Armenian, Armenian Hay, plural Hayq or Hayk, member of a people with an ancient culture who originally lived in the region known as Armenia, which comprised what is now northeastern Turkey and the Republic of Armenia. Although some remain in Turkey, more than three million Armenians live in the republic; large numbers also live in Azerbaijan, Georgia, and other areas of the Caucasus and the Middle East. Many other Armenians have migrated to Europe and North America.
The Armenians are the descendants of a branch of the Indo-Europeans. The ancient Greek historians Herodotus and Eudoxus of Rhodes related the Armenians to the Phrygians—who entered Asia Minor from Thrace—and to the peoples of the ancient kingdom upon whom the Phrygians imposed their rule and language. Known to the Persians as Armina and to the Greeks as Armenioi, the Armenian people call themselves Hayq (singular: Hay) and their country Hayastan, and they look back to a folk hero, Hayk.
Linguists classify Armenian as an independent branch of the Indo-European language family. The Armenians are traditionally members of either the Monophysite Armenian Apostolic (Orthodox) church or the Armenian Catholic branch of the Roman Catholic church.
Until the early 20th century, the Armenians were primarily an agricultural people. From 1930 to 1990, however, considerable industrial development took place in the Armenian S.S.R., and by the late 20th century two-thirds of the population of the republic, which is about nine-tenths Armenian, had become urbanized. This urban trend has also predominated among Armenians who have migrated to Europe and North America.
The ancient Armenian culture found expression in architecture, painting, and sculpture. The periods of greatest artistic activity tended to correspond to those of national independence or semi-independence, but, for the most part, this activity had reached its high point by the end of the 14th century. Armenian literature continued to develop after that period and witnessed a strong revival during the 19th century in the face of Turkish and Russian domination. Armenian writers did much to awaken the national consciousness of the Armenians, who became increasingly impatient with foreign rule. Growing nationalism on the part of Armenians provoked massacres by the Turks and confiscations by the Russians. The greatest single disaster occurred with the outbreak of World War I. In 1915 the Turks, regarding the Armenians as a dangerous foreign element, decided to deport the entire Armenian population of about 1,750,000 to Syria and Mesopotamia. An estimated 600,000 died of starvation or were killed en route. (See Researcher’s Note: Armenian massacres.) About one-third escaped deportation.