User:Yerevantsi/sandbox/ArmHigh


 * Armenian Highlands


 * Armenian plateau

Usage
the extraction of the name Armenian Highland of a plateau in Asia Minor [The name was introduced by geologist Herman Abich at the end of the 19th century and was widely accepted in the first decades of the 20th century.] from maps and scholarly books currently published in Turkey and Western countries - evidently in order to "forget" the Armenians who lived there before being expelled in 1915-18. Only Armenian geographers and historians continue to use the old name in memory of their lost historical homeland.

Armenia also lies within the geophysical territory of the Armenian Highland, an expansive (approximately 300,000 sq km) orographic province south of the IZuraRiver that includes the ranges of the Lesser Caucasus up to the IZura River drainage but excludes the low-lying Colchian Plain on the Georgian Black Sea littoral and the Mughan Steppe near the Caspian Sea in Azerbaijan. The geophysical province includes all of Armenia, Nakhichevan, and Nagorno-Karabagh, as well as portions of southern Georgia, western Azerbaijan, eastern Turkey and the northern tip of Iran. The Highland is framed on the north by the Pontic Range, skirting the SE coast of the Black Sea, and on the south by the Taurus Mountains. Runoff from the Antitaurus at the western edge of the Highland feeds the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers flowing into Mesopotamia, while the Kura and Arax River systems, fed by runoff from the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, flow east on their way to the Caspian Sea.

The toponym Armenian Highland has been established in the Western geologic/geographic lexicon since at least the 1840s (e.g., Abich 1843). Nevertheless, it is symptomatic of how nationalist sentiments follow the process of physiographic description that scholars from neighboring countries often remain uncomfortable with the Armenian Highland traversing their borders.

Armenians are one of the ancient nations in Western Asia, formed within the territory of Armenian Highland encompassing a large area between Anti-Taurus and eastern slopes of Artsakh Mountain (Karabagh Highland), i.e. between the mountains of Armenian Taurus and East-Pontic, Trialet and Mosk. Armenian plateau occupies approximately 360 thousands sq km. In the center of the Upland stands Biblical Mount Ararat (Masis, 5165). Mount Aragats (4090 meters) is the highest peak of the current Armenian Republic. The climate here is severely continental – with harsh winters and stuffy summers. The flora and fauna of Armenian Highland are rich.