Lake Van


Van, Lake

(vän), 1,453 sq mi (3,763 sq km), largest lake in Turkey, in E Turkey 65 mi (105 km) SW of Mt. AraratArarat
, Turkish Ağri Daği, name of two mountains, Little Ararat (12,877 ft/3,925 m) and Great Ararat (16,945 ft/5,165 m), E Turkey, near the Iranian and Armenian borders. The tradition that Mt.
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. Some 75 mi (120 km) long, the lake is alkaline and has no outlet; the city of VanVan
, city (1990 pop. 153,525), capital of Van prov., E Turkey, near the eastern shore of Lake Van, at an altitude of 5,659 ft (1,725 m). It is the trade center for a fruit- and grain-growing region.
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 is near the lake's east shore. The region around the lake was the site of the ancient kingdom of UrartuUrartu
, ancient kingdom of Armenia and N Mesopotamia, centered about Lake Van in present-day E Turkey. It was the biblical Ararat. Urartu flourished from the 13th cent. to the 7th cent. B.C., but was most powerful in the 8th cent. B.C., when it ruled over most of N Syria.
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 (or Ararat) and is traditionally regarded as the cradle of ancient ArmeniaArmenia
, Armenian Hayastan, officially Republic of Armenia, republic (2015 est. pop. 2,917,000), 11,500 sq mi (29,785 sq km), in the S Caucasus. Armenia is bounded by Turkey on the west, Azerbaijan on the east (the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic of Azerbaijan is on its
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. On the island of Akdamar (or Akhtamar) is the restored Armenian Church of the Holy Cross (915–21).