Georgian History

History of Georgia

The nation of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველო sakartvelo) was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty by the King Bagrat III of Georgia in the 8th to 9th century, arising from a number of predecessor states of the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia. The Kingdom of Georgia flourished during the 10th to 12th centuries under King David IV the Builder and Queen Tamar the Great, and fell to the Mongol invasion by 1243, and after a brief reunion under George V the Brilliant to the Timurid Empire. By 1490, Georgia was fragmented into a number of petty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout the Early Modern period struggled to maintain their autonomy against Ottoman and Iranian (Safavid, Afsharid, and Qajar) domination until Georgia was finally annexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. After a brief bid for independence with the Democratic Republic of Georgia of 1918–1921, Georgia was part of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic from 1922 to 1936, and then formed the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic until the dissolution of the Soviet Union.

The current republic of Georgia has been independent since 1991. The first president Zviad Gamsakhurdia stoked Georgian nationalism and vowed to assert Tbilisi's authority over Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Gamsakhurdia was deposed in a bloody coup d'état within the same year and the country became embroiled in a bitter civil war, which lasted until 1995. Supported by Russia, Abkhazia and South Ossetia achieved de facto independence from Georgia. The Rose Revolution forced Eduard Shevardnadze to resign in 2003. The new government under Mikheil Saakashvili prevented the secession of a third breakaway republic in the Adjara crisis of 2004, but the conflict with Abkhazia and South Ossetia led to the 2008 Russo–Georgian War and tensions with Russia remain unresolved.

Georgia is an ancient place, long braised and glazed in many layers of dark and sticky history, with much still written across its landscape for visitors to see.

Georgia was one of the first countries in the world to officially adopt Christianity in AD 337 and one of the most striking things you will notice as you travel through, is the number of beautiful old churches, monasteries and cathedrals that stud the hillsides.

But its history stretches much further back than that. Evidence for the earliest occupation of present day Georgia can be traced back about 1.8 million years with the skull of an ancient human ancestor unearthed near the capital, Tbilisi.

The 12th to early 13th centuries is a period that has been widely termed as Georgia's Golden Age or Georgian. Renaissance. Centers of education, including the celebrated Gelati and Ikalto monasteries, were formed - academies that taught philosophy, astronomy, mathematics, rhetoric, and music.

Georgian history also stretches back beyond time to the stories of Greek mythology when the Caucasus were said to be one of the pillars holding up the world. In the Bronze Age, Georgia was home to the kingdom of the Colchis, according to Greek mythology, a fabulously wealthy land where Jason and the Argonauts went in search of the Golden Fleece. The present day region of Kolkheti on the Black Sea is the successor to the legendary kingdom.

After the Roman Empire completed its conquest of the Caucasus region in 66 BC, the kingdom was a Roman client state and ally for nearly 400 years.

Georgia has been invaded many times, by Greeks, Romans, Persians and others over the years, its boundaries and capitals changing as successive Kings and invaders held sway. Today, Georgia is increasingly becoming a destination for climbers, walkers, skiers, and food and culture hounds looking for adventure somewhere off the well-worn tourist trails.