Mount Ararat
The people and area who lived in this area was the Armenian kingdom of Ararat (in Assyrian: Urartu). Armenians lived here for nearly 3000 years. In the 16th century the mountain became part of the border between the Ottoman Empire and the Safavid dynasty of Persia. Later it was the border of Russia. In 1923 the Treaty of Lausanne put Ararat in the administration of Turkey. It is a national symbol of Armenia and an object of irredentism.