Iranian Armenians - Early History

Early History

Since Antiquity there has always been much interaction between Ancient Armenia and Persia (Iran).

On the Behistun inscription of 515 BC, Darius the Great indirectly confirmed that Urartu and Armenia are synonymous when describing his conquests. Armenia became a satrap of the Persian Empire for a long period of time. Regardless, relations between Armenians and Persians were cordial.

Prior to the 3rd century AD, no other neighbor had as much influence on Armenian life and culture as Persia. They shared many religious and cultural characteristics, and intermarriage among Iranian and Armenian nobility was common. Armenia's conversion to Christianity in 301 alienated them from the Persians, who were mostly Zoroastrian, and the Persian conversion to Islam in the 7th century deepened this alienation.

In the 11th century, the Seljuk Turks drove thousands of Armenians to Iranian Azerbaijan, where some were sold as slaves and others worked as artisans and merchants. After the Mongol conquest of Iran in the 13th century many Armenian merchants and artists settled in Iran, in cities that were once part of historic Armenia such as Khoy, Maku, Maragheh, Urmia, and especially Tabriz.

Although Armenians have a long history of interaction with Persia/Iran, Iran's Armenian community emerged when Shah Abbas relocated tens of thousands of Armenians from Nakhichevan to an area of Isfahan called New Julfa in the early 17th century, which was created to become an Armenian quarter. Iran quickly recognized the Armenians' dexterity in commerce. The community became active in the cultural and economic development of Iran.

Bourvari (Armenian: Բուրւարի) is a collection of villages in Iran, between the city of Khomein (Markazi Province) and Aligoodarz (Lorestān Province). It was mainly populated by Armenians who were forcibly deported to the region by Shah Abbas of the Safavid Persian Empire during the Ottoman-Persian War. The following villages populated by the Armenians in Bourvari were: Dehno, Khorzend, Farajabad, Bahmanabad and Sangesfid

Read more about this topic:  Iranian Armenians

Famous quotes containing the words early and/or history:

    O troubled forms, O early love unfortunate and hard,
    Time has estranged you into a jewel cold and pure;
    Edna St. Vincent Millay (1892–1950)

    A poet’s object is not to tell what actually happened but what could or would happen either probably or inevitably.... For this reason poetry is something more scientific and serious than history, because poetry tends to give general truths while history gives particular facts.
    Aristotle (384–323 B.C.)