Map of modern Georgia with Abkhazia in green and South Ossetia in purple.
The name of Georgia is an exonym. In the Georgian language, the country is known as Sakartvelo, which means 'land of Kartvelians' derived from the Kartli region in central Georgia. The origin of the name Georgia is not certain but might come from Greek γεωργος, meaning farmer or 'land tiller'. It could also stem from Persian 'jurjan' or from sources claiming a cult for Saint George the dragon slayer.
History
Georgia's history goes back millennia, and its recent history is very complex due to the many ethnicities living in the Caucasus area.
Kingdom of Georgia in the 14th century
Emergence of the Kingdom of Georgia
The Kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia (not to be confused with the Iberian peninsula on which Portugal and Spain are located) were known in antiquity and adopted Christianity in the 4th century AD. In 1008 the Kingdom of Georgia was founded by King Bagrat III of the Bagrationi dynasty, which would rule Georgia until the early 19th century. Before 1008 Bagrat was King of Abkhazia, and it is disputed even today whether he was ethnically Abkhaz or Georgian. The Kingdom reached its zenith in the 12th and 13th century, but fell apart in 1466 after continuous raids by Turcoman and Persian forces. The Kingdom of Imereti became an Ottoman vassal, and the kingdoms of Kartli and Kakheti Persian vassals. In 1762 the latter two were united by King Erekle II. Officially named Kartli-Kakheti, it is seen as a precursor to the modern state of Georgia.
Georgia in the 18th century. Kartli-Kakheti in yellow, the smaller Georgian kingdoms in green and Abkhazia in purple. Ajaria (Batumi region) was still Ottoman. Currently Ajaria is an autonomous region within Georgia.
In 1783, Erekle II signed the Treaty of Georgievsk establishing his kingdom as a protectorate of the Russian Empire, denouncing all claims by Persia. In 1790 he united Mingrelia, Guria, Imereti, the Principality of Abkhazia and Kartli-Kakheti into an alliance that comprised most of modern-day Georgian territory. The Russian alliance did not result in actual protection. In 1785 and 1795 Persian forces sacked Tblisi without much action by Russian troops to prevent it. Erekle's death in 1798 was followed by full annexation of Georgia in 1801.
Governorate in the Russian Empire (1801-1918)
Georgia was a governorate in the Russian Empire from 1801 to 1918. During this time Georgia was spared from any Ottoman or Persian invasions and slowly saw modernisation of its cities and economy. Further wars with the Ottoman Empire triggered large population transfers of Muslims from the Caucasus and Christians from Anatolia. In Abkhazia, this caused a lot of Muslim Abkhaz to leave with Georgians and Russians moving in.
WW1, Georgian independence and incorporation into the Soviet Union
With the Russian front collapsing after the 1917 Revolution Georgia proclaimed independence in 1918. The Democratic Republic of Georgia allied itself briefly with Germany in order to prevent an invasion by the Ottoman Empire. With the Red Army victorious in the Russian Civil War, Soviet Russia annexed Georgia in 1921, and organised it into the Transcaucasian SSR together with Armenia and Azerbaijan. In 1936 these territories became separate SSR's. The Abkhaz SSR became an ASSR within Georgia in 1931.
Soviet Caucasus in 1922. Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan were organised in the Transcaucasian SSR, with Abkhazia a separate SSR and the Mountain Republic and Dagestan as ASSR's within the Russian SFSR.
Georgian SSR (1936-1991)
The Georgian SSR was the home of both Laurentiy Beria (head of the Soviet secret service NKVD) and Ioseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili, better known as Joseph Stalin. With two Georgians at the height of power in the USSR, non-Georgian minorities such as Abkhaz and Ossetians felt threatened by the fact that Georgian was the only official language in the SSR. When Khrushchev denounced Stalin's legacy in 1956, protests broke out in Georgia which were crushed by the Soviet police, fueling more Georgian nationalism and distrust with non-Georgians. In Abkhazia, which had been target of pro-Georgian policies during Beria's rule, Moscow arranged that the Abkhaz language, spoken by less than 20% of the population, became official in the Abkhaz ASSR. In 1978 new protests erupted when the Soviet authorities wished to end the monopoly status of the Georgian language within its SSR, and the opposition was successful in keeping the status quo. Subsequently, the Abkhaz authorities, dominated by Abkhaz nationals, tried to transfer Abkhazia to the Russian RSFSR but Moscow refused. The Georgian majority in Abkhazia felt less and less represented and started to organise themselves on their own. The post-Stalin situation strained Russo-Georgian relations from which we can witness the consequences even today.
End of the SSR and renewed independence
With nationalist factions gaining popular support in the Soviet Union during the 1980's, the situation in Georgia became more polarised. In 1989 the Abkhazian situation turned violent. With Georgian independence in 1991, Abkhazia did not recognise Georgian rule even though Georgians were the largest ethnic group in the region. This situation culminated the Abkhazian War where Georgians and other non-Abkhaz were forced to leave Abkhazia violently displacing more than 300,000 people in 1993, with tens of thousands losing their lives. The sudden military might that the Abkhazian leaders were able to deploy was allegedly organised by Moscow with the goal of detaching Abkhazia from an independent Georgia. The Russian story is that they only intervened to prevent further ethnic bloodshed, just like they did in South Ossetia as well.
Sheverdnadze's presidency (1993-2003)
The Abkhazian War destabilised Georgia as many refugees had to be resettled. Meanwhile, a civil war broke out which removed president Gamsakhurdia, a Georgian nationalist dissident during Soviet rule whose policies alienated minorities. Eduard Sheverdnadze, former leader of the Georgian SSR and Foreign Secretary of the USSR, returned to take over and reform the country but failed to fight corruption and develop the economy. His rule was unpopular leading to the Rose Revolution of 2003 where Mikhail Saakashvili became president.
Georgia after 2003
Saakashvili's rise to power was associated with the Western support he received. He actively pursued NATO membership and wished to reassert control over Abkhazia en South Ossetia. Georgia became a focus in a geopolitical standoff between the United States and Russia, also because of the Azeri-Georgian oil pipeline that allowed Azeri oil to bypass Russia on its way to the West. In Russian politics all these developments were seen as provocations against the power that had once saved fellow Christian Georgia from Ottoman and Persian invasions.
Provocations from both sides continued in what resulted in the Russo-Georgian War of 2008, during which Russia increased its control over the region. Abkhazia and North Ossetia declared independence but this has only been recognised by a few countries.
Saakashvili lost the 2011 elections and saw his popularity wane over allegations of power abuse. In a remarkable twist, he became governor of the Odessa region in Ukraine in 2015. Georgia itself is still stuck in hampered economic growth and unresolved territorial disputes in an unstable region, and the tragedy of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people as a result of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian conflicts for which they hold Moscow responsible. It has good ties with neighbouring Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan, but relations with Russia remain difficult.
Currency
18th century Abazi
The Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti used the Abazi, based on the Persian silver coin named Abbasi worth 200 Dinars. One Abazi was worth 10 Bisti each of 4 Puli. After the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801 the Abazi continued to circulate until the 1860's, but it was gradually replaced by the Ruble at a rate of 5 Abazi.
Post-WW1
In 1918 Armenia, Azerbaijan and Georgia united into the short-lived Transcaucasiam Democratic Republic and used its own Transcaucasian Ruble which replaced the Russian one. The union lasted only a few months after which Georgia introduced its own Ruble. After Soviet annexation in 1921 the Transcaucasian Ruble was reintroduced and suffered from hyperinflation. It was replaced by the Soviet Ruble in 1924 at a rate of 12.5 billion Transcaucasian Rubles for a new Soviet Ruble. All Georgian currencies of this era only existed in the form of banknotes.
10 million Transcaucasian Rubles dated 1924. Legends in Russian, Georgian, Armenian and Azeri, with the latter in Arab script.
Lari (1993-)
In 1993 the Ruble zone came to an end with forced Georgia to issue its own currency. Initially the Kupon Lari replaced the Ruble at par. The currency suffered from hyperinflation and was replaced by the Lari, worth 100 Tetri, in 1995 at a rate of 1 million Kupon Lari. The Georgian Lari was initially worth 1.3 to the US Dollar but dropped to 2/$ in 1999. It remained very stable until 2014 but more recently dropped to 2.34/$.
https://en.numista.com/catalogue/georgie-1.html
