The
Georgians ( , kartvelebi) are a South Caucasian people and nation
mainly centered in Georgia
.
They also
live in Turkey
, Russia
, the
United
States
, Iran
, and other
countries.
The majority of Georgians are
Christian
and mostly adhere to their national
autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which
originated in the 4th century.
Muslim Georgian
communities reside in Turkey, Iran, Azerbaijan
and Georgia’s autonomous republic of Adjara.
Descending from some of the earliest settlers in the
Caucasus, the Georgian people went through a
complex process of ethnic consolidation and nation-making. It
currently comprises a diverse set of local sub-ethnic communities,
each with its characteristic traditions, manners and
dialect or – in the case of
Mingrelians,
Lazs and
Svans – language. The
Georgian language, with its
own alphabet and long written tradition
going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and
education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the
official language of that country.
Georgian,
Mingrelian and
Svan, together with
Laz spoken by the related
Laz people chiefly in Turkey, form the
South Caucasian or Kartvelian
family.
Strategically located on the crossroads between
East and
West,
the Georgian people have been influenced by many civilizations
throughout history. They absorbed features of other cultures and
married them to indigenous traditions to produce a vibrant culture
which reached its high point of development in the
Middle Ages. With their roots in the
ancient tribal federations, the Georgians
evolved into a highly structured
feudal
nation and by the early 11th century formed a unified kingdom which
emerged as a dominant power in the Caucasus until the
Mongol invasions in the 13th
century.
Threatened by rivaling regional empires and
plagued by incessant internal unrest, the Georgians remained more
or less independent until the Russian
annexation
of Georgian polities in the 19th century. They regained national
independence – briefly from 1918 to 1921 – and finally, from the
Soviet
Union
, in 1991.
Etymology
Georgians call themselves
Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their
land
Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language
Kartuli (ქართული). According to
The Georgian Chronicles, the
ancestor of the
Kartvelian people
was
Kartlos, the great grandson of the
Biblical Japheth.
Ancient Greeks (
Strabo,
Herodotus,
Plutarch,
Homer, etc.) and
Romans (
Titus
Livius,
Cornelius Tacitus,
etc.) referred to early eastern Georgians as
Iberians (
Iberoi in some Greek
sources) and western Georgians as
Colchians.
Origins
Most
historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists,
archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of
modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern
Asia
Minor
since the Neolithic
period. Scholars usually refer to them as
Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians)
tribes. Even the
Bible makes mention of
Tubal-cain, who is associated with
proto-Georgian tribes; or
Togarmah who
according to the native
Armenian and
Georgian sources was the great patriarch and founder of both
nations.
Some European historians of the 19th century (for example,
Wilhelm von Humboldt and
Paul Kretschmer) as well as Georgian
scholars (R. Gordeziani,
S.
Kaukhchishvili and
Z. Gamsakhurdia)
came to the conclusion that Proto-Kartvelians might be related
linguistically and culturally to the indigenous (pre-Indo-European) peoples of ancient
Europe including the Etruscans
, Pelasgians and
Proto-Basques.
The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the
ancient Greeks and
Romans as
Colchians
and
Iberians. East Georgian tribes
of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century
BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (
Moschians,
Suanians,
Mingrelians and others) established the first
Georgian state of
Colchis before the
foundation of the
Iberian Kingdom
in the east. According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the
formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and
Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the
Georgian nation .
Proto-Georgian tribes:
- Daiaeni in Assyrian sources and Taokhoi in Greek, lived in the northeastern
part of Anatolia
, a region that once was part of Georgia.
This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of
Georgians. The Georgians of today still refer to this
region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti. Some people there still
speak Georgian.
- Colchians in the ancient western Georgian(Mingrelian-Laz) Kingdom
of Colchis. First mentioned in the Assyrian
annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in
the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II. Also
included western proto-Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians. However, in the case of many
tribes, this is often disputed among scholars, as many claim that
many Colchian tribes were ancestors of the modern Abkhaz and Abaza,
especially the Abasgoi, and assert that Colchis was an ethnically
heterogenous nation.
- Iberians also known as
Tiberians or Tiberanians, in the eastern Georgian Kingdom of
Iberia.
Both Colchians and
Iberians
played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of
the modern Georgian nation.
According to the scholar of the Caucasian studies
Cyril Toumanoff:
Appearance
Like most other groups of the Caucasus, ethnic Georgians have
somewhat of a European-like appearance and
Olive skin. Georgians are classified like all
surrounding groups as Caucasoids, and are often slender with dark
hair and dark eyes.
Short History
Ancient Georgia
A second Georgian tribal union emerged in the 13th century BC on
the Black Sea coast, creating the Kingdom of
Colchis in the western Georgia.The
ancient Greeks knew western Georgia as
Colchis, and it featured in the Greek legend of
Jason and the
Argonauts, who
travelled there in search of the
Golden
Fleece. Since 2000 BC, north-western Colchis was inhabited by
the
Svan and
Zan
peoples of the Georgian tribes.
In the eastern part of Georgia, there was a
struggle for the leadership among the various Georgian
confederations during the 6th – 4th centuries BC which was finally
won by the Kartlian tribes from the region of Mtskheta
in Iberia. According to
The Georgian Chronicles, the
Kingdom of Kartli (known as
Iberia in the Greek-Roman literature) was
founded around 300 BC by
Parnavaz I, the
first ruler of the
Parnavazid
dynasty.Between 653 and 333 BC, both Colchis and Iberia were
successfully surviving in fight against
Median and later
Persian Empire. At the end of the 3rd century
BC, southern Iberia saw the armies of
Alexander the Great who established a
vast Greco-Macedonian empire to the south of the Caucasus.
Between the early 2nd century, BC and the late 2nd century AD, both
Colchis and Iberia, together with the neighbor countries, became an
arena of long and devastating conflicts between major local powers
Rome, Armenia, and the short-lived Kingdom of
Pontus. As a result of the brilliant Roman campaigns
of
Pompey and
Lucullus, the Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and
Iberia came under direct Roman rule. However, during the reign of
the Emperor
Trajan, Caucasian Iberia became a
long lasting ally of the Roman Empire. The former Kingdom of
Colchis was re-organized by the Romans into the province of
Lazicum ruled by Roman
legati.
Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia became one of the first states
in the world to convert to
Christianity
in 327 AD, when King of Iberia
Mirian II
established it as the official state religion. In the middle of the
4th century, both
Lazica (former Kingdom of
Colchis), and Iberia, adopted Christianity as their official
religion. At the end of the 5th century, Prince
Vakhtang I Gorgasali orchestrated an
anti-Persian uprising and restored Iberian statehood proclaiming
himself the King. The armies of Vakhtang launched several campaigns
against both Persia and the
Byzantine
Empire.
Medieval Georgia
Kingdom of Georgia during the reign of
Queen Tamar.
The first decades of the 9th century saw the rise of a new Georgian
state in
Tao-Klarjeti.
Ashot Courapalate, of the
royal family of Bagrationi, liberated
from the
Arabs the territories of former
southern Iberia. The first united Georgian monarchy was formed at
the end of the 10th century when
Curopalate David invaded the Earldom of
Kartli-Iberia. Three years later, after the death of his uncle
Theodosius the Blind,
King of
Egrisi-
Abkhazia,
Bagrat III inherited the Abkhazian
throne. In 1001, Bagrat also included
Tao-Klarjeti (Curopalatinate of Iberia) into
his domain as a result of David’s death.
In 1008-1010, Bagrat
King of the Abkhazs and Tao-Klarjeti
annexed Kakheti
and Hereti thus becoming the
first King of the united Georgia both eastern and western.
In 1008 all Georgian principalities were united into the unified
Kingdom of Georgia
(1008-1466) under the
Bagrationi dynasty.
This dynasty was established by
Ashot I
(Ashot the Great) in the end of the 8th century.
The struggle against the
Seljuk
invaders in Georgia was led by the young
King David IV of the Bagrationi royal
family who inherited the throne in 1089 at the age of 16 after the
abdication of his father George II Bagrationi. In 1121, Seljuk
Sultan Mahmud declared
Jihad on Georgia and
sent a strong army under one of his famous generals
Al-Ghazee to fight the Georgians. Although
significantly outnumbered by the Turks, Georgians managed to defeat
the invaders at
Didgori battle and in
1122 took over Tbilisi to make it Georgia’s capital. As a result,
mostly Christian-populated
Ghishi-Kabala area in western
Shirvan (relic of once prosperous Albanian Kingdom)
was annexed by Georgia while the rest of already Islamized Shirvan
became Georgia’s client-state. That same year a big portion of
Armenia was liberated by David’s troops and fell into Georgian
hands as well. Thus, in 1124, David also became the King of
Armenians incorporating Northern Armenia into Georgian Crown lands.
In King David died leaving Georgia with the status of a strong
regional power. In Georgia, King David is called
agmashenebeli (English: the builder).
However, the most glorious sovereign of Georgia of that period was
definitely Queen Tamar (David’s great-granddaughter). The reign of
Queen Tamar was the peak of
Georgia’s might in the whole history of the nation.
The
Empire of Trebizond was
heavily dependent of Georgia for more than two hundred years. In
1210, Georgian armies invaded northern Persia (modern day Iranian
Azerbaijan) putting part of the conquered territory under Georgian
protectorate. That was the maximal extent of Georgia throughout her
history. Queen Tamar was addressed as "The Queen of Abkhazians,
Kartvels, Rans, Kakhs and Armenians, Shirvan-Shakhine and
Shakh-in-Shakhine, The Sovereign of the East and West." Georgian
historians often refer to her as "Queen Tamar the Great." The
period between the early 12th and the early 13th centuries and
especially, the era of Tamar the Great, can truly be considered as
the golden age of Georgia. Besides the political and military
achievements, it was marked by the development of Georgian culture
including the architecture, literature, philosophy and sciences.
The Golden age of Georgia left a magnificent legacy of great
cathedrals, brilliant romantic poetry and literature, and the epic
poem "
The Knight in the
Panther's Skin - revered by all Georgians since its creation
for its artistic and philosophical virtue, the glorification of the
Christian Orthodox values as well as chivalry, honor, compassion
and romantic love. This Golden Age was interrupted at its peak by
the Mongol Invasion in the 13th century AD. After that time, the
Georgian feudal state entered an era of decline punctuated by
short-lived ascents.
Modern history
In the
19th century, Georgia, on the verge of annihilation by its powerful
southern rivals, was annexed by the Russian Empire. A few decades later, Georgian society
produced a modernist nationalistic elite under the guidance of
Ilia Chavchavadze, which united
Georgian society around the dream of the restoration of their once
glorious state.
In 1918, this dream was fulfilled and the
Democratic Republic of
Georgia
was established. This democratic experiment
was short-lived, as in 1921 a
Bolshevik
government was installed with the support of the invaded
Red Army.
The first years of independence after the
dissolution of the USSR
were
characterized by political instability and civil conflicts.
The first wave of reforms initiated in 1995 was only partially
successful. Political corruption resulted in economic decline and
institutional inefficiency, which led to grave political crisis. In
November 2003, the "
Rose Revolution
- a mass non-violent public disobedience campaign - forced the
government, which had tried to falsify elections, to resign. A new
wave of systemic reforms started after the election of the new
Government.
Population and geographical spread
Georgian traditional wedding in
traditional costumes
The total population of Georgians in the world is estimated to be
around 4,500,000.
- Around three million Georgians live in
Georgia (where they comprise 83% of the
population),
- In
Turkey, Georgians form the majority in parts of Artvin
Province
east of the
Çoruh River in Shavsheti
(შავშეთი) region (Upper
Machakheli in the north of Borçka
district,
Imerkhevi in the north of Şavşat
district, and Murgul
district)
and in individual villages along the Çoruh valley of Livana
(ლივანა) vicinity in the territory of the ancient Georgian regions
of Tao-Klarjeti (Klarjeti (კლარჯეთი) is
presently a village renamed officially as Bereket in Ardanuç
district), southwards to the district of Yusufeli
(Kiskim) in Amier-Tao (ამიერტაო) subregion.
They also live as Chveneburi (ჩვენებური)
muhajirs in various provinces. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, the prime
minister of Turkey, pronounced his Georgian origins during a visit
to Georgia in 2004. The total population of people of Georgian
descent in Turkey is estimated to be from 200,000 to
1,500,000.
- In
Iran, 50,000-300,000 (numbers are not totally
known). Modern Georgian immigration to Iran can be traced
back to ethic tensions within the Russian Empire. The fall of Democratic
Republic of Georgia and the onset of World War
I pushed many ethnic Caucasians towards
Iran. Cold War politics
proved conflicting to Georgians in Iran. While Georgian immigrants
wanted to stay in Iran, Soviet Georgian leadership wanted to
repatriate them to Georgia. Moscow, however, clearly preferred to
keep them in Iran. The Soviet Georgian plans were abandoned
only after Stalin realized that his plans to obtain influence in
northern Iran foiled by both Iranian stubbornness and United States
pressure in Iran.
Today, up to 75,000 Georgian
Iranians (ფერეიდნელი) live in the twin cities of Fereydan and Fereydoon
Shahr where a Georgian Dialect
is spoken (Phreidnuli- Similar to Eastern Georgian Dialects).
Other
Towns such as Najaf
Abad
, as well as in many other larger Iranian cities,
especially Esfahan
, Tehran
, Shiraz
, and
Karaj
bolster significant Georgian populations.
Up to
200,000 full and partial Georgians live in the coastal town of
Mazandaran
. Moreover, there are up to 5 million people
with (partial) Georgian descent (300,000 Georgians were settled in
Iran in the 17th century).
- 14,900 in Azerbaijan, according to official numbers. Most Georgians (known
as Ingilos) in Azerbaijan reside in the Kakhi,
Belokani
and Zakatala
districts, which had been known as Hereti
until the 15th century and administered by the Georgian kings until
the 17th century. These rayons were once part of the Democratic
Republic of Georgia and part of Georgia under the Transcaucasian SFSR until 1931 when they
were transferred to Azerbaijan. Georgia maintains no claims
against Azerbaijan over these territories as of present.
- Around 200,000 in Russia and another
200,000 throughout the former Soviet Union republics in Europe and
Asia.
- 200,000 in other countries, including the
United
States, Germany
, the Netherlands
, and France
.
- There
are some 1,000 Georgians in Argentina
, in the provinces of Mendoza and Rio
Negro
. In Rio Negro, Georgian people and their
descendants are at the "hippietown" of El Bolson and in the Andes valleys zone (Colonia Rusa in the Alto
Valle).
- Other
countries: Over 18,000 Georgians in Brazil
, over
12,000 in Japan
, 3,500 in
Singapore
, an estimated 1,000 in Mexico
.
Ethnographic subdivisions
Georgian youth in traditional
costumes
The largest ethnic group within the broader Georgian ethnicity is
the ქართველი (transliterated
kartveli, plural: ქართველები,
kartvelebi), which comprises the majority of the
population of Georgia.
The other major subdivisions within the
Georgian ethnicity include: the Mingrelians (მეგრელი), who live predominantly in
northwestern Georgia (Samegrelo); and the
Svans (სვანი) of the Svaneti
region of Georgia. These four ethnic groups
within the greater Georgian ethnicity are differentiated by
language. The Kartveli speak
Kartuli (what the English speaking world
calls Georgian), the Mingrelians speak
Megrelian, the Laz speak
Laz, and the Svans speak
Svan. These four related languages comprise
the entirety of the
South
Caucasian language group. The majority of Mingrelians and Svans
are bilingual in their native language and in Kartuli, while the
majority of the Laz are bilingual in their native language and
either Kartuli or
Turkish.
Within the group called
Kartveli, Georgians further
distinguish themselves into regional ethnographic subgroups:
These subgroups, however, exist for historical and geographical
reasons; each would consider itself to be
Kartveli, the
ethnic group which gives the country,
Sakartvelo, its
name, and would speak the same language.
Gallery of Georgian people
Image:Ill3.jpg| Ilia Chavchavadze,
writer, poet, journalist and lawyer.
Image:Bagration P I.jpg|General Petre
Bagrationi
Image:Simonika Bagration Mukhraneli.jpg|Regent Prince Simon
Bagrationi
Image:Chavchavadze bagrationi georgians.jpg|Georgian Prince Iakob
Chavchavadze and Prince Bagrationi-Mukhraneli
Image:Franz Xavier Winterhalter. Princess Catherine
Dadiani.jpg|Countess Catherine Dadiani
Image:Kasbeg.jpg|19th century Georgian writer Alexander Kazbegi
Image:Kote abkhazia.jpg| General Kote
Abkhazi
Image:TL019520.jpg|Georgian prima ballerina Nino Ananiashvili
Image:ESC 2007 - Sopho Khalvashi - Visionary Dream.jpg|Sopho Khalvashi, the first artist to
represent Georgia at the Eurovision Song Contest.
Image:General John Shalikashvili military portrait,
1993.JPEG|General John
Shalikashvili, retired general who served as US Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993 to 1997
Image:Katie Melua at signing.jpg|Katie
Melua, highest selling European female artist in 2006.
Image:Georgian woman.jpg|Georgian performer from Sukhushvili Dance
Company
Notes
- Braund, David. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and
Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, pp. 17-18
- The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 19
- The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 66
- Georgia A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus, Roger Rosen, p
16
- The Georgian Chronicles, Kartlis
Cxovreba (in English) [1]
- Moses
of Chorene, "The History of Armenia" (in Russian) [2]
- Georgia A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus, Roger Rosen, p
18
- The Making of the Georgian Nation, Ronald Grigor Suny, p.4
- Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p
80
- Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p
58
- The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 58
- The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 59
- Charles Burney and David Marshal Lang, The Peoples of the
Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, p. 38
- Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p
57
- The New Book of Knowledge - Grolier, Encyclopedia G.
Article: GEORGIA, Republic of, By Alec Rasizade
- BRAUND, D., Georgia in antiquity: a history of Colchis and
Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC – AD 562, Oxford University Press,
1996
- Kimlik Değişimi! December 13, 2005, Milliyet
- "Population by ethnic groups" The State
Statistical Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan
- Dr. Andrew Andersen, Ph.D. Atlas of Conflicts: Armenia and Karabakh: Territorial
Disputes of 1921-22 And Future Territorial Adjustments of
1931
See also
External links
- Ali Attār, Georgians in Iran, in Persian, Jadid
Online, 2008, [53429].
A Slide Show of Georgians in Iran by Ali Attār, Jadid
Online, 2008, [53430] (5 min 31 sec).
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