Armenia is a landlocked country bordered on the north and east by Georgia and Azerbaijan and on the west by Turkey. Despite periods of autonomy, over the centuries Armenia was conquered and ruled by various empires including the Roman, Byzantine, Arab, Persian, and Ottoman. The Soviet Red Army took control of Armenia in 1920, and Armenia regained its independence from the Soviet Union in September 1991. Before independence in 1991, Armenia’s economy was based largely on industry and highly dependent on outside resources. The breakup of the centrally-directed economic system of the former Soviet Union and the ongoing conflict with neighboring Azerbaijan over the ethnic Armenian-dominated region of Nagorno-Karabakh contributed to a severe economic decline in the early 1990s. Wide-ranging economic reforms in the mid-1990s led to macroeconomic stability and strong growth.