It has been the capital since , the fourteenth in the history of Armenia and the seventh located in or around the Ararat Plain.
The city also serves as the seat of the Araratian Pontifical Diocese , which is the largest diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church and one of the oldest dioceses in the world.
The city was mostly depopulated by the Great Surgun of โ05, when the Safavid Empire forcibly deported hundreds of thousands of Armenians to Iran. In , the city was mostly destroyed by an earthquake , and then rebuilt on a smaller scale.
In , Yerevan became part of the Russian Empire , which led to the repatriation of Armenians whose ancestors had been forcibly relocated in the 17th century. In a few decades, Yerevan was transformed from a provincial town within the Russian Empire to Armenia's principal cultural, artistic, and industrial center, as well as becoming the seat of national government.
With the growth of the Armenian economy , Yerevan has undergone major transformation. By , the population further increased to 1,, Of the notable landmarks of Yerevan, Erebuni Fortress is considered to be the birthplace of the city, the Katoghike Tsiranavor church is the oldest surviving church of Yerevan, and Saint Gregory Cathedral is the largest Armenian cathedral in the world.
