User:AlexandreAssatiani/sandbox/Georgia

Etymology
The first mention of the name Georgia is in the Italian mappa mundi of Pietro Vesconte dated 1320. At the early stage of its appearance in the Latin world, the name was often spelled Jorgia. Its etymology probably dates back to the 11-12th centuries and most likely stems from the Persian designation of the Georgians – gurǧān, adapted via the Syriac gurz-ān/gurz-iyān and Arabic ĵurĵan/ĵurzan. 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 root of the word. The same Persian root was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages and others, such as Modern Farsi as گرجستان, /ɡoɾd͡ʒesˈtɒːn/. This term itself might have been established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region of Gorgan ("land of the wolves").

The native name is Sakartvelo ('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 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. Ancient Greeks (Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Homer, etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Tacitus, etc.) referred to early western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians (Iberoi, Ἰβηροι in some Greek sources). The Georgian circumfix sa-X-o is a standard geographic construction designating 'the area where X dwell', where X is an ethnonym.

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 called the "Republic of Georgia" to distinguish it from the State of Georgia in the United States, although that name did not carry legal recognition.

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.

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 development of textile-based clothing (Eocene), the first cases of viticulture (7th millennium BC), and the first signs of gold mining (3rd millennium BC).

The Kura-Araxes, Trialeti-Vanadzor, 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 first Georgian state to appear following the Bronze Age is Diaokhi, a confederation of tribes centered around the southeastern Black Sea region that was in regular conflict with Assyria until its eventual absorption by Urartu. 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, before losing his life in battle against the Sassanian Empire.

Unification of Georgia
In 580, the Sasanian Empire abolished the Kingdom of Iberia, leading to the disintegration of Georgia into various feudal regions in the early Middle Ages. The Byzantine-Sasanian wars plunged the region into chaos with both Persia and Constantinople supporting various warring factions in the Caucasus, although 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 Rashidun Caliphate invaded Eastern Georgia, starting a long period of Arab domination of the Southern Caucasus that would last until the early 9th century and would lead to the establishment of several Georgian 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 and often backed by the Byzantine Empire that feared a dominion of the Caucasus region by the Bagrationi dynasty. Though King Bagrat III was able to expand his sphere of influence to the Caspian Sea by subjugating the Emirate of Arran, all while solidifying his power over the western region of Tao, his successors were less successful. George I (r. 1014-1027) lost control of both Kakheti and Arran and suffered a major defeat to the Byzantines in Tao, while Bagrat IV (r. 1027-1072) faced a series of Byzantine-fueled civil wars against various aristocratic families seeking more power. Ties between Byzantium and Georgia were normalized when the two powers 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 it at the forefront of Seljuk raids known as the Didi Turkoba 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 Georgia's 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.

"Four kingdoms and three principalities"
In 1490, a decision by the royal council ("Darbazi") formalized the division of Georgia in four independent states after three decades of civil wars between warring factions of the Bagrationi dynasty: the Kingdoms of Imereti, Kartli, and Kakheti (each ruled by various branches of the royal dynasty) and the Samtskhe-Saatabago, a division that would remain in place for three centuries. In western Georgia, the principalities of Samegrelo, Guria, Svaneti, and Abkhazia acted as de facto independent statelets. During that time, the Ottoman and Safavid empires often waged war against each other for control of Georgian states and power-division agreements prevented a reunification of Georgia.

Anarchy and constant warfare between the Georgian states and the neighboring Muslim empires caused a complete collapse of the regional economy, while the final downfall of the Byzantine Empire in 1453 and Trebizond in 1461 isolated Georgia from the Western European world. A large slave trade promoted by the Ottoman Empire on the Black Sea and constant raids, pillages, and ethnic cleansings by Iranian troops in eastern Georgia caused a sharp drop in the Georgian population by the 18th century. Several attempts by Georgian rulers to form an anti-Muslim alliance with Western European leaders proved fruitless, the most famous of which being the embassy of Sulkhan-Saba Orbeliani to Louis XIV of France.


 * Kingdom of Kartli (until unification)
 * Kingdom of Kakheti (until unification)
 * Kingdom of Imereti, Samegrelo, Guria, and the Svaneti Abkhazia Racha issues (until Treaty of the Iberians)
 * Samtskhe (until final Ottoman annexation)

Annexation by Russia

 * Unification of Kartl-Kakheti
 * Treaty of Georgievsk
 * Battle of Krtsanisi
 * George XII
 * Annexation of Kartl-Kakheti
 * Annexation of Imereti
 * Political expansion (annexations of Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samegrelo)
 * Military expansion towards the Ottoman Empire
 * Political administration
 * Anti-Russian rebellions
 * Economic development
 * Cultural development
 * Georgians in Russian leadership and nobility
 * 1905 revolution

First Republic and Soviet invasion

 * Developments in 1905-1918 (1917 revolution, TSU)
 * Transcaucasian Federation
 * Declaration of Independence
 * Legislative institution (elections, parties, names)
 * State institutions (including governments)
 * Conflicts with neighbors (Armenia, White Russia, post-revolutionary republics)
 * Conflicts with Ossetians, Abkhazians, and Muslims
 * British and Versailles relations and international recognition
 * Bolsheviks, Treaty of Moscow
 * Soviet invasion
 * 1922 annexation

Soviet Georgia

 * Anti-Soviet rebellions in the 1920s
 * Purge of 1937
 * Stalin/Beria/Orjonikidze
 * Political structure (Transcaucasia, Abkhazia, Communist Party institutions)
 * World War II
 * Mingrelian Affair
 * Destalinization
 * Anti-Soviet movement
 * Economic development
 * National independence movement
 * 1989 tragedy

Independence and civil wars

 * 1990 elections
 * Declaration of independence
 * Zviad's presidency
 * Overthrow of Zviad, Military Council, arrival of Shevardnadze, return to Samegrelo
 * Conflict in South Ossetia
 * Conflict in Abkhazia
 * Death of Zviad
 * 1992 elections
 * International recognition
 * 1995 constitution and amendments (including Concordat)
 * 1995 elections
 * 1995 terrorist attack
 * 1998 terrorist attack
 * Clashes in Abkhazia and Kodori (1998, 2001)
 * Terrorism in Pankisi and Russian bombing
 * Economic crisis
 * Energy crisis
 * Corruption
 * Democratic issues (attacks on the press)

Rose Revolution

 * 2003 elections
 * Rose Revolution and new elections
 * Triumvirat rule and new constitution
 * Palm Revolution
 * Reforms
 * Protests
 * New foreign policy
 * Tensions with Russia

Russo-Georgian war and aftermath

 * 2008 war
 * Reelection of Saakashvili and second term, with concerns
 * 2012 elections
 * Continuation of pro-EU foreign policy (association, dcfta, visa-free)
 * 2018 presidential election and new constitution
 * Gavrilov Night and 2019-2020 crisis
 * 2020 election and 2020-2021 crisis
 * Return of Saakashvili
 * Foreign policy shift since Ukraine war
 * Fears of democratic backsliding
 * EU candidacy status saga