The oldest leather shoe and skirt were found...

... in Armenia. Today's "History of" country.

"After the fall of Urartu around 585 BC, the Satrapy of Armenia was ruled by the Armenian Orontid Dynasty, which governed the state in 585 – 190 BC."

"In 301, Armenia became the first nation to adopt Christianity as a state religion."

"In 645, the Muslim Arab armies of the Caliphate had attacked and conquered the country. Armenia, which once had its own rulers and was at other times under Persian and Byzantine control, passed largely into the power of the Caliphs."

"Due to its strategic significance, Armenia was constantly fought over and passed back and forth between the dominion of Persia and the Ottomans. At the height of the Ottoman-Persian wars, Yerevan changed hands fourteen times between 1513 and 1737."

"In 1915, the Ottoman Empire systematically carried out the Armenian Genocide. This was preceded by a wave of massacres in the years 1894 to 1896, and another one in 1909 in Adana. In 1915, with World War I in progress, the Ottoman Turks accused the (Christian) Armenians as liable to ally with Russia, and treated the entire Armenian population as an enemy within their empire."

"In 1922, the newly-proclaimed Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic, under the leadership of Alexander Miasnikyan, became part of the Soviet Union as one of three republics comprising the Transcaucasian SFSR.... The Transcaucasian SFSR was dissolved in 1936 and as a result Armenia became a constituent republic of the Soviet Union as the Armenian Soviet Socialist Republic. The transition to communism was difficult for Armenia...."

"Soviet Armenia participated in World War II by sending hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the frontline in order to defend the 'Soviet motherland.'"

"Armenia declared its sovereignty from the Soviet Union on August 23, 1990....  Following an overwhelming vote in favor, full independence was declared on September 21, 1991."