The Armenian Research Center/University
of Michigan-Dearborn
Some Fast Facts About Armenia and the
Armenians
Do you know the following facts?
There are between eight and ten million Armenians in the world.
There are between 500,000 and one million Armenians in the United States, with
between 30,000 and 50,000 in the metropolitan Detroit area.
The city of Yerevan (originally called Erebuni, now the capital of the Republic
of Armenia) has been continuously inhabited for over 2,700 years. Only a few
cities, which include Jerusalem and Damascus (the oldest such city), are older.
Armenia was the first country to be officially converted to Christianity (301
traditional date, 314 revised date: both dates predate 391, the year the Roman
Empire became officially Christian).
Armenian was the eighth language in which the Bible, either in full or in part
was written (following Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, Syriac, Coptic, Gothic, and Latin).
The Armenian translation, a complete one finished in A.D. 433, is considered
to be the "Queen of Translations."
Armenians are the first people (other than the Hereros) to suffer genocide
in the 20th century.
Armenians built churches in a gothic style of architecture a century before
it first appeared in Europe.
Chess champion Garry Kasparov, gambling mogul and part-Chrysler owner Kirk
Kerkorian, retired pathologist Jack Kevorkian, singer Charles Aznavour, and
Cher are all Armenians.
The best man at Richard the Lionhearted's wedding on Cyprus during the Third
Crusade was Armenian (Levon/Leon Rubenid).
Armenian was the eleventh language to be printed on the moveable type press (in 1511 or 1512, following Latin, German, Greek, Czech, Hebrew, French, Arabic, Dutch, English, and Italian).