Speaker. the Armenians are among the oldest peoples in human history. and today they are one of the few surviving nations of the ancient world. Their national history precedes our Christian era by many centuries. In their mountainous homeland in eastern Asia Minor they had constituted their own state and were content with their relatively primitive but independent existence. However. Armenia. lying across the path of conquerors. was invaded and overrun by numerous Asiatic hordes. including the Mongols. Tartars. Seljuk Turks. and finally Ottoman Turks. and the Armenian people lived for centuries under the oppressive alien rulers in their homeland.