Armenian Monasteries in the vilayet of VAN (WESTERN ARMENIA)

This area is the heartland of Armenians, who lived in these areas from 150 BCE right up to the late 19th century when the Ottoman Empire seized all the land from the natives..[1] [In the 9th century BC,there are no Armenians left this area, the Van area was the center of the Urartian kingdom [2]. In 908-1021 was central part of Armenian Kingdom of Vaspurakan, then joined Byzantine Empire. With the Seljuk victory at the Battle of Malazgirt in 1071, just north of Lake Van [1], it became a part of Seljuk Empire and later the Ottoman Empire. For centuries after that, the area was a major Armenian population center.