. The plateau is masked by intermediate mountain ranges and extinct volcanoes. The largest of these, Mount Aragats, 4,095 metres high, is also the highest point in Armenia. Most of the population lives in the western and northwestern parts of the country, where the two major cities, Erevan and Gyumri (which was called Aleksandropol' during the tsarist period), are located.

The valleys of the Debet and Akstafa rivers form the chief routes into Armenia from the north as they pass through the mountains. Lake Sevan, 72.5 kilometres across at its widest point and 376 kilometres long, is by far the largest lake. It lies 2,070 metres above sea level on the plateau. Terrain is most rugged in the extreme southeast, which is drained by the Bargushat River, and most moderate in the Aras River valley to the extreme southwest. Most of Armenia is drained by the Aras or its tributary, the Razdan, which flows from Lake Sevan. The Aras forms most of Armenia's border with Turkey and Iran while the Zangezur Mountains form the border between Armenia's southern province of Syunik and Azerbaijan's adjacent Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic.

Environmental Problems

Armenia is trying to address its environmental problems. It has established a Ministry of Nature Protection and introduced taxes for air and water pollution and solid waste disposal, whose revenues are used for environmental protection activities. Armenia is interested in cooperating with other members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, a group of 11 former Soviet republics) and with members of the international community on environmental issues. The Armenian Government is working toward closing its Nuclear Power Plant at Medzamor near Yerevan as soon as alternative energy sources are identified.