WORLD’S OLDEST TOWN.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 2121, 29 April 1920, Page 4

WORLD’S OLDEST TOWN.

WHERE NOAH SETTLED. The oldest town in the world, the city of Nakhichevan, at the fool of Mount Ararat, in a remote section ol' Tr ansean ea si a — ; whor e, Arm ell ia n tradition tells us, Noah settled and built a village when he came forth from the Ark with his sons and his beasts and birds —has requested that the United Stales be its mandatory under the League of Nations. The plea came to the Armenian Committee for Armenian and Syrian Relied', which has established an orphanage in Nakhichevan, and was transmitted by that organisation to President Wilson, daifer Koolis Khan, a Tartar chieftain and the Prime Minister of Nakhichevan, addressed his request for a mandatory to “the Imperial Representative, the Supreme President, of the United States,’’ and (hanks “our Supreme Highness for the money, (dotking and grain given by the American relief workers.” The translation of Jailer Koolis Khan’s letter goes on to sav; “Prom the depths or our heart we applaud the advance and increase of glory of the American Republic, and her manifest faithfulness and sincerity in the pathway of humanity’s progress. From Almighty God we pray long life to your Supreme Excellency. 'Ac are confident that in,the future America, the servant of humanity, will extend to our State a guiding hand to help

Nakhichevan is a principality of Russian Armenia, in the government of Eriyan. It lies at the foot of the mountain from which Noah sent forth the dove to see if the rains had abated, and'various historian.- have - referred to it as the oldest town in the world. It has been rebuilt again, and is now full of half obliterated evidences pi. former prosperity. The Persians raised the town in the fourth century, Hut r it had recovered its prosperity by the end of the tenth century, when It was said to have had a population of -10,900. and to have been an important trade centre for commerce with .Persia and Turkey. In 30(54 (he town was captured by Alp Arslan, the Sultan of the Seljuk Turks, and in the thirteenth century it fell a victim to the Mogul hordes of Genghis Khan. From that period it declined in importance, and suffered greatly iu the various wars between the Persians, Armenians and Turks. It became a part of the Russian Empire by the peace of ’furmachai in 1828. but Ims always been a more or less self governing principality.

The tradition that the town wasettled by Noah goes hack-, as far as Armenian and Persian tradition can be traced. There is a great mound of earth in the centre of the town, which pilgrims still visit as Noah’s grave, and the spot where he offered sacrifices to God after coming safely out of the Ark. The present houses of the town are mostly quarried from ancient ruins, and there arc many remains of ancient Armenian and Persian palaces.Of the palace of the Princes of Alarbaijan there remains a gateway with u Persian inscription Hanked by two brick lowers, and at a little distance from the gateway is the Tower of the Khans, richly decorated and dating from the 12th century. There are also the ruins of it large mosque.

The town is on the high road to Tabriz and Teheran, and has a considerable transit trade. Its population now is between 8,000 and 10?000, mostly Tartans and Armenians, who carry on gardening, make wine, and produce salt, silk and millstones.