About Georgia

Brief history of Georgia

Antique Period
Antique Period Georgia – the land of the Golden Fleece. King Aeëtes of Colchis, Medea, and the voyage of the Argonauts to Colchis on the ship "Argo" are well-known myths in Greek mythology.

Human life in the territory of Georgia can be traced back to the earliest stages of human society's development. In Georgia, monuments of material culture from the Stone Age, starting from the early Paleolithic, have been discovered. The Paleolithic era in Georgia represents the first historical period of the Stone Age, from the initial use of stone tools to the advent of agriculture around the 10th millennium BCE. To date, over 400 monuments from the Paleolithic era have been discovered and studied in Georgia. In Georgia, as in other regions of the Caucasus, a highly developed Eneolithic culture spread. At the turn of the 4th-3rd millennium BCE, there was a transition to the Bronze Age. Agricultural culture reached a high level of development. During the Late Bronze Age (2nd millennium BCE), metallurgy achieved its highest peak, distinguished by a diversity of forms and high levels of production and artistic craftsmanship. From 2100 to 750 BCE, Georgian tribes experienced invasions by the Hittites, Medes, proto-Persians, and others.

In the 12th-8th centuries BCE, Diaokhi and Kolkha, the first Georgian state formations, were established. In the 4th-3rd centuries BCE, the Kingdom of Kartli (Iberia) developed. Writing spread early, including Aramaic, Greek, and later Georgian scripts. Excavations have uncovered monuments of the highly developed culture of Georgia's antique period, including rich tombs containing unique artistic crafts. According to tradition, Iberia, with its capital in Mtskheta, was founded around 300 BCE by King Pharnavaz I, the progenitor of the Pharnavazid dynasty. According to one legend, he was also the creator of the Georgian script. Between 653 and 333 BCE, the territory of Georgia was continuously invaded by the Medes, followed by the Persian Empire, and in the late 4th century BCE, the armies of Alexander the Great passed through it. However, neither Colchis nor Iberia became part of Alexander's empire or any of the Hellenistic kingdoms that emerged after its collapse. Nevertheless, Greek culture had a noticeable influence on Georgia.



6th Century BCE: Jewish Migration In the 6th century BCE, Jews fleeing from Nebuchadnezzar began to settle in Iberia. They brought with them to the capital, Mtskheta, a great relic of the Old Testament – the mantle of Prophet Elijah, which they kept in the Synagogue.

65 BCE: Pompey's Invasion In 65 BCE, Roman troops led by Pompey, who was at that time waging war against the Kingdom of Pontus and Armenia, invaded Iberia but later retreated. The Pompey's Bridge still remains visible at low water levels.

1st Century BCE: Rome’s Attempts to Conquer Georgia With the strengthening of the Kingdom of Iberia in the 1st century BCE, Rome made unsuccessful attempts to conquer Georgia. Subsequently, Georgia became a center of struggle between Rome and Persia for influence in the Middle East. It was only in the 2nd century, under Pharasmanes II, that Iberia achieved full independence. King Pharasmanes II the Valiant (116-132) was an ally of the Roman Empire. The Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius greatly valued the alliance with Iberia and invited the king to Rome, where he erected an equestrian statue in his honor.

Adoption of Christianity Georgia is one of the oldest Christian countries in the world. The Georgian people were introduced to Christ's teachings in the first century. According to tradition, Georgia was chosen by the Holy Virgin Mary to be the country where the apostles would preach the Christian faith. Therefore, Georgia is considered a chosen country of the Holy Virgin, who is regarded as the patroness of the country. By the will of the Savior, the Holy Virgin remained in Jerusalem, and Saint Andrew the First-Called, who brought with him an icon of the Holy Virgin, along with apostles Simon the Canaanite and Matthias, who took the place of Judas Iscariot among the twelve apostles, were sent to preach Christianity in Georgia. The apostles went to the country that kept the great Old Testament relic – the Mantle of Prophet Elijah (a cloak made of sheep or goat skin), brought by the Jews fleeing Nebuchadnezzar in the 6th century BCE, and the greatest Christian relic – the seamless Robe of our Lord Jesus Christ, which after the crucifixion, Georgian Jews led by Elioz brought to the capital of Kartli, Mtskheta, where the Jewish diaspora resided. Before the adoption of Christianity, Mithraism and Zoroastrianism were widespread in Georgia. During the reign of King Mirian III, Christianity became the state religion of Kartli (Iberia) in 327 CE. The conversion to the new faith is traditionally associated with Saint Nino. At the end of the 5th century, Vakhtang I Gorgasali conducted several military campaigns against Persia. In the early 6th century, Tbilisi became the capital of Kartli.

Unification of Georgia After the weakening of the Caliphate in the 9th century, a new state emerged in southwestern Georgia under the leadership of Ashot I Kurapalates of the Bagrationi dynasty, who expelled the Arabs from these areas. In the 9th – early 10th centuries, the Arabs were finally expelled from the South Caucasus, and later Byzantium was also forced to leave the region. Bagrat III (975-1014) of the Bagrationi dynasty became the first king of a united Georgia. The second half of the 11th century was marked by constant invasions by the Seljuk Turks. In 1071, they defeated the combined Byzantine, Armenian, and Georgian army at the Battle of Manzikert, and by 1081, most of Georgia was conquered by the Seljuks.





The Golden Age
The 11th-12th centuries marked the period of greatest political power and the flourishing of the economy and culture of feudal Georgia. King David IV the Builder created a regular army capable of repelling the Seljuk invasions and was able to reclaim almost all Georgian lands. On August 12, 1121, King David defeated the coalition army of the Seljuks at the Battle of Didgori, after which he took Tbilisi and moved the capital of Georgia there (the victory is still celebrated in Georgia). The reign of Queen Tamar (1184–1213) represents the highest peak of Georgia's influence throughout its history. After the fall of Constantinople in 1204, Georgia briefly became the strongest Christian state in the entire Eastern Black Sea region.

Mongol Invasions
In the 1220s, the Mongols passed through Asia Minor and the South Caucasus, suppressing the resistance of Georgian and Armenian forces. Most of Georgia, all of Armenia, and central Anatolia came under Mongol rule. Georgia was forced to constantly fight the invaders for independence. Between 1386 and 1403, Georgia experienced eight invasions by Tamerlane, which exhausted the country's economy and brought it closer to collapse.

Struggle with Turkey and Iran
In the 15th century, the Georgian kingdom turned into an isolated Christian country, surrounded on all sides by the Muslim world. Most of its neighbors ceased to exist after the Ottoman conquest of Constantinople in 1453 and the spread of their influence over the entire Black Sea region. Georgia's connection with the Christian world was mainly maintained through contacts with the Genoese colonies in Crimea. As a result, Georgia fell into decline both economically and politically. Recognizing formal vassalage to Turkey or Iran often meant having to convert to Islam. Thus, the emergence of Christian Russia to the north was seen as a way out of this situation. In the early 18th century, King Vakhtang VI of Kartli introduced a new code of laws and attempted to improve the country's economy. Under his reign, in 1709, printing in the Georgian language began.

Georgia as Part of Russia
Under King Heraclius II of Kartli and Kakheti (1762–1798), the united Kartli-Kakheti state was significantly strengthened, and its influence in the South Caucasus grew. The Turks were expelled from the country. Georgian culture was revived, and printing was established. Enlightenment became one of the leading directions of public thought. Heraclius turned to Russia for protection against Iran and Turkey. Catherine II, who was at war with Turkey, was interested in an ally. In 1783, Russia and Georgia signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, establishing a Russian protectorate over the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti in exchange for military protection. However, in 1787, when another Russo-Turkish war began, Russian troops left Georgia, leaving it defenseless. In 1795, the Iranian shah Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar invaded Georgia and devastated Tbilisi after the Battle of Krtsanisi. On December 22, 1800, Emperor Paul I signed a manifesto on the annexation of Georgia to Russia. In May 1802, General Karl Bogdanovich Knorring in Tbilisi overthrew the Georgian pretender to the throne, David, and established the government of Ivan Petrovich Lazarev. On July 28, Abbas Mirza suffered a crushing defeat, and the Persian army fled Georgia in disarray. Between 1803 and 1878, as a result of the Russo-Turkish wars, the remaining Georgian territories were also annexed by Russia. The 19th century was characterized by national liberation aspirations among the Georgian nobility and intelligentsia. In 1900, the Transcaucasian railway was integrated into the Russian railway network. In the early 20th century, the labor movement and Marxist propaganda developed. In January 1905, the revolution began, and unrest quickly spread to Georgia. The resistance to the tsarist authorities was finally suppressed by force in January 1906 after the arrival of troops under General Alihanov's command. In August 1914, Russia entered the war against Germany. 200,000 Georgians were mobilized and sent to the front. In 1917, after setbacks at the front, the February Revolution occurred, and the aspiration for Georgian independence began to spread among the population.



Georgian Democratic Republic
After the October Revolution of 1917, Georgia declared independence. In the parliamentary elections, the Social Democrats led by N. Jordania won. In May 1920, the Menshevik government of N. Jordania signed a peace treaty with Soviet Russia.

USSR
In February 1921, the 11th Red Army treacherously attacked Georgia. The Georgian Democratic Republic was abolished, and Soviet power was established in Georgia, after which it became one of the Soviet Union's republics. Between 1922 and 1924, uprisings against Soviet rule occurred, demanding the restoration of Georgia's state independence. During the Soviet era, Georgia underwent industrialization and the collectivization of agriculture. Entire new industries were created. During the Great Patriotic War, several national Georgian divisions were formed in Georgia, participating in the Battle of the Caucasus and the battles for the liberation of the Taman Peninsula and Crimea. About 700,000 people from Georgia (one-fifth of the republic's population) participated in the war, with 400,000 of them perishing.

Independent Georgia
On October 28, 1990, the first multi-party parliamentary elections in the USSR were held in Georgia, in which national-political organizations won a convincing victory. As a result of the elections, the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia was formed, headed by Z. Gamsakhurdia (a well-known writer, scholar, doctor of philological sciences, dissident, public and political figure, head of the Helsinki Group). On May 26, 1991, presidential elections were held, and Zviad Gamsakhurdia won. On December 21, 1991, a bloody armed rebellion began, supported by the armed formations of "Mkhedrioni." On January 6, 1992, the president and members of the government were forced to leave Georgia. The junta brutally suppressed the population of Georgia, resulting in the deaths of several thousand citizens. In March 1992, Eduard Shevardnadze, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, was elected chairman of the State Council of Georgia, the governing body created by the victorious opposition.

Rose Revolution
The severe economic situation, human rights violations, rampant corruption, and the falsification of the parliamentary election results on November 2, 2003, led to the so-called Rose Revolution from November 21-23, 2003, and the resignation of Shevardnadze. As a result of the repeat presidential elections on January 4, 2004, Mikheil Saakashvili, one of the leaders of the Rose Revolution, was elected president of Georgia. On August 1, 2008, the escalation of Georgian-South Ossetian relations led to an armed conflict between Russia and Georgia. On August 16, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a plan for the peaceful resolution of the Georgian-Ossetian conflict. Before this, the document was signed by the leaders of the unrecognized states of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, as well as the President of Georgia, Mikheil Saakashvili. The signing of this document by the conflicting parties marked the end of the military actions.

Georgian Dream - Ruling party
During M. Saakashvili's rule, large-scale reconstruction of buildings and roads began. An economic upturn started, but his harsh rule and suppression of the opposition caused public discontent, leading to mass protests. After the 2012 elections, the "Georgian Dream" party and other opposition parties, led by the Russian businessman of Georgian origin, B. Ivanishvili, came to power. In 2023, Georgia received the status of a candidate country for the EU.

Currently, Georgia is a member of the UN, the Council of Europe, the World Trade Organization, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, GUAM, and others.

The Georgian government strives to regulate and develop political and economic relations with its neighboring countries – Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Turkey.

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