Armenian people or Armenians (Armenian: հայեր, Armenian pronunciation: [hɑˈjɛɾ]) are a nation and ethnic group native to the Armenian Highland.

The largest concentration is in Armenia, having a nearly homogeneous population with 97.9% or 3,145,354 being ethnic Armenian. Because of wide-ranging and long-lasting diaspora, an estimated total of 3 million people of full or partial Armenian ancestry live outside of Armenia. As a result of the Armenian Genocide, a large number of survivors fled to many countries throughout the world, most notably the Russian Empire, the Near East, the United States, France, Iran, Georgia and other parts of Europe (see Armenian diaspora).

Christianity began to spread in Armenia soon after Jesus's death, due to the efforts of two of his apostles, St. Thaddeus and St. Bartholomew In the early 4th century, the Kingdom of Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion. Most Armenians adhere to the Armenian Apostolic Church, a non-Chalcedonian church, which is also the world's oldest national church.

Armenian Americans (Armenian: Ամերիկահայեր Amerikahayer) are citizens of the United States of Armenian descent or origin. Their number is estimated to be up to 1,400,000. The 2010 American Community Survey one-year estimates indicated 474,559 Americans with full or partial Armenian ancestry.

The largest concentration of Armenian-Americans is in the Greater Los Angeles area, where 166,498 people have identified themselves as Armenian during the US 2000 Census, which was about 43.2% of the total number (385,488) of people with Armenian origin in the United States in 2000.

The first Armenian known to have immigrated to America was Martin the Armenian. He arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, in 1618, when the colony was only eleven years old. A few other Armenians are recorded as having come to the United States in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, but they mostly came as individuals and did not form a community. A number of Armenians were known to have served for the side of the Union during the Civil War. Three Armenian doctors, Simeon Minasian, Garabed Galstian, and Baronig Matevosian, worked at military hospitals in Philadelphia. The only Armenian known to have participated in hostilities was Khachadour Paul Garabedian, who enlisted in the Union Navy. A naturalized citizen who hailed from Rodosto, Garabedian served aboard the blockade ships USS Geranium and USS Grand Gulf as a Third Assistant Engineer (and later attained officer rank) from 1864 until his honorable discharge from the Navy in August 1865.

Joseph James "Joe" Rogan (born August 11, 1967) is an American martial artist, stand-up comedian, actor, writer and color commentator. He is best known for playing Joe Garrelli on the NBC sitcom NewsRadio, commentating for the Ultimate Fighting Championship, hosting the NBC reality show Fear Factor and The Joe Rogan Experience podcast.

Rogan was born in Newark, New Jersey. His paternal grandfather was Irish and the remainder of his ancestry is Italian.

In 1981, at age fourteen, he became a practitioner of Kenpo Karate before transitioning to Taekwondo. He eventually gained a 2nd dan black belt. A four-time state champion in Massachusetts, in 1987 he was the USA Taekwondo U.S. Open Champion. In 1996, he began training in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Jean Jacques Machado, eventually earning his brown belt. In addition, he holds a brown belt in 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu under Eddie Bravo.

He also practiced and competed in kickboxing.

In 1994, he co-starred on the Fox comedy Hardball as Frank Valente, the young, ego-centric star player on a fictional professional baseball team. From 1995 to 1999, he co-starred on the comedy NewsRadio. He portrayed Joe Garrelli, the electrician at WNYX, a news radio station in New York City. In 2002, he appeared on the episode "A Beautiful Mind" of Just Shoot Me as Chris, Maya Gallo's boyfriend. In 2011, Rogan played his first major character in a movie in the Kevin James movie Zookeeper. He is slated to play himself in an upcoming action-comedy starring Kevin James called Here Comes the Boom, set to be released in the summer of 2012.

Zecharia Sitchin (July 11, 1920 – October 9, 2010) was an Azerbaijani-born American author of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributes the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki, which he states was a race of extra-terrestrials from a planet beyond Neptune called Nibiru. He believed this hypothetical planet of Nibiru to be in an elongated, elliptical orbit in the Earth's own Solar System, asserting that Sumerian mythology reflects this view. Sitchin's books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 25 languages.

Sitchin's ideas were rejected by scientists and academics, who dismiss his work as pseudoscience and pseudohistory. Sitchin's work has been criticized for flawed methodology and mistranslations of ancient texts as well as for incorrect astronomical and scientific claims.

Sitchin was born in the then Azerbaijan SSR of the Soviet Union, but was raised in Palestine. He received a degree in economics from the University of London, and was an editor and journalist in Israel, before moving to New York in 1952. While working as an executive for a shipping company, he taught himself Sumerian cuneiform and visited several archaeological sites.