History of Georgia country – is the English name of the country, situated at the junction of Europe and Asia that has only recently gained independence and restored her statehood, lost almost two hundred years ago. It is also the name by which she is known in the greater part of the modem European languages (French – Georgie, German – Georgien, Spanish – Georgiano, Italian – Georgia, etc.). This name com es from the Latin – “georgiani”.
In Georgian: Sakartvelo, in Eastern languages: Gyurjistan, is an ancient state in the South Caucasus. Georgia, as well as its historical lands, are state entities known throughout their three thousand years of statehood as the Kingdom of Colchis (Egrisi), Iberia (Kartli, Kartalinia), the Kingdom of Laz or Lazica (Egrisi), the Abkhazian (Western Georgian) Kingdom, the Georgian Kingdom (Sakartvelo), the principalities of Abkhazia, Guria, Megrelia (Mingrelia, Odishi), Samtskhe-Saatabago, and Svaneti. With the annexation of the Kartli-Kakheti Kingdom to the Russian Empire (1801), the abolition of Georgian state formations began, and their territories were incorporated directly into Russia.
After the collapse of the Russian Empire (1917), an independent state was re-established – the Georgian Democratic Republic (1918-1921). Formed after the Bolshevik occupation (1921), the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic existed until 1990. After the collapse of the USSR (1991), Georgia became an independent state once again: the Republic of Georgia.
Georgia is home to Georgians (who call themselves Kartvelians) and Abkhazians (who call themselves Apsuans), as well as representatives of Azerbaijani, Armenian, Assyrian, Greek, Jewish, Kurdish, Ossetian, Russian, Ukrainian, and other peoples. The Georgian language (along with Megrelian and Svan) belongs to the Kartvelian group of Iberian-Caucasian languages, while the Abkhazian language belongs to the Abkhazian-Adyghe group of Iberian-Caucasian languages.
The majority of the population of Georgia is Orthodox Christian, some are Catholic, some are Gregorian, and some are Muslim (Adjarians, Laz, Ingilo, and some Meskhetian). Some Abkhazians (mainly Abzhua) are Orthodox Christian, and some are Muslim (mainly Bziph).
At the turn of the 2nd and 1st millennia BC, two large associations of early class states formed in the southwestern region of historical Georgia: Diauehi (Taokhi, Tao) and Kolkha (Colchis). At the beginning of the 7th century BC, Diauehi was defeated by the state of Urartu. In the 30s-20s of the 8th century BC, the ancient Colchian state, which is remembered in the ancient Greek legend of the Argonauts, was defeated by the Cimmerians who invaded from the north.
In the 6th century BC, the Colchian tribes formed an early slave-owning state – the Colchian Kingdom (Kolkheti, Egrisi). The development of urban life and trade in Colchis was facilitated by the emergence of Greek colonies (Phasis, Dioscuria, Gyuenos, etc.). From the 6th century BC, silver coins were minted in Colchis – “Colchian tetra” (“kolkhidi”). At the end of the 6th century and the first half of the 5th century BC, the Kingdom of Colchis was dependent on Achaemenid Iran. At the end of the 4th century BC, the ruler of Colchis, Kuji, together with the Kartlian king Farnavaz (Pharnavaz), led the movement for the creation of a united Georgian state. At the end of the 2nd century BC, the Colchian kingdom was subjugated by the Pontic kingdom, and in the 1st century BC, by Rome.
In the 6th–4th centuries BC, the Kartli (eastern Georgian) tribes in the east and south of historical Georgia underwent intensive consolidation, which culminated in the formation of the Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) with its capital in the city of Mtskheta. Ancient Georgian sources date this event to the end of the 4th century BC and associate it with the victory of Pharnaoz (Farnaoz), a descendant of the Mtskheta elders (mamasakhlisi), over the son of King Arian-Kartli, Azo. Farnavaz (Pharnavaz) achieved independence for the kingdom and became the founder of the Pharnavazid dynasty. Historical tradition associates the creation of the Georgian alphabet with the name of Farnavaz. In the 3rd century BC, under Saurmag and Mirian, who reigned after Farnavaz, Kartli became a vast and powerful state, which already included a significant part of Western Georgia (Adjara, Argveti), and Egri recognized the supremacy of the Kartli rulers. Kartli managed to establish its control over the mountain dwellers who inhabited both slopes of the Caucasus Range.
In the 1st century BC, Iberia was briefly subjugated by Rome. The names of the holy apostles Andrew the First-Called and Simeon the Canaanite are associated with the emergence of the first Georgian Christian communities in the 1st century AD. At the beginning of the new era, the Kingdom of Kartli grew stronger and more powerful, and during the reign of Farsman (Pharsmanes) II (30-50s of the 2nd century AD), it achieved great power and expanded its borders. From the 3rd century, the Kingdom of Kartli fell under the influence of Sassanid Iran.
At the turn of the 1st and 2nd centuries, the Lazica Kingdom (Lazika, or Egrisi in Georgian sources) emerged on the site of the collapsed Colchis Kingdom, which eventually spread its influence over the entire territory of the former Colchis Kingdom, including Apsilia, Abazgia, and Sanigia.
In the early Middle Ages, there were two states on the territory of Georgia: the East Georgian kingdom of Kartli (Iberia), which stretched from the Caucasus Mountains south to Albania and Armenia, and Egrisi (Lazika), covering all of Western Georgia with its capital in Tsikhe-Goji (Archeopolis, Nokalakevi).
Around 337, during the reign of King Mirian and Queen Nana, Christianity was declared the state religion of the Kingdom of Kartli. This momentous event for Georgia is closely associated with the name of Saint Nino, the Equal-to-the-Apostles, the patron saint of Georgia. In the Lazica Kingdom, Christianity became the state religion under King Tsate in 523.
King Vakhtang I Gorgasali of Kartli (second half of the 5th century), who sought to centralize Georgia and eliminate its vassal dependence on Iran, led a large united uprising of Georgians, Albanians, and Armenians against Iran, pacified the Caucasian highlanders, significantly expanded the borders of the kingdom (which already covered almost all of Georgia), carried out church reform, and founded the city of Tbilisi, where the capital of the Kingdom of Kartli was soon moved. Under Vakhtang I, the Eastern Georgian Church received autocephaly from the Patriarchate of Antioch, and the Georgian Church was headed by a catholicos (later catholicos-patriarch).
The heirs of Vakhtang I Gorgasali continued the struggle against Iran. However, the uprising of 523, led by King Gurgen, was defeated. The royal power in Kartli was soon abolished, and Iran appointed a governor, a marzpan, to rule the country. In the 70s of the 6th century, the power of a representative of the noble aristocracy, the “first among equals,” whom sources refer to as erismtavari, was established in Kartli. The family chronicle considers the erismtavar’s of Kartli to be representatives of the Bagratid (Bagrationi) clan.
From the middle of the 6th century, the Lazica Kingdom, and from the beginning of the 7th century, Kartli fell under the rule of Byzantium. From the middle of the 7th century to the 9th century, a significant part of Georgian lands was conquered by the Arabs.
In the 8th century, the Abkhazian Saeristavo grew stronger in Western Georgia. The Abkhazian eristav’s skillfully exploited the Arab-Byzantine contradictions and, with the help of the Khazars, freed themselves from Byzantine rule and united all of Western Georgia. The Abkhazian eristav Leon II took the title of king. Due to the origin of the royal dynasty and the leading role of the Abkhazian Saeristavo, the new West Georgian political union was named the Abkhazian Kingdom, but of its eight Saeristavo, Abkhazia itself was represented by two (Abkhazian and Tskhum). Kutaisi became the capital of the kingdom. The Western Georgian church dioceses, which were under the jurisdiction of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, were transferred to the jurisdiction of the Catholicos of Mtskheta.
From the end of the 8th century to the beginning of the 9th century, the territory of Georgia included: the Principality of Kakheti, the Principality Tao-Klarjeti, the Kingdom of Hereti, the Kingdom of Abkhazia, and the Emirate of Tbilisi, or Kartli, initially ruled by the governors of the Arab caliphs. Throughout the 9th and 10th centuries, these political entities fought fiercely, with varying degrees of success, for control of the central part of Georgia – Shida Kartli – the traditional political, economic, and cultural center of Georgian statehood. This struggle ended with the unification of Georgia and the creation of a single Georgian feudal state. The Georgian nobility, led by Eristavi Ioane Marushidze, proposed to David III Kourapalates of the Bagrationi dynasty, the powerful ruler of southern Georgia, “to march with his forces, capture Kartli, and take the throne himself or transfer it to Bagrat, son of Gurgen,” who also came from the Bagrationi house. Bagrat, the adopted son of the childless David III Kourapalates, inherited the Kingdom of Kartli (from his father’s side) and the Kingdom of Abkhazia (from his mother Gurandukht, sister of the childless Abkhazian king Theodosius). In 975, Bagrat Bagrationi received Shida Kartli. In 978, Bagrat was elevated to the West Georgian (Abkhazian) throne with the title of “King of the Abkhazians.” In 1001, after the death of David III Kouropalates, Bagrat III received the title of Kourapalates, and in 1008, after the death of his father, the title of “King of Kartvelians” (Georgia). In 1008-1010, Bagrat III annexed Kakheti, Hereti, and Rani. “King of the Abkhazians, Kartvelians, Ranis, and Kakhetians” Bagrat III Bagrationi completed the unification of all of Georgia into a single state, which had been begun under Farnavaz and continued under Vakhtang I Gorgasali; the concept of “Sakartvelo” emerged to denote all of Georgia.
The 11th and 12th centuries were periods of greatest political power and economic and cultural prosperity for feudal Georgia. Under King David the Builder (1089–1125), important reforms were carried out aimed at strengthening central authority and state unity, including military reform. In the first quarter of the 12th century, Georgia repelled the invasion of the Seljuk Turks and liberated a significant part of Transcaucasia from them – Shirvan and Northern Armenia were incorporated into the Georgian state.
During the reigns of George III (1156–1184) and Tamar (1184–c. 1213), Georgia’s influence spread to the North Caucasus, Eastern Transcaucasia, Iranian Azerbaijan, all of Armenia, and the southwestern Black Sea region (the Empire of Trebizond). Georgia became one of the strongest states in the Middle East. Georgia’s foreign relations expanded not only to the east but also to the north, and in the 12th century, cultural and economic ties were established with Kievan Rus.
In the second quarter of the 13th century, Georgia was conquered by the Tatars and Mongols. Tamerlane’s invasions in the second half of the 14th century devastated the country. In the second half of the 15th century, as a result of continuous invasions by foreign invaders and economic decline, the unified Georgian state broke up into the kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti, and the principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, the principalities of Odishi (Megrelia), Guria, Abkhazia (which was part of Odishi until the 17th century), and Svaneti separated from the Kingdom of Imereti, continuing to recognize the supremacy of the King of Imereti (persons tab) only nominally.
In the 16th-18th centuries, Georgia became the arena of struggle between Iran and Turkey for dominance in the South Caucasus. Georgian rulers repeatedly asked Russia for military assistance and raised the issue of joint action against Turkey and Iran. At the end of the 17th century, a Georgian colony emerged in Moscow. King Vakhtang VI of Kartli (1703-1724) streamlined the state administration, feudal order, issued legislative acts, launched construction projects, and restored the irrigation system. However, under Turkish and Iranian domination, he was forced to abdicate the throne and, together with many Georgian political and cultural figures, found refuge in Russia.
From the second half of the 18th century, the balance of power in the South Caucasus changed significantly: King Teimuraz II of Kartli and his son, King Irakli (Heraclius) II of Kakheti, became so politically powerful that in 1749-1750, the khanates of Yerevan, Nakhchivan, and Ganja became vassals of Georgia. Irakli II defeated the ruler of Tabriz, Azat Khan, and the Dagestan feudal lords. After the death of Teimuraz II in 1762, who was in St. Petersburg seeking support, Irakli II inherited the Kartli throne and proclaimed himself king of Kartl-Kakheti, uniting Eastern Georgia. On July 24, 1783 in Georgievsk the Russian-Georgian treaty was signed, which was ratified by Irakli II on January 24, 1784. Under the terms of the treaty, the Russian Empire took the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti under its protection, guaranteed its integrity, undertook to return the lands captured by enemies to Georgia, preserved the royal throne for Irakli II and his descendants, and did not interfere in the internal affairs of the kingdom. For his part, Irakli II recognized the supreme authority of the Emperor of Russia.
Turkey, incited by France and England, tried in every way to prevent the implementation of the treaty’s terms, turning neighboring Muslim rulers against Georgia. In 1785, the Avar ruler Omar Khan invaded and ravaged Eastern Georgia. In July 1787, Turkey issued an ultimatum to Russia, demanding the withdrawal of Russian troops from Georgia and the recognition of Irakli II as a Turkish vassal. In August of the same year, Turkey declared war on Russia. Russia did not dare to open a second Caucasian front (alongside the Balkan front) and withdrew its troops from Georgia in September, thereby violating the terms of the Treaty of Georgievsk. In 1795, Aga-Magomed Khan, who had united almost all of Iran, invaded and devastated Tbilisi. In 1798, Tsar Irakli II died.
During the reign of George XII (1798–1800), the struggle for the throne intensified between the numerous sons and grandsons of Heraclius II and George XII. Rival factions formed around the contenders. The question of foreign policy orientation was acute. George XII, who was seriously ill, began to seek the restoration of the terms of the 1783 treaty and the confirmation of his son David as heir to the throne. Emperor Paul I formally granted the king’s request and sent a regiment of Russian troops to Georgia in 1799, but decided to abolish the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and annex it to Russia. The emperor’s representatives at the Kartli-Kakheti court received a secret order: in the event of the death of Tsar George XII, to prevent Prince David from ascending the throne. On December 28, King George XII died. On January 18, 1801, in St. Petersburg, and on February 16 in Tbilisi, Paul I’s manifesto on the annexation of Georgia to Russia was made public. The final abolition of the Kartli-Kakheti Kingdom and its annexation to the Russian Empire were confirmed on September 12, 1801, by a manifesto of Emperor Alexander I. Members of the Georgian royal family were forcibly taken to Russia. In 1811, the independence of the Georgian Church was abolished.
The history of the Kingdom of Imereti is marked by constant feudal unrest. King Solomon I (1751–1784) managed to strengthen royal power, ban the slave trade encouraged by Turkey, defeat the Turks (1757 Khresili battle), and form a military alliance with Kartl-Kakheti. The kings of Imereti repeatedly turned to Russia for help, but their requests were rejected in order to avoid complications with Turkey. After 1801, King Solomon II of Imereti attempted to unite all of Western Georgia and lead the struggle to restore the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti. However, Russia, supporting the separatism of the Megrelian, Abkhazian, Gurian, and Svan rulers, doomed Solomon II‘s struggle to defeat and in 1804 forced him to accept Russian protection under the Treaty of Elaznaur. In 1810, Russian rule was also established in Imereti.
From the beginning of the 16th century, the principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago fell under the vassalage of Turkey. In the 1530s-1590s, the Turks began to seize the territory of Samtskhe-Saatabago, create their own administrative units, and in the 1620s-1630s, they eliminated the remnants of the principality’s independence. The systematic Islamization of the population began.
The Principality of Megrelia (Mingrelia) (Odishi) gained independence in the mid-16th century, and from 1550 onwards, its rulers, from the Dadiani clan, recognized the authority of the Imeretian kings only nominally. Until the beginning of the 17th century, Abkhazia was also part of the Principality of Megrelia. At the end of the 17th century, the Lechkhumian aznaur (nobleman) Katsia Chikovani gained power in Odishi, overthrowing the dynasty that had previously ruled there. His son George took the title and surname of the former rulers of the Principality of Megrelia – Dadiani. The ruling prince of Megrelia, Grigol (Gregory) I Dadiani, became a subject of the Russian Empire in 1803, retaining autonomy in civil affairs. After the death of David Dadiani (1853), due to the young age of his heir, Prince Nikolai, the principality was ruled by his mother, Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Dadiani (née Princess Chavchavadze) until 1857. In 1857, the governor of the Caucasus, Prince Baryatinsky, taking advantage of the turmoil resulting from peasant unrest in Odisha, introduced special administration of the principality. In 1867, the Mingrelian principality legally ceased to exist and became part of the Russian Empire.
The principality of Guria was separated from the Imereti kingdom in the 16th century. Adjara was also under the rule of the Gurieli rulers (descendants of the Svan eristav Vardanidze). Frequent feuds of Georgian feudal lords and heavy struggle with Turkish invaders led to the decline of the principality. In XVII century Adjara was conquered by Turks and began to actively spread Islam. The rulers of Guria became vassals of the Imereti kings and in 1804 as part of the Imereti kingdom they came under the patronage of Russia. In 1811. Guria principality with preservation of internal autonomy was annexed to the Russian Empire, and in 1828 it was finally abolished.
The Abkhazian principality was formed in the early 17th century and became directly vassal dependent on the king of Imereti. The eastern border of the principality moved to the Kelasuri River, along the line of which the owner of Mingrelia Levan II Dadiani built the western part of a large defensive wall. In the late XVII – early XVIII centuries, having seized a part of the territory of the princedom of Megrelia, Abkhazian lords from the Shervashidze (Chachba) family extended their borders to the Inguri River. Islam actively spread in Abkhazia and dependence on Turkey increased.
On the basis of the appeal of the ruler of Abkhazia George (Safar-bey) Sharvashidze (Shervashidze) by the manifesto of Alexander I of February 17, 1810. Abkhazian principality was annexed to the Russian Empire with preservation of limited power of the ruler. Samurzakano rulers Manuchar and Levan Shervashidze took an oath of “loyalty” as early as in 1805. In 1864 Abkhazian principality was abolished – Sukhumi military department with military board was created, which was replaced in 1883 by civil board with inclusion of Sukhumi district into Kutaisi province.
After the collapse of the unified Georgian state in the XV century, part of Svaneti became part of the Mingrelian principality. The rest part was formally subordinated to the king of Imereti and was divided into Free Svanetia and Principality of Svanetia (possession of princes Gelovani, then princes Dadeshkeliani). Princely power in Svaneti was abolished in 1857 – 1859, after the last ruling prince Konstantin Dadeshkeliani in 1857, when trying to arrest him, killed Kutaisi governor Prince Gagarin and three of his servants and wounded several soldiers. In 1858, Prince Dadeshkeliani was shot by decision of a military field court.
During the 19th century and early 20th century. The Russian Empire, with the active support of the Georgian nobility and peasantry, reclaimed part of the Georgian historical lands that had been seized by Turkey at various times. Tavads and Aznauri (princes and nobles) of the Georgian kingdoms and principalities were recognized in the princely and noble dignities of the Russian Empire.