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GEORGIA
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GEORGIA , a former See also:kingdom of See also:Transcaucasia, which exited historically for more than 2000 years. Its earliest name was Karthli or Karthveli; the Persians knew it as Gurjistan, the See also:Romans and Greeks as Iberia, though the latter placed Colhis also in the See also:west of Georgia. Vrastan is the Armenian nametnd Gruzia the See also:Russian. Georgia proper, which included Kathli and Kakhetia, was bounded on the N. by Ossetia and Daghesian, on the S. by the principalities of See also:Erivan and See also:Kars, and on the W. by Guria and See also:Imeretia; but the kingdom also includec at different times Guria, See also:Mingrelia, See also:Abkhasia, Imeretia and Laghestan, and extended from the See also:Caucasus range on the N. to the See also:Aras or Araxes on the S. It is now divided between the Russan governments of See also:Tiflis and See also:Kutais, under which headings furtler See also:geographical particulars are given. (See also See also:CAUCASIA.)
See also:History.—According to traditional accounts, the Georgian (Karthlian), Kakhetian, Lesghian, Mingrelian and other races of Transcaucasia are the descendants of Thargamos, See also:great-See also:grandson of See also:Japheth, son of See also:Noah, though Gen. x. 3 makes Togarmah to be the son of See also:Gomer, who was the son of Japheth. These various races were subsequently known under the See also:general name of Thargamosides. Karthlos, the second son of Thargamos, is the See also:eponymous See also: All through its history Georgia, being on the outskirts of See also:Armenia and See also:Persia, both of
See also:George See also:Walton . . 1789-1790 Democratic-Republican
See also:Edward Telfair . . 1790-1793 „
George See also:Matthews . 1793-1796 „
Jared Irwin 1796-1798 „
See also: Mitchell . . 1815-1817
See also: 1839-1843 Union
George W. See also:Crawford. . 1843-1847 Whig
George W. B. Towns . 1847-1851 Democrat
See also:Howell See also:Cobb . . 1851-1853 Constitutional Union
See also:Herschell V. See also: See also:Jenkins . . 1865-1868 See also: 1882-1883
Tames S. Boynton 7 . . 1883
See also: . 1894-1898 A. D. Candler . . 1898-1902 Joseph M. See also:Terrell . 1902-1907 Hoke Smith . 1907-1909 them more powerful neighbours than itself, was at times more or less closely affected by their destinies. In this way it was sometimes opposed to See also:Rome, sometimes on terms of friendship with See also:Byzantium, according as these were successively friendly or hostile to the Armenians and the Persians. In the end of the 2nd See also:century B.C. the last Pharnavazian prince was dethroned by his own subjects and the See also:crown given to See also:Arsaces, king of Armenia, whose son Arshag, ascending the See also:throne of Georgia in 93 B.C., established there the Arsacid See also:dynasty. This See also:close association with Armenia brought upon the country an invasion (65 B.C.) by the See also:Roman general See also:Pompey, who was then at See also:war with See also:Mithradates, king of See also:Pontus and Armenia; but Pompey did not establish his See also:power permanently over Iberia. A See also:hundred and eighty years later the See also:Emperor See also:Trajan penetrated (A.D. 114) into the See also:heart of the country, and chastised the Georgians; yet his See also:conquest was only a little more permanent than Pompey's. During one of the internecine quarrels, which were not infrequent in Georgia, the throne See also:fell to Mirhan or Mirian (265—342), a son of the See also:Persian king, who had married a daughter of Asphagor, the last See also:sovereign of the Arsacid dynasty.
With Mirian begins the See also:Sassanian dynasty. He and his subjects were converted to See also:Christianity by a See also:nun Nuno (Nino), who had escaped from the religious persecutions of See also:Tiridates, king of Armenia. Mirian erected the first See also:Christian See also: Thus began the dynasty of the Bagratids, who ruled until 1803. This was not, however, the first See also:time that Byzantine See also:influence had been effectively exercised in Georgia. As early as the reign of Mirian, in the 3rd century, the organizers of the early Georgian church had looked to Byzantium, the leading Christian power in the See also:East, for both instruction and guidance, and the connexion thus begun had been strengthened as time went on. From this See also:period until the Arab (i.e. See also:Mahommedan) invasions began, the authority of Byzantium was supreme in Georgia. Some seventy years after the Bagratids began to See also:rule in Georgia the all-conquering See also:Arabs appeared on the frontiers of the country, and for the next one hundred and eighty years they frequently devastated the See also:land, compelling its inhabitants again and again to accept See also:Islam at the See also:sword's point. But it was not until the See also:death of the Georgian king Ashod (787—826) that they completely subdued the Caucasian See also:state and imposed their will upon it. Nevertheless they were too much occupied elsewhere or too indifferent to its welfare to defend it against See also:alien aggressors, for in 842 Bogha, a See also:Turkish See also:chief, invaded the country, and early in the loth century the Persians again overran it. But a period of See also:relief from these hostile incursions was afforded by the reign of Bagrat III. (980-1014). During his See also:father's lifetime he had been made king of Abkhasia, his See also:mother belonging to the royal See also:house of that land, and after ascending the Georgian throne hemade his power See also:felt far beyond the frontiers of his hereditary dominions, until his kingdom extended from the See also:Black See also:Sea to the See also:Caspian, while Armenia, See also:Azerbaijan and Kirman all paid him See also:tribute. Not only did he encourage learning and patronize the See also:fine arts, but he built, in 1003, the cathedral at Kutais, one of the finest examples extant of Georgian See also:architecture. During the reign of Bagrat IV. (1027—1072) the Seljuk Turks more than once burst, after 1048, into the country from See also:Asia See also:Minor, but they were on the whole successfully repulsed, although they plundered Tiflis. During the reign of the next king, George II., they again devastated Tiflis. But once more See also:fortune changed after the See also:accession of David II. (1089—1125), surnamed the Renovator, one of the greatest of Georgian See also:kings. With the help of the Kipchaks, a Mongol or Turkish race, from the See also:steppe lands to the See also:north of the Caucasus, whom he admitted into his country, David drove the See also:Seljuks out of his domains and forced them back over the Armenian mountains. Under George III. (1156—1184), a grandson of David II., Armenia was in part conquered, and See also:Ani, one of its capitals, taken. George's daughter Thamar or Tamara, who succeeded him, reigned over the kingdom as See also:left by David II. and further extended her power over See also:Trebizond, See also:Erzerum, Tovin (in Armenia) and Kars. These successes were continued by her son George IV. (1212—1223), who conquered Ganja (now See also:Elisavetpol) and repulsed the attacks of the Persians; but in the last years of his reign there appeared (1220 and 1222) the See also:people who were to prove the ruin of Georgia, namely the Mongol hosts of Jenghiz See also:Khan, led by his sons. George IV. was succeeded by his See also:sister Rusudan, whose capital was twice captured by the Persians and her kingdom overrun and fearfully devastated by the See also:Mongols in 1236. Then, after a period of wonderful recovery under George V. (1318—1346), who conquered Imeretia and reunited it to his crown, Georgia was again twice (1386 and 1393—1394) desolated by the Mongols under Timur (Tamerlane), prince of See also:Samarkand, who on the second occasion laid See also:waste the entire country with See also:fire and sword, and crushed it under his relentless See also:heel until the year 1403. Alexander I. (1413—1442) freed his country from the last of the Mongols, but at the end of his reign divided his territory between his three sons, whom he made sovereigns of Imeretia, Kakhetia and Karthli (Georgia) respectively. The first mentioned remained a See also:separate state until its See also:annexation to See also:Russia in 181o; the other two were soon reunited. See also:Political relations between Russia and Georgia began in the end of the same century, namely in 1492, when the king of Kakhetia sought the See also:protection of See also:Ivan III. during a war between the Turks and the Persians. In the 17th century the two states were brought into still closer relationship. In 1619, when Georgia was harried by Shah Abbas of Persia, Theimuraz (1628—1634), king of Georgia, appealed for help to See also:Michael, the first of the See also:Romanov tsars of Russia, and his example was followed later in the century by the rulers of other See also:petty Thargamosid or Caucasian states, namely Imeretia and Guria. In 1638 the prince of Mingrelia took the See also:oath of See also:allegiance to the Russian See also:tsar, and in 165o the same step was taken by the prince of Imeretia. Vakhtang VI. of Georgia put himself under the protection of Peter the Great early in the 18th century. When Persia fell into the grip of the Afghans early in the 18th century the Turks seized the opportunity, and, ousting the Persians from Georgia, captured Tiflis and compelled Vakhtang to abdicate. But in 1735 they renounced all claim to supremacy over the Caucasian states. This left Persia with the predominating influence, for though Peter the Great extorted from Persia (1722) her prosperous provinces beside the Caspian, he left the mountaineers to their own dynastic quarrels. See also:Heraclius II. of Georgia declared himself the See also:vassal of Russia in 1783, and when, twelve years later, he was hard pressed by Agha Mahommed, shah of Persia, who seized Tiflis and laid it in ruins, he appealed to Russia for help. The See also:appeal was again renewed by the next king of Georgia, George See also:XI1I., in 1798, and in the following year he renounced his crown in favour of the tsar, and in 18o1 Georgia was converted into a Russian See also:province. The state of Guria submitted to Russia in 1829. (J. T. BE.) See also:Ethnology.—Of the three See also:main See also:groups into which the Caucasian races are now usually divided, the Georgian is in every respect the most important and interesting. It has accordingly largely occupied the See also:attention of Orientalists almost incessantly from the days of See also:Klaproth. Yet such are the difficulties connected with the origin and mutual relations of the Caucasian peoples that its See also:affinities are still far from being clearly established. Anton von See also:Schiefner and P. V. Uslar, however, arrived at some negative conclusions valuable as starting-points for further See also:research. In their papers, published in the See also:Memoirs of the St See also:Petersburg Imperial See also:Academy of Sciences and elsewhere (1859 et seq.), they finally disposed of the views of See also:Bopp and Brosset (1836), who attempted on linguistic grounds to connect the Georgians with the Indo-See also:European family. They also clearly show that Max Mifller's " Turanian " theory is untenable, and they go a See also:long way towards proving that the Georgian, with all the other Caucasian See also:languages except the Ossetian, forms a distinct linguistic family absolutely See also:independent of all others. This had already been suspected by Klaproth, and the same conclusion was arrived at by Fr. See also: Typical race: Georgians. Here the See also:term " family " must be taken in a far more elastic sense than when applied, for instance, to the Indo-European, Semitic or Eastern Polynesian divisions of mankind. Indeed the three groups See also:present at least as wide divergences as are found to exist between the Semitic and Hamitic linguistic families. Thus, while the Abkhasian of group 1 is still at the agglutinating, the Lesghian of group 2 has fairly reached the inflecting See also:stage, and the Georgian seems still to waver between the two. In consequence of these different stages of development, Uslar hesitated finally to See also:fix the position of Georgian in the family, regarding it as possibly a connecting See also:link between groups 1 and 2, but possibly also radically distinct from both. Including all its numerous ramifications, the Georgian or southern group occupies the greater part of Transcaucasia, reaching from about the neighbourhood of See also:Batum on the Black Sea eastwards to the Caspian, and merging southwards with the Armenians of See also:Aryan stock. It comprises altogether nine sub-divisions, as in the subjoined table: 1. The GEORGIANS PROPER, who are the See also:Iberians of the ancients and the Grusians of the Russians, but who See also:call themselves Karthlians, and who in See also:medieval times were masters of the Rion and Upper Kura as far as its confluence with the Alazan. 2. The IMERETIANS, west of the Suram mountains as far as the See also:river Tskheniz-Tskhali. 3. The GURIANS, between the Rion and Lazistan. 4. The LAzIS of Lazistan on the Black Sea. 5. The SVANETIANS, SHVANS Or SWANIANS, on the Upper Ingur and Tskheniz-Tskhali See also:rivers. 6. The MINGRELIANS, between the rivers Tskheniz-Tskhali, Rion, Ingur and the Black Sea. 7. The TUSHES or Mosoxs . 8. The PSHAVS or PH'cHAVY 9. The See also:KHEVSURS . . . . The representative See also:branch of the race has always been the Karthlians. It is now See also:pretty well established that the Georgians are the descendants of the See also:aborigines of the Pambak See also:highlands, and that they found their way to their present homes from the See also:south-east some four or five thousand years ago, possibly under pressure from the great waves of Aryan See also:migration flowing from the Iranian tableland westwards to Asia Minor and See also:Europe. The Georgians proper are limited on the east by the Alazan, on the north by the Caucasus, on the west by the Meskes hills; separating them from the Imeretians, and on the south by the Kura river and Kara-dagh and Pambak mountains. South-wards, however, no hard and fast ethnical See also:line can be See also:drawn, for even immediately south of Tiflis, Georgians, Armenians and See also:Tatars are found intermingled confusedly together. The Georgian race, which represents the See also:oldest elements of See also:civilization in the Caucasus, is distinguished by some excellentmental qualities, and is especially noted for See also:personal courage and a passionate love of See also:music. The people, however, are described as fierce and cruel, and addicted to intemperance, though Max von See also:Thielmann (See also:Journey in the Caucasus, &c., 1875) speaks of them as " rather hard drinkers than drunkards." Physically they are a fine athletic race of pure Caucasian type; hence during the Moslem ascendancy Georgia supplied, next to See also:Circassia, the largest number of See also:female slaves for the Turkish harems and of recruits for the Osmanli armies, more especially for the select See also:corps of the famous Mamelukes. The social organization rested on a highly aristocratic basis, and the lowest classes were separated by several grades of vassalage from the highest. But since their See also:incorporation with the Russian See also:empire, these relations have become greatly modified, and a more sharply defined See also:middle class of merchants, traders and artisans has been See also:developed. The power of See also:life and death, formerly claimed and freely exercised by the nobles over their See also:serfs, has also been expressly abolished. The Georgians are altogether at present in a fairly well-to-do See also:condition, and under Russian See also:administration they have become industrious, and have made considerable moral and material progress. Missionaries sent by See also:Constantine the Great introduced Christianity about the beginning of the 4th century. Since that time the people have, notwithstanding severe pressure from surrounding Mahommedan communities, remained faithful to the principles of Christianity, and are still amongst the most devoted adherents of the Orthodox See also:Greek Church. Indeed it was their See also:attachment to the national See also:religion that caused them to call in the aid of the Christian Muscovites against the proselytizing attempts of the Shiite Persians—a step which ultimately brought about their political extinction. As already stated, the Karthli See also:language is not only fundamentally distinct from the Indo-European linguistic family, but cannot be shown to possess any clearly ascertained affinities with either of the two See also:northern Caucasian groups. It resembles them chiefly in its phonetic See also:system, so that according to Rosen (Sprache der Lazen) all the languages of central and western Caucasus might be adequately rendered by the Georgian See also:alphabet. Though certainly not so harsh as the Avar, Lesghian and other See also:Daghestan languages, it is very far from being euphonious, and the frequent recurrence of such sounds as ts, ds, thz, kh, khlz, gh (Arab. q (Arab. 0), for all of which there are distinct characters, renders its See also:articulation rather more energetic and rugged than is agreeable to ears accustomed to the softer tones of the Iranian and western Indo-European See also:tongues. It presents great facilities for See also:composition, the See also:laws of which are very See also:regular. Its See also:peculiar See also:morphology, See also:standing midway between See also:agglutination and true See also:inflexion, is well illustrated by its See also:simple declension See also:common to noun, See also:adjective and pronoun, and its more intricate verbal conjugation, with its personal endings, seven tenses and incorporation of pronominal subject and See also:object, all showing decided progress towards the inflecting structure of the Indo-European and Semitic tongues. Georgian is written in a native alphabet obviously based on the Armenian, and like it attributed to St Mesropius (Mesrop), who flourished in the 5th century. Of this alphabet there are two forms, differing so greatly in outline and even in the number of the letters that they might almost be regarded as two distinct alphabetic systems. The first and oldest, used exclusively in the See also:Bible and liturgical See also:works, is the square or monumental Khutsuri, i.e. "sacerdotal," consisting of 38 letters, and approaching the Armenian in See also:appearance. The second is the Mkhedrt li kheli, i.e. " soldier's hand," used in See also:ordinary See also:writing, and consisting of 40 letters, neatly shaped and full of curves, hence at first sight not unlike the modern Burmese See also:form of the See also:Pali. . Of the Karthli language there are several varieties; and, besides those comprised in the above table, mention should be made of the Kakhetian current in the historic province of Kakhetia. A distinction is sometimes drawn between the Karthlians proper and the Kakhetians, but it rests on a purely political basis, having originated with the See also:partition in 1424 of the See also:ancient Iberian :labout the headstreams of the 11 Alazan and Yora rivers. estates into the three new kingdoms of Karthlinia, Kakhetia and Imeretia. On the other hand, both the Laz of Lazistan and the Svanetian present such serious structural and verbal See also:differences from the common type that they seem to stand rather in the relation of sister tongues than of dialects to the Georgian proper. All derive obviously from a common source, but have been developed independently of each other. The Tush or Mosok appears to be fundamentally a Kistinian or Chechen See also:idiom affected by Georgian influences. The Bible is said to have been translated into Georgian as early as the 5th century. The extant version, however, See also:dates only from the 8th century, and is attributed to St Euthymius. But even so, it is far the most ancient See also:work known to exist in the language. Next in importance is, perhaps, the curious poem entitled The Amours of Turiel and Nestan Darejan, or The See also:man clothed in the See also:panther's skin, attributed to Rustevel, who lived during the prosperous reign of See also:Queen Thamar (11th century). Other noteworthy compositions are the national epics of the Baramiani and the Rostomiani, and the See also:prose romances of Visramiani and Darejaniani, the former by Sarg of Thmogvi, the latter by Mosi of Khoni. Apart from these, the great bulk of Georgian literature consists of ecclesiastical writings, See also:hymns sacred and profane, national codes and See also:chronicles. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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