Pre-history and pre-classical era (site settled 3200 BC cal to 2500 BC cal) The territory of Yerevan has been inhabited since approximately the 2nd half of the
4th millennium BC. The southern part of the city currently known as
Shengavit has been populated since at least 3200 BC, during the period of
Kura–Araxes culture of the early
Bronze Age. The first excavations at the
Shengavit historical site was conducted between 1936 and 1938 under the guidance of archaeologist Yevgeny Bayburdyan. After two decades, archaeologist Sandro Sardarian resumed the excavations starting from 1958 until 1983. The 3rd phase of the excavations started in 2000, under the guidance of archaeologist Hakob Simonyan. In 2009, Simonyan was joined by Mitchell S. Rothman from the
Widener University of
Pennsylvania. Together they conducted three series of excavations in 2009, 2010, and 2012 respectively. During the process, a full stratigraphic column to bedrock was reached, showing there to be 8 or 9 distinct stratigraphic levels. These levels cover a time between 3200 BC and 2500 BC. Evidences of later use of the site, possibly until 2200 BC, were also found. The excavation process revealed a series of large round buildings with square adjoining rooms and minor round buildings. A series of ritual installations was discovered in 2010 and 2012.
Erebuni in 782 BC (
Erebuni Museum) , founded by King
Argishti I in 782 BC The ancient kingdom of
Urartu was formed in the 9th century BC by King
Arame in the basin of
Lake Van of the
Armenian Highland, including the territory of modern-day Yerevan. Archaeological evidence, such as a
cuneiform inscription, indicates that the
Urartian military fortress of Erebuni was founded in 782 BC by the orders of King
Argishti I at the site of modern-day Yerevan, to serve as a fort and citadel guarding against attacks from the north
Caucasus. The cuneiform inscription found at Erebuni Fortress reads: During the height of the Urartian power,
irrigation canals and artificial reservoirs were built in Erebuni and its surrounding territories. building commenced in mid-7th century BC In the mid-7th century BC, the city of
Teishebaini was built by
Rusa II of Urartu, around west of Erebuni Fortress. It was fortified on a hill -currently known as Karmir Blur within
Shengavit District of Yerevan- to protect the eastern borders of Urartu from the barbaric
Cimmerians and
Scythians. During excavations, the remains of a governors palace that contained a hundred and twenty rooms spreading across more than was found, along with a
citadel dedicated to the Urartian god
Teisheba. The construction of the city of Teishebaini, as well as the palace and the citadel was completed by the end of the 7th century BC, during the reign of
Rusa III. However, Teishebaini was destroyed by an alliance of
Medes and the
Scythians in 585 BC.
Median and Achaemenid rules from Erebuni In 590 BC, following the fall of the Kingdom of Urartu at the hands of the Iranian
Medes, Erebuni along with the Armenian Highlands became part of the Median Empire. However, in 550 BC, the
Median Empire was conquered by
Cyrus the Great, and Erebuni became part of the
Achaemenid Empire. Between 522 BC and 331 BC, Erebuni was one of the main centres of the
Satrapy of Armenia, a region controlled by the
Orontid dynasty as one of the
satrapies of the Achaemenid Empire. The Satrapy of Armenia was divided into two parts: the northern part and the southern part, with the cities of Erebuni (Yerevan) and Tushpa (Van) as their centres, respectively. Coins issued in 478 BC, along with many other items found in the
Erebuni Fortress, reveal the importance of Erebuni as a major centre for trade under Achaemenid rule.
Ancient Kingdom of Armenia After
Alexander the Great's victory over the Achaemenid Empire, the Orontid rulers of the Armenian satrapy achieved independence as a result of the Battle of Gaugamela in 331 BC, founding the
Kingdom of Armenia. With the establishment of new cities such as
Armavir, Zarehavan,
Bagaran and
Yervandashat, the importance of Erebuni gradually declined. With the rise of the
Artaxiad dynasty of Armenia who seized power in 189 BC, the Kingdom of Armenia greatly expanded to include major territories of
Asia Minor,
Atropatene,
Iberia,
Phoenicia and
Syria. The Artaxiads considered Erebuni and Tushpa as cities of Persian heritage. Consequently, new cities and commercial centres were built by Kings
Artaxias I,
Artavasdes I and
Tigranes the Great. Thus, with the dominance of cities such as
Artaxata and
Tigranocerta, Erebuni significantly lost its importance as a central city. Under the rule of the
Arsacid dynasty of Armenia (54–428 AD), many other cities around Erebuni including
Vagharshapat and
Dvin flourished. Consequently, Erebuni was completely neutralised, losing its role as an economic and strategic centre of Armenia. During the period of the Arsacid kings, Erebuni was only recorded in a
Manichaean text of the 3rd century, where it is mentioned that one of the disciples of the prophet
Mani founded a
Manichaean community near the Christian community in Erebuni. According to the medieval Armenian geography
Ashkharhatsuyts, Erebuni was part of the canton () of Kotayk (not to be confused with the current Kotayk Province) of the province of
Ayrarat, within Armenia Major. Armenia became a Christian nation in the early 4th century AD, during the reign of the Arsacid king
Tiridates III.
Sasanian and Roman periods , 6th century Following the partition of Armenia by the
Byzantine and
Sasanian empires in 387 and in 428, Erebuni and the entire territory of Eastern Armenia came under the rule of Sasanian Persia. The Armenian territories formed the province of
Persian Armenia within the
Sasanian Empire. Due to the diminished role of Erebuni, as well as the absence of proper historical data, much of the city's history under the Sasanian rule is unknown. In 587, during the reign of
emperor Maurice, Yerevan and much of Armenia came under Roman administration after the Romans defeated the
Sassanid Persian Empire at the
battle of the Blarathon. Soon after,
Katoghike Tsiranavor Church in
Avan was built between 595 and 602. Despite being partly damaged during the
1679 earthquake), it is the oldest surviving church within modern Yerevan city limits. The province of Persian Armenia (also known as Persarmenia) lasted until 646, when the province was dissolved with the
Muslim conquest of Persia.
Arab Islamic invasion In 658 AD, at the height of the Arab Islamic invasions, Erebuni-Yerevan was conquered during the
Muslim conquest of Persia, as it was part of Persian-ruled Armenia. The city became part of the
Emirate of Armenia under the
Umayyad Caliphate. The city of Dvin was the centre of the newly created emirate. Starting from this period, as a result of the developing trade activities with the Arabs, the Armenian territories had gained strategic importance as a crossroads for the Arab
caravan routes passing between Europe and India through the Arab-controlled Ararat Plain of Armenia. Most probably, "Erebuni" has become known as "Yerevan" since at least the 7th century AD.
Bagratid Armenia After two centuries of Islamic rule over Armenia, the
Bagratid prince
Ashot I of Armenia led the revolution against the
Abbasid Caliphate. Ashot I liberated Yerevan in 850, and was recognised as the Prince of Princes of Armenia by the Abbasid Caliph
al-Musta'in in 862. Ashot was later crowned King of
Armenia through the consent of Caliph
al-Mu'tamid in 885. During the rule of the Bagratuni dynasty of Armenia between 885 and 1045, Yerevan was relatively a secure part of the Kingdom before falling to the
Byzantines. However, Yerevan did not have any strategic role during the reign of the Bagratids, who developed many other cities of
Ayrarat, such as
Shirakavan,
Dvin, and
Ani.
Seljuk period, Zakarid Armenia and Mongol rule After a brief Byzantine rule over Armenia between 1045 and 1064, the invading
Seljuks—led by
Tughril and later by his successor
Alp Arslan—ruled over the entire region, including Yerevan. However, with the establishment of the
Zakarid Principality of Armenia in 1201 under the
Georgian protectorate, the Armenian territories of Yerevan and Lori had significantly grown. After the Mongols captured
Ani in 1236, Armenia turned into a
Mongol protectorate as part of the
Ilkhanate, and the Zakarids became vassals to the
Mongols. After the fall of the Ilkhanate in the mid-14th century, the Zakarid princes ruled over Lori, Shirak and the Ararat Plain until 1360 when they fell to the invading Turkic tribes.
Aq Qoyunlu and Kara Koyunlu tribes in
Argavand, near Yerevan During the last quarter of the 14th century, the
Aq Qoyunlu Sunni
Oghuz Turkic tribe took over Armenia, including Yerevan. In 1400,
Timur invaded Armenia and Georgia, and captured more than 60,000 of the survived local people as slaves. Many districts including Yerevan were depopulated. In 1410, Armenia fell under the control of the
Kara Koyunlu Shia Oghuz Turkic tribe. According to the Armenian historian
Thomas of Metsoph, although the Kara Koyunlu levied heavy taxes against the Armenians, the early years of their rule were relatively peaceful and some reconstruction of towns took place. The Kara Koyunlus made Yerevan the centre of the newly formed
Chukhur Saad administrative territory. The territory was named after a Turkic leader known as
Emir Saad. However, this peaceful period was shattered with the rise of
Qara Iskander between 1420 and 1436, who reportedly made Armenia a "desert" and subjected it to "devastation and plunder, to slaughter, and captivity". The wars of Iskander and his eventual defeat against the
Timurids, invited further destruction in Armenia, as many more Armenians were taken captive and sold into slavery and the land was subjected to outright pillaging, forcing many of them to leave the region. Following the fall of the
Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia in 1375, the seat of the Armenian Church was transferred from
Sis back to
Vagharshapat near Yerevan in 1441. Thus, Yerevan became the main economic, cultural and administrative centre in Armenia.
Iranian rule In 1501–02, most of the
Eastern Armenian territories including Yerevan were swiftly conquered by the emerging
Safavid dynasty of Iran led by Shah
Ismail I. Soon after in 1502, Yerevan became the centre of the
Erivan Province, a new administrative territory of Iran formed by the Safavids. For the following 3 centuries, it remained, with brief intermissions, under the Iranian rule. Due to its strategic significance, Yerevan was initially often fought over, and passed back and forth, between the dominion of the rivalling
Iranian and
Ottoman Empire, until it permanently became controlled by the
Safavids. In 1555, Iran had secured its legitimate possession over Yerevan with the Ottomans through the
Treaty of Amasya. In 1582–1583, the Ottomans led by
Serdar Ferhad Pasha took brief control over Yerevan. Ferhad Pasha managed to build the
Erivan Fortress on the ruins of one thousand-years old ancient Armenian fortress, on the shores of Hrazdan river. However, Ottoman control ended in 1604 when the Persians regained Yerevan as a result of
first Ottoman-Safavid War. Shah
Abbas I of Persia who ruled between 1588 and 1629, ordered the
deportation of hundreds of thousands of Armenians including citizens from Yerevan to mainland
Persia. As a consequence, Yerevan significantly lost its Armenian population who had declined to 20%, while Muslims including Persians, Turks, Kurds and Tatars gained dominance with around 80% of the city's population. Muslims were either sedentary, semi-sedentary, or nomadic. Armenians mainly occupied the Kond neighbourhood of Yerevan and the rural suburbs around the city. However, the Armenians dominated over various professions and trade in the area and were of great economic significance to the Persian administration. During the
second Ottoman-Safavid War, Ottoman troops under the command of Sultan
Murad IV conquered the city on 8 August 1635. Returning in triumph to
Constantinople, he opened the "Yerevan Kiosk" (
Revan Köşkü) in
Topkapı Palace in 1636. However, Iranian troops commanded by
Shah Safi retook Yerevan on 1 April 1636. As a result of the
Treaty of Zuhab in 1639, the Iranians reconfirmed their control over Eastern Armenia, including Yerevan. On 7 June 1679,
a devastating earthquake razed the city to the ground. In 1724, the Erivan Fortress was besieged by the Ottoman army. After a period of resistance, the fortress fell to the Turks. As a result of the Ottoman invasion, the Erivan Province of the
Safavids was dissolved. Following a brief period of Ottoman rule over Eastern Armenia between 1724 and 1736, and as a result of the fall of the Safavid dynasty in 1736, Yerevan along with the adjacent territories became part of the newly formed administrative territory of
Erivan Khanate under the
Afsharid dynasty of Iran, which encompassed an area of . The
Afsharids controlled Eastern Armenia from the mid-1730s until the 1790s. Following the fall of the Afsharids, the
Qajar dynasty of Iran took control of Eastern Armenia until 1828, when the region was
conquered by the Russian Empire after their victory over the Qajars that resulted in the
Treaty of Turkmenchay of 1828.
Russian rule During the second
Russo-Persian War of the 19th century, the
Russo-Persian War of 1826–1828, Yerevan
was captured by Russian troops under general
Ivan Paskevich on 1 October 1827. It was formally ceded by the Iranians in 1828, following the
Treaty of Turkmenchay. After 3 centuries of Iranian occupation, Yereven along with the rest of
Eastern Armenia designated as the "
Armenian Oblast", became part of the
Russian Empire, a
period that would last until the collapse of the Empire in 1917. Although not mentioned specifically by name, article XV of the Turkmenchay treaty was intended solely for the repatriation of those Armenians whose ancestors had been forcibly relocated to Iran in the early 17th century during the Safavid period. The Russians sponsored the resettlement process of the Armenian population from Persia and Turkey and spread announcements in Armenian villages. Due to the resettlement, the percentage of the Armenian population of Yerevan increased from 28% to 53.8%. The resettlement was intended to create
Russian power bridgehead in the Middle East. In 1829, Armenian repatriates from Persia were resettled in the city and a new quarter was built. Yerevan served as the seat of the newly formed
Armenian Oblast between 1828 and 1840. By the time of
Nicholas I's visit in 1837, Yerevan had become an
uezd ("county"). In 1840, the Armenian Oblast was dissolved and its territory incorporated into a new larger province; the
Georgia-Imeretia Governorate. In 1850 the territory of the former oblast was reorganised into the
Erivan Governorate, covering an area of . Yerevan served as the centre of the newly established governorate until 1917. At that period, Yerevan was a small town with narrow roads and alleys, including the central quarter of
Shahar, the
Ghantar commercial centre, and the residential neighbourhoods of Kond, Dzoragyugh, Nork and Shentagh. During the 1840s and the 1850s, many schools were opened in the city. However, the first major plan of Yerevan was adopted in 1856, during which, Saint Hripsime and Saint Gayane women's colleges were founded and the
English Park was opened. In 1863, the
Astafyan Street was redeveloped and opened. In 1874, Zacharia Gevorkian opened Yerevan's first printing house, while the first theatre opened its doors in 1879. On 1 October 1879, Yerevan was granted the status of a city through a decree issued by
Alexander II of Russia. In 1881, The Yerevan Teachers' Seminary and the Yerevan Brewery were opened, followed by the Tairyan's wine and brandy factory in 1887. Other factories for alcoholic beverages and mineral water were opened during the 1890s. The monumental church of
Saint Gregory the Illuminator was opened in 1900. Electricity and telephone lines were introduced to the city in 1907 and 1913 respectively. When British traveller
H. F. B. Lynch visited Yerevan in 1893–1894, he considered it an
Oriental city. However, this started to change in the first decade of the 20th century, in the penultimate decade of Imperial Russian rule, when the city grew and altered dramatically. In 1902, a railway line linked Yerevan with
Alexandropol,
Tiflis and
Julfa. In the same year, Yerevan's first public library was opened. In 1905, the grandnephew of
Napoleon I; prince Louis Joseph Jérôme Napoléon (1864–1932) was appointed as governor of Yerevan province. In 1913, for the first time in the city, a telephone line with eighty subscribers became operational.
Brief independence At the beginning of the 20th century, Yerevan was a small city with a population of 30,000. In 1917, the Russian Empire ended with the
October Revolution. In the aftermath, Armenian, Georgian and Muslim leaders of
Transcaucasia united to form the
Transcaucasian Federation and proclaimed
Transcaucasia's
secession. The Federation, however, was short-lived. After gaining control over
Alexandropol, the Turkish army was advancing towards the south and east to eliminate the centre of Armenian resistance based in Yerevan. On 21 May 1918, the Turks started their campaign moving towards Yerevan via Sardarabad.
Catholicos Gevorg V ordered that church bells peal for 6 days as Armenians from all walks of life – peasants, poets, blacksmiths, and even the clergymen – rallied to form organised military units. Civilians, including children, aided in the effort as well, as "Carts drawn by oxen, water buffalo, and cows jammed the roads bringing food, provisions, ammunition, and volunteers from the vicinity" of Yerevan. By the end of May 1918, Armenians were able to defeat the Turkish army in the battles of
Sardarabad,
Abaran and
Karakilisa. Thus, on 28 May 1918, the
Dashnak leader
Aram Manukian declared the independence of Armenia. Subsequently, Yerevan became the capital and the centre of the newly founded
First Republic of Armenia, although the members of the
Armenian National Council were yet to stay in
Tiflis until their arrival in Yerevan to form the government in the summer of the same year. Armenia became a
parliamentary republic with four administrative divisions. The capital Yerevan was part of the
Araratian Province. At the time, Yerevan received more than 75,000 refugees from
Western Armenia, who escaped the massacres perpetrated by the Ottoman Turks during the
Armenian genocide.
Soviet era erected in 1967, replacing the monumental statue of
Joseph Stalin at the
Yerevan Cascade The
11th Red Army entered Armenia on 29 November 1920, beginning the end of the First Republic. On 2 December 1920, Yerevan became the capital of the
Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, one of the constituent republics of the emerging
Soviet Union and initially part of the
Transcaucasian SFSR with
Soviet Georgia and
Soviet Azerbaijan. The Soviet government in Yerevan was briefly overturned by the former leaders of the First Republic in the
February Uprising of 1921. However, Soviet authority was restored with the defeat of the rebels in early April. Within the USSR, Yerevan saw significant development during
Vladimir Lenin's
New Economic Policy (NEP). The city became the first in the Soviet Union for which a general plan was developed. The "General Plan of Yerevan" was devised by the architect
Alexander Tamanian and approved by Soviet authorities in 1924. Tamanian's plan was initially designed for a population of 150,000. However, as the Armenian capital grew rapidly into a modern industrial metropolis, Tamanian began developing plans for a Greater Yerevan of 500,000 residents in 1934. Many of the districts around
central Yerevan were named after former Armenian communities that were destroyed by the
Ottoman Turks during the
Armenian genocide. The areas of Arabkir, Nor Kilikia, and Nor Zeytun, for example, were named after
Arabkir,
Cilicia, and
Zeitun, respectively. Tamanian incorporated national traditions into contemporary urban construction, bringing together neoclassicism with the organic
tuff stone of Armenia. His design presented a radial-circular arrangement that overlaid the existing city and incorporated much of its existing street plan. As a result, many historic buildings were demolished, including churches, mosques, the
Erivan Fortress, baths, bazaars and
caravanserais. Tamanian's successor,
Mark Grigorian, noted that Tamanian originally included a monument to Lenin in his plans. However, according to
Aram Piruzyan, this was not realised until after Tamanian's death, when
Anastas Mikoyan urged the Soviet Armenian leadership to "actively pursue the matter." The monument, designed by
Sergey Merkurov, was inaugurated at Lenin Square (today
Republic Square) on 24 November 1940. As a major industrial centre, Yerevan contributed significantly to the
Soviet war effort during the
Great Patriotic War of
World War II. After the war, following the
death of
Joseph Stalin, Mikoyan flew to Yerevan and gave a speech on 11 March 1954, where he called for the
rehabilitation of
Yeghishe Charents, marking the start of the
Khrushchev Thaw in Armenia. Behind the scenes, the statesman advised Armenian officials on several major projects in the city, such as the
Hrazdan Stadium. As part of
de-Stalinisation, the massive statue of Stalin that towered over Yerevan was removed from its pedestal by troops in 1962 and replaced in 1967 with that of
Mother Armenia. On 24 April 1965,
thousands of Yerevantsis demonstrated on the 50th anniversary of the Armenian genocide. Two years later, in 1967, the memorial honouring the genocide victims was erected at
Tsitsernakaberd hill above the Hrazdan gorge. Under the leadership of Armenian First Secretary
Karen Demirchyan, Yerevan witnessed the realisation of additional large-scale projects, such as the
Yerevan Metro, the
Karen Demirchyan Complex, and
Zvartnots International Airport. In 1968, the Armenian capital commemorated its 2,750th anniversary. Yerevan played a major role in the rise of the
Karabakh movement.
Mikhail Gorbachev's reforms of
glasnost and
perestroika created the conditions for open discussion on the rights of the
Nagorno-Karabakh Armenians, as well as other issues such as the legacies of
Stalinism, ecological concerns, and eventually independence. By the beginning of 1988, nearly one million Armenians from several regions of the republic engaged in demonstrations in support of the Karabakh movement, centred on Yerevan's Theater Square (today
Freedom Square).
Modern independence Following the
dissolution of the Soviet Union, Yerevan became the capital of the independent Republic of Armenia on 21 September 1991. The monument to Lenin was removed from Republic Square even before independence, on 13 April 1991, although mayor
Hambardzum Galstyan argued in favour of a more nuanced and tolerant position. An estimated of 200,000 people gathered in the
Freedom Square to protest the election results. After a series of riot and violent protests around the Parliament building on 25 September, the government sent tanks and troops to Yerevan to enforce the ban on rallies and demonstrations on the following day. Prime Minister
Vazgen Sargsyan and Minister of National Security
Serzh Sargsyan announced on the
Public Television of Armenia that their respective agencies have prevented an attempted
coup d'état. In February 2008,
unrest in the capital between the authorities and opposition demonstrators led by ex-President Levon Ter-Petrosyan took place after the
2008 Armenian presidential election. The events resulted in 10 deaths and a subsequent 20-day
state of emergency declared by President
Robert Kocharyan. In July 2016, a group of armed men calling themselves the
Daredevils of Sassoun (
Sasna Tsrrer)
stormed a police station in Erebuni District of Yerevan, taking several hostages, demanding the release of opposition leader
Jirair Sefilian and the resignation of President Serzh Sargsyan. 3 policeman were killed as a result of the attack. Many anti-government protestors held rallies in solidarity with the gunmen. However, after 2 weeks of negotiations, the crisis ended and the gunmen surrendered. ==Geography==