Armenia's First Constitution: A Lost Experiment in Democracy

Long before the First Republic of Armenia's secret constitution of 1918, there was the 1773 'Snare of Glory' — the first ever Armenian constitution, drafted in the diaspora by a wealthy merchant named Shahamir Shahamirian. This episode explores Shahamirian's radical vision for a democratic, representative Armenian state, an idealistic blueprint that would have established a parliament, a bill of rights, and even term limits for a Catholicos-president. We follow the document's strange journey from Madras, India, to Venice, where it influenced the Mkhitarist monks, and its rediscovery in the 19th century as a rallying cry for Armenian nationalists. Along the way, we confront the tension between constitutional ideals and the brutal realities of imperial rule under the Ottomans, Russians, and Qajars. Did this 'paper republic' shape later Armenian statehood? And what does it tell us about the political imagination of a people scattered across the world? #Armenia #ShahamirShahamirian #SnareOfGlory #ArmenianConstitution #NorJulfa #Madras #Mkhitarists #Venice #Diaspora #Constitution #Enlightenment #Republicanism #ArmenianHistory #Caucasus #FexingoHistory #History #18thCentury #PoliticalPhilosophy Keep every episode free: buymeacoffee.com/fexingo