Located in the region known as the Caucasus or Caucasia, Georgia is a
small country of approximately 69,875 square kilometers--about the size
of West Virginia. To the north and northeast, Georgia borders the
Russian republics of Chechnya, Ingushetia, and North Ossetia (all of
which began to seek autonomy from Russia in 1992). Neighbors to the
south are Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Turkey. The shoreline of the Black
Sea constitutes Georgia's entire western border.
Topography
Despite its small area, Georgia has one of the most varied
topographies of the former Soviet republics. Georgia lies mostly in the Caucasus Mountains, and its northern
boundary is partly defined by the Greater Caucasus range. The Lesser
Caucasus range, which runs parallel to the Turkish and Armenian borders,
and the Surami and Imereti ranges, which connect the Greater Caucasus
and the Lesser Caucasus, create natural barriers that are partly
responsible for cultural and linguistic differences among regions.
Because of their elevation and a poorly developed transportation
infrastructure, many mountain villages are virtually isolated from the
outside world during the winter. Earthquakes and landslides in
mountainous areas present a significant threat to life and property.
Among the most recent natural disasters were massive rock- and mudslides
in Ajaria in 1989 that displaced thousands in southwestern Georgia, and
two earthquakes in 1991 that destroyed several villages in northcentral
Georgia and South Ossetia.
Georgia has about 25,000 rivers, many of which power small
hydroelectric stations. Drainage is into the Black Sea to the west and
through Azerbaijan to the Caspian Sea to the east. The largest river is
the Mtkvari (formerly known by its Azerbaijani name, Kura, which is
still used in Azerbaijan), which flows 1,364 kilometers from northeast
Turkey across the plains of eastern Georgia, through the capital,
Tbilisi, and into the Caspian Sea. The Rioni River, the largest river in
western Georgia, rises in the Greater Caucasus and empties into the
Black Sea at the port of Poti. Soviet engineers turned the river
lowlands along the Black Sea coast into prime subtropical agricultural
land, embanked and straightened many stretches of river, and built an
extensive system of canals. Deep mountain gorges form topographical
belts within the Greater Caucasus.
<>Climate
Georgia's climate is affected by subtropical influences from the west
and mediterranean influences from the east. The Greater Caucasus range
moderates local climate by serving as a barrier against cold air from
the north. Warm, moist air from the Black Sea moves easily into the
coastal lowlands from the west. Climatic zones are determined by
distance from the Black Sea and by altitude. Along the Black Sea coast,
from Abkhazia to the Turkish border, and in the region known as the
Kolkhida Lowlands inland from the coast, the dominant subtropical
climate features high humidity and heavy precipitation (1,000 to 2,000
millimeters per year; the Black Sea port of Batumi receives 2,500
millimeters per year). Several varieties of palm trees grow in these
regions, where the midwinter average temperature is 5� C and the
midsummer average is 22� C.
The plains of eastern Georgia are shielded from the influence of the
Black Sea by mountains that provide a more continental climate. Summer
temperatures average 20� C to 24� C, winter temperatures 2� C to 4�
C. Humidity is lower, and rainfall averages 500 to 800 millimeters per
year. Alpine and highland regions in the east and west, as well as a
semiarid region on the Iori Plateau to the southeast, have distinct
microclimates.
At higher elevations, precipitation is sometimes twice as heavy as in
the eastern plains. In the west, the climate is subtropical to about 650
meters; above that altitude (and to the north and east) is a band of
moist and moderately warm weather, then a band of cool and wet
conditions. Alpine conditions begin at about 2,100 meters, and above
3,600 meters snow and ice are present year-round.
More about the <>Geography
of Georgia
.
Over many centuries, Georgia gained a reputation for tolerance of
minority religions and ethnic groups from elsewhere, but the
postcommunist era was a time of sharp conflict among groups long
considered part of the national fabric. Modern Georgia is populated by
several ethnic groups, but by far the most numerous of them is the
Georgians. In the early 1990s, the population was increasing slowly, and
armed hostilities were causing large-scale emigration from certain
regions. The ethnic background of some groups, such as the Abkhaz, was a
matter of sharp dispute.
Population Characteristics
According to the Soviet Union's 1989 census, the total population of
Georgia was 5.3 million. The estimated population in 1993 was 5.6
million. Between 1979 and 1989, the population grew by 8.5 percent, with
growth rates of 16.7 percent among the urban population and 0.3 percent
in rural areas. In 1993 the overall growth rate was 0.8 percent. About
55.8 percent of the population was classified as urban; Tbilisi, the
capital and largest city, had more than 1.2 million inhabitants, or
approximately 23 percent of the national total. The capital's population
grew by 18.1 percent between 1979 and 1989, mainly because of migration
from rural areas. Kutaisi, the second largest city, had a population of
about 235,000.
In 1991 Georgia's birth rate was seventeen per 1,000 population, its
death rate nine per 1,000. Life expectancy was seventy-five years for
females and sixty-seven years for males. In 1990 the infant mortality
rate was 196 per 10,000 live births. Average family size in 1989 was
4.1, with larger families predominantly located in rural areas. In the
1980s and early 1990s, the Georgian population was aging slowly; the
cohort under age nineteen shrank slightly and the cohort over sixty
increased slightly as percentages of the entire population during that
period. The Georgian and Abkhazian populations were the subjects of
substantial international study by anthropologists and gerontologists
because of the relatively high number of centenarians among them.
<>Ethnic Minorities
Regional ethnic distribution is a major cause of the problems Georgia
faces along its borders and within its territory. Russians, who make up
the third largest ethnic group in the country (6.7 percent of the total
population in 1989), do not constitute a majority in any district. The
highest concentration of Russians is in Abkhazia, but the overall
dispersion of the Russian population restricts political representation
of the Russians' interests.
Azerbaijanis are a majority of the population in the districts of
Marneuli and Bolnisi, south of Tbilisi on the Azerbaijan border, while
Armenians are a majority in the Akhalkalaki, Ninotsminda, and Dmanisi
districts immediately to the west of the Azerbaijani-dominated regions
and just north of the Armenian border. Despite the proximity and
intermingling of Armenian and Azerbaijani populations in Georgia, in the
early 1990s few conflicts in Georgia reflected the hostility of the
Armenian and Azerbaijani nations over the territory of NagornoKarabakh.
Organizations in Georgia representing the interests of the Armenian and
Azerbaijani populations had relatively few conflicts with authorities in
Tbilisi in the first postcommunist years.
Under Soviet rule, a large part of Georgian territory was divided
into autonomous regions that included concentrations of non-Georgian
peoples. The largest such region was the Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet
Socialist Republic (Abkhazian ASSR; after Georgian independence, the
Abkhazian Autonomous Republic). The distribution of territory and the
past policies of tsarist and Soviet rule meant that in 1989 the Abkhaz
made up only 17.8 percent of the population of the autonomous republic
named for them (compared with 44 percent Georgians and 16 percent
Russians). The Abkhaz constituted less than 2 percent of the total
population of Georgia. Although Georgian was the prevailing language of
the region as early as the eighth century A.D., Abkhazia was a separate
Soviet republic from 1921 until 1930, when it was incorporated into
Georgia as an autonomous republic.
In the thirteenth century, Ossetians arrived on the south side of the
Caucasus Mountains, in Georgian territory, when the Mongols drove them
from what is now the North Ossetian Autonomous Republic of Russia. In
1922 the South Ossetian Autonomous Region was formed within the new
Transcaucasian republic of the Soviet Union. The autonomous region was
abolished officially by the Georgian government in 1990, then reinstated
in 1992. South Ossetia includes many all-Georgian villages, and the
Ossetian population is concentrated in the cities of Tskhinvali and
Java. Overall, in the 1980s the population in South Ossetia was 66
percent Ossetian and 29 percent Georgian. In 1989 more than 60 percent
of the Ossetian population of Georgia lived outside South Ossetia.
The Ajarian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Ajarian ASSR) in
southwest Georgia was redesignated the Ajarian Autonomous Republic in
1992. The existence of that republic reflects the religious and cultural
differences that developed when the Ottoman Empire occupied part of
Georgia in the sixteenth century and converted the local population to
Islam. The Ajarian region was not included in Georgia until the Treaty
of Berlin separated it from the Ottoman Empire in 1878. An autonomous
republic within Georgia was declared in 1921. Because the Ajarian
population is indistinguishable from Georgians in language and belongs
to the same ethnic group, it generally considers itself Georgian.
Eventually "Ajarian" was dropped from the ethnic categories in
the Soviet national census. Thus, in the 1979 census the ethnic
breakdown of the region showed about 80 percent Georgians (including
Ajars) and 10 percent Russians. Nevertheless, the autonomous republic
remains an administrative subdivision of the Republic of Georgia, local
elites having fought hard to preserve the special status that this
distinction affords them.
The so-called Meskhetian Turks are another potential source of ethnic
discord. Forcibly exiled from southern Georgia to Uzbekistan by Stalin
during World War II, many of the estimated 200,000 Meskhetian Turks
outside Georgia sought to return to their homes in Georgia after 1990.
Many Georgians argued that the Meskhetian Turks had lost their links to
Georgia and hence had no rights that would justify the large-scale
upheaval resettlement would cause. However, Shevardnadze argued that
Georgians had a moral obligation to allow this group to return.
Among the leading ethnic groups, the fastest growth between 1979 and
1989 occurred in the Azerbaijani population and the Kurds, whose numbers
increased by 20 percent and 30 percent, respectively. This trend worried
Georgians, even though both groups combined made up less than 7 percent
of the republic's population. Over the same period, the dominant
Georgians' share of the population increased from 68.8 percent to 70.1
percent. Ethnic shifts after 1989--particularly the emigration of
Russians, Ukrainians, and Ossetians--were largely responsible for the
Georgians' increased share of the population.
More about the <>Population
of Georgia
.
For centuries, Georgia's geographic position has opened it to
religious and cultural influences from the West, Persia, Turkey, and
Russia. The resultant diversity continues to characterize the cultural
and religious life of modern Georgia. However, the Georgian language
displays unique qualities that cannot be attributed to any outside
influence.
Language
Even more than religion, the issue of language was deeply entwined
with political struggles in Georgia under communist rule. As elsewhere,
language became a key factor in ethnic selfidentification under the
uniformity of the communist system. Written in a unique alphabet that
began to exhibit distinctions from the Greek alphabet in the fifth
century A.D., Georgian is linguistically distant from Turkic and
Indo-European languages. In the Soviet period, Georgians fought
relentlessly to prevent what they perceived as the encroachment of
Russian on their native language. Even the republic's Soviet-era
constitutions specified Georgian as the state language. In 1978 Moscow
failed to impose a constitutional change giving Russian equal status
with Georgian as an official language when Shevardnadze yielded to mass
demonstrations against the amendment. Nevertheless, the Russian language
predominated in official documents and communications from the central
government. In 1991 the Gamsakhurdia government reestablished the
primacy of Georgian, to the dismay of minorities that did not use the
language. In 1993 some 71 percent of the population used Georgian as
their first language. Russian was the first languages of 9 percent,
Armenian of 7 percent, and Azerbaijani of 6 percent.
Georgia - Religion
The wide variety of peoples inhabiting Georgia has meant a
correspondingly rich array of active religions. The dominant religion is
Christianity, and the Georgian Orthodox Church is by far the largest
church. The conversion of the Georgians in A.D. 330 placed them among
the first peoples to accept Christianity. According to tradition, a holy
slave woman, who became known as Saint Nino, cured Queen Nana of Iberia
of an unknown illness, and King Marian III accepted Christianity when a
second miracle occurred during a royal hunting trip. The Georgians' new
faith, which replaced Greek pagan and Zoroastrian beliefs, was to place
them permanently on the front line of conflict between the Islamic and
Christian worlds. As was true elsewhere, the Christian church in Georgia
was crucial to the development of a written language, and most of the
earliest written works were religious texts. After Georgia was annexed
by the Russian Empire, the Russian Orthodox Church took over the
Georgian church in 1811. The colorful frescoes and wall paintings
typical of Georgian cathedrals were whitewashed by the Russian
occupiers.
The Georgian church regained its autonomy only when Russian rule
ended in 1918. Neither the Georgian Menshevik government nor the
Bolshevik regime that followed considered revitalization of the Georgian
church an important goal, however. Soviet rule brought severe purges of
the Georgian church hierarchy and constant repression of Orthodox
worship. As elsewhere in the Soviet Union, many churches were destroyed
or converted into secular buildings. This history of repression
encouraged the incorporation of religious identity into the strong
nationalist movement in twentieth-century Georgia and the quest of
Georgians for religious expression outside the official,
governmentcontrolled church. In the late 1960s and early 1970s,
opposition leaders, especially Zviad Gamsakhurdia, criticized corruption
in the church hierarchy. When Ilia II became the patriarch (catholicos)
of the Georgian Orthodox Church in the late 1970s, he brought order and
a new morality to church affairs, and Georgian Orthodoxy experienced a
revival. In 1988 Moscow permitted the patriarch to begin consecrating
and reopening closed churches, and a large-scale restoration process
began. In 1993 some 65 percent of Georgians were Georgian Orthodox, 11
percent were Muslim, 10 percent Russian Orthodox, and 8 percent Armenian
Apostolic.
Non-Orthodox religions traditionally have received tolerant treatment
in Georgia. Jewish communities exist throughout the country, with major
concentrations in the two largest cities, Tbilisi and Kutaisi.
Azerbaijani groups have practiced Islam in Georgia for centuries, as
have the Abkhazian and Ajarian groups concentrated in their respective
autonomous republics. The Armenian Apostolic Church, whose doctrine
differs in some ways from that of Georgian Orthodoxy, has autocephalous
status.
Georgia - The Arts
Starting in its earliest days, Georgia developed a unique
architectural style that is most visible in religious structures dating
as far back as the sixth century A.D. The cupola structure typical of
Georgian churches probably was based on circular domestic dwellings that
existed as early as 3000 B.C. Roman, Greek, and Syrian architecture also
influenced this style. Persian occupation added a new element, and in
the nineteenth century Russian domination created a hybrid architectural
style visible in many buildings in Tbilisi. The so-called Stalinist
architecture of the mid-twentieth century also left its mark on the
capital.
Painting, Sculpture, and Metalworking
Like literature, Georgian mural painting reached a zenith during the
golden age of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Featuring both
religious and secular themes, many monuments of this and the later
Byzantine- and Persian-influenced periods were destroyed by the Russians
in the nineteenth century. Examples of Georgian religious painting
remain in some of the old churches. Stone carving and metalworking
traditions had developed in antiquity, when Roman and Greek techniques
were incorporated. In the golden age, sculpture was applied most often
to the outside of buildings. In the twentieth century, several Georgian
sculptors have gained international recognition. Among them is Elguja
Amasukheli, whose monuments are landmarks in Tbilisi. Metalworking was
well established in the Caucasus among the ancestors of the Georgians as
early as the Bronze Age (second millennium B.C.). This art form, applied
to both religious and secular subjects, declined in the Middle Ages.
Georgia - Music and Dance
Georgia is known for its rich and unique folk dance and music. The
Georgian State Dance Company, founded in the 1940s, has traveled around
the world performing spectacular renditions of traditional Georgian
dances. Unique in folk-dancing tradition, Georgian male performers dance
on their toes without the help of special blocked shoes. Georgian folk
music, featuring complex, three-part, polyphonic harmonies, has long
been a subject of special interest among musicologists. Men and women
sing in separate ensembles with entirely different repertoires. Most
Georgian folk songs are peculiar to individual regions of Georgia. The
inspiration is most often the church, work in the fields, or special
occasions. The Rustavi Choir, formed in 1968, is the best known Georgian
group performing a traditional repertoire.
In modern Georgia, folk songs are most frequently sung around the
table. The ceremonial dinner (supra), a frequent occurrence in
Georgian homes, is a highly ritualized event that itself forms a direct
link to Georgia's past. On such occasions, rounds of standardized and
improvised toasts typically extend long into the night. Georgian
cuisine, which includes a variety of delicate sauces and sharp spices,
is also an important part of the culture that links the generations. In
the Soviet period, the best restaurants in the large cities of other
republics were often Georgian.
Georgia - Film and Theater
In 1992 Georgia retained the basic structure of education, health,
and social welfare programs established in the Soviet era, although
major reforms were being discussed. Georgia's requests for aid from the
West have included technical assistance in streamlining its social
welfare system, which heavily burdens the economy and generally fails to
help those in greatest need.
Education
In the Soviet era, the Georgian population achieved one of the
highest education levels in the Soviet Union. In 1989 some 15.1 percent
of adults in Georgia had graduated from a university or completed some
other form of higher education. About 57.4 percent had completed
secondary school or obtained a specialized secondary education. Georgia
also had an extensive network of 230 scientific and research institutes
employing more than 70,000 people in 1990. The Soviet system of free and
compulsory schooling had eradicated illiteracy by the 1980s, and Georgia
had the Soviet Union's highest ratio of residents with a higher or
specialized secondary education.
During Soviet rule, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union ( CPSU)
controlled the operation of the Georgian education system.
Theoretically, education was inseparable from politics, and the schools
were deemed an important tool in remaking society along Marxist-Leninist
lines. Central ministries for primary and secondary education and for
higher and specialized education transmitted policy decisions to the
ministries in the republics for implementation in local and regional
systems. Even at the local level, most administrators were party
members. The combination of party organs and government agencies
overseeing education at all levels formed a huge bureaucracy that made
significant reform impossible. By the mid-1980s, an education crisis was
openly recognized everywhere in the Soviet Union.
In the early 1990s, Soviet education institutions were still in place
in Georgia, although Soviet-style political propaganda and authoritarian
teaching methods gradually disappeared. Most Georgian children attended
general school (grades one to eleven), beginning at age seven. In 1988
some 86,400 students were enrolled in Georgia's nineteen institutions of
higher learning. Universities are located in Batumi, Kutaisi, Sukhumi,
and Tbilisi. In the early 1990s, private education institutes began to
appear. Higher education was provided almost exclusively in Georgian,
although 25 percent of general classes were taught in a minority
language. Abkhazian and Ossetian children were taught in their native
language until fifth grade, when they began instruction in Georgian or
Russian.
Georgia - Health
The Soviet system of health care, which embraced all the republics,
included extensive networks of state-run hospitals, clinics, and
emergency first aid stations. The huge government health bureaucracy in
Moscow set basic policies for the entire country, then transmitted them
to the health ministries of the republics. In the republics, programs
were set up by regional and local health authorities. The emphasis was
on meeting national standards and quotas for patient visits, treatments
provided, and hospital beds occupied, with little consideration of
regional differences or requirements.
Under this system, the average Georgian would go first to one of the
polyclinics serving all the residents of a particular area. In the
mid-1980s, polyclinics provided about 90 percent of medical care,
offering very basic diagnostic services. In addition, most workplaces
had their own clinics, which minimized time lost from work for medical
reasons. The hospital system provided more complex diagnosis and
treatment, although overcrowding often resulted from the admission of
patients with minor complaints. Crowding was exacerbated by official
standards requiring hospital treatment of a certain duration for every
type of complaint.
The Soviet system placed special emphasis on treatment of women and
children; many specialized treatment, diagnostic, and advanced-study
centers offered pediatric, obstetric, and gynecological care. Maternity
services and prenatal care were readily accessible. Emergency first aid
was provided by specialized ambulance teams, most of which had only very
basic equipment. Severe cases went to special emergency hospitals
because regular hospitals lacked emergency rooms. Although this system
worked efficiently in urban centers such as Tbilisi, it did not reach
remote areas. Most Georgians cared for elderly family members at home,
and nursing care was generally mediocre. Georgian health spas were a
vital part of the Soviet Union's well-known sanatorium system, access to
which was a privilege of employment in most state enterprises.
When the Soviet Union dissolved, it left a legacy of health problems
to the respective republics, which faced the necessity of organizating
separate health systems under conditions of scarce resources. By 1990
the Soviet health system had become drastically underfunded, and the
incidence of disease and accidents was increased by poor living
standards and environmental hazards. Nominally equal availability of
medical treatment and materials was undermined by the privileged status
of elite groups that had access to the country's best medical
facilities. In 1990 the former republics also differed substantially in
health conditions and availability of care. Subsequent membership in the Commonwealth of
Independent States, to which Georgia committed itself in late 1993, did
not affect this inequality.
According to most standard indicators, in 1991 the health and medical
care of the Georgian population were among the best in the Soviet Union.
The rate at which tuberculosis was diagnosed, 28.9 cases per 100,000
population in 1990, was third lowest, and Georgia's 140.9 cancer
diagnoses per 100,000 population in 1990 was the lowest rate among the
Soviet republics. Georgia also led in physicians per capita, with 59.2
per 10,000 population, and in dentists per capita. However, hospital bed
availability, 110.7 per 10,000 population in 1990, placed Georgia in the
bottom half among Soviet republics, and infant mortality, 15.9 per 1,000
live births in 1990, was at the average for republics outside Central
Asia.
Although illegal drugs were available and Georgia increasingly found
itself on the international drug-trading route in the early 1990s, the
drug culture was confined to a small percentage of the population. The
relatively high rate of delinquency among Georgian youth, however, was
frequently associated with alcohol abuse.
In 1993 the Republic AIDS and Immunodeficiency Center in Tbilisi
reported that sixteen cases of acquired immune deficiency syndrome
(AIDS) had been detected; five victims were nonGeorgians and were
deported. Of the remaining eleven, two had contracted AIDS through drug
use and one through a medical procedure. Despite the small number of
cases, the AIDS epidemic has caused considerable alarm in the Georgian
medical community, which formed a physicians' anti-AIDS association in
1993. The AIDS center, located in a makeshift facility in Tbilisi,
conducts AIDS research and oversees testing in twenty-nine laboratories
throughout Georgia, stressing efforts among high-risk groups.
Like other former Soviet republics, Georgia began devising health
care reform strategies in 1992. Budget expenditures for health increased
drastically once the Soviet welfare system collapsed. Theoretical
elements of Georgian health reform were compulsory medical insurance,
privatization and foreign investment in institutions providing health
care, and stronger emphasis on preventive medicine. Little progress was
made in the first two years of the reform process, however. In Georgia
political instability and civil war have destroyed medical facilities
while increasing the need for emergency care and creating a large-scale
refugee problem.
Georgia - Social Security
In 1985 some 47 percent of Georgia's budget went to support the food,
health, and education needs of the population. Social services included
partial payment for maternity leave for up to eighteen months and unpaid
maternity leave for up to three years. State pensions were automatic
after twenty years of work for women and twenty-five years for men. As
inflation rose in the postcommunist era, however, a large percentage of
older Georgians continued working because their pensions could not
support them. In 1991 the social security fund--supported mainly by a
payroll tax--provided pensions for 1.3 million persons. The fund also
paid benefits for sick leave and rest homes, as well as allowances for
families with young children.
In 1992 subsidies were in place for basic commodities, pensions,
unemployment benefits, and allowances for single mothers and children.
At that time, a payroll tax of 3 percent was designated to support the
national unemployment fund. Deficits in the social security fund were
nominally covered by the state budget, but budget shortfalls elsewhere
shifted that responsibility to the banking system. In 1992 increased
benefit payments and the decision not to increase the payroll tax eroded
the financial base of the fund.
