An okrug is a type of administrative division in some Slavic -speaking states. The word okrug is a loanword in English, alternatively translated as area , district , county , or region .
95-791: The Sukhumi or Sukhum okrug was a special administrative district ( okrug ) in the Caucasus Viceroyalty of the Russian Empire , part of the Kutaisi Governorate from 1883 until 1905. The administrative center of the district was the Black Sea port city of Sukhum (present-day Sukhumi ). The okrug bordered the Kutaisi Governorate to the southwest, the Kuban Oblast to the north and
190-458: A Crown Chancellor (Mtsihnobart Ukhutsesi) of Georgia. In 1103–1105 the Georgian army took over Hereti and made successful raids into still Seljuq-controlled Shirvan . Between 1110 and 1118 David took Lori, Samshvilde, Rustavi and other fortresses of lower Kartli and Tashiri, thus turning Tbilisi into an isolated Seljuq enclave. In 1118–1119, having considerable amounts of free, unsettled land as
285-518: A Georgian army waited in ambush, he offered tribute to Saltukids , ruler of Erzerum and asked the latter to accept him as a vassal. In 1153–1154, Emir Saltuk II marched on Ani, but Shaddad informed his suzerain, the King of Georgia, of this. Demetrius marched to Ani, defeated and captured the emir. At the request of neighboring Muslim rulers and released him for a ransom of 100,000 dinars , paid by Saltuk's sons in law and Saltuk swore not to fight against
380-490: A claim to the easternmost Georgian kingdom of Kakheti-Hereti and annexed it in or around 1010, after two years of fighting and aggressive diplomacy. Bagrat's reign, a period of uttermost importance in the history of Georgia, brought about the final victory of the Georgian Bagratids in the centuries-long power struggles. Anxious to create more stable and centralized monarchy, Bagrat eliminated or at least diminished
475-640: A precious degree of peace at the price of an annual tribute . The struggle against the Seljuq 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. Soon after coming to power, David created the regular army and peasant militia in order to be able to resist Seljuq colonization of his country. The First Crusade (1096–1099) and
570-695: A restoration under George V the Brilliant it fell again to the Timurid Empire in 1403. By 1490, Georgia was fragmented into several petty kingdoms and principalities, which throughout the Early Modern period struggled to maintain their autonomy against Ottoman and Iranian domination until Georgia was finally annexed by the Russian Empire in the 19th century. After a brief period of independence as Democratic Republic of Georgia ,
665-753: A result of the withdrawal of Turkish nomads, and desperately needing qualified manpower for the army, King David invited some 40,000 Kipchak warriors from North Caucasus to settle in Georgia with their families. In 1120 the ruler of Alania recognized himself as King David's vassal and afterwards sent thousands of Alans to cross the main Caucasus range into Georgia, where they settled in Kartli. The Georgian Royal army also welcomed mercenaries from Germany, Italy, and Scandinavia (all those westerners were defined in Georgia as "the Franks") as well as from Kievan Rus. In 1121,
760-519: A stage of more offensive foreign policy. In the same year of his ascension to the throne, Giorgi launched a successful campaign against the Shah-Armens , raided their lands and turned back with prisoners and booty. In 1161, George III took over Ani and appointed his general Ivane Orbeli as its ruler. A coalition consisting of the ruler of Ahlat, Shah-Armen Sökmen II , the ruler of Diyarbekir , Kotb ad-Din il-Ghazi , Al-Malik of Erzerum, and others
855-460: A vast Greco-Macedonian empire to the south of the Caucasus. Neither Iberia nor Colchis was incorporated into the empire of Alexander or any of the successor Hellenistic states of the Middle East. However, the culture of ancient Greece still had a considerable influence on the region, and Greek was widely spoken in the cities of Colchis. In Iberia Greek influence was less noticeable and Aramaic
950-468: A viceroy ( pitiaxae / bidaxae ) to keep watch on their vassal. They eventually made the office hereditary in the ruling house of Lower Kartli , thus inaugurating the Kartli pitiaxate , which brought an extensive territory under its control . Although it remained a part of the kingdom of Kartli, its viceroys turned their domain into a center of Persian influence. Sasanian rulers put the Christianity of
1045-564: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Okrug Etymologically, okrug literally means ' circuit ', derived from Proto-Slavic * okrǫgъ , in turn from * ob- "around" + * krǫgъ "circle". In meaning, the word is similar to the German term Bezirk or Kreis (' district ') and the French word arrondissement ; all of which refer to something "encircled" or "surrounded". In Bulgaria , okrag s are
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#17327725932021140-562: Is also used to describe a type of a municipal formation , the municipal urban okrug—a municipal urban settlement not incorporated into a municipal district. The Republic of Serbia is divided into twenty-nine okrugs as well as the City of Belgrade . The term okrug in Serbia is often translated as either district or county . History of Georgia (country) The nation of Georgia ( Georgian : საქართველო sakartvelo )
1235-645: The Black Sea Governorate to the northwest and in terms of its area corresponded to most of contemporary Abkhazia . During 1905–1917, the Sukhumi okrug was one of the smallest independent (not part of any province or region) administrative units of the Russian Empire, second to the Zakatal okrug . In the 19th century, the territory of the Sukhumi okrug , some 6,942 square versts (7,900 square kilometres ) containing 79,195 inhabitants, consisted of
1330-677: The Kingdom of Abkhazia and a greater portion of Iberia ; Tao had been lost to the Byzantines while a Muslim emir remained in Tbilisi and the kings of Kakheti-Hereti obstinately defended their autonomy in easternmost Georgia. Furthermore, the loyalty of great nobles to the Georgian crown was far from stable. During Bagrat's minority, the regency had advanced the positions of the high nobility whose influence he subsequently tried to limit when he assumed full ruling powers. Simultaneously,
1425-594: The Patriarch of Jerusalem at that time wrote: There is also in the East another Christian people, who are very warlike and valiant in battle, being strong in body and powerful in the countless numbers of their warriors...Being entirely surrounded by infidel nations...these men are called Georgians, because they especially revere and worship St. George...Whenever they come on pilgrimage to the Lord's Sepulchre , they march into
1520-471: The Principality of Abkhazia (abolished in 1864) and the communities of Tsebelda, Samurzakan, and Pskhu community. In 1864–1866, the military district of Sukhumi was made up of the okrugs of Abkhaz, Bzyb, and Abzhua and pristavstvos of Tsebelda and Samurzakan. In 1883, the district was transformed into an okrug and incorporated into the Kutaisi Governorate. In 1905, the Sukhumi okrug was separated from
1615-671: The Shaddadid emir Fadl ibn Mahmud on terms of vassalage and inviolability of the Christian churches. In 1139, Demetrius raided the city of Ganja in Arran . He brought the iron gate of the defeated city to Georgia and donated it to Gelati Monastery at Kutaisi . Despite this brilliant victory, Demetrius could hold Ganja only for a few years. In reply to this, the sultan of the Eldiguzids attacked Ganja several times, and in 1143
1710-792: The Treaty of Moscow (1920) , the Georgia–Russia border in Abkhazia was "traced along the Psou " rather than the Bzyb (further south) which had been the boundary of the Sukhumi okrug. The 1921 constitution of Georgia guaranteed Abkhazia the autonomy for managing its internal affairs. The constitution was proclaimed after the Red Army invasion of Georgia in February 1921; the nature of the promised autonomy
1805-436: The fortress of Gagi , laid waste as far as the region of Gagi and Gegharkunik , seized prisoners and booty, and then moved to Ani capturing and granting it to Shaddadid emir Shahanshah ibn Mahmud . The Muslim rulers were jubilant, and they prepared for a new campaign. However, this time they were forestalled by George III , who marched into Arran at the beginning of 1166, occupied a region extending to Ganja , devastated
1900-739: The 16th century Turkish and Iranian forces subjugated western and eastern regions of Georgia, respectively. In 1555, the Ottomans and the Safavids signed the Peace of Amasya following the Ottoman–Safavid War (1532–55) , defining spheres of influence in Georgia, assigning Imereti in the west to the Turks and Kartli-Kakheti in the east to the Persians. The treaty, however, was not in force for long as
1995-434: The 1917 publication of Kavkazskiy kalendar , the Sukhumi okrug had a population of 209,671 on 14 January [ O.S. 1 January] 1916, including 127,619 men and 82,052 women, 135,838 of whom were the permanent population, and 73,833 were temporary residents. 43°00′15″N 41°02′34″E / 43.00417°N 41.04278°E / 43.00417; 41.04278 This Georgian history -related article
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#17327725932022090-527: The 1920s, okrugs were administrative districts in Cossack hosts such as the Don Cossacks . Inherited from Imperial Russia, in the 1920s, okrugs were administrative divisions of several other primary divisions such as oblasts , krais , and others. For some time in the 1920s they also served as the primary unit upon the abolishment of guberniyas and were divided into raions . On 30 July 1930 most of
2185-472: The 1st century. The cult of Mithras, distinguished by its syncretic character and thus complementary to local cults, especially the cult of the Sun, gradually came to merge with ancient Georgian beliefs. The eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia became one of the first states in the world to convert to Christianity in 327, when the King of Iberia Mirian III established it as the official state religion . However,
2280-655: The 7th century BC and beyond. Between 2100 and 750 BC, the area survived the invasions by the Hittites , Urartians , Medes , Proto-Persians and Cimmerians . During the same period, the ethnic unity of Proto-Kartvelians broke up into several branches, among them Svans, Zans /Chans, and East-Kartvelians. That finally led to the formation of modern Kartvelian languages : Georgian (originating from East Kartvelian vernaculars), Svan, Megrelian and Laz (the latter two originating from Zan dialects). By that time Svans were dominant in modern Svaneti and Abkhazia , Zans inhabited
2375-543: The Black Sea coast in the 13th century BC under the Kingdom of Colchis in western Georgia. The kingdom of Colchis, which existed from the 6th to the 1st centuries BC is regarded as the first early Georgian state formation and the term Colchians was used as the collective term for early Georgian-Kartvelian tribes such as Mingrelians, Lazs, and Chans who populated the eastern coast of the Black Sea . According to
2470-588: The Caesars" and the king "of the Roman-loving Iberians." Emperor Vespasian fortified the ancient Mtskheta site of Armazi for the Iberian kings in 75 AD. In the 2nd century AD, Iberia strengthened her position in the area, especially during the reign of King Pharsman II who achieved full independence from Rome and reconquered some of the previously lost territories from declining Armenia. In
2565-746: The Crown started losing control over the warlords of Samtskhe (southern provinces of Georgia) who established their own relations with the Mongols and by the year 1266 practically seceded from Georgia. The period between 1259 and 1330 was marked by the struggle of the Georgians against the Mongol Ilkhanate for full independence. The first anti-Mongol uprising started in 1259 under the leadership of King David Narin who in fact waged his war for almost thirty years. The Anti-Mongol strife went on under
2660-718: The Crusaders' offensive against the Seljuq Turks in Anatolia and Syria favored David's successful campaigns in Georgia. By the end of 1099 David had stopped paying tribute to the Seljuqs and had liberated most of the Georgian lands, with the exception of Tbilisi and Hereti . In 1103 he reorganized the Georgian Orthodox Church and closely linked it with the state by appointing as Catholicos (Archbishop)
2755-487: 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 architecture, literature, philosophy and sciences. Jacques de Vitry ,
2850-534: The Georgian crown was confronted with two formidable external foes: the Byzantine Empire and the resurgent Seljuq Turks . The Seljuk threat prompted the Georgian and Byzantine governments to seek a closer cooperation. To secure the alliance, Bagrat's daughter Marta (Maria) married, at some point between 1066 and 1071, the Byzantine co-emperor Michael VII Ducas . The second half of the 11th century
2945-407: The Georgians he returned home. Although his reign saw a disruptive family conflict related to royal succession, Georgia remained a centralized power with a strong military. A talented poet, Demetrius also continued his father's contributions to Georgia's religious polyphony . The most famous of his hymns is Thou Art a Vineyard . Demetrius was succeeded by his son George III in 1156, beginning
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3040-493: The Georgians to a severe test. They promoted the teachings of Zoroaster , and by the middle of the 5th century Zoroastrianism had become a second official religion in eastern Georgia alongside Christianity . During the 4th and most of the 5th centuries, Iberia (known also as the Kingdom of Kartli) was under Persian control. At the end of the 5th century though, Prince Vakhtang I Gorgasali orchestrated an anti-Persian uprising and restored Iberian statehood, proclaiming himself
3135-858: The Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts , who travelled there in search of the Golden Fleece . Starting around 2000 BC, northwestern Colchis was inhabited by the Svan and Zan peoples of the Kartvelian tribes. Another important ethnic element of ancient Colchis were Greeks who between 1000 and 550 BC established many trading colonies in the coastal area, among them Naessus, Pityus , Dioscurias (modern Sukhumi ), Guenos , Phasis (modern Poti), Apsaros , and Rhizos (modern Rize in Turkey). In
3230-655: The Holy City...without paying tribute to anyone, for the Saracens dare in no wise molest them... In 1225 Jalal ad-Din Mingburnu , the ruler of Khwarezmian Empire , attacked Georgia, defeating its forces in the battle of Garni , and conquered Tbilisi ., after which allegedly a hundred thousand citizens were put to death for not renouncing Christianity . In the 1220s, the South Caucasus and Asia Minor faced
3325-723: The Iranian Median Empire . The case is different for the Achaemenid Persians however. According to Herodotus (3.97), Achaemenid power extended as far as the Caucasus mountains, but the Colchians are not included in his list of the twenty Persian satrapies. Nor are they referred to in the lists of Achaemenid lands (dahyāva) given in the Old Persian inscriptions of Darius and his successors. In Xenophon's Anabasis (7.8.25; probably an interpolation)
3420-454: The King. After this, the armies of Vakhtang launched several campaigns against both Persia and the Byzantine Empire, but his struggle for the independence and unity of the Georgian state did not have lasting success. After Vakhtang's death in 502, and the short reign of his son Dachi (502–514), Iberia was reincorporated into Persia and ruled by a marzpan (governor), who in Georgian were called erismtavari . The Iberian nobility were granted
3515-589: The Kings Demeter II (1270–1289) and David VIII (1293–1311). Finally, it was King George the Brilliant (1314–1346) who managed to play on the decline of the Ilkhanate, stopped paying tribute to the Mongols, restored the pre-1220 state borders of Georgia, and returned the Empire of Trebizond into Georgia's sphere of influence. In 1386–1403, the Kingdom of Georgia faced eight Turco-Mongolic invasions under
3610-776: The Kutaisi Governorate to be directly administered by the Viceroy of the Caucasus. In April–May 1918, Georgian forces of the Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic prevented Soviet forces from taking the district. In June 1918, as a result of an agreement between the authorities of the Georgian Democratic Republic and the Abkhaz People's Council, the Georgian army occupied the district as well as
3705-532: The Mongols as well as to let them occupy and de facto rule more than half of the remaining territory. Although Mongol-occupied Tbilisi remained the official capital of the kingdom, the Queen refused to return there and stayed in Kutaisi until her death in 1245. In addition to all the above hardships, even the Kingdom of Western Georgia , the part of the kingdom that remained free of the Mongols, started disintegrating:
3800-465: The Ottomans gained the upper hand and launched campaigns during the next Ottoman-Safavid war threatening to end the Persian domination in the region. The Safavid Persians reestablished their hegemony over all lost regions some two decades later including full hegemony over most of Georgia in the Ottoman–Safavid War (1603–18) . After the Turks failed to gain permanent foothold in the eastern Caucasus,
3895-410: The Persians sought to strengthen their position in the region. During the next 150 years, various eastern Georgian kings and nobles rose into rebellion, while others accepted Persian overlordship for various benefits. In 1616, Abbas I dispatched his troops to Georgia, aiming to suppress the Georgian revolt in Tbilisi . However, his soldiers met heavy resistance from the citizens of Tbilisi. Enraged,
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3990-493: The Rioni river to the Black Sea. In 189 BC, the rapidly growing Kingdom of Armenia took over more than half of Iberia, conquering the southern and southeastern provinces of Gogarene , Taokhia and Heniochia , as well as some other territories. Between 120 and 63 BC, Armenia's ally Mithridate VI Eupator of Pontus conquered all of Colchis and incorporated it into his kingdom, embracing almost all of Asia Minor as well as
4085-413: The Roman province of Lazicum ruled by Roman legati . Struggles between Rome and neighboring Persia marked the following 600 years of Georgian history. While the Georgian kingdom of Colchis was administered as a Roman province, Caucasian Iberia freely accepted the Roman Imperial protection. A stone inscription discovered at Mtskheta speaks of the 1st-century ruler Mihdrat I (AD 58–106) as "the friend of
4180-475: The Seljuq Sultan Mahmud declared Jihad on Georgia and sent a strong army under one of his famous generals Ilghazi to fight the Georgians. Although significantly outnumbered by the Turks, the Georgians managed to defeat the invaders at the Battle of Didgori , and in 1122 they took over Tbilisi, making it Georgia's capital. Three years later the Georgians conquered Shirvan. As a result, the mostly Christian-populated Gishi-Kabala area in western Shirvan (a relic of
4275-420: The Seljuqs. Following the 1073 devastation of Kartli by the Seljuk sultan Alp Arslan, George II successfully repelled an invasion . In 1076, the Seljuk sultan Malik Shah I surged into Georgia and reduced many settlements to ruins. Harassed by the massive Turkic influx, known in Georgian history as the Great Turkish Invasion , from 1079/80 onward, George was pressured into submitting to Malik-Shah to ensure
4370-438: The Shah ordered a punitive massacre, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 130,000 to 200,000 people. Thousands of Georgians from the easternmost province of Kakheti were deported to Persia. During this conflict, Queen Ketevan was sent to negotiate with Abbas, but in an act of revenge for Georgia's stubbornness, the Persian Shah ordered the queen to renounce Christianity, and upon her refusal, had her tortured to death. By
4465-444: The Shirvanshahs to power in Shirvan , installing on the throne Manuchihr II , the husband of his daughter Rusudan . The Shirvanshahs had to provide the Georgian king with troops whenever the latter demanded it. In 1130, Georgia was attacked by the Sultan of Ahlat, Shah-Armen Sökmen II ( c. 1128–1183). This war was started by the passage of Ani into the hands of the Georgians; Demetrius I had to compromise and give up Ani to
4560-618: The Shulaveri-Shomu type have been conducted since the 1960s. Early metallurgy started in Georgia during the 6th millennium BC, associated with the Shulaveri-Shomu culture . From the beginning of the 4th millennium, metals became used to a larger extent in East Georgia and the whole Transcaucasian region. Diauehi , a tribal union of early- Georgians , first appear in written history in the 12th century BC. Archaeological finds and references in ancient sources reveal elements of early political and state formations characterized by advanced metallurgy and goldsmith techniques that date back to
4655-442: The abolished primary unit of the administrative division and implied "districts" or "counties". They existed in the postwar Bulgaria between 1946 and 1987 and corresponded approximately to today's oblasts . As historical administrative subdivisions of Poland , okręgi existed in the later part of the Congress Poland period, from 1842, when the name was applied to the former powiats (the name powiat being transferred to
4750-446: The adjacent Sochi and Tuapse okrugs —the Georgian government aimed to "present the Volunteer Army with a fait accompli ", using historical justifications for incorporating these districts. As result of attempts by Anton Denikin to conquer the district in 1919 during the Sochi conflict , a neutralised bufferzone was imposed north of the district in the Sochinsky okrug , between the Mekhadiri and Psou rivers. According to
4845-421: The adjoining Pontic tribes of the nineteenth satrapy and the Armenians of the thirteenth are mentioned as having paid tribute to Persia, the Colchians and their Caucasian neighbors are not; they had, however, undertaken to send gifts (100 boys and 100 girls) every five years (Herodotus 3.97). At the end of the 4th century BC, southern Iberia witnessed the invading armies of Alexander the Great , who established
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#17327725932024940-453: The autonomy of the dynastic princes. In his eyes, the most possible internal danger came from the Klarjeti line of the Bagrationi. Although seem to have acknowledged Bagrat's authority, they continued to be styled as Kings, and Sovereigns of Klarjeti. To secure the succession to his son, George I , Bagrat lured his cousins, on pretext of a reconciliatory meeting, to the Panaskerti Castle, and threw them in prison in 1010. Bagrat's foreign policy
5035-404: The cities of Marand , Tabriz (1208), Ardabil (1208), Zanjan , Khoy (1210), and Qazvin (1210), placing part of the conquered territory under a Georgian protectorate. This was the maximum territorial 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
5130-402: The country soon ended up being a Soviet Republic until the dissolution of the Soviet Union . The current republic of Georgia has been independent since 1991. The history of Georgia is inextricably linked with the history of the Georgian people . Evidence for the earliest occupation of the territory of present-day Georgia goes back to c. 1.8 million years ago, as evident from
5225-501: The date varies based on numerous accounts and historical documents, which indicate Iberia adopting Christianity as a state religion in 317, 319, 324, 330 etc. According to The Georgian Chronicles , St. Nino of Cappadocia converted Georgia to Christianity in 330 during the time of Constantine the Great . By the middle of the 4th century though, both Lazica (formerly the Kingdom of Colchis) and Iberia adopted Christianity as their official religion. This adoption of Christianity tied
5320-429: The early 3rd century, Rome had to give up Albania and most of Armenia to Sassanid Persia . The province of Lazicum was given a degree of autonomy that by the end of the century developed into full independence with the formation of a new Kingdom of Lazica-Egrisi on the territories of smaller principalities of the Zans, Svans, Apsyls, and Sanyghs. This new Western Georgian state survived more than 250 years until 562 when it
5415-478: The eastern and northern Black Sea coastal areas. This close association with Armenia brought upon the country an invasion (65 BC) by the Roman general Pompey , who was then at war with Mithradates VI of Pontus , and Armenia. Still, Rome did not establish permanent power over Iberia. Twenty-nine years later (36 BC), the Romans again marched on Iberia forcing King Pharnavaz II to join their campaign against Caucasian Albania . The former Kingdom of Colchis became
5510-508: 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. According to the Georgian tradition, 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 survived successive invasions by
5605-585: The excavations of Dmanisi in the southeastern part of the country. This is the oldest evidence of humans anywhere in the world outside Africa. Later prehistoric remains ( Acheulian , Mousterian , and the Upper Palaeolithic ) are known from numerous cave and open-air sites in Georgia. The earliest agricultural Neolithic occupation dates between 6000 and 5000 BC. known as the Shulaveri-Shomu culture , where people used local obsidian for tools, raised animals such as cattle and pigs, and grew crops, including grapes. Numerous excavations in tell settlements of
5700-502: The federal subjects they had been merged into: Okrug is also used to describe the administrative divisions of the two " federal cities " in Russia: In the federal city of Sevastopol , municipal okrugs are a type of municipal formation. In Tver Oblast , the term okrug also denotes a type of an administrative division which is equal in status to that of the districts. Furthermore, the designation okrug denotes several selsoviet -level administrative divisions: In some cities,
5795-500: The former obwody ). See: subdivisions of Congress Poland . Okręgi were also created temporarily from 1945 to 1946, in the areas annexed to Poland from Germany as a result of the Soviet military advance. An okręg was then subdivided into obwody . These okręgi were later replaced by voivodeships , and the obwody by powiat s. Okrugs were one of the several types of administrative division for oblasts and selected governorates in Imperial Russia . Until
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#17327725932025890-442: The former Byzantine Lazona and Paryadria with the cities of Atina, Riza , Trebizond , Kerasunt , Amysos , Cotyora , Heraclea and Sinopa . In 1205, the occupied territory was transformed into the Empire of Trebizond , which was dependent on Georgia. Tamar's relative Prince Alexios Komnenos was crowned as its Emperor. In the immediate years after, Georgian armies invaded northern Persia (modern day Iranian Azerbaijan ) and took
5985-455: The invasion of the Mongols . In spite of fierce resistance by Georgian-Armenian forces and their allies, the whole area including most of Georgia, all Armenian lands and Central Anatolia eventually fell to the Mongols in 1236. In 1243, Queen Rusudan of Georgia signed a peace treaty with the Mongols in accordance with which Georgia lost her client-states, ceded western Shirvan, Nakhichevan and some other territories and agreed to pay tribute to
6080-417: The king's half-brother Vakhtang . The King arrested the conspirators and executed one of their leaders, Ioanne Abuletisdze , in 1138 (or 1145). Fadl's successor, Fakr al-Din Shaddad , a Shaddadid emir of Ani asked for Saltuk 's daughter's hand, however Saltuk refused him. This caused a deep hatred in Shaddad towards Saltuk. In 1154 he planned a plot and formed a secret alliance with the Demetrius I. While
6175-530: The kingdom to the Byzantine Empire , which exerted strong cultural influence over it. However, after the emperor Julian was slain during his failed campaign in Persia in 363, Rome ceded control of Iberia to Persia, and King Varaz-Bakur I (Asphagur) (363–365) became a Persian vassal, an outcome confirmed by the Peace of Acilisene in 387. However, a later ruler of Kartli, Pharsman IV (406-409), preserved his country's autonomy and ceased to pay tribute to Persia. Persia prevailed, and Sassanian kings began to appoint
6270-444: The land and turn back with prisoners and booty. The Shaddadids ruled Ani for about 10 years as vassals of Eldgiz, but in 1174 George III took the Shahanshah as a prisoner and occupied Ani once again, appointing Ivane Orbeli as governor. After that, Eldiguz together with other Muslim rulers invaded Georgia twice, the first invasion was successfully repelled by the Georgians, but during the second invasion Georgians lost Ani and in 1175 it
6365-423: The leadership of Tamerlane . Except in Abkhazia and Svaneti , the invasions devastated Georgia's economy, population, and urban centers. By the middle of the 15th century, most of Georgia's old neighbor-states disappeared from the map within less than a hundred years. The fall of Constantinople to the Ottoman Turks in 1453 sealed the Black Sea and cut the remnants of Christian states of the area from Europe and
6460-462: The modern Georgian province of Samegrelo, while East-Kartvelians formed the majority in modern eastern Georgia. As a result of cultural and geographic delimitation, two core areas of future Georgian culture and statehood formed in western and eastern Georgia by the end of the 8th century BC. The first two Georgian states emerged in the west known as the Kingdom of Colchis and in the east the Kingdom of Iberia . A second Georgian tribal union emerged on
6555-444: The neighbouring lands to the emperor on his death. All the efforts by David's stepson and George's father, Bagrat III , to prevent these territories from being annexed to the empire went in vain. Young and ambitious, George launched a campaign to restore the Kuropalates’ succession to Georgia and occupied Tao in 1015–1016. Byzantines were at that time involved in a relentless war with the Bulgarian Empire , limiting their actions to
6650-408: The next three years in the imperial capital of Constantinople and was released in 1025. After George I's death in 1027, Bagrat, aged eight, succeeded to the throne. By the time Bagrat IV became king, the Bagratids ’ drive to complete the unification of all Georgian lands had gained irreversible momentum. The kings of Georgia sat at Kutaisi in western Georgia from which they ran all of what had been
6745-409: The okrugs were abolished. The remaining okrugs were phased out in the Russian SFSR during 1930–1946, although they were retained in Zakarpattia Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR in a status equivalent to that of a raion. National okrugs were first created in the Mountain ASSR of the Russian SFSR in 1921 as units of the Soviet autonomy and additional national okrugs were created in the Russian SFSR for
6840-484: The once prosperous Albanian Kingdom) was annexed by Georgia while the rest of already Islamicized Shirvan became Georgia's client-state. In the same year a large 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 the lands of the Georgian Crown. In 1125 King David died, leaving Georgia with
6935-469: The peoples of the north and Caucasus region. In 1977, all national okrugs were renamed autonomous okrugs. In the present-day Russian Federation , the term okrug is either translated as district or rendered directly as okrug , and is used to describe the following types of divisions: After the series of mergers in 2005–2008, several autonomous okrugs of Russia lost their federal subject status and are now considered to be administrative territories within
7030-467: The privilege of electing the governors. Georgian nobles urged the Byzantine emperor Maurice to revive the kingdom of Iberia in 582, but in 591 Byzantium and Persia decisively agreed to divide Iberia between them, with Tbilisi to be in Persian hands and Mtskheta to be under Byzantine control. However, by the late 7th century, the Byzantine-Persian rivalry had given way to Arab conquest of
7125-647: The region . In the struggle against the Arab occupation , the Bagrationi dynasty came to rule over Tao-Klarjeti and established Kouropalatate of Iberia as a nominal dependency under the Byzantine Empire . The restoration of the Georgian kingship begins in AD 888, when Adarnase IV took the title of " King of Iberians ". However, the Bagrationi dynasty failed to maintain the integrity of their kingdom which
7220-646: The rest of the Christian world. Georgia remained connected to the West through contact with the Genoese colonies of the Crimea . As a result of these changes, the Georgian Kingdom suffered economic and political decline and in the 1460s the kingdom fractured into several kingdoms and principalities: Neighboring large empires subsequently exploited the internal division of the weakened country, and beginning in
7315-573: The same wave of the Turkish movement which inflicted a crushing defeat on the Byzantine army at Manzikert in 1071. Although the Georgians were able to recover from Alp Arslan's invasion by securing the Tao ( Theme of Iberia ), a frontier region which had been a bone of contention between Georgia and the Byzantine Empire , the Byzantine withdrawal from Anatolia brought them in more direct contact with
7410-538: The scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff : Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer, Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom....It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation. The ancient Greeks knew of Colchis, and it featured in
7505-473: The status of a strong regional power. In Georgia, King David is called Agmashenebeli (English: the builder). David Agmashenebeli's successors (Kings Demeter I, David V and George III) continued the policy of Georgia's expansion by subordinating most of the mountain clans and tribes of North Caucasia and further securing Georgian positions in Shirvan. However, the most glorious sovereign of Georgia of that period
7600-531: The term okrug is used to refer to the administrative divisions of those cities. Administrative okrugs are such divisions in the cities of Murmansk , Omsk , and Tyumen ; city okrugs are used in Krasnodar ; municipal okrugs are the divisions of Nazran ; okrugs exist in Belgorod , Kaluga , Kursk , and Novorossiysk ; and territorial okrugs are the divisions of Arkhangelsk and Lipetsk . The term okrug
7695-399: The town again fell to the sultan. According to Mkhitar Gosh , Demetrius ultimately gained possession of Ganja, but, when he gave his daughter in marriage to the sultan, he presented the latter with the town as dowry, and the sultan appointed his own emir to rule it. Thus, Ganja once again fell into the hands of the Eldiguzids . In 1130, Demetrius revealed a plot of nobles, probably involving
7790-820: The tribes of Colchis and East Pontus are referred to as independent (autónomoi). On the other hand, Herodotus mentioned both the Colchians and various Pontic tribes in his catalogue (7.78–79) of approximately fifty-seven peoples who participated in Xerxes' expedition against Greece in 481–80 BC. As the Encyclopaedia Iranica states, it is thus probable that the Achaemenids never succeeded in asserting effective rule over Colchis, though local tribal leaders seem to have acknowledged some kind of Persian suzerainty. The Encyclopædia Iranica further states, whereas
7885-445: The west. But as soon as Bulgaria was conquered , Basil II led his army against Georgia (1021). An exhausting war lasted for two years, and ended in a decisive Byzantine victory , forcing George to agree to a peace treaty, in which he had not only to abandon his claims to Tao, but to surrender several of his southwestern possessions to Basil, and to give his three-year-old son, Bagrat IV , as hostage. The young child Bagrat IV spent
7980-597: Was first unified as a kingdom under the Bagrationi dynasty by the King Bagrat III of Georgia in the early 11th century, arising from several successor states of the ancient kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia . The Kingdom of Georgia flourished during the 11th and 12th centuries under rulers such as King David IV the Builder and Queen Tamar the Great . The kingdom fell to the Mongol invasion by 1243, and after
8075-480: Was Queen Tamar (David's great-granddaughter). The kingdom continued to flourish under Demetrius I , the son of David. As soon as he ascended to the throne, the neighboring Muslim rulers began attacking Georgia from all sides. The Seljuqid sultans fought to restore the rule of the Shirvanshahs . Shirvan's large Muslim population rose against Georgia. This probably happened in 1129 or 1130, when Demetrius restored
8170-671: Was absorbed by the Byzantine Empire . In the 3rd century AD , the Lazi tribe came to dominate most of Colchis, establishing the kingdom of Lazica , locally known as Egrisi. Colchis was a scene of the protracted rivalry between the Eastern Roman / Byzantine and Sassanid empires, culminating in the Lazic War from 542 to 562. Before Christianization , the cult of Mithras and Zoroastrianism were commonly practiced in Iberia from
8265-620: Was actually divided between the three branches of the family with the main branch retaining Tao and another controlling Klarjeti . At the end of the 10th century Curopalate David of Tao invaded the Earldom of Iberia (Kartli) and gave it to his foster-son Bagrat III and installed Gurgen as his regent , who was later crowned as "King of Kings of the Iberians" on the death of Bagrat the Simple (994). Through his fortunate bloodlines Bagrat
8360-561: Was destined to sit upon two thrones. Furthermore, through his mother Gurandukht, sister of the childless Abkhazian king Theodosius III , Bagrat was a potential heir to the realm of Abkhazia. Three years later, after the death of Theodosius III, Bagrat III inherited the Abkhazian throne . In 1008, Gurgen died, and Bagrat succeeded him as "King of the Iberians", becoming thus the first King of a unified realm of Abkhazia and Iberia . After he had secured his patrimony, Bagrat proceeded to press
8455-468: Was formed as soon as the Georgians seized the town, but the latter defeated the allies. 1162 In the summer, the Georgian army, whose number reached 30,000, took Dvin . In response to this, Eldiguz Soon he proceeded northward to recover the city of Dvin . A coalition of Muslim rulers – Shah-Armen Seyfettin Beytemür, Ahmadili Arslan-Aba, Arzen emir Fakhr ul-Din and Saltuk II , led by Eldiguz took
8550-587: Was generally peaceful and the king successfully maneuvered to avoid the conflicts with both the Byzantine and Muslim neighbors even though David's domains of Tao remained in the Byzantine and Tbilisi in the Arab hands. The major political and military event during George I ’s reign, a war against the Byzantine Empire , had its roots back to the 990s, when the Georgian prince Curopalate David of Tao , following his abortive rebellion against Emperor Basil II , had to agree to cede his extensive possessions in Tao and
8645-463: Was marked by the strategically significant invasion of the Seljuq Turks , who by the end of the 1040s had succeeded in building a vast empire including most of Central Asia and Persia . The Seljuqs made their first appearances in Georgia in the 1060s, when the sultan Alp Arslan laid waste to the south-western provinces of the Georgian kingdom and reduced Kakheti . These intruders were part of
8740-546: Was never determined. The subcounties ( uchastoks ) of the Sukhumi okrug in 1912 were as follows: According to the Russian Empire Census , the Sukhumi okrug had a population of 106,179 on 28 January [ O.S. 15 January] 1897, including 59,836 men and 46,343 women. The majority of the population indicated Abkhazian to be their mother tongue, with significant Mingrelian , Armenian , Greek , and Russian speaking minorities. According to
8835-423: Was not included in the lands of the Georgian Crown, and was left under the nominal rule of local Turkish Emirs and Sultans, Southern Armenia became a protectorate of the Kingdom of Georgia. The temporary fall of the Byzantine Empire in 1204 to the Crusaders left Georgia and Bulgarian Empire as the strongest Christian states in the whole East Mediterranean area. The same year Queen Tamar sent her troops to take over
8930-462: Was recaptured by Shaddadids . The reign of Queen Tamar represented the peak of Georgia's might in the whole history of the nation. In 1194–1204, Tamar's armies crushed new Turkish invasions from the south-east and south and launched several successful campaigns into Turkish-controlled Southern Armenia. As a result, most of Southern Armenia, including the cities of Karin , Erzinjan , Khelat , Muş and Van , came under Georgian control. Although it
9025-458: Was widely spoken. Between the early 2nd century BC and the late 2nd century AD both Colchis and Iberia, together with the neighboring countries, became an arena of long and devastating conflicts between major and local powers such as Rome , Armenia and the short-lived Kingdom of Pontus . Pompey's campaign in 66–65 BC annexed Armenia and then he headed north along the Kura river and then west down
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