Armenians were scattered across the empires of Ottoman voted for independence on 21 September 1991” (Lonely Turkey and Persia, with diaspora colonies from India to Planet, 2014). Poland. The Armenians rarely lived in a unified empire, Bordered by Azerbaijan (996 km) (PE&RS, September but stayed in distant mountain provinces where some 2010), Georgia (219 km) (PE&RS, June 2012), Iran (44 km) would thrive while others were depopulated. The seat of the (PE&RS, August 2013), and Turkey (311 km) (PE&RS, Armenian Church wandered from Echmiadzin to Lake Van September 2005); Armenia is slightly smaller than Maryland. and further west for centuries. The terrain consists of highland with mountains, little forest “The Russian victory over the Persian Empire, around 1828, land, fast flowing rivers, and good soil in the Aras River brought the territory of the modern-day Armenian republic valley. The lowest pint is the Debed River (400 m), and under Christian rule, and Armenians began immigrating to the highest point is Aragats Lerrnagagat (4,090 m) (World the region. The Tsarist authorities tried to break the Armenian Factbook, 2014). Church’s independence, but conditions were still preferable to By 1912, the majority of Armenia had been covered by 1st those in Ottoman Turkey, where many Armenians still lived. Order classical triangulation surveyed by the Russian Army. When the latter pushed for more rights, Sultan Abdulhamid The triangulation and 1:42,000 scale topographic mapping II responded in 1896 by massacring between 80,000 and was referenced to the prime meridian at Pulkovo Observatory

300,000 Armenians. The European powers had talked often in St. Petersburg, Russia where: Φo = 59° 46′ 18.55″ North, about the ‘Armenian Question’, considering the Armenians Λo = 30° 19′ 42.09″ East of Greenwich. The ellipsoid of reference a fellow Christian people living within the Ottoman Empire. used at the time was the Walbeck where: a = 6,376,896 1 During WWI some Ottoman Armenians sided with Russia in meters and /f = 302.78. Pendulum gravity observations the hope of establishing their own nation state. A triumvirate were made near the cities of Dilijan and Gyumri. However, of pashas who had wrested control of the Empire viewed precise leveling lines bypassed Armenia in favor of Georgia these actions as disloyal, and ordered forced marches of and Azerbaijan (Anuario del Instituto Geografico Militar, all Armenian subjects into the Syrian deserts. What is less Buenos Aires, 1914). The majority of positioning performed certain – and remains contentious to this day – is whether in Armenia during the latter half of the 20th century has been they also ordered pogroms and issued a decree for Armenians with reference to the traditional System 42 Datum referenced to be exterminated. Armenians today claim that there was to the Krassovsky 1940 ellipsoid where a = 6,378,245.0 1 a specific order to commit genocide; Turks strenuously deny meters, and /f = 298.3. With its origin still at Pulkovo this. What is inescapable is the fact that between 1915 and Observatory, the defining azimuth at the point of origin to

1922 around 1.5 million Ottoman Armenians died. Signal A is: αo = 317° 02′ 50.62″. “The first independent Armenian republic emerged in On 11 March 2002, the Republic of Armenia passed 1918, after the November 1917 Russian Revolution saw the decision Number 225, declaring WGS 84 as the official Datum departure of Russian troops from the battlefront with Ottoman of the country. From 2005-2008, Geographic Information Turkey. It immediately faced a wave of starving refugees, Systems were carried out in Ashtarak, Tsakhkadzor, the 1918 influenza epidemic, and wars with surrounding Byureghavan and in the Administrative Districts of Yerevan Turkish, Azeri and Georgian forces. It fought off the invading (Arabkir, Davtashen, Kanaker-Zeytun, Avan, Nor Nork, Turks in 1918, and left the final demarcation of the frontier Achapnyak, Nork-Marash, Malatia-Sebastia, Nubarashen, to Woodrow Wilson, the US president. Meanwhile, the Turks and Erebuni). By 2010, the Republic planned to implement regrouped under Mustafa Kemal (later Kemal Ataturk) and GPS Continuously Operating Reference Systems throughout overran parts of the Caucasus. Wilson’s map eventually the country (Global Navigation Satellite Systems: Armenian arrived without troops or any international support, while Experience, by H. Vardges, Chisinau Moldova, May 2010). Ataturk offered Lenin peace in exchange for half of the new Armenian republic. Beset by many other enemies, Lenin The contents of this column reflect the views of the author, who is responsible for the facts and accuracy of the data presented herein. agreed. The contents do not necessarily reflect the official views or policies of “The Armenian government, led by the Dashnaks, a the American Society for Photogrammetry and Remote Sensing and/ 4 party of Armenian independence fighters, capitulated or the Louisiana State University Center for GeoInformatics (C G). to the Bolsheviks in 1921. They surrendered in order to preserve the last provinces of ancient Armenia. The Soviet regime hived off Karabakh and Naxçıvan (Nakhchivan) for Azerbaijan. Forced from their homes, hundreds of thousands of survivors regrouped in the French-held regions of Syria and Lebanon, emigrating en masse to North America and France. Remarkably, the Armenians who stayed began to rebuild with what was left, laying out Yerevan starting in the 1920s. Armenia did well in the late Soviet era, with lots of technological industries and research institutes. Armenians

928 October 2014 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING