Re: Uncorking the Caucasus. EY F Apartment to Georgia (birthplace of wine) & Azerbaij
Before the next lot of pictures, a bit of history about Georgia.
In south-east Georgia have been found the oldest human remains outside Africa - 1.8 mill years old. Plenty of examples of Neolithic settlements ~6,000 BC.
It gets interesting by the 2nd millennium BC where barrow burial site have yielded a treasury of golden artefacts such as these (see more in the post on National Museum, following.)
Remember the ancient Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts? Well it 'happened' right here in Georgia, in the east at or near Kutaisi, which we'll visit in a few days time. Capturing gold using a sheep's fleece is or was actually practiced in the mountains in Georgia in ancient times.
The Kingdom of Colchis emerged in the west in ~600 -100BC and is regarded as proto-Georgia. The ancient Greeks traded with the Colchians and the Persians attacked a few times. The society had much to do with gold, as finds in burial mounds attest. These on display at the National Museum in Tbilisi (the rectangle is about 10cm long and the bottom LH bowl is about 20cm across)
The eastern kingdom of Kartli (also known as Iberia - nothing to do with Spain) emerged about 300BC. Alexander the Great invaded the south of Iberia, but didn't hang around within Georgian territory.
The Romans invaded in 65BC and occupied the west but they were welcomed in the east. Both east and west gained reasonable independence by the 3rd century AD with paganism prevailing. St Nino converted the King of Iberia to Christianity in the early 300s, and so became the second state to become Christian (after Armenia).
The Persians invaded again in the 400s but a the end of the 500s Prince, then King Vakhtang Gorgasali liberated Iberia (we've seen him commemorated in Tbilisi). However this only lasted until his son's rule, when the Persian came back. In the late 600s the Arabs arrived.
In the 800s the Bagrationi family liberated parts of Iberia and Armenia. King Bagrat III united east and western provinces for the first time in about 1010. Unfortunately Bagrat had no more luck than Gorgasali, as in the late 10th century the Turks came along in a destructive and deadly invasion, with much Georgian culture and population lost.
David IV, son of the conquered Bargrati king, led an uprising in the late 1000s, eventually re-taking Tbilisi in 1122 after many great battles. David also became King of Armenia. He is known and revered in the country as 'David the Builder'
David's grand daughter Tamar became Queen in 1184 and continued fighting the Turks, eventually expelling them from the southern areas, including north and NE parts of Turkey, plus Armenia. The 12th to early 13th centuries is regarded as the Golden Age of Georgia, and Tamar was known as The Great, dying in 1213.
The Mongols invaded in the early 1200s and were an even more destructive force than the Turks. They lasted until King George the Brilliant (1314–1346) managed to expel them and take control of the country again.
in the 15th and 16th centuries, the country again fell under control of the Turks and Persians at various times, and the Christian enclave fractured. Much wealth was lost out of the country and it was a meagre 'state' that saw the start of the 18th century, dominated by the Persians.
King Erekle II managed to re-unify most of Georgia in the late 1700s as the Persian power waned. Erekle went to Russia to seek assistance against the Persians and effectively turned Georgia into a vassal state of Russia. This didn't entirely work out, as the Persians re-invaded in 1795 and captured and burned Tbilisi. The Russians re-asserted their authority in the early 1800s and annexed much of the area of Georgia. Eventually the country was re-established, but had completely lost its independence to Tsarist Russia.
A Georgian patriotic movement began in the late 1800s and a Georgian nationalist sentiment was well established by the time of the Bolshevik revolution in Russia in 1917. Georgia declared independence in 1918. However, following history, the Red Army invaded in 1921 and Georgia was incorporated into the USSR.
The Germans did not make it to the Caucasus in WW2 so the Jewish population was preserved, and flourishes to this day.
That's probably enough for now
. If you've made it this far, you can begin to see how Georgia claims to be one of the most invaded countries on earth - a true cross road of Asian, Turkish and Persian/Arabian armies.
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