Armenia

Armenia is a landlocked country in Asia Minor, between the Black and the Caspian Seas, bordered on the north and east by Georgia and Azerbaijan and on the south and west by Iran and Turkey.

The terrain is mostly mountainous, with fast flowing rivers and few forests. The climate is highland continental: hot summers and cold winters. The land rises to 4,095 m above sea-level at Mount Aragats, and no point is below 400 m. Mount Ararat, a well known Armenian symbol, is the highest mountain in the region and used to be part of Armenia up until around 1915 when Turkey took over land from Armenia.

The country is protected from the worst of Russia's harsh winters by the Caucasus Mountains, and consequently much of its weather blows in from Persia and Syria, making for hot summers that peak somewhere around 34�C (93�F) in July. November to April/May is the wettest season, but even then rainfall is minimal. The mountains in the south are covered with snow during winter. At regions about midway in altitude, January can yield a daytime temperature range of between -2�C (29�F) to -25�C (-13�F)