The New International Encyclopædia/Van

VAN. vän. The capital of the Vilayet of Van, in Turkish Armenia, in a very fertile plain, two miles east of Lake Van (Map: Turkey in Asia, K 3). The town, surrounded by double walls and a moat, is poorly built, with narrow streets and flat-roofed mud houses. The most interesting archaeological feature of Van is the ancient castle, standing on a rock about 300 feet high. There are fragments of cuneiform inscriptions on the walls and a trilingual inscription of Xerxes on the southern side of the castle rock. There are a number of Christian schools in the town maintained by the American Mission. The population is estimated at 30,000, of whom the Armenians constitute about one-half.

Armenian historians give to Van the name of Shemiramagerd, or the 'City of Semiramis.' It is believed that Van occupies the site of Thospia, the capital of the Armenian Kingdom of Biainas, and its citadel and fortifications date probably from the eighth century B.C. The city was captured by Sapor 11. in the middle of the fourth century A.D. At the beginning of the tenth century it became the capital of the Armenian Province of Vasburagan. It was captured at the end of the fourteenth century by Timur, after whose death it passed to Persia, and in the sixteenth century to the Osmanlis.