Sardarapat (), is a major village in the
Armavir province
Armavir (, ), is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''marz'') in the western part of Armenia. Located in the Ararat plain dominated by Mount Ararat from the south and Mount Aragats from the north, the province's capital is the tow ...
of
Armenia
Armenia, officially the Republic of Armenia, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of West Asia. It is a part of the Caucasus region and is bordered by Turkey to the west, Georgia (country), Georgia to the north and Azerbaijan to ...
. The settlement was originally known as Sardarapat until 1935 when it was renamed Hoktember (October) in memory of the 1917
October Revolution
The October Revolution, also known as the Great October Socialist Revolution (in Historiography in the Soviet Union, Soviet historiography), October coup, Bolshevik coup, or Bolshevik revolution, was the second of Russian Revolution, two r ...
.
In 1967, the village of
Norapat was absorbed by Hoktember.
[Kiesling, ''Rediscovering Armenia'', p. 37, available online at th]
US embassy to Armenia's website
However, the original name of the village was restored in 2009.
The name ''Sardarapat'' is derived from the major
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
fortress of
Sardari Berd, built around 1810 by the last
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
Qajar
The Guarded Domains of Iran, alternatively the Sublime State of Iran and commonly called Qajar Iran, Qajar Persia or the Qajar Empire, was the Iranian state under the rule of the Qajar dynasty, which was of Turkic origin,Cyrus Ghani. ''Iran an ...
governor of the
Erivan Khanate
The Erivan Khanate (), also known as , was a Khanates of the Caucasus, khanate (i.e., province) that was established in Afsharid dynasty, Afsharid Iran in the 18th century. It covered an area of roughly 19,500 km2, and corresponded to most o ...
;
Hossein Khan Sardar
Hossein Qoli Khan Qajar Sardar Iravani () was a statesman and commander in Qajar Iran, who was the last khan (governor) of the Erivan Khanate from 1807 to 1828.
A member of the Qajar tribe and a close relative of the Qajar dynasty, Hossein Qol ...
, with British technical assistance using stones taken from the ruins of ancient
Armavir. Many of the stones are still bearing traces of
cuneiform
Cuneiform is a Logogram, logo-Syllabary, syllabic writing system that was used to write several languages of the Ancient Near East. The script was in active use from the early Bronze Age until the beginning of the Common Era. Cuneiform script ...
inscriptions.
The town was set as administrative centre for the Sardarapat district and summer residence of the Khan of Erivan. The Sardar's fortress was taken by the Russians under
General Paskevich in 1828, despite stout defense by Sardar Hasan Khan.
Currently, almost no trace of the fortress is left.
The
Sardarapat Memorial commemorating the
Battle of Sardarapat is located in the nearby village of
Araks
The Aras is a transboundary river in the Caucasus. It rises in eastern Turkey and flows along the borders between Turkey and Armenia, between Turkey and the Nakhchivan exclave of Azerbaijan, between Iran and both Azerbaijan and Armenia, and, fin ...
.
See also
*
Armavir Province
Armavir (, ), is a administrative divisions of Armenia, province (''marz'') in the western part of Armenia. Located in the Ararat plain dominated by Mount Ararat from the south and Mount Aragats from the north, the province's capital is the tow ...
References
World Gazetteer: Armenia– World-Gazetteer.com
*
*
*
See also
*
Sardarapat memorial
*
Battle of Sardarapat
Populated places in Armavir Province
{{ArmavirAM-geo-stub