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ERIVAN

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V09, Page 748 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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ERIVAN  , a

government of Russia,
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Transcaucasia, having the province of
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Kars on the W., the government of
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Tiflis on the N., that of Elisavetpol on the N. and E., and
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Persia and
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Turkish Armenia on the S . It occupies the top of an immense plateau (6000-8000 ft.) . Continuous chains of mountains are met with only on its
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borders, and in the E., but the whole
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surface is thickly set with short ridges and isolated mountains of volcanic origin, of which Alagoz (14,440 ft.) and Ararat (16,925 ft.) are the most conspicuous and the most important . Both must have been active in
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Tertiary times . Lake Gok-cha (540 sq. m.) is encircled by such volcanoes, and the neighbourhood of Alexandropol is a " volcanic amphitheatre," being entirely buried under volcanic deposits . The same is true of the slopes leading down to the
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river
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Aras; and the valley of the upper Aras is a stony
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desert, watered only by irrigation, which is carried on with
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great difficulty owing to the character of the
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soil . The government is drained by the Aras, which forms the boundary with Persia and flows with great velocity down its stony bed, the fall being 17-22 ft. per mile in its upper course, and 9 ft. at Ordubad, where it quits the government, while
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lower down it again increases to 23 ft . Many of the small lakes, filling volcanic craters, are of great
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depth .
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Timber is very scarce . A variety of useful minerals exists, but only rock-salt is obtained, at'Nakhichevan and
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Kulp . The
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climate is extremely varied, the following being the
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average temperatures and mean
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annual rainfall at Alexandropol (alt . 5078 ft.) and Aralykh (2755 ft.) respectively:
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year 42°,
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January r 2°,
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July 65°, mean rainfall 16.2 in.; and year 53°, January 20.5°, July 79°, rainfall 6.3 in .

The

population numbered 829,578 in 1897 (only 375,086
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women), of whom 82,278 lived in the towns . An estimate in 1906 gave a
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total of 909,100 . They consist chiefly of Armenians (441,000), Tatars (40%), Kurds (49,389), with Russians, Greeks and Tates . Most of the Armenians belong to the Gregorian (Christian) Church, and only 4020 to the Armenian Catholic Church . The Tatars are mostly Shiite Mussulmans, only 27,596 being
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Sunnites; 777 2 belong to the
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peculiar faith of the Yezids . While barley only can be grown on the high parts of the plateau, cotton, mulberry, vines and all sorts of fruit are cultivated in the valley of the Aras . Cattle-breeding is extensively carried on; camels also are bred, and leeches are collected out of the swamps and exported to Persia . Industry is in its
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infancy, but cottons, carpets, and felt goods are made in the villages . A considerable trade is carried on with Persia, but trade with
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Asia Minor is declining . The government is divided into seven districts—Erivan, Alexandropol, Echmiadzin (chief
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town, Vagarshapat), Nakhichevan, Novobayazet, Surmali (chief town, Igdyr), and Sharur-daralagoz (chief town, Norashen) . The
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principal towns are Erivan (see below), Alexandropol (32,018 inhabitants in 1897), Novobayazet (8507), Nakhichevan (8845), and Vagarshapat (3400) .

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