Facts about Georgia
Georgia was incorporated into the Transcaucasian SFSR uniting Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.
Massive rock- and mudslides in Ajaria in 1989 displaced thousands in southwestern Georgia, and two earthquakes in 1991 destroyed several villages in northcentral Georgia and South Ossetia.
Black Sea pollution, caused by inadequate sewage treatment, has harmed Georgia's tourist industry.
The first Georgian cinema documentary ("Journey of Akaki Tsereteli in Racha-Lechkhumi") was filmed in 1912 by Vasil Amashukeli (1886-1977), while the first Georgian feature film ("Kristine") was produced in 1916 by Alexandre Tsutsunava (1881-1955).
After the Kremlin banned imports of Georgian wine, and severed financial links, the Georgian lari's rate of inflation spiked to 10 percent in 2006.
Transparency International placed Georgia at joint number 99 in the world in its 2006 Corruption Perceptions Index (with number 1 considered the least corrupt nation).
Rugby is considered the second most popular sport in Georgia, after football (soccer).
Mountains isolate the northern region of Svaneti from the rest of Georgia.
According to legend, the Minotaur required human sacrifices on a regular basis.
Georgian is the only Kartvelian language that is written and taught, and is used by all Georgians.
Georgian wines have begun to be widely imitated and counterfeited.
Russia was a mediator in the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, but Georgia is seeking direct dialogue.
The Georgian language (also known as Kartuli) belongs to the Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language family.
The Greater Caucasus Mountain Range separates Georgia from the North Caucasian Republics of Russia.
From 1803 to 1878, as a result of Russian wars against Turkey and Iran, Batumi, Akhaltsikhe, Poti, and Abkhazia were annexed to Georgia.
During the modern period, from about the seventeenth century onwards, Georgian culture has been greatly influenced by European cultural imports.
Georgia maintains good relations with its direct neighbors Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey and participates in regional forums, such as the Black Sea Economic Council and the GUAM.
Georgia's main economic activities include cultivating grapes, citrus fruits, and hazelnuts; mining manganese and copper; and producing alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, metals, machinery, and chemicals.
The Georgian-born communist radical Iosif Dzhugashvili, better known by his nom de guerre Stalin (from the Russian word for steel), was to rise to the highest position of the Soviet state and rule ruthlessly.
Georgian culture suffered under the rule of the Soviet Union during the twentieth century, during which a policy of Russification was imposed but strongly resisted.
The most prominent Georgian dissident was Merab Kostava, who was arrested several times and served a term in Soviet jail.
During this period, Georgia developed a vigorous multi-party system that favored independence.
Forests cover around 40 percent of Georgia's territory while the alpine/subalpine zone accounts for roughly around 10 percent.
The Georgian Social-Democratic Party won the election and its leader, Noe Zhordania, became the prime minister.
The first civilizations to appear in Uzbekistan were Sogdiana, Bactria and Khwarezm.
After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia declared independence on May 26, 1918, in the midst of the Russian Civil War.
Eastern Georgia's river plains have been deforested for agricultural purposes.
On December 22, 1800, Tsar Paul I of Russia, at the alleged request of the Georgian king Giorgi XII of Kartli-Kakheti, signed the Proclamation on the incorporation of Georgia (Kartli-Kakheti) within the Russian Empire.
Important Georgian literary works of the pre-Christian period are: Amiraniani, ancient Georgian folk epos of the end of the second millennium B.C.E., and “Life of the King Farnavaz (third century B.C.E., anon).
Chadian forces were able to force the Libyans to retreat from the Aouzou Strip in 1987.
The rebellious regions were liberated and united into the Georgian Kingdom at the beginning of the eleventh century.
In 1918–1919 the Georgian army attacked the Russian White Army to claim the Black Sea coastline.
When Georgia played Russia in the European Nations Cup, 65,000 people crammed into the national stadium in Tbilisi and another 44,000 watched Georgia beat Russia 17-13.
On April 9, 1991, shortly before the collapse of the USSR, Georgia declared independence.
Eastern Georgia was known by the Greek world as Iberia, which may be also be spelled as Iveria.
The term "chacha" is used in Georgia to refer to any type of moonshine made of fruits.
Georgia’s per capita GDP was $3800 in 2005, a rank of 119 out of 181 countries.
The Georgian Eduard Shevardnadze, the USSR's minister for foreign affairs, was one of the main architects of the Perestroika (economic restructuring) reforms of the late 1980s.
Today 82 percent of the population practices the Georgian Orthodox Christianity.
According to Georgian chronicles, St. Nino of Cappadocia converted Georgia to Christianity in 330 C.E.
West Georgia has more hot and spicy vegetarian food, prepared with walnuts, tarragon, basil, coriander, feuille Grec, and pepper.
Georgia's oldest theatrical form was the "Sakhioba" (extant from the third century B.C.E.
During the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, thousands of Georgians rallied in support of Viktor Yushchenko in Kiev, Georgia's capital Tbilisi, and North America.
Agriculture and tourism have been Georgia's principal economic activities, due to the country's climate and topography.
The Bible was translated into the Georgian language in the fifth century.
The first Georgian-language printing house was established in the 1620s in Italy and the first one in Georgia itself was founded in 1709 in Tbilisi.
Georgia is divided into nine regions, two autonomous republics, and one city (k'alak'i).
The official languages are Georgian and Abkhaz within the autonomous region of Abkhazia.
In August of 2004, the Individual Partnership Action Plan of Georgia was submitted officially to NATO.
The twentieth century has seen professional choirs achieve renown in Georgia, especially Anzor Erkomaishvili's Rustavi Choir.
Well-known Georgian painters were: Damiane (thirteenth century), Anania (fifteenth century), Mamuka Tavakarashvili (seventeenth century).
Much of western Georgia lies within the humid subtropical zone, with annual precipitation ranging from 39–157 inches (1000–4000mm), heavy during autumn.
Georgian Orthodox Church gained its autocephaly (the status of a hierarchical church whose head bishop does not report to any higher-ranking bishop) in the fifth century during the reign of Vakhtang Gorgasali.
In 327 C.E., Christianity was declared the official state religion in the ancient Georgian Kingdom of Iberia, making Georgia the second oldest country after Armenia (301) to declare Christianity as the official state religion.
From November 1990 to March 1991, one of the leaders of the National Liberation movement, Dr. Zviad Gamsakhurdia, was chairman of the Supreme Council of the Republic of Georgia.
Populated for about 8000 years, Georgia has been called the birthplace of wine, due to archaeological findings which indicate wine production back to 5000 B.C.E.
Among the best-known regions of Georgia in which wine is produced are Kakheti (further divided into micro-regions of Telavi and Kvareli), Kartli, Imereti, Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti, and Abkhazia.
The region stretching from the San Juan Mountains in the southwest to Boulder and Central City contains most of the historic gold- and silver-mining districts of Colorado.
From 1941 to 1945, during World War II, almost 700,000 Georgians fought as Red Army soldiers against Nazi Germany.
Western Georgia's forests consist of deciduous trees below 1968 feet (600 meters) above sea level and include oak, hornbeam, beech, elm, ash, and chestnut.
The Georgian and Russian people have a relationship which continues from the middle ages.
The World Bank dubbed Georgia "the number one economic reformer in the world" because it had in one year improved from rank 112th to 37th in terms of "ease of doing business."
Georgia's economy is becoming more dependent on services (now representing 54.8 percent of GDP), moving away from the agricultural sector (17.7 percent).
The TFSSR was disaggregated into its component elements in 1936 and Georgia became the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic.
Georgia suffers from energy shortages due to aging and badly maintained infrastructure, as well as poor management.
The rebellious regions were liberated and united into the Georgian Kingdom at the beginning of the eleventh century.
Georgia's life expectancy rate of 76.09 years, is one of the highest in Eastern Europe.
Georgia is home to a form of urban music with sentimental, lovelorn lyrics, as well as a more rough and crude urban music featuring clarinets, doli and wind instruments called duduks.
In 1783 Russia and the eastern Georgian kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk, according to which Kartli-Kakheti received protection by Russia.
Georgia's medieval culture was greatly influenced by the Georgian Orthodox and Apostolic Church, which often sponsored the creation of works of religious devotion.
Monuments of Georgian Christian architecture include: The Georgian Church in Bethlehem (fourth century), the Church of Gavazi (fourth century) in Akhalsopeli, and Akaurta Church (fifth century) in Bolnisi district.
The last Imeretian king and the last Georgian Bagrationi ruler Solomon II died in exile in 1815.
Eastern Georgia has a transitional climate, from humid subtropical to continental.
Table songs from Kakheti in eastern Georgia usually feature a simple, drone-like bass part with two soloists singing the top two parts.
Georgia had a population of 4,661,473 in 2006, including Abkhazia and South Ossetia – whose total population, was estimated in 2005 at 227,200 (178,000 in Abkhazia plus 49,200 in South Ossetia).
On May 26, 1991, Zviad Gamsakhurdia was elected as first president of independent Georgia, but was soon deposed in a bloody coup d'йtat.
The Georgia national football team FC Dinamo is controlled by the Georgian Football Federation.
Numerous smaller groups include Assyrians, Chechens, Chinese, Georgian Jews, Greeks, Kabardins, Kurds, Tatars, Turks and Ukrainians.
Neighboring kingdoms exploited the situation and from the sixteenth century, the Persian Empire and the Ottoman Empire subordinated the eastern and western regions of Georgia, respectively.
The Georgian education system placed greater emphasis on Georgian language and history after independence in 1991.
Georgia ranks fourth in grape production in the former Soviet Union behind Russia, Ukraine, and Moldova, though Georgian wines have always been the most highly prized.
The Georgian team's first match took place in 1990, while Georgia was still part of the Soviet Union.
Another view contends that the English Georgia derives from the modern Persian word for the Georgians, ??????? or gurj, which means wolf.
Kodori Gorge is the only part of Abkhazia that remains under effective Georgian control.
More than 25,000 Georgians were expelled from Tskhinvali, and many Ossetian families were forced to move to Russia.
Georgia (transliterated as Sakartvelo), known officially from 1990 to 1995 as the Republic of Georgia, is a country to the east of the Black Sea.
Two core areas of future Georgian culture and statehood formed by the end of the eighth century B.C.E.
Georgia's Jewish community is one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.
Georgians were rural people until the beginning of the twentieth century, when industrialization caused migration to urban areas, especially to the capital, Tblisi.
Georgian folk songs are often centered on feasts called supra, where songs and toasts to God, fatherland, long life, love and other topics.
More than 250,000 Georgians were evicted from Abkhazia by Abkhaz separatists and North Caucasians volunteers, (including Chechens) in 1992-1993.
The Politics of Georgia take place in the framework of a presidential representative democratic republic, with a multi-party system, and the president as head of government.
The Georgia national football team FC Dinamo is controlled by the Georgian Football Federation.
In 1995, Eduard Shevardnadze was elected president of Georgia, and re-elected in 2000.
In 2006 Georgia's real GDP growth rate reached 8.8 percent, making Georgia one of the fastest growing economies in Eastern Europe.
Georgia has what may be the oldest continuous tradition of polyphonic music in the world, predating the introduction of Christianity.
Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (??????????), their land Sakartvelo (??????????), and their language Kartuli (???????).
Kartli (Iberia) adopted Christianity in 327 C.E., making Georgia the second oldest country after Armenia officially to become a Christian state.
In 2003 Shevardnadze was deposed in the Rose Revolution, after Georgian opposition and international monitors asserted that the November 2 parliamentary elections were marred by fraud.
An estimated 70 percent of surface water contains health-endangering bacteria to which Georgia's high rate of intestinal disease is attributed.
