Armenia in the Sixteenth Century
In the sixteenth century the Armenian homeland was fragmented because of warfare waged by surrounding powers who sought to control the area. “Turcici Imperii Descriptio” (Description of the Turkish Empire) from Abraham Ortelius’s Theatrum Orbis Terrarum, one of the earliest published atlases, graphically demonstrates the fragmented condition of the Armenians and their homeland in the period immediately before Hakob Meghapart printed the first Armenian book. It provides the probable explanation of why that first publication occurred in the Diaspora rather than in the Armenian homeland.
In the sixteenth century the Armenian homeland was fragmented because of warfare waged by surrounding powers who sought to control the area. “Turcici Imperii Descriptio” (Description of the Turkish Empire) from Abraham Ortelius’s <em>Theatrum Orbis Terrarum</em>, one of the earliest published atlases, graphically demonstrates the fragmented condition of the Armenians and their homeland in the period immediately before Hakob Meghapart printed the first Armenian book. It provides the probable explanation of why that first publication occurred in the Diaspora rather than in the Armenian homeland.