Introduction

From the 10th century, Armenians settled in Russian towns, which later became part of the Polish state. In the 1440s, Ruthenia with Lviv became incorporated, where there was already a relatively large Armenian colony, composed mainly of merchants and craftsmen. A little later, Armenians from Kamieniec Podolski and other towns also became Polish subjects. They came to these areas from Armenia, which in the past covered a much larger territory than today. Perhaps they moved from Ani, its medieval capital or Cilicia, where the Kingdom of Little Armenia existed until the end of the 14th century. They also came from various centers of the Armenian diaspora, which had arisen as a result of the defeats suffered by their homeland, which was invaded by powerful neighbors. Thus, they were emigrants from the Golden Horde, from the Crimean Khanate from the 15th century, as well as from Italian trading colonies on the Black and Azov Seas, especially from Kaffa and Tana. Then there were also migrants from some parts of the Turkish empire, e.g. from Moldavia, and also from Persia. At the beginning of the interwar period, a small group of Armenians from Turkey appeared in Poland - those who had survived the terrible massacres of the Christian population there during World War I. The last migration of several thousand Armenians to Poland took place in the late 1980s and in the following decade. It consisted of the inhabitants of Armenia, struggling with the effects of the earthquake and the Karabakh war, as well as Armenians from other republics of the former Soviet Union.