Ararat, ar'a-rat, a region in Armenia. In the Armenian tongue the name Ararat signifies "the plains of the Aryans," and is given to a fertile plateau in the mountainous region of Armenia. The writer of Genesis viii: 4, states that the ark "rested upon the mountains of Ararat," yet the custom has become fixed of restricting the name Ararat to a single volcanic mountain that rises to an altitude of 17,212 feet, or 14,000 feet above the plateau on which it stands. The mountain is the highest in western Asia. It is clothed with birches at its base, and rises through zones of decreasing vegetation to perpetual snow. Tournefort and other French botanists visited this region, as Ararat is not only higher but further south than Mt. Blanc. They found that as one ascends a mountain, he passes in a few hours' time through the same belts of vegetation that he finds in traveling for months toward the north pole. As they went up Ararat, they found the vegetation shorter and more scrubby until, as they neared the snow line, vegetation consisted of plants similar to those growing in frigid zones. About 1840 an eruption of sulphuric vapors burst from the mountain, and an earthquake shook vast masses of rock down its sides. A convent, a chapel, and a village of 1,000 inhabitants with pleasant gardens, were overwhelmed beneath a mighty mass of rock, debris, and ice. Mount Ararat is a corner post between Turkey in Asia, Persia, and Russia. It is called by many names, as "Giant of Armenia," "Noah's Mountain," "Dome of Eternal Ice," etc., and is said to be one of the most beautiful and impressive mountains in the world. See ALPS; TOURNEFORT.