Armenian ǀ Armenian
Photo: Andrea Louise Martin is an actress, singer, author and comedian. Her maternal and paternal grandparents were Armenian. Photo by Mandeville Kirkwood accessed on Wikipedia Commons.
Armenia is a landlocked country at the geographic junction of Europe and the Near East. It is bordered by Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. Armenia’s archeological and ethnological history suggests that the region acted as a crossroads for human migration from Europe and the Middle East since at least the Neolithic, New Stone Age. There are around 5 million people with full or partial Armenian ancestry living outside of Armenia; more than the number of Armenians residing in Armenia.
The Armenian Genocide, also known as the Armenian Holocaust, of 1915 accounts for most Armenian diaspora communities around the world. The largest Armenian diasporas are located in Russia, the United States, France, Georgia, Lebanon, Iran, Germany, Syria, Ukraine, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Brazil.
The Armenian population data set represent DNA samples from 404 unrelated individuals residing in four historically Armenian regions. 105 individuals from the Ararat Valley, Armenia, 95 from Gardman, Azerbaijan, 103 from Sasun, Turkey, and 101 from Lake Van, Turkey. A minimum of two generations of ancestry information was recorded for each donor to establish regional descent.
Source Publication: Regionalized autosomal STR profiles among Armenian groups suggest disparate genetic influences. American Journal of Physical Anthropology, 2011, 146, p171-178. [Population 460, 461, 462, 463, 464]
