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The main city is Nakhchivan, home to the Nakhchivan State University . Armenian for: The first settling place (relative to Noah who descended from the Ararat Mountain in Armenia). Said to be the oldest of the Armenian cities, Nakhichevan made part of the Ayrarat, Vaspurakan and Siounik provinces of Armenia. In modern times, Nakhichevan was part of the Yerevan Guberniya (1849-1918), and the First Republic of Armenia (1918-1920). Following the Treaty of Moscow signed by the Bolshevik Russia and Turkey in 1921, Nakhichevan was forcibly attached to the Soviet Azerbaijan. In 1924, an autonomous Republic of Nakhichevan was formed within the Azerbaijan Soviet Republic. During the Soviet-Azeri rule the region was entirely cleansed of Armenians. The fact that province was one of the authentic Armenian regions is proven by the rich heritage that is preserved in the cultural centers of Nakhichevan. In the medieval ages dozens of cultural centers with Armenian schools existed in Goghtn, Jauk, Yernjak, Agulis and other regions of Nakhichevan province. The masterpieces of the Armenian miniature art and manuscripts are indicative of the high skills of the Nakhichevan scribes and painters. Numerous monuments of the Armenian architecture were erected. Many of them have been preserved and still exist in the gorges and valleys of Agulis, Ordubad, Vananda, Tskhni, Gilan and Bist. According to the statistics of the census in 1897, 34 ,672 Armenians lived in Nakhichevan (34,4%). In 1926 their number was 11,276 (10,8%), and in 1979, as a result of the Armeniophobic policy of the Azerbaijani authorities, only 3406 (1,4%) of Armenians lived in Nakhichevan. At present not a single Armenian lives in Nakhichevan.