The smallest of the former USSR republics, at just under 30,000 km², lies between Georgia, Azerbaijan, Iran and Turkey. The country corresponds to the northeastern part of the formerly much larger Armenian settlement area and in ancient times in the 7th century BC included the entire Anatolian, now Turkish territory. Since the 15th century, large areas have belonged to Turkey. Just over the border is Mount Ararat, where, according to the Bible, Noah's ark landed after the end of the Flood. The area south of the Caucasus belongs to Transcaucasia, a smaller area belonged in ancient times to the historical Mesopotamia, which extended from here to the south. Here lies the somewhere origin of the cultivated grapevine and viticulture, which, according to recent researches, is assumed to be in today's Turkey in Southeast Anatolia (arrow).