Gyumri lies at the Western edge of present day Armenia, some 200 km from the capital of Yerevan. Long situated on the border between warring empires, the ancient Armenian city of Kumayri was known as the Russian imperial outpost of Alexandrapol following the tsarist incorporation of the southern Caucasus in 1804. Following WWI and Sovietization the city was renamed Leninikan. As Armenia's second largest city Leninikan was the largest city in the 1988 Earthquke Zone, and suffered 10,000 casualties. Following independence in 1991, Armenians renamed the damaged city Gyumri, though many old timers still refer to it as Leninikan. Despite being the focus for international earthquake relief efforts, the population of Gyumri has fallen from 250,000 to an estimated 150,000 today.