The Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, the most southern of the south Caucasus Soviet Republics, is an impressive mountainous country (11,580 sq. mi.) which borders Iran and Turkey. It is a land similar to western Colorado in features and climate, its plateaus ranging from 3,000 to 8,000 ft. high. Since the Bronze Age this buffer land has been defended by its people of whom more than a million live there now. Many other Armenians inhabit other Caucasian regions, especially the towns, and thousands have been obliged to emigrate to France, the United States or elsewhere.
The Armenians raise cattle and sheep on the higher altitudes, but on the lower they cultivate subtropical plants, irrigated under the hot sun. They send to the Soviet market copper, leather, wool, and especially cotton and wines. Of the peasants 90 per cent are on collective farms.
Books published in Armenian are now ten times as numerous as they were before the revolution; there are now 13 theaters instead of none; the country has 8 universities and colleges. The capital is Erevan, a very old city now numbering 150,000, and near it is the Echmiadzin Monastery which is 1,500 years old and contains many ancient manuscripts.
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