Georgia

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, between Russia, Turkey, Armenia and Azerbaijan. It covers 67,900 km² (26,216 sq mi), with the Main Caucasus Range along its northern edge. Tbilisi is the capital; Georgian, a Kartvelian language with no relation to other families, is official, and Abkhaz holds official status in Abkhazia.

Fossils of Dmanisi hominins, about 1.8 million years old, are the oldest known human remains in Eurasia. In antiquity the kingdoms of Colchis in the west and Iberia in the east formed the core of later Georgia, and Christianity became the state faith early in the 4th century. Bagrat III united most Georgian lands by 1008. Under David IV (1089–1125) and his great-granddaughter Tamar (1184–1213), the first woman to rule Georgia, the kingdom dominated the Caucasus. Russia annexed the east in 1801. A republic declared in 1918 fell when the Red Army took Tbilisi on 25 February 1921. Georgia left the Soviet Union in April 1991.

After the Rose Revolution of 2003 the country turned toward the West. Georgia is a unitary parliamentary republic and an official candidate for European Union membership. Exports include ores, ferro-alloys, vehicles, wine, mineral water and fertilizers. Its roads, railways and Black Sea ports, the busiest of them Batumi, connect Europe with Asia while avoiding Russia.

Wine has been made in its valleys since Neolithic times, and Kakheti, Kartli and Imereti are among the main wine districts. Georgian folk singing uses three voices, a tuning built on perfect fifths and many dissonances; the song Chakrulo traveled into space on the Voyager Golden Records. Meals often take the form of a supra, a feast led by a toastmaster called the tamada. Gelati Monastery, the historic monuments of Mtskheta and Upper Svaneti are UNESCO World Heritage Sites.