From early antiquity, the Armenian people developed a rich and distinctive culture on the great highland plateau in eastern Asia Minor. On that crossroad, they interacted on many levels with civilizations of the Orient and Occident. The continuity of Armenian life in this historic homeland was brought to an abrupt end as the result of war and genocide in the early decades of the twentieth century.

The UCLA conference series, “Historic Armenian Cities and Provinces,” has been organized to explore the historical, political, cultural, religious, social, and economic legacy of a people rooted on the Armenian Plateau for three millennia.

ArmenianVan/Vaspurakan is the first of the conference proceedings to be published, in view of the fact that the area around Lake Van is the cradle of Armenian civilization.

Scholars from various disciplines present the story of Armenian Van from beginning to end. Among other regions to be featured in subsequent volumes in this series are Taron-Turuberan/Mush and Baghesh/Bitlis; Tsopk/Kharpert; Karin/Erzerum; Sebastia/Sivas; Tigranakert/Diarbekir and Edessa/Urfa; and Cilicia.