Language: Georgian
Currency: Lari (GEL)
Calling Code: 995
Georgia (in Georgian: საქართველო, transliterated:
Sakartvelo) is a sovereign country of Eastern Europe, located on the
coast of the Black Sea. Until 1991, it was part of the Russian
Empire and later Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). It
shares borders with Russia to the north and northeast, with Turkey
and Armenia to the south, and with Azerbaijan to the southeast.The
capital is Tbilisi (in Georgian: თბილისი, Tbilisi), although since
2012 the Parliament is based in the city of Kutaisi.
The Constitution of Georgia is that of a representative democracy,
organized as a unitary State, semi-presidential Republic. Georgia is
currently a member of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, the
European Organization for the Safety of Air Navigation
(Eurocontrol), the World Trade Organization, the Black Sea Economic
Cooperation, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, the Democratic Option Community, and GUAM. The country
aspires to join the European Union and NATO; the European Union
incorporated Georgia as an associated state.
The history of Georgia goes back to the ancient kingdoms of Colchis
and Iberia. Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic
strength during the reign of David IV and Queen Tamar, in the
eleventh and twelfth centuries. At the beginning of the 19th
century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief
period of independence after the Russian Revolution of 1917. Georgia
was annexed by Soviet Russia in 1921. From 1922 to 1991 the Georgian
Soviet Socialist Republic was one of the fifteen federal republics
of the Soviet Union. On April 9, 1991, shortly after the collapse of
the USSR, Georgia declared its independence. Like many
post-communist countries, Georgia suffered civil unrest and the
economic crisis of most of the 1990s, but through the Revolution of
the Roses of 2003 the new government introduced democratic and
economic reforms.
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Zarzma
Monastery Zarzma Monastery of Transfiguration is a medieval Orthodox Christian monastery located in Samtskhe-Javakheti region of Georgia. |