Stepanakert (Armenie: Ստեփանակերտ; ) is the lairgest ceety an caipital o the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic, a de facto independent republic, though is internaitionally recognized as a pairt o Armenie.[1] The ceety population comprises aboot 53,000 ethnic Armenians.

History eedit

Foondin an Soviet era eedit

 
Soviet-era apartment biggins in Stepanakert seen frae the Nairi Hotel.

Accordin tae medieval Armenian soorces, the dounset wis first mentioned as Vararakn (Վարարակն, meanin "rapid spring" in Armenian) which it remained till it wis renamed Khankendi in 1847.[2][3] Azerbaijani soorces generally say that the dounset wis foondit in the late aichteent century bi a Karabakh khan, an wis thus cawed Khankendi (Turkic for "the khan's veelage").

In 1923 Khankendi wis renamed Stepanakert bi the Soviet govrenment tae honor Stepan Shahumyan, leader o the 26 Baku Commissars, an, efter the Shusha pogrom haed resultit in major destruction at Shusha, the umwhile regional caipital, Stepanakert wis made the caipital o the Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast. In time, Stepanakert grew tae acome the region's maist important ceety (a status it received in 1940). Its population rose frae 10,459 in 1939 tae 33,000 in 1978.[3]

In 1926, Soviet authorities adoptit a new ceety layoot designed bi the prominent Armenian airchitect, Alexander Tamanian; twa addeetional designs for expansion wur approved later on in the 1930s an 1960s, baith o which retained Tamanian's initial plan.[2] Several schools an twa "polyclinics" wur established, an an Armenian Dramatic Theatre wis foondit in 1932 an named efter Maxim Gorky.[3] Stepanakert served as Nagorno-Karabakh's main economic hub, an bi the mid-1980s thare wur nineteen production facilities in the ceety.[2]

References eedit

  1. Regions and territories: Nagorno-Karabakh. BBC News. May 13, 2009. Retrieved July 23, 2009.
  2. a b c (in Armenie) Mkrtchyan, Shahen. «Ստեփանակերտ» (Stepanakert). Armenian Soviet Encyclopedia. vol. xi. Yerevan: Armenian Academy of Sciences, 1985, pp. 124-125.
  3. a b c Hewsen, Robert H. (2001). Armenia: A Historical Atlas. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. p. 265. ISBN 0-226-33228-4.

Coordinates: 39°48′55″N 46°45′07″E / 39.8153°N 46.7519°E / 39.8153; 46.7519