SHERMAN OAKS, CA –This talk will show how, during the past 2,600 years Greco-Roman, Islamic and Western geographers, historians and cartographers saw and wrote about Armenia and how they depicted the country in their maps. The story will be told with maps made by the Greek, Islamic and European cartographers. These maps form part of the World geographic and cartographic heritage, the originals of which are kept in various well-known libraries and museums, such as the Library of Congress, the British Library, National Library of France, Municipal Library of Berlin, and libraries of Bologna, Istanbul, Yerevan and many others. The maps come to prove that, in the territory of the South Caucasus and the Middle East, there are only two countries, Armenia and Iran that could claim an existence of over 2,000 years and how our neighboring countries, such as Turkey and Georgia became to be known as they are now, only after some 2,000 years. It also confirms that the country known as the Republic of Azerbaijan, north of the Arax River was born only in 1918, copying its name from the Iranian north-western Province of Azerbaijan, south of the river Arax. The Armenian language maps of 14-18th centuries will also be discussed.
Rouben Galichian (Galchian) was born in Tabriz, Iran, to an Armenian family who had fled Van in 1915 to escape the Genocide. They arrived in Iran via Armenia, Georgia and France. Rouben attended school in Tehran and then received a scholarship to study in the UK. He received his degree in Electronics Engineering with honors, from the University of Aston, Birming-ham, in 1963. Rouben’s interest in geography and cartography peaked in the 1970s. In 1981 he moved to London with his family, where he had access to a huge variety of cartographic material. His first book entitled “Historic Maps of Armenia: The Cartographic Heritage” (I. B Tauris, London & NY, 2004) contained a collection of world maps and maps of Armenia over a period of 2600 years, as created by various mapmakers. It became a bestseller in its kind. The following year, an expanded version of the book (in English, Russian and Armenian) was published in Armenia (Printinfo Art Books, 2005). His third book, “Countries South of the Caucasus in Medieval Maps: Armenia, Georgia and Azerbaijan” (Gomidas Institute, London, 2007), provides more detailed cartographical and geographical information of this area. His fourth book, “The Invention of History: Azerbaijan, Armenia, and the Showcasing of Ima-ginations” (Gomidas Institute-London and Printinfo Art Books-Yerevan, April 2009), documents the native Armenian pedigree in Nagorno-Karabagh through the centuries as opposed to the Azerbaijani claims. His latest book is entitled “Clash of the Histories in the South Caucsus. Redrawing the map of Armenia, Azerbaijan and Iran”, where the Azerbaijani falsificat-ions, their reasoning and methods used are discussed, and 44 old and medieval maps from all over the world are analyzed, proving the truth about the present-day Azerbaijani falsified historiography (Bennett & Bloom, London, 2012). All the books are available through Amazon.com and other sources. For his charitable work done in Vanadzor, Armenia, Rouben was presented with the “Freedom of the city of Vanadzor” awarded in 2006. For his services to Armenian historical cartography Rouben was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia in November of 2008. In 2009 he was the recipient of “Vazgen I” cultural achievements medal. He is married with a son and grandchildren and shares his time between London and Yerevan.
The lecture will be held on Friday, January 25, 2013, 7:30P at Merdinian Chapel: 13330 Riverside Dr. Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
