“Mshak” newspaper about Yerevan
Armenian periodicals have bicentennial history. Thousands of newsletters, newspapers and other periodicals, being published in and outside our country as well as in various countries, in native and foreign languages, served to throw light on the Armenian people’s history, their past and present and to solve their problems. As fate willed it, the major part of them were published outside the country, in different Armenian colonies, and the first one was “Azdarar”, being published from 1794 to 1796, in the city of Madras, India.
The beginning of the periodicals in Yerevan is considered to be the 80s of the 19th century. The first newspaper was “Psak”, the first edition of which was published on March the 15, 1880. Armenian periodicals were published in the 40s of the 19th century in various cities of Transcaucasia. Literary and political newspaper “Mshak” was published in Tbilisi, 1872.
It touched upon events taking place in Yerevan, as well as other parts of Armenia. In its pages, under the headline of “Letters from Yerevan”, different kinds of information were published, turning the newspaper into a valuable and primary source of studies of Yerevan history.
Owing to that specificity, “Mshak” appeared in the center of great attention and interest. Using the materials published in the newspaper, we will try to shed light on the inhabitants’ mode of life, their immediate tasks, comparing them with Yerevan inhabitants’ problems of today.