Karapet J. Basmadjian (1864 - 1942) (Կարապետ Բասմաջեան) was an Armenian polymath, historian, numismatist, pharmacist, and archaeologist. Born in Constantinople, it appears Basmadjian was living in Venice in 1897 where he published his book Inscriptions cuneiforms vanniques de Manazgert and was in Paris by 1902, where he founded the journal Banasēr (Բանասէր) and spent the rest of his life. He published four maps: Carte de l'Arménie ancienne (1916), Carte de Cilicie et ses Environs (1918), Arménie Revendications Arméniennes (1919), and Carte ethnographique de l'Arménie (1919). Basmadjian was an outspoken advocate for Armenian independence (which is probably why he was exiled from Constantinople). During World War I, when an independent Armenian state became a real possibility, Basmadjian energetically advocated for this cause, along with other Paris-based Armenian intellectuals. It is likely that the two earlier maps (Carte de l'Arménie ancienne and Carte de Cilicie et ses Environs) were part of this movement. The later work, particularly Arménie Revendications Arméniennes, likely celebrated the establishment of the of the First Republic of Armenia (1918 - 1920), illustrated its broadest territorial claims, and advocated for the Republic in the months before the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres. Following the Republic's dissolution after an invasion by Turkish forces and its partition between Turkey and the Russian SFSR, Basmadjian continued to advocate for Armenian self-determination for the rest of his life. Basmadjian's name has been transliterated into Western languages in several different forms, making researching his biography more difficult. Among the alternative spellings are 'Garabed Basmadjian' and 'K. Y. Basmadjian'.