Titiek Suharto

Siti Hediati Hariyadi (born 14 April 1959), popularly known as Titiek Soeharto, is the second daughter of Soeharto, the second president of Indonesia. She has led the Indonesian Art Foundation and was a TV commentator for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, as well as a judge on Puteri Indonesia (Miss Indonesia) 2014. A year after her father's rule ended in 1998, "Time" magazine estimated her personal wealth at $75 million.
Life.
Titiek was born in Semarang, Central Java in 1959. She was the fourth child of Soeharto and Siti Hartinah. When Soeharto resigned in 1998 after 32 years in power, his family was alleged to control over 500 companies and have assets of $15 billion. An investigation by "TIME Asia" noted there was no evidence the money had been obtained illegally, but the nepotism involving the president's six children was thought to have contributed to his downfall.
In May 1983, Titiek married Prabowo Subianto Djojohadikoesoemo, an Army officer who became known as a hard man of the Soeharto regime. She and Prabowo had one son, Didit Hediprasetyo, who was schooled in Boston and became a fashion and car interior designer. Titiek and Prabowo divorced in 1998 after Soeharto resigned following widespread anti-government protests and mass riots. Sixteen years after their divorce, Titik appeared at rallies with Prabowo to support his presidential campaign in 2014, but she dismissed speculation they would remarry.
Titik has led the Indonesian Art Foundation and she was a TV commentator for the 2006 World Cup. There was some discussion as to why she was chosen as a commentator. The TV company said that this was because they were introducing a wider variety of presenters, but her skill as a commentator was questioned. This was thought to be an inelegant attempt at a comeback for the Soeharto family.
Golkar is the political party that her father created to keep himself in power. Titiek has backed her brother Tommy Soeharto, who was jailed for arranging the murder of a Supreme Court judge, to lead the party. On 5 December 2017, Titiek said she herself was ready to stand for the leadership of Golkar because the party’s popularity had slumped. In June 2018, Titiek resigned from Golkar and joined Tommy's Berkarya Party. She complained her voice had never been heard in Golkar.


Harrat Rahat

Ḥarrat Rahāṭ () is a volcanic lava field in the Hejazi region of Saudi Arabia. In 1256 CE, a lava flow erupted from six aligned scoria cones, and traveled to within of the Islamic holy city of Medina; this was its last eruption. There were earlier eruptions, such as in 641 CE, which made finger-like flows to the east of the 1256 CE flow. It is the biggest lava field in Saudi Arabia. Nearby is Al Wahbah crater.
There has been recent increase in seismic activitiy since 2009.


Prehistory of Laguna (province)

Laguna is a province of the Philippines found in Southern Luzon and features a freshwater lake and river valleys surrounded by arable land. This makes Laguna a good site for potential archeological sites. Its lake basin and fertile land makes for the area easily habitable, granting early settlers an accessible source of fish, eels, game and grain to support a thriving community of people. The coasts rivers of Laguna give the region a quick method of transportation and make trade with foreign merchants easier.
Laguna has been investigated multiple times by several archeological teams and has yielded several finds. Henry Otley Beyer had studied the shores of Laguna de Bay, particularly near the northern regions of Rizal and Manila. In his Outline Review of Philippine Archaeology by Islands and Provinces, he also made mention of the archeological potential of the eastern shores of the lake in which Pila lies. He pointed out that "it should turn out to be one of the most important centers of trade as well as of culture during the early part of the present millennium" for its strategic location.
Excavations.
The Esso – Elizalde Project.
Following the expedition of Dr. Robert Fox in 1958 in the province of Batangas, the knowledge of the basics of archeology, such as the presence of artifacts under the ground and how to unearth these artifacts, quickly spread among the locals. The recovered artifacts, pottery, were sold as a source of income. In the 1960s, the towns of Laguna were also gripped in a frenzy of pot-hunting and yielded celadon, qingbai and various brown-glazed and red-underglaze wares.
Seeking to investigate the pot-hunting frenzy in Laguna, an archeological study was led in 1967 by Julita Fernandez and Amelia Rogel of the University of the Philippines - Anthropology Department alongside Dr. Fox and Avelino Legaspi from the Anthropology Division of the National Museum. The study was funded by the ESSO Standard Philippines and Mr and Mrs Manuel Elizalde and lasted from May to October of the same year. It consisted of 10 archeological excavations in Pila, Lumban, Balibago and Talim Island.
Findings.
Three out of four sites yielded 153 graves, dated to approximately 12th to 15th century CE through recovered ceramics. The study yielded evidence of cremation in the sites, with remains either buried in soil or placed inside jars. Specimens recovered from the excavation include celadon dishes with fish motifs, celadon censers, qingbai and blue and white jarlets, small lead-glazed water droppers and teapots, qingbai double gourd vessels, large grey-glazed ewers, figurines of carabao with riders in plain and spotted qingbai, and brown wares of all sizes and shapes. Iron and glass bracelets, and colored beads and earrings that appear to be gold or copper were also part of the discovered.
250 to 300 of the recovered specimen were donated by the Elizaldes to Pila, alongside a building designated The Pila Museum. These were later transferred to a heritage building by the Pila Historical Society Foundation.
Locsin – University of San Carlos Archaeological Project.
In the same year as the ESSO-Elizalde Project, a separate study was conducted by the University of San Carlos, alongside Leandro and Cecilia Locsin, supervised by Rosa C.P. Tenazas. The excavations in the barrio of Pinagbayanan, Municipality of Laguna started from the fourth of September, 1967 and lasted until the 19th of March, 1968. The excavated area had three sites, namely, Site I: Pinagbayanan/Agra, Site II: Pinagbayanan/Mendoza No. 1 and Site III: Pinagbayanan/Mendoza No. 2. Most of the artifacts discovered were collected on the first two months of excavation. Luckily, a few burials were uncovered by a typhoon on November, 1967. Sites I and II had a total area of 2,720 square meters, that is, 170 4 x 4 squares and 241 burials.
Findings and Conclusions.
The excavations yielded the following results:
The area was primarily inhabited and/or used for burials by settlements from at least the 12th to 14th century AD. This period can be divided into three: Iron Age (Period I); Lower Sung (Period II); and Upper Sung/Yuan (Period III).
The earliest was the Iron Age. Three burials were associated with this period. Also, based on the distinct pottery types, it was considered to be the time before contacts with the outside world through trade with China begun.
A relatively long period was Period II. The sites were used as burial grounds for inhumation burials in this time. A distinct burial practice was the bundling of the corpse with grave goods.
On Period III, the sites were used for both habitation and burial. This was concluded because of the presence of net sinkers, spindle whorls, postholes, etc.
Artifacts discovered strongly support actual Chinese settlement in the area during the said periods. Recovered were water droppers/miniature pouring vessels which the Chinese had great appreciation for their beauty. Also, net sinkers molded into the male symbol and in one instance the female symbol, expresses the preoccupation with fertility and ancestor worship also evident in many parts of the Far East to the North during the Sung Period.
A great discovery was the practice of cremation in the area which had a form similar to the one practiced in China during approximately the same period. Although secondary burial was widespread in Southeast Asia, what makes this discovery unique was the concept of secondary cremation, which had limited distribution and was known in China, during the Sung period.
Thirty three out of the fifty five burials uncovered within the Period III level were cremation burials of two types (1) burial directly in a pit and (2) burial in a container. The second type was supported by a number of observations which include that a number of jars recovered had traces of charred skeletal remains believed to be human and the presence of grave goods, like ceramic pieces, inside the jars. The concept of secondary cremation was described as "after undergoing one of several processes of primary burial to allow time for the flesh to decompose, the bones were collected and burned in a ritual before the actual reburial". This is also supported by the fact that in primary cremations, large fragments of charred skeletal materials rarely occur where as in the excavation site, large fragments of bones were found.
Another significant discovery, which may also support the concept of secondary cremation, was the presence of a Crematory Complex. It is a structure with three chambers which are not large enough to contain an average-sized adult corpse, in other words, it was used only for burning disarticulated skeletal remains.
On the people's way of living, other results imply that first, wet rice agriculture was practiced during this time. Also, with the presence of spindle whorls, cotton was grown and weaving was also practiced. The presence of net sinkers and with the fact that the area was near the lake, implies that they engaged in fishing, while hunting and animal husbandry was also exercised. Pigs were domesticated and animal remains show that horses were also present. Iron wastes and slag were also discovered indicating the production of iron tools and weapons.
Other artifacts discovered are the earthenware. Non-Iron Age types (under Periods I and II) fall under four types: (1) the Kendi (spouted variety), which in almost all cases had only one spout and one lug and generally squat; (2) the simple cooking pot, which had spherical body with a rounded bottom and everted lip rim; (3) rimless pots or bowls, characterized by having elliptical body which ends in a plain, slightly inturned lip rim; and (4) miscellaneous earthenware, which includes heavy stoves and pot covers. The pot covers are different from what we use today. They are usually concave, instead of being convex, and had a cylindrical handle at the center.
Also found are pottery disks which are associated with graves identified as children's graves. Thus the pottery disks are believed to have been playthings for children. Incidentally, pottery disks are also found in some excavations in Thailand and are said to have been "used in a game called Len Lum (playing holes)", wherein shallow holes slightly larger than the disk are made by twisting the disks down onto the ground and the players attempt to pitch the disk, into the hole, from a distance.


Kerem Atzmona

Kerem Atzmona () was an unauthorized Israeli outpost in the Gush Katif settlement bloc, located in the south-west edge of the Gaza Strip, and evacuated as part of Israel's unilateral disengagement plan of 2005.
History.
Karem Atzmona founded on Tu Bishvat in 2001, was located adjacent to the settlement of Bnei Atzmon. The settlement was never legally recognized by the Israeli government.
The history of Kerem Atzmona starts prior to the outbreak of the Second Intifada. Between the settlements of Morag and Bnei Atzmon, within Gush Katif, lied several thousand dunams of unused land that until a decade earlier had been a vineyard (kerem in Hebrew translates to vineyard) of Bnei Atzmon. In the summer of 2000, second generation children of the settlement decided to hold a summer camp on the plateau which is sixty meters above sea level. A few months later in the fall, before the Jewish holiday of Rosh Hashana (and before the October 2000 riots), two families decided to move to the site and live in a trailer. The following spring, more families decided to move to the location and took up residence in additional trailers that were installed on the site.
At the beginning of this venture, financial and logistical support came from the community of Bnei Atzmon, but eventually the residents themselves became independent and took administrative control of that neighborhood-turned-settlement. Along with the living quarters, a synagogue, a mikveh for men, and a children's playground were built. Plans for adding a nursery were already finalized, and a master plan for an expansion along with permanent housing was in development at the time of evacuation.
Unilateral disengagement.
The 20 families of Kerem Atzmon were evicted on August 17, 2005 by the Israeli Army and Israeli Police. The trailers and other structures were destroyed.


Panglong Agreement

The Panglong Agreement ( ) was reached in Panglong, Southern Shan State, between the Burmese government under Aung San and the Shan, Kachin, and Chin peoples on 12 February 1947. Aung Zan Wai, Pe Khin, Bo Hmu Aung, Sir Maung Gyi, Dr. Sein Mya Maung, Myoma U Than Kywe were among the negotiators of the historical Panglong Conference negotiated with Bamar leader General Aung San and other ethnic leaders in 1947. The agreement accepted "Full autonomy in internal administration for the Frontier Areas" in principle and envisioned the creation of a Kachin State by the Constituent Assembly. It continued the financial relations established between the Shan states and the Burmese federal government, and envisioned similar arrangements for the Kachin Hills and the Chin Hills.
The anniversary of this agreement is celebrated annually as Union Day.


Immaculate Conception Parish Church (Santa Cruz)

The Immaculate Conception Parish Church commonly known as Santa Cruz Church is a Roman Catholic church along Pedro Guevarra Street, Poblacion, Santa Cruz, Laguna, Philippines.
History.
Santa Cruz was formerly annexed (or "visita") of Lumban and became an independent parish under the advocacy of the Immaculate Conception in 1602 with Father Gabriel de Castro as priest. Due to sanitary problems in the original location, the church was transferred in 1608 in its present location and built the present church under the direction of Father Antonio de la Llave. Father Miguel Perciva added a transept under his direction in 1672. The church was later renovated by building a nave, convent and remodeling of the five altars by Father Juan Marzon in 1850. The church was destroyed by fire on January 28, 1945 during the Liberation. It was reconstructed in 1948 under Father Mariano Limjuco.
Besides the devotion to the Virgin Mary, an image of the Holy Guardian Angel, whose devotion started in 1678 by Fernando de la Concepcion, was venerated in Santa Cruz. After being housed at Pila, the infirmary of the Franciscan religious was transferred to Pila on July 13, 1674.


Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul, Neivo-Shaitansky

The Church of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul is an Orthodox church in Neivo-Shaitansky settlement, Sverdlovsk oblast.
The building was granted the status of regional significance in 31 December 1987 (decision № 535 by the executive committee of Sverdlovsk oblast Council of People's Deputies). The object number of cultural heritage of regional significance is 661710842370005.
History.
The church is located in the northern part of the village on the left bank of the Susanka River. The first wooden building of the church had been building since 1750 to 1754. The church was consecrated in the name of the Holy Apostles Peter and Paul. The construction of a large stone building began in 1797. The temple was built on the means of the Yakovlevs plants’ owners. The work was ended on 27 May 1812. The side-altar of the two-altar church was consecrated in the name of the Entry of the Most Holy Theotokos into the Temple.
The third side-altar had been building since 1871 to 1878. It was consecrated in the name of the St. Alexander Nevsky. In 1880-1881 the church was painted and decorated. In the main part of the church a five-tiered iconostasis was installed. There were a lot of rare and hold sacred icons: "Pochaev's Mother of God which painted with oil paints on a wooden board in the Turinsk women's monastery and the icon of the Athonite Mother of God, painted in the Athos St. Andrew's skete on a cypress board." The clergy of a parish owned several houses in the village.
The church was closed in 1936. It had been functioning since 1947 to 1962. Than the kindergarten was located in the building. In 1990 the collegium was rebuilt and restoration work was started.
Architecture.
The composition of the main stone building includes a temple volume of a quartet with a pentahedral apse, a refectory, a bell tower, a refectory, a forward-looking porch, which is wider at the expense of the chapels. The corners of the quarter are treated with blades, and at the end of the walls - smoothly curved ledges with windows.


Armenian Americans

Armenian Americans (, "amerikahayer") are citizens or residents of the United States who have total or partial Armenian ancestry. They form the second largest community of the Armenian diaspora after Armenians in Russia. The first major wave of Armenian immigration to the United States took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Thousands of Armenians settled in the United States following the Hamidian massacres of the mid-1890s, the Adana Massacre of 1909, and the Armenian Genocide of 1915-1918 in the Ottoman Empire. Since the 1950s many Armenians from the Middle East (especially from Lebanon, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Egypt and Turkey) migrated to America as a result of political instability in the region. It accelerated in the late 1980s and has continued after the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 due to socio-economic and political reasons.
The 2017 American Community Survey estimated that 485,970 Americans held full or partial Armenian ancestry. Various organizations and media criticize these numbers as an underestimate, proposing 800,000 to 1,500,000 Armenian Americans instead. The highest concentration of Americans of Armenian descent is in the Greater Los Angeles area, where 166,498 people have identified themselves as Armenian to the 2000 Census, comprising over 40% of the 385,488 people who identified Armenian origins in the US at the time. The city of Glendale in the Los Angeles metropolitan area is widely thought to be the center of Armenian American life (although many Armenians live in the aptly named "Little Armenia" municipality of Los Angeles).
The Armenian American community is the most politically influential community of the Armenian diaspora. Organizations such as Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) and Armenian Assembly of America advocate for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the United States government and support stronger Armenia–United States relations. The Armenian General Benevolent Union (AGBU) is known for its financial support and promotion of Armenian culture and Armenian language schools.
History.
Early history.
The first recorded Armenian to visit North America was Martin the Armenian from Iran. He was an Iranian Armenian tobacco grower who settled in Jamestown, Virginia in 1618. In 1653–54, two Armenians from Constantinople were invited to Virginia to raise silk worms. A few other Armenians are recorded as having come to the US in the 17th and 18th centuries, but most moved as individuals and did not establish communities. By the 1770s over 70 Armenians had settled in the colonies. The persecution of Christian minorities under the Ottoman Empire and American missionary activities resulted in a small wave of Armenian migration to the US in the 1830s from Cilicia and Western Armenia. Hatchik (Christopher) Oscanyan, a Constantinople American missionary school student, arrived in America in 1835 to pursue higher education. He later worked for the "New York Herald Tribune" and became the New York Press Club president. Many Armenians followed him and went to the US for education.
During the Civil War three Armenian doctors—Simeon Minasian, Garabed Galstian, and Baronig Matevosian—worked at military hospitals in Philadelphia. The only Armenian known to have participated in hostilities was Khachadour Paul Garabedian, who enlisted in the Union Navy. A naturalized citizen from Rodosto, Garabedian served aboard the blockade ships USS "Geranium" and USS "Grand Gulf" as a Third Assistant Engineer and later an officer from 1864 until his honorable discharge from the Navy in August 1865.
The number of Armenians rose from 20 in 1854 to around 70 by the 1870s. In the late 1870s, small Armenian communities existed in New York City, Providence, Rhode Island, and Worcester, Massachusetts. By the late 1880s, their number reached 1,500. Many of them were young male students of the American Evangelical Missions spread throughout the Ottoman Empire. About 40% came from the Province of Kharpert. Before 1899, immigrants were not classified by ethnicity, but rather by country of birth, obscuring the ethnic origins of many Armenians. After 1869, however, Armenians from the eastern regions of the Ottoman Empire were registered as "Armenian" in American records. The number of Armenians who migrated to the US from 1820 to 1898 is estimated to be around 4,000.
First wave of immigration and the Interwar period.
Armenians began to arrive in the US in unprecedented numbers in the late 19th century, most notably after the Hamidian Massacres of 1894–96, and before, during and after the Armenian Genocide. Before this mass migration to the US, the number of Armenians in the country was from 1,500 to 3,000.
Over 12,000 Armenians from the Ottoman Empire went to the US throughout the 1890s. This period witnessed cultural contact between American and Armenian through Armenian nationalist dissident organizations within the Ottoman Empire and intense activity of American missionaries in the region who were sympathetic to the Armenian cause, making the long road of migration somewhat more bearable. With the exception of Fresno, California, which had land suitable for farming, the earliest Armenian immigrants mostly settled in the northeastern industrial centers, such as New York City, Providence, Worcester, and Boston. Armenian emigrants from the Russian Empire were only a minority in emigration from Armenian lands across the Atlantic (about 2,500 moved in 1898–1914), because Armenians were treated relatively better in Russia than in the Ottoman Empire. Once in America, some Armenians organized political parties to serve various causes in America and in the homeland. Turkish Armenian migration rose gradually in the first decade of the 20th century, partly due to the Adana Massacre of 1909, and the Balkan Wars in 1912–1913. Before the start of the World War I, there were already 60,000 Armenians in the US. As more Armenians fell victim to the genocide and more Armenians were deported, the Armenian American community grew dramatically.
According to the Bureau of Immigration, 54,057 Armenians entered the US between 1899 and 1917. The top listed countries of origin were Turkey (46,474), Russia (3,034), Canada (1,577), Great Britain (914) and Egypt (894). Immigrants were asked to indicate which state they were going to settle in; for Armenians, the most popular answers were New York (17,391), Massachusetts (14,192), Rhode Island (4,923), Illinois (3,313), California (2,564), New Jersey (2,115), Pennsylvania (2,002), Michigan (1,371). The largest Armenian American communities at that time were located in New York City; Fresno; Worcester, Massachusetts; Boston; Philadelphia; Chicago; Jersey City; Detroit; Los Angeles; Troy, New York; and Cleveland.
According to estimates, around 77,980 Armenians lived in the US by 1919. An unprecedented number of Armenians entered the country in 1920, when the newly-established Soviet Union forcefully annexed the First Republic of Armenia, but the Immigration Act of 1924 that restricted immigration from southern and eastern Europe as well as Asia barred many other Armenians from emigrating to the US. Most of the post-World War I immigrants were women and children, in contrast to the prewar immigration, which was predominantly young and male. Like Italians, for whom this practice was known as "campanilismo", Armenian communities were often formed by people from the same village or town in the Ottoman Empire. This practice almost entirely disappeared after World War II.
In total, 81,729 Armenians entered the US from 1899 to 1931.
Second wave of immigration.
A new wave of Armenian immigrants moved in the late 1940s, including Soviet Armenian prisoners of war who were able to make their way westward after being freed from Nazi camps. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 allowed people displaced during the World War II to immigrate to the US. From 1944 to 1952, 4,739 Armenians migrated to the US, many with the help of George Mardikian's American National Committee to Aid Homeless Armenians (ANCHA).
However, the true second wave of immigration did not begin until the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 abolished national origins quotas. After the passage of that act, Armenians from the Soviet Union, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran and other Middle Eastern countries began migrating in large numbers, many fleeing political instability in their host countries. In the 1950s, most Armenian immigrants in the US were from Soviet Armenia and Turkey. The Istanbul pogrom in 1955 frightened the local Turkish Armenian population, which looked to the West for a safe and more prosperous life.
Soviet Armenians, on the other hand, were mostly genocide survivors who never fully integrated into Soviet life after their repatriation in the 1940s. The large-scale emigration of Soviet Armenians, mainly to Western countries, began in 1956. About 30,000 Soviet Armenians entered the country from 1960 to 1984, and another 60,000 moved throughout the late 1980s, during the Perestroika era. The total number of Soviet Armenian emigrants from 1956 to 1989, over 80% of them to the US, is estimated at 77,000.
The 15-year-long Lebanese Civil War that started in 1975 and the Iranian revolution of 1979 greatly contributed to the influx of Middle Eastern Armenians to the US. The Armenian communities in these Middle Eastern countries were well established and integrated, but not assimilated, into local populations. Armenians in Lebanon and Iran are even represented in the parliaments as ethnic minorities. Many lived in luxury in their former countries, and more easily handled multilingualism, while retaining aspects of traditional Armenian culture. This wave of newcomers revitalized the Armenian American community, especially in the Los Angeles area, where most second-wave Armenian immigrants settled. In 1970 about 65,000 Armenians resided in Southern California, and two decades later, in 1989, the number of Armenian Americans was estimated at 200,000. Although the 1980 US Census put the number of Armenians living in Los Angeles at 52,400, of which 71.9% were foreign born: 14.7% in Iran, 14.3% in the USSR, 11.5% in Lebanon, 9.7% in Turkey, 11.7% in other Middle Eastern countries (Egypt, Iraq, Palestine, etc.), and the rest in other parts of the world.
Contemporary period.
Immediately before and continuing into the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union, waves of Armenians from Armenia and other former Soviet republics arrived for political reasons and economic opportunities, settling in older established Armenian communities across the country. The 1988 Armenian earthquake and the energy crisis in Armenia during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War caused an estimated number of 700,000 Armenians to leave the country, most of whom ended up in Russia, still others in the US, and some in Europe. Annually, on average 2,000 people from Armenia migrated to the US since 1994, not including ethnic Armenians from Middle Eastern countries. According to the 2000 US Census, there were 65,280 Armenian-born people in the US: 57,482 in California, 1,981 in New York and 1,155 in Massachusetts. According to the 2011 American Community Survey, there were 85,150 Armenian-born people in the US, about 20,000 more than in 2000. According to the US embassy in Yerevan, about 21,000 citizens of Armenia have moved to the US for permanent residency in the period from 1995 to 2012. Meanwhile, Armenian immigration from the Middle East continues, contributing to California's distinction of having, by far, the highest Armenian American population of any state.
According to Dr. Anny Bakalian, Associate Director of the Middle East Center at the City University of New York, "country of birth and childhood socialization, generation, and even cohort effect are important variables in understanding the behavior and attitudes of people of Armenian descent". The main subgroups of foreign-born Armenian Americans are "Hayastantsis" (Armenians from Armenia), "Parskayes" (Armenians from Iran) and "Beirutsis" (Armenians from Beirut, Lebanon). A 1990 University of California, Los Angeles study showed that by education and occupation, native-born and Iranian-born Armenians "tend to have the highest socioeconomic status... while those from Turkey have the lowest", although Turkish Armenians boast the highest rate of self-employment. In 1988, "The New York Times" article claimed that Middle Eastern Armenians prefer to settle in Glendale, California, while Armenian immigrants from the Soviet Union were attracted to Hollywood, Los Angeles.
Armenians from Lebanon, where they had effectively established an active community, are more politicized, while Turkish Armenians are mostly connected with the Armenian Apostolic Church. About 1/3 of all Turkish Armenians in America are self-employed. A group of Armenian Americans from Istanbul founded the Organization of Istanbul Armenians (OIA) in 1976, which claimed over 1,000 members in Southern California as of 2011. Iranian Armenians are known for fast integration into American society; for example, only 31% of Armenian Americans born in Iran claim not to speak English well.
Armenian American criminal organizations have received widespread media attention, such as during the 2010 Medicaid fraud. However, in the city of Glendale, California, where Armenians compose 27% of city's total population, only 17% of the crime in the city were committed by Armenians in 2006.
According to the 2000 US Census, there were 385,488 Americans of Armenian ancestry at that time. The 2017 American Community Survey estimate found 485,970 Americans with full or partial Armenian ancestry. Higher estimates of 800,000 to 1,500,000 are offered by many Armenian and non-Armenian organizations, media and scholars. The German ethnographer Caroline Thon puts their number at 800,000, a number also offered by Dr. Harold Takooshian of Fordham University. Prof. Dennis R. Papazian of University of Michigan–Dearborn claimed that there were 1,000,000 people of Armenian ancestry living in the US. "Armenian Mirror-Spectator"
the German news website "Spiegel Online" and "The New York Review of Books" reported the estimate of 1,200,000, while the World Directory of Minorities and Indigenous Peoples, "U.S. News & World Report", and "Los Angeles Times" put the number at 1,400,000. The Armenian National Committee of America, "The Armenian Weekly", "The Armenian Reporter", and Reuters offer the highest number, at around 1,500,000 Armenian Americans.
467,890 people have reported Armenian ancestry for American Community Survey. 2,516 Armenians were naturalized, and an additional total of 3,543 obtained lawful permanent residence the same year. Of the latter, 1,589 achieved this status through family reunification, 1,286 through diversity lottery, 304 through family sponsorship, 256 as refugees or asylees, 102 through employment, and 6 through other unspecified categories
Geographic distribution.
Most Armenian Americans are concentrated in major urban areas, especially in California and the Northeast, and to a lesser extent in the Midwest. The highest concentrations of Americans of Armenian ancestry are in Los Angeles, New York and Boston. According to the 2000 Census, the states with largest Armenian populations were California (204,631), Massachusetts (28,595), New York (24,460), New Jersey (17,094), Michigan (15,746), Florida (9,226), Pennsylvania (8,220), Illinois (7,958), Rhode Island (6,677) and Texas (4,941).
California.
The first Armenian arrived in California in 1874 and settled in Fresno. Fresno and the Central Valley in general were the center of California Armenian community, but in the later decades, especially since the 1960s, when significant number of Middle Eastern Armenians arrived in the US, Southern California attracted more and more Armenians.
Los Angeles and the surrounding area is, by far, the most crowded Armenian community in the US. It holds a little less than half of all Armenians living in the US, making it one of the most populous Armenian communities outside of Armenia. The estimated numbers of Armenians of Southern California vary greatly: 250,000, 350,000, 400,000, 450,000, 500,000, although the 2000 census reported 152,910 Armenians in Los Angeles County. Just eleven years later, the 2011 American Community Survey one-year estimates put the number of Armenians in Los Angeles-Long Beach-Santa Ana area 214,618, about 29% growth from 2000. The city of Los Angeles itself had an Armenian population of 64,997 in 2000. Several districts of Los Angeles have high concentrations of Armenians, particularly in San Fernando Valley: North Hollywood, Van Nuys and Encino. On 6 October 2000, a small community in East Hollywood was named Little Armenia by the Los Angeles City Council. The city council file on the adoption states that "the area contains a high concentration of Armenian businesses and residents and social and cultural institutions including schools, churches, social and athletic organizations."
Glendale, just a few miles away from Downtown Los Angeles, has a population of about 200,000, of which, according to some estimates, 40% is Armenian. According to the 2000 Census 53,840 people or 27% of the population identified themselves Armenian in Glendale. Glendale also home to the highest percentage of people born in Armenia. Other than Glendale and Los Angeles proper, significant Armenian populations reside in Burbank (8,312), Pasadena (4,400), Montebello (2,736), Altadena (2,134), La Crescenta-Montrose (1,382). The Armenian Genocide Martyrs Monument, the oldest and largest Armenian Genocide memorial in the US, is located in Montebello.
Dr. Seta Kazandjian described the community in her 2006 dissertation as follows:
Fresno, California was the first major Armenian community in the Western US. It was a major destination for early Armenian immigrants from the Ottoman Armenia, many of whom were engaged in agriculture. Armenians were the largest minority group in Fresno County. The city is also widely known as the birthplace of William Saroyan, many of whose stories are set there. Today, an estimated number of about 40,000 Armenian live in Fresno. According to the 2000 Census 9,884 Armenians lived in Fresno County at the time. The area around the Holy Trinity Church is called Old Armenian Town.
The Northern Californian Armenian population is not as populous as the Southern portion of the state. Armenians are mostly concentrated in and around the cities of San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland. The 2000 Census reported only 2,528 Armenians in San Francisco, but Hayk The Ubiquitous Armenian, stated "the actual number is probably much higher since the census is usually lower than actuals."
Northeast.
Since the 19th century the first Armenians appeared in New York. The states of New York and Massachusetts were top destinations for Armenian immigrants in the early 20th century. The area between East 20th Street, Lexington Avenue and First Avenue, where a compact Armenian population lived and Armenian shops existed, was called "Little Armenia" until the 1960s. The area was mentioned in 1914 book "Our Mr. Wren: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man" by Sinclair Lewis (the 1930 Nobel Prize Winner). Today, according to estimates there are 150,000 Armenians in the Tri-State area. Queens is home to some 50,000 Armenian Americans, Manhattan has 10,000 Armenian population centered in Gramercy Park, Kips Bay and Murray Hill, where St. Vartan Armenian Cathedral is.
Stepan Zadori, a Hungarian Armenian, is the first known Armenian to come to Boston, The Armenian community in Boston was not founded until the 1880s. Today, estimates say that Armenians number from 50,000 to 70,000 in the Greater Boston area. The Armenian Heritage Park, dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, was opened in downtown Boston on 22 May 2012. Watertown, Massachusetts is the center of Boston Armenians, where according to estimates about 8,000 people of Armenian origin reside, though the 2000 Census put the number only at 2,708. Worcester, Massachusetts was also a major center for Armenian immigrants in the early part of the twentieth century. The Armenian Library and Museum of America is located in Watertown. The National Association for Armenian Studies and Research (NAASR) is located in Belmont, and "starting in early 2018, NAASR will undertake top-to-bottom renovations...to transform it into a welcoming hub and first-class Armenian Studies research center for scholars and myriad others, Armenians and non-Armenians alike." Other towns in the area with significant Armenian populations are Worcester (1,306), Belmont (1,165), Waltham (1,091) and the city of Boston (1,080).
Other major northeastern cities with significant Armenian populations include Philadelphia and Providence. Like other Armenian communities in America, Armenian communities in these cities have their roots in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Currently, Philadelphia holds about 15,000 Armenian American population and over 7,000 live in Providence. There is also a small Armenian community in Portland, Maine; this community was founded in 1896 and is currently represented by the Armenian Cultural Association of Maine (ACAME). One of the ACAME's first projects (in 2003) was to build a monument dedicated to the victims of the Armenian Genocide, located at the intersection of Cumberland Avenue and Franklin Arterial in Portland.
Other communities.
Other sizable Armenian American communities exist in the Midwest and in the South, but in much smaller numbers than the Northeastern states and California.
The early Armenian immigrants in Detroit were mostly laborers. In later decades, particularly since the 1960s Middle Eastern Armenians immigrated to Michigan. The Armenian community has been described as "highly educated, professional and prospering." Today, they number about 22,000. Chicago's Armenians also first settled in the city in the late 19th century in small numbers, but it increased through the 20th century, reaching about 25,000 by today. As of 2003 more than 8,000 Armenian Americans lived in Washington, DC. The Armenian Genocide Museum of America is also located in the capital. Since the turn of the century there been a trend towards an increase in number of Armenians living outside of traditional settlement areas. For instance, the number of Armenians in Nevada increased from 2,880 in 2000 to 5,845 in 2010, Florida from 9,226 to 15,856, and Texas from 4,941 to 14,459.
Culture.
Language.
As of 2000, 53% of the Armenians living in the US speak the Armenian language. For comparison, about 6% of Italian Americans, 32% of Greek Americans and 70% of Albanian Americans speak their ancestral language.
The Armenian language has two distinct standardized forms: Western Armenian and Eastern Armenian, both widely spoken among the Armenian American community. Armenians from Lebanon, Turkey, Syria and few other countries speak the Western dialect, which was spoken in Turkish (Western) Armenia, the eastern regions of Turkey with historical Armenian presence. Eastern Armenian is primarily spoken in Armenia and Iran, though the Iranian Armenians have their own dialect; in the United States, speakers of Eastern Armenian are primarily immigrants from the former Soviet Union who mostly arrived during the 1990s, or their children. Furthermore, Western and Eastern Armenian use two different spellings. In Armenia, the reformed orthography is used, while most Armenians in the diaspora (including Lebanon, Syria, Turkey and Iran) use the classical orthography.
Between 1910 and 1970, the language of only the foreign-born population in the United States was taken into account. In 1910, the number of Armenian speakers in the US was 23,938. It grew up to 37,647 in 1920, 51,741 in 1930, 40,000 in 1940, 37,270 in 1960 and 38,323 in 1970. According to the 1980 US Census 100,634 people in the nation spoke Armenian, 69,995 of them were foreign-born. The 1990 US Census revealed 308,096 people of Armenian ancestry at the time and 149,694 people who indicated Armenian as their native language. A majority of Armenian-speakers (115,017) were foreign-born.
According to the 2000 US Census there were 385,488 ethnic Armenians living in the US, and 202,708 people identified Armenian as 'Language Spoken at Home'. The overwhelming majority of Armenian-speakers lived in California (155,237). Other states with significant number of Armenian-speakers were New York (8,575) and Massachusetts (8,091). About 2/3 of Armenians speakers call Los Angeles County home. The 2009-2013 American Community Survey estimates put the number of Armenian-speakers at 237,840.
A 2007 study showed that 16% of Armenians born in Lebanon, 29% in Armenia (including Soviet Armenia), 31% in Iran and 36% in Turkey are not proficient in English. Many foreign-born Armenians are multilingual, speaking at least one language other than Armenian and English. For instance, Armenians from Armenia or the rest of the former Soviet Union might know Russian, those from Lebanon and Syria may know Arabic and French, almost all Iranian Armenians speak Persian and Istanbul Armenians speak Turkish.
A 1999 paper delivered by Bert Vaux described Armenian as "severely endangered" in the United States.
Education.
Early Armenian immigrants were one of the most literate ethnic groups to enter the US with 76% literacy. In comparison, 46% of southern Italians, 74% of Eastern European Jews and 99% of Finns were literate. As of 2007, 41% of US-born Armenians had at least a 4-year college degree. The rate is lower for foreign-born Armenians.
The first Armenian Sunday school in the US was founded in the late 1880s in New York by Barsegh Vardukyan. Since the 1960s many Armenian bilingual schools have been established in communities throughout the country. Ferrahian Armenian School, founded in 1964, is the oldest Armenian daily school in America. Besides this, there are over 100 Armenian schools that operate on weekends only. Mashdots College in Glendale, founded in 1992, is the only Armenian higher education institution in the country.
Armenian Americans constitute a highly educated community. Of the 339,732 Armenian Americans who are 25 or above, 26% are with a college degree, and 26.1% hold a bachelor's degree.
Religion.
Most Armenian Americans are adherents of the Armenian Apostolic Church, the largest Oriental Orthodox church in the US. It possesses over 90 churches throughout the nation. It was reported that 80% of Armenian Americans are Armenian Apostolic, 10% are Protestant (mostly Armenian Evangelical) and 3% are Armenian Catholic.
The Armenian Apostolic Church is the oldest national church in the world, and had a major role in protecting the Armenian identity through the centuries of foreign domination. Many Armenian communities in the country are concentrated around churches that serve as community centers. The first Armenian Apostolic church in America, named Church of Our Savior, was built in 1891 in Worcester. The American Diocese of the Church was established in 1898 by Catholicos Mkrtich Khrimian. In 1916 there were 34 Armenian parishes with 27,450 members with a predominantly male population. The top states with Armenian church followers were Massachusetts, Michigan, California and New York. The Western Diocese was established in 1927.
After the Soviets took over Armenia in 1920, the Armenian American community was divided into two camps: one supporting Soviet Armenia (mostly members of the Hunchak and Ramgavar parties), another one against it (mostly made up of ARF members). During the 1933 World's Fair, Leon Tourian, the primate of the Eastern Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church of America, refused to give a speech because the Armenian tricolor of the 1918-1920 Republic was hanging behind him, while Etchmiadzin, the seat of the Catholicos of All Armenians, was in Armenia that was then part of the Soviet Union and used a different flag. This upset the Dashnak members present in the ceremony. The conflict reached a crisis on 24 December 1933, when several members of ARF assassinated Archbishop Tourian during the Christmas Eve service in New York's Holy Cross Armenian Apostolic Church.
On 12 October 1957, during the peak of the Cold War, a number of parishes of the Armenian Apostolic Church in America, which were unaffiliated since 1933, came together under the Holy See of Cilicia with the headquarters in Lebanon, close to the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. After the World War II, Archbishop Tiran Nersoyan led the church through a second founding, which saw the framing of by-laws to govern the diocese, the creation of a nationwide youth organization. the initiation of a project to build an Armenian cathedral in Manhattan and the entry of the Armenian Church into the ecumenical movement. The middle 1950s saw an uptick in immigration and a building boom of Armenian churches, with new communities proliferating across the US. A generation of leaders born in America also began to exert itself. The first American-born Armenian priest was ordained in 1956. In 1961, St. Nersess Armenian Seminary was established in Illinois (later, it would move to New York). A spirit of renewed vigor was embodied by Archbishop Torkom Manoogian, who governed the diocese as primate from 1966 to 1990. The period saw a large influx of Armenian immigrants. These developments refocused the priorities of the Armenian Church in America. The need for humanitarian relief to the Armenian homeland, as well as outreach to refugees settling throughout the US (concentrated in New York and Los Angeles), led to the creation of the Fund for Armenian Relief—through which the church delivers material and medical aid to Armenia.
Today, more than 120 Armenian parish communities exist on the continent, with two-thirds operating as fully organized churches with sanctuaries. Archbishop Khajag Barsamian is primate of the Eastern Diocese (since 1990); Archbishop Hovnan Derderian of the Western Diocese (since 2003). The dioceses maintain strong connections to the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, and the current Supreme Patriarch, Karekin II, the 132nd Catholicos of All Armenians.
Armenian Evangelical form the second largest denomination among Armenian Americans, with 1 out of 10 being a follower. As of 1993 there were 28 Armenian Protestant Churches. A small number of Armenian Americans are followers of the Armenian Catholic Church. Their number is estimated to be around 25,000. In 1990 there were 6 Armenian Catholic Churches in the United States.
Media.
The first Armenian-language newspaper in the US, named "Aregak" (Արեգակ, "Sun"), was published in Jersey City in 1888. Over 300 newspapers have been published since then. Today, numerous Armenian newspapers (both in Armenian and English) are published throughout the country. "Asbarez" (Ասպարէզ, "Arena") is the only daily, published in Los Angeles since 1908. "Hairenik" (Հայրենիք, "Fatherland") is published since 1899 in Boston. Both are affiliated with the Armenian Revolutionary Federation. Other notable weeklies include "The Armenian Weekly", "Armenian Mirror-Spectator", "Nor Hayastan" (Նոր Հայաստան, "New Armenia"), "The Armenian Reporter".
Traditions.
Armenian cuisine, and Middle Eastern cuisine in general, is popular among Armenian Americans. A number of restaurants function in the Los Angeles area and other locations with high concentration of Armenian-Americans. Zankou Chicken, a family-owned chain of Armenian and Middle-Eastern fast casual restaurants within the Los Angeles area, is among the most famous Armenian restaurants.
Tens of amateur Armenian folk dance ensembles have been founded in the United States in the last decades.
Homenetmen, an Armenian Revolutionary Federation-affiliated sports organization, is very active in the United States, also engaged in scouting. The Western US branch of Homenetmen holds the Navasartian Games in the Los Angeles area every summer since 1975. Today, it brings together more than 6,000 athletes from 300 teams, 2,000 scouts. More than 35,000 people come to watch the event.
Politics.
Early period.
The three major Armenian political parties of the late 19th century and early 20th century – the Armenian Revolutionary Federation (Dashnaktsutyun), Social Democrat Hunchakian Party (Hunchak) and Armenakan Party (later Ramgavar) were present in America not too long after their foundation. They established their own newspapers: "Hairenik" and "Asbarez" by Dashnaks and "Baikar" by Ramgavars. After the Bolsheviks took over Armenia in 1920, Ramgavars and Hunchaks formed a coalition supporting Soviet Armenia, while the ARF, the ruling party of the Republic of Armenia from 1918 to 1920, remained anti-Soviet in the diaspora. The 1988 Spitak earthquake and the Karabakh movement brought the separate groups of the Armenian community together.
Armenian lobby.
The Armenian American community has been described as the "most influential" Armenian community in the world, though smaller in size than the one in Russia. The Armenian American lobby is one of the most influential ethnic lobbies in the US. The Armenian Assembly of America (AAA) and the Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA) have as their main lobbying agenda the pressing of Congress and the US president for the reduction of economic and military assistance to Turkey and efforts to include reaffirmation of a genocide by Ottoman Turkey in 1915. According to one scholar, the political clout of the Armenian community in the United States "countervails the powerful big-oil lobby in Washington that promotes Azeri interests."
According to Shawn Dorman, the author of "Inside a U.S. embassy", the main goal of Armenian lobby is the "persuasion of US Congress to favor Armenian interests, especially to recognize the Armenian Genocide." She then claims that "it had significant role in the United States providing financial support to Armenia. From 1992 to 2010 the US provided nearly $2 billion, the highest per capita amount for a post-Soviet state." Fund for Armenian Relief is a humanitarian organization providing long-term programs focusing on human development. Armenia Fund raises millions of dollars every year for infrastructural development in Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
In 1992, Dr. Dickran Kouymjian of the California State University, Fresno stated:
Armenian Genocide.
The official recognition of the Armenian Genocide by the US federal government is seen one of the most vital steps in international and full recognition of the 1915–1923 events. Many Armenians think that the US has the ability to force Turkey to recognize the past and pay Armenians and Armenia their reparations, that includes (for some) the return of the so-called Wilsonian Armenia to the Republic of Armenia.
Several official US documents describe the events as "genocide" (1975, 1984, 1996); President Ronald Reagan also described the events as "genocide" in a speech on 22 April 1981. On 4 March 2010, the U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs recognized the massacres of 1915 as "genocide." Also, 49 of the 50 US states have made individual proclamations recognizing the events of 1915 to 1923 as genocide.
Armenian Americans gather in multiple towns and cities every year on 24 April for the recognition of the Armenian Genocide. The largest of such gatherings occurs in the Los Angeles area. The Armenian National Institute lists 30 Armenian Genocide memorials in the US. The oldest one is Montebello Genocide Memorial, which was completed in 1965. Khachkars across America were erected in honor of the 1.5 million victims of the Genocide. Recently, the Armenian Heritage Park was opened in Boston, MA.
Notable people.
Armenians in the US have attained success and prominence in diverse areas, including business, politics, entertainment, sciences, sports and the arts.
Arts and entertainment.
Rouben Mamoulian, a film and theater director also known as co-producer of the first feature film ("Becky Sharp", 1935) to use the three-strip Technicolor process. Sev Ohanian is an award-winning film screenwriter and producer of "Searching", "Fruitvale Station" and "Run".
Armenian Americans have found a lot of success in the field of entertainment. Singer Cher (born Cherilyn Sarkisian), is Armenian from her paternal side. The metal band System of a Down is composed of four Armenian members of the diaspora: Serj Tankian, Daron Malakian, Shavo Odadjian, and John Dolmayan. Composer Alan Hovhaness, born to an Armenian father and a Scottish-American mother, "wrote more than 400 pieces, among them 67 symphonies of varying quality." Kim Kashkashian won the Grammy Award for Best Classical Instrumental Solo in 2013. Sebu Simonian, one of two founders of the band Capital Cities, is Lebanese Armenian. Ross Bagdasarian Sr. (known by the moniker David Seville) created Alvin and the Chipmunks. In 1959, at the First Grammys he won 2 awards: Best Recording for Children and Best Comedy Performance. Mike Conners (born Krekor Ohanian), is the actor who starred in the long-running TV series Mannix, for which he earned a Golden Globe award in 1970. His acting career spanned over 6 decades.
Numerous Armenian musicians have been successful in American pop culture. Los Angeles is considered one of the main centers of Armenian music production of the last decades. Armenian-born singers that have lived or live in the US include rock singer pop singers Harout Pamboukjian and Armenchik.
Andrea Martin, comedian and film and television actor, best known as a regular on the Canadian television comedy show, "SCTV" and as Aunt Voula in "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2", is from a paternal and maternal, Armenian-American family.
Reality TV show star Kim Kardashian is a controversial figure among Armenians. Her father, Robert Kardashian, was an attorney in the O. J. Simpson murder case, and her sisters, Khloe Kardashian and Kourtney Kardashian, and brother Rob Kardashian are also reality television stars.
Armenian American literature constitutes a diverse body of literature that incorporates American writers of Armenian ancestry. Encompassing a cross section of literary genres and forms, Armenian American writers often incorporate some common themes (e.g., the Armenian Genocide) while maintaining very personal literary styles. The New York-based "Ararat Quarterly", published since 1959, has been a major venue for Armenian American writing. "Ararat" is published in English by the AGBU and also includes works by Armenian writers around the world in translation. Prominent Armenian American writers include William Saroyan, Leon Surmelian, A. I. Bezzerides, Michael Arlen, Marjorie Housepian Dobkin and others. Second generation Armenian American writers include Peter Balakian, Nancy Kricorian, Carol Edgarian, Michael J. Arlen, Arthur Nersesian, Micheline Aharonian Marcom, Hrag Vartanian, and others.
Sculptor Haig Patigian, painter Hovsep Pushman, and most notably, Arshile Gorky (born Vosdanig Adoian) are among the best known American artists of Armenian origin. Other notable figures include sculptor Reuben Nakian, painters John Altoon, Edward Avedisian, Charles Garabedian, Ludwig Mactarian, and Arman Manookian.
In the field of the contemporary art and performance, some notable American artist of Armenian heritage include Nina Katchadourian, Eric Bogosian, Tabboo! (aka Stephen Tashjian), Peter Sarkisian, Aram Jibilian, Linda Ganjian, Dahlia Elsayed, Emil Kazaz, Andrew Ohanesian, and others.
Larry Gagosian is a major art dealer who owns the Gagosian Gallery. In 2011, the British magazine "ArtReview" placed Gagosian fourth in their annual poll of "most powerful person in the art world". Syria-born Hrag Vartanian is the founder and editor-in-chief of the art journal "Hyperallergic".
Academia, sciences and medicine.
Vartan Gregorian, born in Iran, was President of Brown University and the New York Public Library as well as president of the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He was a recipient the National Humanities Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Lawyer Gregory H. Adamian served as President of Bentley University from 1970 to 1991, during which he oversaw dramatic growth of the university.
Aram Chobanian served as President of Boston University from 2003 to 2005. Richard Hovannisian is a historian and professor emeritus at UCLA.
Daron Acemoglu, a Turkish-born economist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is one of the most cited economists in the world.
Raymond Damadian, a recipient of the National Medal of Technology, had a significant contribution to the invention of the MRI.
Christina Maranci is the Arthur H. Dadian and Ara Oztemel Professor of Armenian Art and Architecture at Tufts University.
Jack Kevorkian was a controversial pathologist and euthanasia activist commonly known as "Dr. Death", whose parents were Armenian immigrants. His father, Levon, was born in the village of Passen, near Erzurum, and his mother, Satenig, was born in the village of Govdun, near Sivas.
Dr. Moses Housepian, an Armenian-American physician born in the Armenian village of Kessab in Syria, was a medical relief worker in Russian Armenia during the Armenian genocide. His son Dr. Edgar Housepian was a neurosurgeon, educator, and co-founder of the Fund for Armenian Relief.
Politicians.
A number of Armenians have entered into politics. The first Armenian to hold a high position office was Republican Steven Derounian, a Bulgarian-born Armenian, represented New York from 1953 to 1965 in the House of Representatives. George Deukmejian became the Republican governor of California in 1983 and left the office in 1991. Previously he had served as State Assemblyman (1963–1967), State Senator (1967–1979) and California Attorney General (1979–1983). A number of Armenian Americans have been elected to state legislatures, especially in California. In Massachusetts, George Keverian served as a representative in the State House, eventually becoming its speaker from 1985 to 1991.
Paul Robert Ignatius served as the US Secretary of the Navy from 1967 to 1969 in the Lyndon Johnson's administration. Ken Khachigian was the chief speechwriter for President Ronald Reagan. He is also known for Reagan's characterization of 1915 events as "genocide" in 1981. Diplomat Edward Djerejian was the US ambassador in Syria then Israel in the 1990s. Harry Tutunjian was the Republican mayor of Troy, New York from 2003 to 2012. Bill Paparian was elected to the Pasadena City Council in 1987 and became Mayor in 1995.
Joe Simitian had been a California State Senator since 2004, while Paul Krekorian was elected to the Los Angeles City Council in 2010 from District 2, where the Armenian population of Los Angeles is concentrated. Currently, two congresswoman of Armenian ancestry, Anna Eshoo and Jackie Speier, are in the office, both Democrats from California.
A small number of Armenian Americans moved to Armenia in the early 1990s, some becoming notable in their ancestral homeland. Raffi Hovannisian, a Fresno-born third-generation Armenian American lawyer, moved to Armenia in 1991 and soon was appointed the first Foreign Minister of Armenia, where he remained until 1992. Today, Hovannisian is a major opposition figure in Armenia and the leader of the Heritage party. Sebouh (Steve) Tashjian, a California Armenian originally from Jerusalem, served as Minister of Energy, while Lebanese-born Gerard Libaridian, a Boston-based historian, was President Levon Ter-Petrosyan's adviser.
Military.
Monte Melkonian, a native of California, was a prominent leader of Armenian forces during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. He was posthumously awarded with National Hero of Armenia title.
During World War II, about 18,500 Armenians served in the armed forces of the United States. A number of them were decorated for their service, including Col. Ernest Dervishian, a native of Virginia, who was awarded the Medal of Honor. US Marine Harry Kizirian is considered the most decorated soldier of the state of Rhode Island. Another Marine Captain, Victor Maghakian is considered one of the most decorated American soldiers of the war. The highest-ranking Armenian-American during World War II was Brigadier General Haig Shekerjian (who had previously served in the Pancho Villa Expedition and as an American military attache in the Middle Eastern theater of World War I). He was appointed Commanding General of Camp Sibert, Alabama, which was used extensively as the main training camp for chemical warfare troops, and remained in that position until 1945. Shekerjian also gave numerous speeches during the war encouraging Americans of Armenian descent to enlist.
Several major figures in the Armenian national liberation movement of the early 20th century lived and/or died in the US. Among them were Andranik Ozanian, a military commander who is considered a national hero among Armenians, who lived in Fresno, California from 1922 and died in California in 1927. Another notable military commander, Garegin Nzhdeh, lived in Boston, Massachusetts from 1933 to 1937, where he founded the Armenian Youth Federation. Drastamat Kanayan (Dro), the Defense Minister of Armenia from 1918 to 1919, lived in America after World War II and was shortly arrested for collaborating with the Nazis. His funeral ceremony was held in Trinity Church in the City of Boston in 1956. Shahan Natalie, a Dashnak activist, organized the Operation Nemesis in the early 1920s, during which numerous Armenian Genocide perpetrators were murdered. From 1910 to 1912 he studied at the Boston University and died in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1983.
Sports.
Perhaps the best-known American athlete of Armenian descent is tennis player, former no. 1 Andre Agassi. Armenian-born chess players Tatev Abrahamyan and Varuzhan Akobian have represented the US in Chess Olympiad. The first ever Armenian Olympic medalist, Hal Haig Prieste, won a bronze medal diving in 1920 Antwerp Games. The US women's national water polo team won 2010 World Cup and 2012 Olympics under the coaching of Adam Krikorian. Zach Bogosian is the first NHL player of Armenian descent. Coach Jerry Tarkanian built the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) into a "national powerhouse in college basketball" and was included in the Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013. Former WWE and ROH World Heavyweight Champion, Seth Rollins, is of Armenian descent on his father's side.
Business.
Some notable Armenian Americans in business include the founder of Masco Alex Manoogian, the Mugar family (owner of Star Market chain of supermarkets in New England), Kevork Hovnanian, founder of Hovnanian Enterprises, Avedis Zildjian, the founder of Zildjian Company (the world's largest cymbal manufacturer), Gerard Cafesjian, and Alexis Ohanian (founder of the internet service Reddit). Kirk Kerkorian, known as "the father of the megaresort", was claimed to be the richest man in Los Angeles prior to his death in 2015. Born to Armenian parents in Fresno, Kerkorian had provided over $1 billion for charity in Armenia through his Lincy Foundation. It was established in 1989 and was particularly focused on helping to rebuild northern Armenia after the 1988 Spitak earthquake. The foundation was dissolved in 2011, after 22 years of activity. Christmas Tree Shops, a chain of small stores, was founded by Charles Bilezikian and his wife.
Miscellaneous.
Other notable Armenian Americans include astronaut James P. Bagian, who became the first Armenian to travel into space in 1989. It is claimed that he took the Armenian tricolor flag to space with him.
Other notable Armenian Americans also include: Oscar H. Banker (inventor of automatic transmissions for automobiles), and Luther Simjian (inventor of automated teller machines).


List of museums in Bhutan

Bhutan is home to numerous museums that showcase the rich traditions, history, culture and art and folks forms of the Bhutanese people. The museums also showcase the ancient history from over a 1500 years and also the recent history of the Wangchuck dynasty. Bhutan also has rich traditions of herbal and traditional forms of medicine that the museums highlight.
The Museums of Bhutan are mostly state run and funded. Most of the museums are spread between 3 locations: Thimphu, Paro and Trongsa.


Panchkot Raj

Panchkot Raj, also known as Panchkot Zamindari or Kashipur Raj, was a family of Kurmi Zamindars who ruled in the western fringe areas of present-day West Bengal, India and some of the adjacent areas in present-day Jharkhand.
According to the legends, while Raja Jagat Deo was going for pilgrimage in Puri from his kingdom in Dhar in modern Madhya Pradesh, his wife gave birth to a son while camping at Jhalda, currently in Purulia district. The king’s entourage believed the child had been born dead, and left him there. Later the child was found by seven local tribal chiefs and was named Damodar Sekhar. It was Damodar Sekhar who established the Panchkot Royal dynasty in 17 century.
Post-independence, when the Indian Parliament subjected the Right to property to certain restrictions and states began to initiate aggressive agrarian reforms by passing laws that abolished the Zamindari system, the family approached the Supreme Court. Subsequently, in 1951, a five-bench-judge unanimously ruled in favor of the government.


Aranean

Aranean was an old district of Armenia 400–800.


Jalim Singh

Thakur Jalim Singh was the ruler of Ambliara State from 1876 to 1908.


Siege of Calcutta

The siege of Calcutta was a battle between the Bengal Subah and the British East India Company on 20 June 1756. The Nawab of Bengal, Siraj ud-Daulah, aimed to seize Calcutta to punish the Company for the unauthorised construction of fortifications at Fort William. Siraj ud-Daulah caught the Company unprepared and won a decisive victory.
Origins.
A trading post had been established in the area of Calcutta at the end of the seventeenth century by the East India Company, who purchased the three small villages that would later form the base of the city, and began construction of Fort William to house a garrison. In 1717 they had been granted immunity from taxation throughout Bengal by the Mughal emperor Farrukhsiyar. The city flourished, with a large volume of trade travelling down the Ganges River.
The attitude of the Nawabs of Bengal, the regional governors of the territory, had been one of limited toleration towards the European traders (the French and Dutch as well as the British); they were permitted to trade, but taxed heavily.
When the elderly Alivardi Khan died in 1756, he was succeeded as Nawab of Bengal by his grandson, Siraj ud-Daulah. The policy of the government changed abruptly; instead of the practical and sober approach of Alivardi, Siraj was mistrustful and impetuous. He was particularly distrustful of the British, and aimed to seize Calcutta and the large treasure he believed would be held there. From the moment he became Nawab he began searching for a pretext to drive the British from his lands; he found two.
First pretext.
The first pretext centered around Kissendass, the son of a high-ranking Bengali official, Raj Ballabh, who had incurred Siraj-ud-Daula's displeasure. When he was released after a brief imprisonment, Ballabh had arranged for the British to allow Kissendass to enter Calcutta along with the son's pregnant wife and family fortune, while Ballabh joined forces with those who opposed Siraj-ud-Daula's succession. The fact that the Calcutta officials continued to harbor Kissendass after Siraj-ud-Daula had become nawab--and had spurned his demand that they surrender the young man and his fortune to him--nurtured the young ruler's conviction that the British were actively plotting with his enemies at court.
Second pretext.
The second incident concerned the construction of new fortifications by both the British and French at their Bengali strongholds. Both nations had long been battling for dominance along the southeast coast of India, known as the Carnatic. So far, they had kept the peace in Bengal, their rivalries confined to the marketplace. But with war, though as yet undeclared, being waged between the two nations in Europe, officials at Calcutta and Chandernagore decided that their long-neglected defenses needed to be strengthened in case hostilities erupted in Bengal.
When the newly enthroned nawab learned of the new fortifications, he immediately ordered them to halt their work and to raze any new construction, promising to protect both foreign enclaves from attack as his grandfather had before him. The French, realizing just how tenuous their position in Bengal really was, meekly replied that they were not building foreign fortifications, merely repairing their existing structures.
The British reacted differently. Roger Drake, the 35-year-old acting governor general of Calcutta, stated that they were only preparing for their own protection-strongly implying that the nawab would be powerless to provide it.
First Battles.
Rumours quickly spread that the British gathered forces from Madras (now Chennai) and planned to invade Bengal.
By the end of May, a huge army of 50,000 strong, had been assembled under the command of Raj Durlabh. The nawab sent a letter to Governor Drake. It was no less than a declaration of war.
The first disaster to befall the British came quickly. On 3 June the nawab's forces surrounded the ill-prepared East India Company fort at Cossimbazar, whose numbered only 50 men. Two days later, the garrison surrendered; the only shot fired was by the garrison commander, who committed suicide rather than submit. The nawab's army confiscated all British guns and ammunition, then marched on to Calcutta.
Fort William.
When the news of disaster finally reached Fort William, the fog of complacency there was replaced by panic and indecision.
Acting Governor Drake combined a disastrous incapacity for planning and decision making with a degree of personal arrogance that had already alienated most of his fellow countrymen. The few men there who were capable and levelheaded were too low in the company’s hierarchy, and their advice was ignored.
After the small garrison at Cossimbazar was lost, Drake and the council sent desperate pleas for help to the French and Dutch settlements. Neither wanted to join the British in their predicament.
The British then implored the authorities in Madras to send reinforcements — but the issue had been decided before the letters could be answered. Drake then attempted to appease the nawab’s anger by promising to submit to all of his demands, but it was too late.
Only then did the council members begin to examine the state of Fort William — and found that the fort had been neglected for so long that it was falling apart. The walls of the fort (18 feet tall, 4 feet thick) were crumbling in many places. Along the east wall large openings had been excavated during the long years of peace to admit air and light. The wooden platforms of the bastions were so rotten that they could support far fewer cannons than intended, and most of the cannons proved unusable in any case. All the south wall warehouses, or godowns, had been erected outside the fort, which precluded any flanking fire from the two south bastions.
The East India Company's chief engineer, John O'Hara, advised the council to demolish the buildings surrounding the fort so the defenders could have a clear shot at an enemy attacking from any direction. The council members' and chief military officers' houses would have to be leveled, so the council ignored O'Hara's suggestion. They decided instead to draw up a defensive line that encompassed the British Enclave that huddled about Fort William, leaving the sprawling expanse of native dwellings and marketplaces known as "Black Town"--home to well over 100,000 Indians--to the mercy of the attacking army.
Batteries were placed across the three main thoroughfares leading to the fort from the North, South, and East. The smaller streets were blocked by palisades.
The plan that was drawn up would require the defensive line to be adequately manned. Yet when the garrison was mustered, everyone, including Captain-Commandant Minchin, was surprised to find only 180 men fit for duty, and only 45 were British. The rest were European half-castes, whose fighting capabilities were deemed questionable.
A militia was hastily formed from the young Company apprentices (who were known as 'writers'), the crews of many vessels that still crowded the harbor, and the European population. Manningham, and Frankland whom Drake had made Colonel and Lieutenant Colonel were appointed to command the militia. The militia added another 300 men to the defense of Calcutta, for a total of 515 troops.
Defensive preparations were hampered by the disappearance of native manpower, as their lascars fled along with most of Black Town's population as the news of Siraj ud Daula's approach spread.
Omichand.
Omichand was the only Hindu wealthy enough to own a house in the European "White Town". Omichand recently had lost the prestigious position of chief investing and purchasing agent for the East India Company in its transaction with the Bengalis.
Suspicion grew that, to gain revenge for this considerable slight, Omichand had secretly urged Siraj ud Daula to attack the British and that suspicion was confirmed when two letters from the nawab's camp (Siraj ud Daula's camp) were found addressed to Omichand.
Kissendass, who was a house guest at the time of Omichand's plight, was also arrested when found with Omichand. They were then incarcerated in a small jail near Fort William's southeast bastion, in a room that was used to house drunken and disorderly sailors. The cell was ill-lit by two small, barred slits for windows that provided little light. Foul smelling and ovenlike, the small room earned the appropriate nickname, "The Black Hole."
Siraj ud Daula's Advance.
On 13 June the advance guard of the nawab's army was within 15 miles of Calcutta, a day's march away. All English women and children were ordered to take refuge in the fort, and the outer batteries and palisades were rushed to completion. He then surrounded Fort William, and then assaulted the south wall. The gunners had no time to bring their guns up, and the Indians swarmed in. They then attacked the rest of the fort, and in little time, the fort was captured.
Aftermath.
The captured prisoners were held in a prison called the Black Hole. A narrative by one John Zephaniah Holwell, plus the testimony of another survivor to a select committee of the House of Commons, placed 146 British prisoners into a room measuring 18 by 15 feet, with only 23 surviving the night. The story was amplified in colonial literature, becoming a notorious incident, but the facts are now widely disputed.
The city - renamed "Alinagar" - was only lightly garrisoned by the Indians, and was recaptured in January 1757 by a force led by Robert Clive; the Nawab led a counter-attack, but this was itself attacked outside the city on 2 February and defeated. The result was a recognition of the status quo in the Treaty of Alinagar, signed on the 9th, which permitted the East India Company to remain in possession of the city and to fortify it, as well as granting them an exemption from duties.
However, the situation was fragile. Siraj was forced to send much of his army westwards to protect his territory from Ahmad Shah Durrani, leaving him militarily weak; this, coupled with personal unpopularity at home and extensive political machinations at court, gave the East India Company an opportunity to try to replace him with a new Nawab. Meanwhile, Siraj's growing involvement with the French East India Company would provide the pretext to go to war.
The result was the Battle of Plassey, on 23 June 1757, which was a decisive defeat for Siraj - betrayed by Mir Jafar, a military commander who had agreed to change sides. The battle firmly established East India Company control over Bengal, with Mir Jafar the new Nawab; it is generally seen as the start of Company rule in India, and the first major step in the development of the British Empire in India.


Sakay (film)

Sakay is a 1993 Filipino historical drama film directed by Raymond Red. The film stars Julio Diaz, Tetchie Agbayani, and Leopoldo Salcedo. It was produced by Alpha Omega Productions. The film portrays the latter part of the life of Filipino patriot and hero Macario Sakay, who was declared an outlaw and a criminal for continuing hostilities against the United States after the "official" end of the Philippine–American War.
Plot.
Sakay was a carriage factory worker and stage actor from Tondo, Manila who joined Andres Bonifacio's revolutionary secret society, the "Katipunan". He fought during the Philippine Revolution against Spain and later in the Philippine–American War. Sakay remained in the field even after the capture of President Emilio Aguinaldo and the fall of the First Philippine Republic. He was captured, but was released during an amnesty.
Sakay then took to the mountains to revive the "Katipunan", together with Francisco Carreon, Julian Montalan, Cornelio Felizardo and other rebel leaders. He proclaimed himself General and President of the "Tagalog Republic" ("Republika ng Katagalugan"), and engaged the United States Army and the Philippine Constabulary in guerrilla warfare. On occasion, he was aided by talisman-wearing cultist warriors.
After years of fighting, Sakay was convinced to surrender by Filipino labor leader Dr. Dominador Gomez, who argued that the establishment of a Philippine National Assembly, instead of armed resistance, presented the soundest option towards attaining Filipino independence.
On the understanding that the American government offered amnesty, Sakay and his officers came down from the mountains. However, as a ruse, they were invited to a reception in Cavite and arrested by the Americans. Tried and convicted for brigandage, Sakay and Colonel Lucio de Vega were hanged while Montalan and others received life imprisonment.


Tartar Relation

The Tartar Relation (Latin: "Hystoria Tartarorum", "History of the Tartars") is an ethnographic report on the Mongol Empire composed by a certain C. de Bridia in Latin in 1247. It is one of the most detailed accounts of the history and customs of the Mongols to appear in Europe around that time.
Circumstances of composition.
The "Relation" is one of several reports produced by the Franciscan mission dispatched by Pope Innocent IV to the courts of Batu Khan and Güyük Khan in 1245. This mission was led by Giovanni da Pian del Carpine, who was accompanied by Benedict of Poland and the Bohemians Ceslaus and Stephen. During their return journey through Europe, Carpine wrote that they were obliged to hand over drafts of their official report to the curious. The official report by Carpine is known as the "Ystoria Mongalorum". In October 1247, Benedict also dictated an account known as the "De itinere Fratrum Minorum ad Tartaros".
The circumstances of the genesis of the "Tartar Relation" are unclear, although the date of its completion is known precisely: 30 July 1247. The author, C. de Bridia, is not otherwise known and his first name is initialized in the manuscripts. He describes himself modestly as "least among the Franciscans". He is generally thought to have been Polish, and his surname may indicate that he came from Brzeg in Poland.
Marian Plezia believes he was one of the members of the embassy who stayed at the court of Batu and did not go on to Güyük. In this case, the work is partially based on his own experiences and partially on the reports of his colleagues. George D. Painter, on the other hand, argued that de Bridia wrote the account based on a lecture given by Benedict of Poland, probably in Germany, since the manuscript tradition of the text is associated with the Upper Rhineland. Benedict's own "De itinere" was written in Cologne. Tadeusz Bieńkowski argues for its composition in Breslau or Cracow, while others have suggested Prague. The friars did travel through Poland on their return journey, and Benedict had probably composed a draft of his own report by then. Gregory Guzman argues that Benedict must have given lectures in his native Polish, which de Bridia translated into Latin.
Some parts of the "Relation" are certainly borrowed from the "Ystoria".
Manuscripts.
The "Tartar Relation" is known from two manuscripts, both also containing the "Speculum historiale" of Vincent of Beauvais. The earlier dates to 1338–1340 and the later to about 1440. The latter was first brought to public attention in 1965 because it had been bound with the Vinland map, a modern forgery. It is part of the Beinecke collection at Yale University Library. Unlike the map, the "Relation" was generally accepted by scholars as authentic, although there were dissenters. In 2006, an earlier copy of the text in the Lucerne Central and University Library was brought to public attention (having been catalogued as early as 1959).
The Lucerne manuscript (Latin MS P Msc 13.2°) is written in Gothic script. The scribe, Hugo de Tennach, was employed by Peter of Bebelnhein, a teacher in the cathedral of Basel and the prior of Saint Martin's Church in Colmar. He wrote out not only the "Tartar Relation" but all four volumes of the "Speculum". These four manuscripts belonged to the abbey of Pairis until in 1420 they were pawned to the abbey of Saint Urban for 110 Rhenish guilders. The "Relation" is bound in the fourth volume, although it may once have been part of the third. The Yale manuscript (Beinecke MS 350A) is also associated with the Upper Rhineland and was probably made at Basel. The Lucerne manuscript is all parchment, while the Yale is a mix of parchment and paper. The Yale manuscript is written in bastard cursive.
Colophons in the Lucerne manuscript give the title of the work as "Hystoria Tartarorum" and specify that it is not part of the "Speculum historiale", which contains material on the Mongols derived from the "Ystoria Mongalorum" and the lost "Historia Tartarorum" of Simon of Saint-Quentin. The Yale manuscript may be a copy of the Lucerne, but it is more likely they both derive from the same exemplar. They certainly belong to the same manuscript family. The title "Tartar Relation", coined by Painter for his 1965 edition, has stuck.
Content.
The text of the "Relation" is almost identical at parts with the "Ystoria Mongalorum", but it is not simply a version of Carpine's text. It differs in tone and purpose. Its portrayal of the Mongols (and the Jews) is far more negative. It also lacks the strategic purpose of the "Ystoria", preferring to describe the Mongols as divine punishment on Christians. Religious references are pervasive. Gregory Werner propses that the "Relation" is "an eschatological reinterpretation of Carpine's account [and] a complement to [it]".
The "Relation" is dedicated to Boguslaus, "minister of the [Franciscan] friars who live in Bohemia and Poland", and the author claims to be writing in obedience to Boguslaus' authority, suggesting that the text was commissioned. It is an ethnographic report, although it also contains legendary material borrowed from the "mirabilia" (wonders) genre, perhaps because, as a non-traveler, de Bridia considered them missing from the accounts of the travelers. It reports the existence of dog-face people, ox-footed people and other monstrous races typical of the genre. Another people, the Parossits, appear to be the actual Permians. The Samoyeds are also mentioned. The magnetic island from the legend of Sinbad the Sailor is also incorporated. It is called Narayrgen, which is said to come from the Tatar for "Men of the Sun".
Compared to the "Ystoria" and Benedict's "De itinere", the "Relation" lacks information on the friars' travels. It is more focused on Mongol history, customs and plans. For its time, its account of Mongol history, genealogies and methods of warfare are among the most detailed. It covers the Mongol invasion of Europe from the 1220s through the 1240s, correctly crediting the invasion to Jochi's command rather than Batu's, as all other western sources do. His account of Genghis Khan's rise, however, is marred by legendary material, such as his encounter with Gog and Magog, inspired by the "Alexander Romance".
In places, the text of the "Relation" uses the correct spelling "Tataros" rather than the corrupt form "Tartaros" common in Europe. It records that the Mongols called the pope the "great pope throughout the West" ("magnum papam per totum occidentem"). Like Friar Julian and the "Tractatus de ortu Tartarorum", the "Relation" portrays the Mongols as operating on three distinct fronts: against the Sultanate of Egypt, against the Sultanate of Rum (Anatolia) and against the Hungarians and Poles.


Saingilo

Saingilo () is a cultural region in the Caucasus. The term was invented in the nineteenth century to designate districts of Balakan, Zaqatala and Qakh — altogether an area of 4,780 km2 — currently part of Azerbaijan, with a large Ingiloy Georgian minority.
History.
Initially this territory was a province of Caucasian Albania. With decline of Caucasian Albania, the area was gradually incorporated into the Iberian kingdom forming one of its duchies (saeristavo) in the 5th century and its peoples were eventually assimilated into the Georgians proper. This was when the name "Hereti" first appeared in the Georgian sources. According to traditional accounts, the name of the province originated from the legendary patriarch "Heros", the son of Thargamos, who founded the city of Hereti (later known as Khoranta) at the Alazani River.
Medieval.
During the Arab occupation the region was a separate kingdom within Georgian cultural and political influence. At that time, Hereti became part of the Kingdom of Kakheti. The latter was annexed to Georgian Kingdom in 1104. After the displacement, during the early medieval period, of the central government from southern Georgia (Tao-Klarjeti) to eastern Georgia, these principalities came to play an especially significant role. In the fifteenth century the term "Hereti" gradually disappeared from the political nomenclature and was replaced by the word "Kakheti," which referred to Kakheti proper plus Hereti.
In the Middle Ages seven Georgian schools operated in Saingilo which included the courses of theology, philosophy, orthography, church history, and the history of Georgia and for the students. These schools played an essential cultural and educational. They put a vital contribution in establishing cultural relations among the peoples of the Caucasus. Literary materials were prepared in the schools for diffusion in the northern Caucasus. In the thirteenth to fourteenth centuries the use of the Georgian alphabet and Georgian Christian literature spread from Saingilo to the neighboring province of Dagestan, and churches were founded there, remnants of which can be seen today. For a long time, beginning in the fifth century, a significant part of Dagestan was within the sphere of Georgian political influence.
Modern.
In the early 17th century, Shah Abbas I of Safavid of Persia took these lands from the king of Kakheti and granted them to the Dagestani feudal clans who enjoyed a degree of autonomy (society Djar-Belakan, the sultanate of Elisu). Northern Caucasian mountaineers established there Avarian (in the Ch'ar-Belakan District) and Tsakhurian "free communes." As a result of raids (Lekianoba) conducted by bands of Avar and Tsakhur warriors in Saingilo, the Ingilos became serfs of the Dagestanian rulers, who forced them to make pay tribute. Some Dagestanian families hired themselves out as temporary workers on Ingilo farms. In this way, gradually, by peaceful or hostile means, these tribes settled in Saingilo and colonized it. Already after the foundation of the sultanate of Elisu the conquerors had, by a concerted effort, undertaken the Islamization of the region. After 1801, when the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti (eastern Georgia) became part of the Russian Empire the region ended up in the Imperial Russian conquest in 1803. After dissolving Sultanate of İlisu, it was initially part of Jaro-Belokany region, latterly became Zakatal Okrug in Tiflis Governorate.
From 1918 to 1920 both Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG) and Azerbaijan Democratic Republic (ADR) claimed its territory as theirs, but the dispute never led to an armed confrontation. On 26 June 1918, the National Council of the Zakataly Okrug issued a statement whereby "for cultural, economic and religious reasons [...] joining the Republic of Azerbaijan is the most appropriate solution for the Zakatala Okrug". Zakatala was represented in the Parliament of Azerbaijan by three members. After the fall of the ADR in 1920 and its Sovietisation, Soviet Russia recognized Zakatala as part of Georgia (whose government granted these lands a degree of internal autonomy) "in exchange for the Georgian government legalising the activity of the Communist Party of Georgia", according to Kvashonkin. Following the Sovietization of Georgia in 1921, the area became again officially part of Azerbaijan by a decree issued by the central communist government in Moscow in 1922. Nowadays there are Georgians — Ingiloy people (; ) — living in this region of Azerbaijan (districts of Qax, Balakan and Zaqatala). Ingiloys (more than 11,000 as of 1999) are an ethnographic group of Georgian people. Most of the Ingiloys residing in Qakh district remain Christians at present, those living in Balakan and Zaqatala are mostly Muslim.
Demography.
According to census held in 1897, the population of the region was 84,224. The ethnic makeup of the district was the following:
As of the census of 2009, the population of the region was 261,314. The ethnic makeup of the district was the following:


Angkor Borei District

Angkor Borei District () is a district located in Takéo Province, in southern Cambodia. According to the 1998 census of Cambodia, it had a population of 44,980.
Administration.
The district has 6 communes, 34 villages (as of 2019).
History.
This ancient city was an important settlement of the Kingdom of Funan and may have been its capital. It may have been the Thinae, or Sinae Metropolis located by Claudius Ptolemy as the farthest known city to the east in his "Geography".
The site was first excavated during the year 1996 and was again excavated in 1999 as part of the Lower Mekong Archaeological Project. During the 1996 excavation the University of Hawaii and Royal University of Fine Arts initiated the excavation and focused on the sociopolitical complexity during 500BC - AD 500. This first excavation, however, was just a preliminary research. The first objectives were:
1) Documentation of the site's layout and the range of its archaeological features
2) Evaluation of the integrity of subsurface materials and description of the site's stratigraphy
3) collection of samples for dating portions of the archaeological site
4) reconstructing the hydrology and natural environment of the early historic period in this region
In this site various archaeological methods were used such as surface survey and mapping, test excavations, auger sampling and coring, and trenching with a backhoe.
Unfortunately, the archeological project was disturbed by looting and illicit trafficking of Khmer antiquities, which continues as a serious problem into the 21st century.
It is the birthplace of Norodom, King of Cambodia from 1860 to 1904.


Trailokya Malla

Trailokya Malla () was a Malla Dynasty King of Bhaktapur, Nepal from 1560 to 1613.
It is believed that he was murdered one night while taking his dinner through poison, which was kept in his dinner foods.


Hormozd Jadhuyih

Hormozd Jadhuyih was a Sasanian commander who is known for his participation at the Battle of Firaz during the Arab invasion of Iran, which resulted in Byzantine-Sasanian defeat. According to al-Tabari, Hormozd's army during the battle consisted of "keepers of chickens and swine." Hormozd may have been the father of the prominent Sasanian general Bahman Jadhuyih, who was already recorded as an old man by 634. Thus Hormozd was probably an old man during the Battle of Firaz.


Autonomous Turkish Cypriot Administration

The Autonomous Turkish Cypriot Administration () was the name of a "de facto" administration established by the Turkish Cypriots in present-day Northern Cyprus immediately after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974.
Politics.
The first "executive committee" of the administration assumed office on 26 August 1974, but the administration was officially established on 1 October 1974. The decision to establish it was "necessitated by the political reflection of the massive social change in the island". The executive committee was replaced by the first Turkish Cypriot cabinet on 8 October 1974. The administration kept Northern Cyprus under a state of emergency until 20 December 1974.
The administration was nominally autonomous under the Republic of Cyprus, with the republic's constitution being in place. The president, Rauf Denktaş, was called "Vice President and President of the Autonomous Turkish Cypriot Administration", with reference to the vice-presidential position reserved for Turkish Cypriots in the republic. The members of the parliament also kept their previous positions, representing districts like Paphos, which were now in the south.
Within three months of its establishment, the administration created four new ministries to meet demands, these were the Ministry of Energy, Ministry of Planning and Coordination, Ministry of Refugees and Rehabilitation and Ministry of Tourism.
According to Andrew Borowiec, the immediate functioning of the administration was hindered by the heavy military presence on its territory. On August 30, when the administration had recently been unofficially established, there were reportedly 17 roadblocks between Famagusta and Nicosia.
Economy.
The minister of Labor and Social Works of the administration was İsmet Kotak. The administration reorganized the customs of the port of Famagusta and reopened it on 6 September 1974. Initially, the Cypriot pound was used as the currency, but the severed ties with the Cypriot central bank and resulting monetary difficulties prompted the administration to switch to the Turkish lira. The Ercan International Airport, then called the Tymbou Airport, was opened to chartered flights and some 75,000 tons of citrus fruits grown in the territory were exported. Efforts were made to reopen the closed tourism establishments, and nine hotels were reopened until November 1974. With help from the Turkish Airlines, the Cyprus Turkish Airlines was established and started flights to Turkey by January 1975.
The administration received great economic and administrative help from Turkey, which ran development programs headed by the ambassador, Ziya Müezzinoğlu, and trained Turkish Cypriot officers. Under these programs, Ziraat Bank of Turkey functioned as the central bank under the administration. The connections of Northern Cyprus were established through Turkey, including mail and telephone lines, and a new postal system was set in place, with the officers being trained by their Turkish counterparts. The farms and livestock left behind by Greek Cypriots were "integrated" into the economy. Two state farms were established, one in Famagusta and the other in Morphou. More than 100 factories in the territory were incorporated into a company with public shares.
Society.
The administration allowed Turkish military personnel who participated in the invasion to obtain Turkish Cypriot citizenship and settle in Northern Cyprus. The resettlement of displaced Turkish Cypriots from the south was overseen.
Andrew Borowiec wrote that Turkey announced plans to settle 5000 farm workers in the island to take up the abandoned rural possessions of Greek Cypriots. This led to Greek and Greek Cypriot accusations that Turkey was purposefully changing the demographic structure of Cyprus.