Between sultan and shah: the millet centuries
The Ottoman and Safavid empires divide the Armenian homeland; Armenians live for centuries as a recognised Christian community, as merchants, artisans and peasants, until Russia's advance into the Caucasus redraws the map.
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
- A Concise History of the Armenian People — George A. Bournoutian, Mazda Publishers (2002)
- The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars — Razmik Panossian, Columbia University Press (2006)
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
- Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History — Ronald Grigor Suny, Indiana University Press (1993)
In 1555 the Peace of Amasya split historic Armenia between the Ottoman Empire, which took the larger western part, and Safavid Persia, which kept the east, including Yerevan. The borders shifted often, and wars were fought over Armenian land. In 1604–05 Shah Abbas I, retreating before the Ottomans, deported a huge part of the population of the Ararat plain to Persia; many died, and the survivors from Julfa founded New Julfa in Isfahan, whose Armenian merchants built a silk-trading network stretching from Amsterdam to India.
- A Concise History of the Armenian People — George A. Bournoutian, Mazda Publishers (2002)
- The History of Armenia: From the Origins to the Present — Simon Payaslian, Palgrave Macmillan (2007)
In the Ottoman Empire, Armenians were one of the recognised non-Muslim communities, later called millets, under the Armenian Patriarch of Constantinople. They had religious autonomy and ran their own schools and courts in family matters, but paid extra taxes and had fewer rights than Muslims. In Istanbul, Smyrna and other cities, Armenians were prominent as bankers, architects (the Balyan family designed palaces for the sultans), merchants and craftsmen; in the eastern provinces most were peasants, often at the mercy of local officials and Kurdish tribal chiefs.
- The Armenians: From Kings and Priests to Merchants and Commissars — Razmik Panossian, Columbia University Press (2006)
- The Armenian People from Ancient to Modern Times (2 vols.) — Richard G. Hovannisian (ed.), St. Martin's Press (1997)
From 1828, when Russia took Yerevan from Persia by the Treaty of Turkmenchay, eastern Armenia came under Russian rule. Tbilisi became a centre of Armenian business and culture, and the Russian Armenians of the Caucasus and the Ottoman Armenians developed different literary languages, Eastern and Western Armenian, which are both still in use.
- Looking Toward Ararat: Armenia in Modern History — Ronald Grigor Suny, Indiana University Press (1993)
- A Concise History of the Armenian People — George A. Bournoutian, Mazda Publishers (2002)
Why it matters today
These centuries made Armenians the people they are now: a nation organised around church and community rather than a state, scattered across empires, often thriving in trade and crafts, and vulnerable to the rulers they lived under. They also explain the split between "Western" Armenians, from the Ottoman lands, and "Eastern" Armenians, from Persia and Russia, which still shapes language and culture.