Georgia (German: Georgien)#

Georgia has already played an important role in ancient times. Just consider all the stories about the mythical golden Fleece! Colchis, an area of the Caucasus now west of what is Georgia, was rich in gold. It is said that sheep skins (fleeces) where used to get the dust of gold out of the waters in the streams.

In archaeological excavations very beautiful and artistic pieces of gold have been discovered in the graves of archaic and classical times.

In the main excavation at Wani, 60 km from the Black Sea first artefacts were already found in 1876. But on a large-scale, excavations starting in 1960.It became apparent that an impressive civilisation must have already existed around the 8th century B.C. with its culmination between the 6th and 4 th century B.C. Impressive examples of goldsmithery were found, including intricate objects made of woven strands of gold.

If not earlier, than at least with the start of Greek colonization of the South coast of the Black Sea in the 8t century B.C., oral traditions start to mention aspects that were later put together in the saga surrounding the Argonauts. The region involved was clearly to the East of the Black Sea. Also, for the first time a region named Kolchida is mentioned in Greek literature.

Georgia was the second country that adopted Christianity as state religion in 330, following Armenia in 301. It is a bit ironic that two today quite small countries both have a version (but not identical) of orthodoxy as state religion, both have intricate alphabets that only look similar because of the rounded shapes of even printed characters.

The further political history of Georgia is very complex, so a very much shortened description has to suffice here. Georgia was overrun a number of times from the East, then was annexed by of Russia in 1801, and after a short period of independence after the revolution in Russia in 1917 it was occupied by the Soviet Union in 1921. It declared independence in 1991.

During Soviet times the identity of Georgia was weakened by the foundation of three autonomous regions: Abkhazia, South Osetio (both bordering Russia) and Ajaria (bordering Turkey). Abkhazia and South Osetio have become de facto parts of Russia after serious armed conflicts, but Ajaria is likely to remain integral part of Georgia as will be explained in the section on Batumi.

Industrialisation and tourism during Soviet times made Georgia highly dependent on Russia. So when independence was declared and all trade with Russia stopped Georgia was at the verge of economic breakdown . Some two million desperate people (30%) left the country. The ruinous state of affairs turned to the better after the “rose revolution” in 2003, installing a democratic government and economic reforms. Yet the population continues to drop, albeit by less than 0.4% the five years 2010- 2105 to around four million by 2105 (from almost 6 million in 1991).

However, agricultural development has grown by 500% in the last less than 20 years, i.e. a certain (healthy) return to a more agricultural economy is happening.

Thus, the political and economic situation has improved, even if this is not directly visible in the capital Tbilisi or in Batumi, where tourism is picking up again.