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The language known today as [[Georgian language|Georgian]] is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD - today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages - [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]] and [[Svan language|Svan]]- are languages of the west which were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian [[Colchis|Kingdom of Colchis]] but later lost importance as the unified [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian Kingdom]] emerged. Their decline is largely due to the fact that the capital of the unified kingdom, [[Tbilisi]], is in the eastern part of the country - known as [[Caucasian Iberia|Iberia]]- effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch. |
The language known today as [[Georgian language|Georgian]] is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD - today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages - [[Mingrelian language|Mingrelian]] and [[Svan language|Svan]]- are languages of the west which were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian [[Colchis|Kingdom of Colchis]] but later lost importance as the unified [[Kingdom of Georgia|Georgian Kingdom]] emerged. Their decline is largely due to the fact that the capital of the unified kingdom, [[Tbilisi]], is in the eastern part of the country - known as [[Caucasian Iberia|Iberia]]- effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch. |
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All of these languages comprise the [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian language family]] along with the related language of the [[Laz people]] most of whom no longer identify themselves as Georgian (with the exception of those residing in Georgia). |
All of these languages comprise the [[Kartvelian languages|Kartvelian language family]] along with the related language of the Turkified [[Laz people]] most of whom no longer identify themselves as Georgian (with the exception of those residing in Georgia). |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
Revision as of 06:06, 14 March 2011
The Georgians (Georgian: ქართველები, kartvelebi) are an ethnic group that originates in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America.
The majority of Georgians are Orthodox Christian and largely adhere to the national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church, which originated in the 4th century. There are also Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara.
Descending from some of the earliest settlers in the south of Caucasus, the Georgian people went through a complex process of ethnic consolidation and nation-making. It currently comprises a diverse set of local sub-ethnic communities, each with its characteristic traditions, manners and dialect or—in the case of Mingrelians and Svans—language. The Georgian language, with its own alphabet and long written tradition going back to the 5th century, is the language of literacy and education of all Georgians living in Georgia as well as the official language of the country. Georgian, Mingrelian and Svan, together with Laz spoken by the related Laz people form the Kartvelian language family.
Strategically located on the crossroads between Europe and Asia, the Georgian people have fought to protect their Christian identity in the face of immense cultural pressure from the neighboring Muslim empires. By the early 11th century they formed a unified kingdom which emerged as a dominant regional power until it was weakened by internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. To ensure its survival as a Christian kingdom Georgia was soon forced to forge an alliance with the Russian Empire which was viewed as a replacement for the fallen Eastern Roman Empire, Georgia's traditional ally. Eventually being annexed by Russia in 1801, Georgians briefly regained national independence from 1918 to 1921, and finally, in 1991 from the Soviet Union.
Etymology
Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their land Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language Kartuli (ქართული). According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great grandson of the Biblical Japheth. Ancient Greeks (Strabo, Herodotus, Plutarch, Homer, etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to early eastern Georgians as Iberians (Iberoi in some Greek sources) and Mingrelians-Lazes as Colchians.[5]
Origins
Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period.[6] Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.[7] Even the Bible makes mention of Tubal-cain, who is associated with proto-Georgian tribes. Some European historians of the 19th century (for example, Wilhelm von Humboldt and Paul Kretschmer) as well as Georgian scholars (R. Gordeziani, S. Kaukhchishvili and Z. Gamsakhurdia) came to the conclusion that Proto-Kartvelians might be related linguistically and culturally to the indigenous (pre-Indo-European) peoples of ancient Europe including the Etruscans, Pelasgians and Proto-Basques.
The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians.[8][9] East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (Moschians, Suanians, Mingrelians and others) established the first Georgian state of Colchis before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east.[10] According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation.[11]
Proto-Georgian tribes:
- The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal).[12]
- Daiaeni in Assyrian sources and Taokhoi in Greek, lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that once was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of Georgians. The Georgians of today still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti. Some people there still speak Georgian.[13]
- Colchians in the ancient western Georgian (Mingrelian-Laz) Kingdom of Colchis. First mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II. Also included western proto-Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.[10][14] However, in the case of many tribes, this is often disputed among scholars, as many claim that many Colchian tribes were ancestors of the modern Abkhaz and Abaza, especially the Abasgoi, and assert that Colchis was an ethnically heterogeneous nation.
Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.[15][16]
According to 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.[17]
Appearance
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Old_peasant_with_dagger_and_long_smoking_pipe%2C_Mestia%2C_Svanetia%2C_Georgia_%28Republic%29.jpg/180px-Old_peasant_with_dagger_and_long_smoking_pipe%2C_Mestia%2C_Svanetia%2C_Georgia_%28Republic%29.jpg)
Georgians are classified as Caucasoids (Europoid or Europid),[18] and are often slender with brown hair and brown eyes.[19] Georgians who have historically lived in alpine areas of less sunny western Georgia - especially Mingrelians and Svans- tend to have lighter features, with higher frequency of blond hair and light blue or green eyes.
Studies of human genetics suggest that Georgian Y-DNA typically belongs to Haplogroup J2, also found in Greece and Italy, as well as Haplogroup G[20]
Short history
Ancient Georgia
A second Georgian tribal union emerged in the 13th century BC on the Black Sea coast, creating the Kingdom of Colchis in the western Georgia.[21] The ancient Greeks knew western Georgia as Colchis, and it featured in the Greek legend of Jason and the Argonauts, who travelled there in search of the Golden Fleece. Since 2000 BC, north-western Colchis was inhabited by the Svan and Zan peoples of the Georgian tribes. In 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 in Iberia. According to The Georgian Chronicles, 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 were successfully surviving in fight against Median and later Persian Empire. At the end of the 3rd century BC, southern Iberia saw the armies of Alexander the Great who established a vast Greco-Macedonian empire to the south of the Caucasus.
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c9/SaintNino.gif/100px-SaintNino.gif)
Between the early 2nd century BC and the late 2nd century AD, both Colchis and Iberia, together with the neighbor countries, became an arena of long and devastating conflicts between major local powers Rome, Armenia, and the short-lived Kingdom of Pontus. As a result of the brilliant Roman campaigns of Pompey and Lucullus, the Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia came under direct Roman rule. However, during the reign of the Emperor Trajan, Caucasian Iberia became a long lasting ally of the Roman Empire. The former Kingdom of Colchis was re-organized by the Romans into the province of Lazicum ruled by Roman legati.
Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia became one of the first states in the world to convert to Christianity in 327 AD, when King of Iberia Mirian II established it as the official state religion. In the middle of the 4th century, both Lazica (former Kingdom of Colchis), and Iberia, adopted Christianity as their official religion. At the end of the 5th century, Prince Vakhtang I Gorgasali orchestrated an anti-Persian uprising and restored Iberian statehood proclaiming himself the King. The armies of Vakhtang launched several campaigns against both Persia and the Byzantine Empire.
Medieval Georgia
The first decades of the 9th century saw the rise of a new Georgian state. Ashot Courapalate, of the royal family of Bagrationi, restored the Christian rule over the territories formerly captured by Arabs during their conquest of southernmost extremities of Europe. This set the stage for the formation of the first united Georgian monarchy at the end of the 10th century when Curopalate David invaded the Eastern Georgia. Three years later, after the death of his uncle Theodosius the Blind, King of Egrisi-Abkhazia, David's heir Bagrat III inherited the Abkhazian throne. In 1001, Bagrat also incorporated Tao-Klarjeti (Curopalatinate of Iberia) into his domain as a result of David’s death. In 1008-1010, [[Bagrat III of Georgia|Bagrat} annexed the easternmost parts of the present-day Georgia, thus becoming the first King of the united Georgia both eastern and western.
The struggle against the Seljuk 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 of Georgia. In 1121, Seljuk Sultan Mahmud declared Jihad on Georgia and sent a strong army under one of his famous generals Al-Ghazee to fight the Georgians. Although significantly outnumbered by the Turks, Georgians managed to defeat the invaders at the battle of Didgori and in 1122 took over Tbilisi to make it Georgia’s capital. As a result, mostly Christian-populated Ghishi-Kabala area in western Shirvan (relic of once prosperous Albanian Kingdom) was annexed by Georgia while the rest of already Islamized Shirvan became Georgia’s client-state. That same year a big 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 Georgian Crown lands. In King David died leaving Georgia with the status of a strong regional power. In Georgia, King David is called "the builder."
However, the most glorious sovereign of Georgia of that period was definitely Queen Tamar (David’s great-granddaughter). The reign of Queen Tamar was the peak of Georgia’s might in the whole history of the nation.
The Empire of Trebizond was heavily dependent of Georgia for more than two hundred years. In 1210, Georgian armies invaded northern Persia (modern day Iranian Azerbaijan) putting part of the conquered territory under Georgian protectorate. That was the maximal extent of Georgia throughout her history. 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 the architecture, literature, philosophy and sciences. The Golden age of Georgia left a magnificent legacy of great cathedrals, brilliant romantic poetry and literature, and the epic poem "The Knight in the Panther's Skin"—revered by all Georgians since its creation for its artistic and philosophical virtue, the glorification of the Christian Orthodox values as well as chivalry, honor, compassion and romantic love. This Golden Age was interrupted at its peak by the Mongol Invasion in the 13th century AD. After that time, the Georgian feudal state entered an era of decline until reaching a new height under George V the Brilliant.
Modern history
In the 19th century, Georgia, on the verge of annihilation by its powerful southern rivals, was annexed by the Russian Empire. A few decades later, Georgian society produced a modernist nationalistic elite under the guidance of Ilia Chavchavadze, which united Georgian society around the dream of the restoration of their once glorious state. In 1918, this dream was fulfilled and the First Republic was established. This democratic experiment was short-lived, as in 1921 a Bolshevik government was installed with the support of the invading Red Army. The first years of independence after the dissolution of the USSR were characterized by political instability and civil conflicts. The first wave of reforms initiated in 1995 was only partially successful. Political corruption resulted in economic decline and institutional inefficiency, which led to grave political crisis. In November 2003, the "Rose Revolution"—a mass non-violent public disobedience campaign—forced the government, which had tried to falsify elections, to resign. A new wave of systemic reforms started after the election of the new Government.
Geographic subdivisions
![](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/25/Qartvelebi_poloneti.jpg/260px-Qartvelebi_poloneti.jpg)
The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited:
- The Megrelians (მეგრელი)
- The Svans (სვანი)
- The Imeretians (იმერელი)
- The Gurians (გურული)
- The Ajarians (აჭარელი)
- The Meskhetians (მესხი)
- The Lechkhumeli (ლეჩხუმელი)
- The Rachveli (რაჭველი)
- The Kartlians (ქართლელი)
- The Kakhetians (კახელი)
- The Khevsurians (ხევსური)
- The Tushi (თუში)
- The Pshaveli (ფშაველი)
- The Mokhevians (მოხევე)
- The Ingilo (ინგილო)
Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region. For example, if a Gurian moves to Tbilisi (part of the Kartli region) he will not automatically identify himself as Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. This may, however, change if a substantial amount of time passes. For example, there are some Mingrelians who have lived in the Imereti region for centuries and are now identified as Imeretian or Imeretian-Mingrelians.
Linguistic subdivisions
The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD - today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages - Mingrelian and Svan- are languages of the west which were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis but later lost importance as the unified Georgian Kingdom emerged. Their decline is largely due to the fact that the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, is in the eastern part of the country - known as Iberia- effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.
All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Turkified Laz people most of whom no longer identify themselves as Georgian (with the exception of those residing in Georgia).
Notes
- ^ CIA World Factbook
- ^ The Independent
- ^ 2001 Greek census
- ^ CIA - The World Factbook -- Georgia -- People -- Religions -- 2002 Census
- ^ Braund, David. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, pp. 17-18
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 19
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 66
- ^ Georgia A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus, Roger Rosen, p 18
- ^ The Making of the Georgian Nation, Ronald Grigor Suny, p.4
- ^ a b c Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 80
- ^ Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 58
- ^ The Complete Works, Jewish Antiquities, Josephus, Book 1, p 57
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 58
- ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 59
- ^ Charles Burney and David Marshal Lang, The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, p. 38
- ^ Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 57
- ^ CToumanoff. Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 69,84
- ^ Blumenbach , De generis humani varietate nativa (3rd ed. 1795), trans. Bendyshe (1865). Quoted e.g. in Arthur Keith, Blumenbach's Centenary, Man, Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland (1940).
- ^ The New Book of Knowledge - Grolier, Encyclopedia G. Article: GEORGIA, Republic of, By Alec Rasizade
- ^ Sajantila, Aantti "DNA Diversity in Europe" Department of Human Molecular Genetics, National Public Health Institute. Helsinki, Finland:2009
- ^ BRAUND, D., Georgia in antiquity: a history of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia 550 BC – AD 562, Oxford University Press, 1996