Georgia (country)

Georgia
საქართველო (Georgian)
Sakartvelo
Motto: 
ძალა ერთობაშია
Dzala ertobashia
"Strength is in Unity"
Anthem: 
თავისუფლება
Tavisupleba
"Freedom"
Georgia in dark green; uncontrolled
territory
in light green
Capital
and largest city
Tbilisi
41°43′N 44°47′E / 41.717°N 44.783°E / 41.717; 44.783
Official languagesGeorgian
Recognised regional languagesAbkhaz[a]
Ethnic groups
(2014[a])
Religion
(2014)
  • 10.7% Islam
  • 2% other / none[3]
Demonym(s)Georgian
GovernmentUnitary parliamentary republic
• President
Salome Zourabichvili
Irakli Kobakhidze
Shalva Papuashvili
LegislatureParliament
Establishment history
• Colchis and Iberia
13th c. BC – 580 AD
786–1008
1008
1463–1810
12 September 1801
26 May 1918
12 February 1921
25 February 1921
• Independence from the Soviet Union
 • Declared
 • Finalized


9 April 1991
26 December 1991
24 August 1995
Area
• Total
69,700 km2 (26,900 sq mi) (119th)
Population
• 2022 estimate
Neutral decrease 3,688,647[a][4]
4,012,104[b] (126th)
• 2014 census
Neutral decrease 3,713,804[a][5]
• Density
57.6/km2 (149.2/sq mi) (137th)
GDP (PPP)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $82.210 billion[a][6] (101st)
• Per capita
Increase $22,357[6] (75th)
GDP (nominal)2023 estimate
• Total
Increase $30.023 billion[a][6] (112th)
• Per capita
Increase $8,165[6] (86th)
Gini (2021)Positive decrease 34.2[a][7]
medium
HDI (2022)Increase 0.814[a][8]
very high (60th)
CurrencyGeorgian lari (₾) (GEL)
Time zoneUTC+4 (Georgia Time GET)
Date formatdd.mm.yyyy
Driving sideright
Calling code+995
ISO 3166 codeGE
Internet TLD.ge, .გე
  1. ^ Not including occupied territories.
  2. ^ Including occupied territories.[citation needed]

Georgia (Georgian: საქართველო, romanized: sakartvelo, IPA: [sakʰartʰʷelo] ) is a transcontinental country in Eastern Europe[10][11][12] and West Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, bounded by the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and northeast, Turkey to the southwest, Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. Georgia covers an area of 69,700 square kilometres (26,900 sq mi).[13] It has a population of 3.7 million,[b][14] of which over a third live in the capital and largest city, Tbilisi. Georgians, who are indigenous to the region, constitute a majority and a titular nation in Georgia.

Georgia has been inhabited since prehistoric times, hosting the world's earliest known sites of winemaking, gold mining, and textiles.[15][16] The classical era saw the emergence of several kingdoms, such as Colchis and Iberia, that formed the nucleus of the modern Georgian state. In the early fourth century, Georgians officially adopted Christianity, which contributed to their gradual unification and ethnogenesis. In the High Middle Ages, the Kingdom of Georgia reached its Golden Age during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar. The kingdom subsequently declined and disintegrated under the hegemony of various regional powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia, before being gradually annexed into the Russian Empire starting in 1801.

After the Russian Revolution in 1917, Georgia briefly emerged as an independent republic under German protectorate,[17] but was invaded and annexed by the Soviet Union in 1922, becoming one of its constituent republics. In the 1980s, an independence movement grew quickly, leading to Georgia's secession from the Soviet Union in April 1991. For much of the subsequent decade, the country endured economic crises, political instability, and secessionist wars in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Following the peaceful Rose Revolution in 2003, Georgia strongly pursued a pro-Western foreign policy, introducing a series of democratic and economic reforms aimed at integration into the European Union and NATO. The country's Western orientation soon led to worsening relations with Russia, which culminated in the Russo-Georgian War of 2008 and continued Russian occupation of parts of Georgia.

Georgia is a representative democracy governed as a unitary parliamentary republic.[18][19] It is a developing country with a very high Human Development Index. Economic reforms since independence have led to higher levels of economic freedom, as well as reductions in corruption indicators, poverty, and unemployment. Georgia is only the second country in the world to legalize cannabis, and the only former socialist state to do so. The country is a member of international organizations, including the Council of Europe, Eurocontrol, BSEC, GUAM, Energy Community. As part of the Association Trio, Georgia is a candidate for EU membership.[20]

  1. ^ "Article 8", Constitution of Georgia. In Abkhazian AR, also Abkhazian.
  2. ^ "Constitution of Georgia" (PDF). Parliament of Georgia. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 December 2017.
  3. ^ "საქართველოს მოსახლეობის საყოველთაო აღწერის საბოლოო შედეგები" (PDF). National Statistics Office of Georgia. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  4. ^ "Demographic Portal". Retrieved 7 May 2022.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference 2014 Census was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, October 2023 Edition. (Georgia)". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 13 October 2023.
  7. ^ "GINI index (World Bank estimate) – Georgia". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Archived from the original on 20 July 2018. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  8. ^ "Human Development Report 2021/2022" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 8 September 2022. Archived (PDF) from the original on 8 September 2022. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference geostat.ge was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Encyclopedic World Atlas, George Philip & Son, Oxford University Press: 2002, p.104
  11. ^ Histories 4.38. C.f. James Rennell, The geographical system of Herodotus examined and explained, Volume 1, Rivington 1830, p. 244
  12. ^ Encyclopedia Britannica", Caucasus, June 2021: "One widely accepted scheme draws the dividing line along the crest of the Greater Caucasus range, putting the portion of the region north of the line in Europe and the portion south of it in Asia. Another puts the western portion of the Caucasus region in Europe and the eastern part (the bulk of Azerbaijan and small portions of Armenia, Georgia, and Russia's Caspian Sea coast) in Asia..."
  13. ^ Nana Bolashvili, Andreas Dittmann, Lorenz King, Vazha Neidze (eds.): ``National Atlas of Georgia``, 138 pages, Steiner Verlag, 2018, ISBN 978-3-515-12057-9
  14. ^ "Population and Demography". National Statistics Office of Georgia, Geostat. Retrieved 29 December 2021.
  15. ^ 'World's oldest wine' found in 8,000-year-old jars in Georgia. BBC News: 13 November 2017
  16. ^ Doce, Elisa Guerra (2004). "The Origins of Inebriation: Archaeological Evidence of the Consumption of Fermented Beverages and Drugs in Prehistoric Eurasia". Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory. 22 (3): 751–782. doi:10.1007/s10816-014-9205-z. S2CID 143750976.
  17. ^ Jones, Stephen (27 October 2020). "The establishment of Soviet power in Transcaucasia: The case of Georgia 1921–1928". Soviet Studies. 40 (4): 627. doi:10.1080/09668138808411783.
  18. ^ "Constitution of Georgia". The Legislative Herald of Georgia. 29 June 2020. Article 1.1, 7.2, 45, 52 and 54. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  19. ^ "Consolidating Parliamentary Democracy in Georgia". UNDP Georgia. Archived from the original on 19 June 2021. Retrieved 25 March 2022.
  20. ^ European Council, 14–15 December 2023


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).


© MMXXIII Rich X Search. We shall prevail. All rights reserved. Rich X Search