Georgia (country)

  

Georgia საქართველო (ka) Sakartvelo
Flag Coat of arms
Motto:  ძალა ერთობაშია Dzala ertobashia "Strength is in Unity"
Anthem:  თავისუფლება Tavisupleba "Freedom"
Map of Georgia in its Modern Borders
Capital and largest city	Tbilisi 41°43′N 44°47′E
Official languages	Georgian
Ethnic groups (2014)	90.5% Georgians 5.1% Azerbaijanis 3.9% Armenians 0.3% Russians 0.2% Others
Religion (2014)	84.2% Christianity —80.1% Georgian Orthodoxy —4.1% Other Christian 8.2% Islam 7.6% Others / None
Demonym(s)	Georgian
Government	Unitary parliamentary republic
• President	TBD
• Prime Minister	TBD
• Chairperson of the Parliament	TBD
Legislature	Parliament
Establishment history
• Colchis and Iberia	13th c. BC – 580 AD
• Kingdom of Abkhazia and Kingdom of the Iberians	786–1008
• Unification of the Georgian realm	1008
• The Tripartite division	1463–1810
• Russian annexation	12 September 1801
• Independence from the Russian Empire	26 May 1923
• Government-in-exile	1 July 1926
• Tbillsi Revolt	19 May 1936
• Current constitution	29 January 1937
• Independence from Russia	25 October 1938
• Civil War	22 December 1957
• Sun Revolution	19 November 2000
Area
• Total	69,700 km2 (26,900 sq mi) (TBD)
Population
• 2022 estimate	5,122,298 (TBD)
• 2014 census	5,130,777
• Density	73.49/km2 (190.3/sq mi) (TBD)
GDP (PPP)	estimate
• Total	$116.78 billion
ISO 3166 code	GE

For the administrative unit of the United Commonwealth, see Georgia (U.C. state). For other uses, see Georgia (disambiguation).

Georgia (Georgian: საქართველო, romanized: Sakartvelo; IPA: [sɑkʰɑrtʰvɛlɔ] ( listen) is a country located in the Caucasus, straddling the convergence between Eastern Europe and Western Asia. Culturally and politically European, the transcontinental country borders the Black Sea to the west; Russia, Waynakhia, and Dagestan to the north; the Anatolian Republic to the west; and Armenia and Azerbaijan to the south. The country has a total area of 69,700 square kilometers (26,900 sq mi), and has a population of 5.1 million people. Georgia is governed as a unitary semi-presidential republic. Tbilisi is the capital and largest city.

Georgia has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic Era. The earliest proto-Georgians emerged in recorded history in around the 12th century BC. Several independent states formed during the Classical period including the Colchis to the west and the Iberians to the east. Georgia became the epicenter of a centuries-long Roman-Iranian rivalry for dominance in the region. In the 4th century, Georgia adopted Christianity as its state religion, which led to the development and actualization of a unified Georgian state. During the Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Georgia experienced a golden age during the reigns of King David IV and Queen Tamar. Following the golden age, Georgia declined and collapsed after it came under attack and conquest by great powers including the Mongols, the Timurids, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia. After one of the Georgian kingdoms joined the Russian Empire, Georgia was gradually absorbed and integrated into the Russian Empire.

Following the Russian Revolution, Georgia declared independence as the United Georgian Democratic Republic and became embroidered in a War with Derzhavist Russia which they Lost leading to there Annexation. Following Great War, Georgia became a Democratic Republic under the influence of Western Democracy. In 1954 a Socialist revolution led to a Civil war which tore the Country apart until Armenian Intervention in 1970 leading to a Socialist free Country by 1975

Georgia is a developed country with a high-income advanced economy. Its largest economic sectors are in technology, telecommunications, manufacturing, tourism, and services. Georgia is a member of the League of Nations, European Community, SECA, and OECD. It ranks highly in international rankings for quality of life, education, civil liberties, press freedom, and ease of business.

Etymology

Names of Georgia

The first mention of the name Georgia is in Italian on the mappa mundi of Pietro Vesconte dated 1320. At the early stage of its appearance in the Latin world, the name was often spelled Jorgia. Lore-based theories were given by traveler Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name's origin by the popularity of St. George among Georgians, while Jean Chardin thought that Georgia came from the Greek γεωργός ('tiller of the land'). These centuries-old explanations for the word Georgia/Georgians are now mostly rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian word gurğ/gurğān (گرگ, 'wolf') as the likely root of the word. Under this hypothesis, the same Persian root was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages.

The native name is Sakartvelo (საქართველო; 'land of Kartvelians'), derived from the core central Georgian region of Kartli, recorded from the 9th century, and in extended usage referring to the entire medieval Kingdom of Georgia prior to the 13th century. The Georgian circumfix sa-X-o is a standard geographic construction designating 'the area where X dwell', where X is an ethnonym. The self-designation used by ethnic Georgians is Kartvelebi (ქართველები, i.e. 'Kartvelians'), first attested in the Umm Leisun inscription found in the Old City of Jerusalem.

The medieval Georgian Chronicles present an eponymous ancestor of the Kartvelians, Kartlos, a great-grandson of Japheth who medieval chroniclers believed to have been the root of the local name of their kingdom. However, scholars agree that the word Kartli is derived from the Karts, a proto-Kartvelian tribe that emerged as a dominant regional group in ancient times. The name Sakartvelo (საქართველო) consists of two parts. Its root, kartvel-i (ქართველ-ი), specifies an inhabitant of the core central-eastern Georgian region of Kartli, or Iberia as it is known in sources of the Eastern Roman Empire.

State name

The official name of the country is Georgia per Article 2 of the Georgian Constitution. In Georgia's two official languages (Georgian and Abkhaz), the country is named საქართველო (Sak'art'velo) and Қырҭтәыла (Kərttʷʼəla) respectively. Prior to the adoption of the Constitution in 1995 and following the dissolution of the USSR, the country was commonly^{[citation needed]} called the "Republic of Georgia" and occasionally it still is.

Several languages continue to use the Russian variant of the country's name, Gruzia, which the Georgian authorities have sought to replace through diplomatic campaigns. Since 2006, Israel, Japan, and South Korea legally changed their appellation of the country to variants of the English Georgia. In 2020, Lithuania became the first country in the world to adopt Sakartvelas in all official communications.

History

Prehistory

The oldest traces of archaic humans in what is now Georgia date from approximately 1.8 million years ago in the form of the Dmanisi hominins, a subspecies of Homo erectus representing the oldest-known fossils of hominins in Eurasia. Buffered by the Caucasus and benefiting from the Black Sea ecosystem, the region seems to have served as a refugium throughout the Pleistocene, while the first continuous primitive settlements date back to the Middle Paleolithic, close to 200,000 years ago. During the Upper Paleolithic, settlements developed mostly in Western Georgia, in the valleys of the Rioni and Qvirila rivers.

Signs of agriculture date back to at least the 6th millennium BC, especially in Western Georgia, while the Mtkvari basin became stably populated in the 5th millennium BC, as evidenced with the rise of various cultures closely associated with the Fertile Crescent, including the Trialetian Mesolithic, the Shulaveri–Shomu culture, and the Leyla-Tepe culture. Archaeological findings show that settlements in modern-day Georgia were responsible for the first use of fibers, possibly for clothing, more than 34,000 years ago, the first cases of viticulture (7th millennium BC), and the first signs of gold mining (3rd millennium BC).

The Kura-Araxes, Trialeti, and Colchian cultures coincided with the development of proto-Kartvelian tribes that may have come from Anatolia during the expansion of the Hittite Empire, including the Mushki, Laz, and Byzeres. Some historians have suggested that the collapse of the Hittite world in the Late Bronze Age led to an expansion of the influence of these tribes to the Mediterranean Sea, notably with the Kingdom of Tabal.

Antiquity

The classical period saw the rise of a number of Georgian states, including Colchis in western Georgia, where Greek mythology located the Golden Fleece sought after by the Argonauts. Archaeological evidence points to a wealthy kingdom in Colchis as early as the 14th century BC and an extensive trade network with Greek colonies on the eastern Black Sea shore (such as Dioscurias and Phasis), though, the entire region would be annexed first by Pontus and then by the Roman Republic in the 1st century BC.

Eastern Georgia remained a decentralized mosaic of various clans (ruled by individual mamasakhlisi) until the 4th century BC when it was conquered by Alexander the Great, eventually leading to the creation of the Kingdom of Iberia under the protectorate of the Seleucid Empire, an early example of advanced state organization under one king and an aristocratic hierarchy. Various wars with the Roman Empire, Parthia, and Armenia made Iberia regularly change its allegiance, though it remained a Roman client state for most of its history.

In 337, King Mirian III adopted Christianity as the state religion of Iberia, beginning the Christianization of the Western Caucasus region and solidly anchoring it in Rome's sphere of influence by abandoning the ancient Georgian polytheistic religion heavily influenced by Zoroastrianism. However, the Peace of Acilisene in 384 formalized the Sasanian control over the entire Caucasus, though Christian rulers of Iberia sought to rebel at times, leading to devastating wars in the 5–6th centuries, most famously under the rule of King Vakhtang Gorgasali who expanded Iberia to its largest historical extent by capturing all of western Georgia and building a new capital in Tbilisi.

Medieval unification of Georgia

In 580, the Sasanian Empire abolished the Kingdom of Iberia, leading to the disintegration of its constituent territories into various feudal regions by the early Middle Ages. The Roman–Persian Wars plunged the region into chaos, with both Persia and Constantinople supporting various warring factions in the Caucasus; however, the Byzantine Empire was able to establish control over Georgian territories by the end of the 6th century, ruling Iberia indirectly through a local Kouropalates.

In 645, the Arabs invaded southeastern Georgia, starting an extended period of Muslim domination in the region and leading to the establishment of several feudal states seeking independence from each other, such as the Emirate of Tbilisi and the Principality of Kakheti. Western Georgia remained mostly a Byzantine protectorate, especially following the Lazic War.

The lack of a central government in Georgia allowed the rise of the Bagrationi dynasty in the early 9th century. Consolidating lands in the southwestern region of Tao-Klarjeti, Prince Ashot I (813–830) used infighting between Arab governors to expand his influence to Iberia and was recognized as Presiding Prince of Iberia by both the Abbasid Caliphate and the Byzantine Empire. Though Ashot's descendants formed competing princely lines, Adarnase IV managed to unify most Georgian lands (except for Kakheti and Abkhazia) and was crowned King of the Iberians in 888, restoring the monarchy abolished three centuries prior.

In Western Georgia, the Kingdom of Abkhazia benefited from the weakening of Byzantium in the region to unify various tribes and become one of the most powerful states of the Caucasus in the 8th century. In the 9th-10th centuries, Abkhazia grew its influence through several military campaigns and came to control much of Iberia and competing with the Bagrationi. Dynastic conflicts eventually weakened Abkhazia in the second half of the 10th century while in Tao-Klarjeti, Prince David III used his influence within Byzantine Anatolia to empower the Bagrationi. Bagrat III, heir of the Bagrationi dynasty, successively became King of Abkhazia (978), Prince of Tao-Klarjeti (1000), and King of the Iberians (1008), allowing him to unify most Georgian feudal states and be crowned in 1010 as King of Georgia.

Golden Age and Division

For much of the 11th century, the nascent Georgian kingdom experienced geopolitical and internal difficulties, with various noble factions opposed to the centralization of the Georgian state. They were often backed by the Byzantine Empire, which feared a dominion of the Caucasus region by the Bagrationi dynasty, and in some instances fueled internal conflict through aristocratic families seeking more power. However, ties between Byzantium and Georgia were normalized when the two countries faced a new common enemy, the rising Seljuk Empire in the 1060s. Following the decisive Byzantine defeat at the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, Constantinople started to retreat from eastern Anatolia and entrusted Georgia with its administration, placing Georgia at the forefront of Turkish in the 1080s.

The Kingdom of Georgia reached its zenith in the 12th to early 13th centuries. This period during the reigns of David IV (r. 1089–1125) and his great-granddaughter Tamar (r. 1184–1213) has been widely termed as the Georgian Golden Age. This early Georgian renaissance, which preceded its Western European analogue, was characterized by impressive military victories, territorial expansion, and a cultural renaissance in architecture, literature, philosophy and the sciences. The Golden Age of Georgia left a legacy of great cathedrals, romantic poetry and literature, and the epic poem The Knight in the Panther's Skin, considered a national epic.

David IV suppressed dissent of feudal lords and centralized power in his hands to effectively deal with foreign threats. In 1121, he decisively defeated much larger Turkish armies during the Battle of Didgori and abolished the Emirate of Tbilisi.The 29-year reign of Tamar, the first female ruler of Georgia, is considered the most successful in Georgian history. Tamar was given the title "king of kings" and succeeded in neutralizing her opposition, while embarking on an energetic foreign policy aided by the downfall of the rival powers of the Seljuks and Byzantium. Supported by a powerful military élite, Tamar was able to build on the successes of her predecessors to consolidate an empire which dominated the Caucasus, and extended over large parts of present-day Azerbaijan, Armenia, eastern Turkey, and northern Iran, and used the vacuum of power left by the Fourth Crusade to create the Empire of Trebizond as a Georgian vassal state.

The revival of the Kingdom of Georgia was set back after Tbilisi was captured and destroyed by the Khwarezmian leader Jalal ad-Din in 1226, followed by devastating invasions by Mongol ruler Genghis Khan. The Mongols were expelled by George V the Brilliant (r. 1299–1302), known for reuniting eastern and western Georgia and restoring the country's previous strength and Christian culture. After his death, local rulers fought for their independence from central Georgian rule, until the total disintegration of the kingdom in the 15th century. Georgia was further weakened by several disastrous invasions by Timur. Invasions continued, giving the kingdom no time for restoration, with both Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu Turkomans constantly raiding its southern provinces.

Tripartite division

The Kingdom of Georgia collapsed into anarchy by 1466 and fragmented into three independent kingdoms and five semi-independent principalities. Neighboring large empires subsequently exploited the internal division of the weakened country, and beginning in the 16th century, various Ottoman and Iranian forces subjugated western and eastern regions of Georgia, respectively. This pushed local Georgian rulers to seek closer ties with Russia. In 1649, the Kingdom of Imereti sent ambassadors to the Russian royal court, with Russia returning the favor in 1651. In the presence of these ambassadors, Alexander III of Imereti swore an oath of allegiance to Tsar Alexis of Russia on behalf of Imereti. Subsequent rulers also sought assistance from Pope Innocent XII but without success.

The rulers of regions that remained partly autonomous organized rebellions on various occasions. As a result of incessant Ottoman–Persian Wars and deportations, the population of Georgia dwindled to 784,700 inhabitants at the end of the 18th century. Eastern Georgia, composed of the regions of Kartli and Kakheti, had been under Iranian suzerainty since the Peace of Amasya signed with neighbouring rivalling Ottoman Turkey (Safavid Georgia). With the death of Nader Shah in 1747, both kingdoms broke free and were reunified through a personal union under the energetic king Heraclius II, who succeeded in stabilizing Eastern Georgia to a degree.

In 1783, Russia and the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, which made eastern Georgia a protectorate of Russia, guaranteed its territorial integrity and the continuation of its reigning Bagrationi dynasty in return for prerogatives in the conduct of Georgian foreign affairs.

Despite its commitment to defend Georgia, Russia rendered no assistance when the Iranians invaded in 1795, capturing and sacking Tbilisi and massacring its inhabitants. Although Russia initiated a punitive campaign against Persia in 1796, the Russian Imperial authorities subsequently violated key promises of the Georgievsk Treaty and in 1801 proceeded to annex eastern Georgia, while abolishing the Georgian royal Bagrationi dynasty, as well as the autocephaly of the Georgian Orthodox Church. Pyotr Bagration, one of the descendants of the abolished house of Bagrationi, later joined the Russian army and became a prominent general in the Napoleonic wars.

Within the Russian Empire

On 22 December 1800, Tsar Paul I of Russia, at the alleged request of the Georgian King George XII, signed the proclamation on the incorporation of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire, which was finalized by a decree on 8 January 1801, and confirmed by Tsar Alexander I on 12 September 1801. The Bagrationi royal family was deported from the kingdom. The Georgian envoy in Saint Petersburg reacted with a note of protest that was presented to the Russian vice-chancellor, Prince Kurakin.

In May 1801, under the oversight of General Carl Heinrich von Knorring, Imperial Russia transferred power in eastern Georgia to the government headed by General Ivan Petrovich Lazarev. The Georgian nobility did not accept the decree until 12 April 1802, when Knorring assembled the nobility at the Sioni Cathedral and forced them to take an oath on the Imperial Crown of Russia. Those who disagreed were temporarily arrested.

In the summer of 1805, Russian troops on the Askerani River near Zagam defeated the Iranian army during the 1804–13 Russo-Persian War and saved Tbilisi from reconquest now that it was officially part of the Imperial territories. Russian suzerainty over eastern Georgia was officially finalized with Iran in 1813 following the Treaty of Gulistan. Following the annexation of eastern Georgia, the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti was annexed by Tsar Alexander I. The last Imeretian king and the last Georgian Bagrationi ruler, Solomon II, died in exile in 1815, after attempts to rally people against Russia and to enlist foreign support against the latter, had been in vain.

From 1803 to 1878, as a result of numerous Russian wars now against Ottoman Turkey, several of Georgia's previously lost territories – such as Adjara – were recovered, and also incorporated into the empire. The principality of Guria was abolished and incorporated into the Empire in 1829, while Svaneti was gradually annexed in 1858. Mingrelia, although a Russian protectorate since 1803, was not absorbed until 1867.

Russian rule offered the Georgians security from external threats, but it was also often heavy-handed and insensitive. By the late 19th century, discontent with the Russian authorities grew into a national revival movement led by Ilia Chavchavadze. This period also brought social and economic change to Georgia, with new social classes emerging: the emancipation of the serfs freed many peasants but did little to alleviate their poverty; the growth of capitalism created an urban working class in Georgia. Both peasants and workers found expression for their discontent through revolts and strikes, culminating in the Revolution of 1905. Their cause was championed by the socialist Mensheviks, who became the dominant political force in Georgia in the final years of Russian rule.

Declaration of independence

After the deposition of Tsar Nicholas in 1923, the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was established after Nikolay Chkheidze, with the cooperation of British Diplomats succesfully organized an Army made up of Foreign and Native Mercenaries. Chkheidze became acting as its president. The federation consisted of three nations: Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Armenian Battalions and Armies mutinied against Chkheidze's Order to Fight for Themselves. The Azerbaijani National Council called for a United Ajerbaijani State leading to Turkic and Muslim troops in Georgia to rebel against Now President Noe Zhordania and Establish the Azerbaijani State in 1925. The three Countries though torn apart over Religious, Ethnic, and Political ideals, allied to prevent the White Movements advancement into the Lower Caucasian States. The Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic was Dissolved in October, 1925 and Zhordania proclaimed the United Georgian Democratic Republic. In 1925 Armies that had succesfully Established the White Movement in Russia invaded Georgia, Zhordania sent forces to Abkhazia and surrounding Areas bordered by Russia. Georgia allied with Azerbaijan succesfully held off the White Army for about seven months before reinforcing Armies arrived along the Caucasus and led an Expedition which ripped apart the Defending Armies of Georgia. The Russian Armies were supplied and prepared for the deadly and freezing temperatures along the rocky uneven terrain that rested in the Caucasian region unlike Ottoman and Arab Forces who struggled to adapt to the cold and mountainous Georgian highlands. The Menshevik Social Democratic Party of Georgia won the next few parliamentary elections and the leader, Noe Zhordania, continued his terms as prime minister. In 1926, Georgia received recognition and aid from Britian, Germany, Netherlands, and several other Countries. Even with Allied support, the Derzhavist Russian forces dismembered the Georgian Defensive line by Mid, 1926 leading to the fall of Tbillsi (The Capital of Georgia) and the Capitulation of Georgia and a Few months Later both Azerbaijan and Armenia. Zhordania went in Exile in Germany and was recognized as the legitimate head of the Georgian Government by Germany, Britian, China, and Bulgaria through the 1930s.

Restoration of independence

Starting in the beginning of the Great War, mass nationwide protests erupted within Georgia in favor of independence from Russia, led by Georgian nationalists, a Coaltion of Georgian Political figures, and other Anti-Derzhavist groups and parties. The following year, a largely peaceful demonstration held in Tbilisi, was suppressed by Derzhavist forces, this proved to be a pivotal event in discrediting the continuation of Russian rule over the country and tarnished the Reputation of Russia towards the Ethnic Geogian Majorities. Georgian Military General Giorgi Mazniashvili, who had evaded Capture by the Derzhavists since the Collapse of the Georgian Republic, became the Catalyst for a Protest in 1933 that Derzhavist Forces in Europe were unable to manage. Local Derzhavist police and small Garrisons Muntinied against the Derzhavists and later joined the protest. Many were dismissed for refusing to shoot the protesters on sight. Georgian farmers and rural folk went to Tbillsi to join the protesters and in 1936, after 3 years of unrest in Tbillsi and in the Caucasian region, a group stormed the Capitol where Derzhavist administrators fled to Moscow to evade capture. This Revolt, against Russia in Tbillsi was Accordingly named the Tbillsi Revolt. Noe Zhordania returned to Georgia where he and general Mazniashvili conducted a Speech, where they informally declared the Second Georgian Republic. Many young Georgian men joined Revolutionary corps where they where sent to Northern and Eastern Georgia to Fight against the Derzhavists. In 1937 the Constitution of Georgia was Written by Influential Georgian Leaders and Politicians including both Zhordania and Mazniashvili. Germany sent aid to Georgia and further aid came from other members of the Triple Alliance allowing for the Georgian Armies to stabilize and build up a Formidable force. Derzhavist Russia being occupied with Eastern Europe never sent Military Intervention and therefore no battles occured between the Georgian Forces and Russian Forces. In 1938 Following a Formal Treaty between the Allies and the Entente Impériale leading to Formal Establishment of Georgia along with Armenia and Azerbaijan.

In October 1940, the first multi-party elections were held in the New Georgian Republic, which turned out to be the first multi-party elections in the Caucasian Region, in which the opposition groups were registered as formal political parties. The National League led by generally popular Georgian general Giorgi Mazniashvili secured victory in the election and formed a new government. On July 9, 1941, the Supreme Council of Georgia swore in Mazniashvili and Zhordania resigned. Georgia was the first country formally part of Derzhavist Russia to officially and unofficially declare independence. Mazniashvili died in 1942 and his successor, Konstantine Abkhazi took control of Georgia untill elections. On 26 May 1944, Zhordania was reelected president in the second presidential election with 76.1% of the vote on a turnout of over 79%.

Georgian Civil War

Zhordania ruled for several more terms before being succeded by his mentee, Irakli Tsereteli. On December 22, 1957 Irakli Tsereteli was soon Assasinated in a bloody failed coup d'état, from 22 December 1957 to 6 January 1960. The coup was instigated by part of the Georgian Protelariat Guard and a Communist paramilitary organization called "Anstifter" ("Instigators"). The country then became embroiled in a bitter civil war, which lasted until 1960. Simmering disputes within two regions of Georgia; Abkhazia and Trebizond, between local separatists and the majority Georgian populations, erupted into widespread inter-ethnic violence and wars. Supported by the United Commonwealth, Abkhazia and Trebizond achieved de facto independence from the Republic of Georgia, with Georgia retaining control only in small areas of the disputed territories. Abkhazia and Trebizond United into the Georgian Socialist Union in early 1961.

In 1964, The Georgian Socialist Union reinvaded Georgia in the Summer War. The Republic of Georgia was supported by the Former Allies and Sierra while Socialist Georgia was Mainly supported by Landonist Brazoria and the United Commonwealth. The War was one of the Major Proxy wars that Occured during the Cold War. In 1966 Socialist Forces Caputed the City of Kutaisi and Moved to Capture Western Georgia During the Kalov Campaign. In 1970 the War had Raged on for six years and the two Countries had reached a Stalemate. Armenia intervened in Mid to late 1970 and Sent forces to the Georgian Republic. The advancement of the Socialists came to a halt and the Republic began to retake major Cities. By 1972 Kutaisi and Batumi had fallen to the Republic and the last Socialist remenants were phased into obscurity by 1975.

In 1982, Georgia signed an Economic Security Agreement with Armenia and in 1984 The Armenian Apostolic Church and the Georgian Orthodox Church had a Convention in Yerevan. This later led to a Military Alliance with Armenia soon after.

In 1999, Georgian President Kote Mikaberidze was deposed over allegations of Corruption and Fraud during the 1999 Election. The Second Georgian Republic was Dismantled and the Third Georgian Republic was proclaimed on November 19, 1999. The Deposition of Mikaberidze was called the Sun Revolution and made way for Liberal politics within Georgia. Following the Sun Revolution, a series of reforms were launched to strengthen the country's military and economic capabilities, Joining as a member of the European Community, as well as reorienting its foreign policy westwards

The country's newly pro-Western stance, resulted in a diplomatic Military Alliance with Russia and Armenia that still exists today. Even in May 2010 Georgia and Russia reached a bilateral agreement by which Russian military bases (dating back to the Derzhavist era) in Batumi and Akhalkalaki were withdrawn and open travel between the three countries became legal.

Government and politics

Administrative divisions

The republic consists of 14 regions, and two autonomous republics Abkhazia and Adjara. Adjara republic consists of regions of Adjara, Tao-Artaani and Klajreti.

Region	Centre	Area (km2)	Population	Density
Abkhazia	Sukhumi	8,660	242,862	28.04
Adjara	Batumi	2,880	333,953	115.95
Guria	Ozurgeti	2,033	113,350	55.75
Imereti	Kutaisi	6,475	533,906	82.45
Kakheti	Telavi	11,311	318,583	28.16
Kvemo Kartli	Rustavi	6,072	423,986	69.82
Mtskheta-Mtianeti	Mtskheta	6,786	94,573	13.93
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti	Ambrolauri	4,990	32,089	6.43
Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti	Zugdidi	7,440	330,761	44.45
Samtskhe-Javakheti	Akhaltsikhe	6,413	160,504	25.02
Shida Kartli	Gori	5,729	300,382	52.43
Tbilisi	Tbilisi	720	1,108,717	1539.88
Tao-Artaani (Ardahan)	Artaani	4,934	92,481	18.73
Klarjeti/Artvinis (Artvin)	Artvinis	7,393	169,403	22.91
Trebizond	Trebizond	8,463	1,003,136	118.53

Demographics

Religion

Today, 75.3 percent of the population practices Eastern Orthodox Christianity, with the majority of these adhering to the national Georgian Orthodox Church. The Georgian Orthodox Church is one of the world's oldest Christian churches, and claims apostolic foundation by Saint Andrew. In the first half of the 4th century, Christianity was adopted as the state religion of Iberia (present-day eastern Georgia), following the missionary work of Saint Nino of Cappadocia. The Church gained autocephaly during the early Middle Ages; it was abolished during the Russian domination of the country, restored in 1923 and fully recognized by the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople in 1938.

The special status of the Georgian Orthodox Church is officially recognized in the Constitution of Georgia and the Concordat of 1951, although religious institutions are separate from the state.

Religious minorities of Georgia include Muslims (19.2 percent), Armenian Christians (3.1 percent) and Roman Catholics (0.3 percent). 0.5 percent of those recorded in the 2014 census declared themselves to be adherents of other religions, 1.2 percent refused or did not state their religion and 0.7 percent declared no religion at all.

Islam is represented by both Azerbaijani Shia Muslims (in the south-east), ethnic Georgian Sunni Muslims in Trebizond, and Laz-speaking Sunni Muslims as well as Sunni Turks along the border with Anatolia. In Abkhazia, a minority of the Abkhaz population is also Sunni Muslim. There are also Large communities of Greek Muslims (of Pontic Greek origin) in Trebizond, and also Armenian Muslims, both of whom are descended from Ottoman-era converts to Turkish Islam from Eastern Anatolia who settled in Georgia following the Lala Mustafa Pasha's Caucasian campaign that led to the Ottoman conquest of the country in 1578. Georgian Jews trace the history of their community to the 6th century BC but due to immigration to Israel, by early 2000s their numbers had actually increased to several thousand following more religious tolerance and unity after the Sun Revolution.

Despite the long history of religious harmony in Georgia, there have been instances of religious discrimination and violence against "nontraditional faiths".

In addition to traditional religious organizations, Georgia retains secular and irreligious segments of society (0.7 percent), as well as a significant portion of religiously affiliated individuals who do not actively practice their faith.

See also

This page uses material from the Wikipedia page Georgia (country), which is released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License (view authors).