Everything about Kartli totally explained
Kartli (Geo.: ქართლი) is the largest and most populated province of Eastern
Georgia. It includes the Georgian capital,
Tbilisi, and two other major cities,
Gori and
Rustavi. It is bordered by the mountain-range of the Greater Caucasus to the north, by the province of
Kakheti to the east, by
Azerbaijan and
Armenia to the south, by
Turkey and the
Samtskhe-Javakheti region to the south-west and by the province of
Imereti to the west.
In the
3rd century BC the ancient Eastern Georgian Kingdom of Kartli, also known as
Iberia, was established here. Its king declared
Christianity as the official religion of Kartli in
337 AD. In the early
Middle Ages, Kartli lost its political importance because of the struggle between the King and strong
feudal rulers, as well as the aggression of the strong
Persian Kingdom. Even so, in a way, it remained Georgia's leader because of the independence of its Church and culture from
Byzantine influence. Kartli was part of the united
Georgian Kingdom in the central Middle Ages. (Georgia was united at the beginning of the
11th century, but Tbilisi, Kartli's main city, wasn't liberated until
1122. Immediately afterwards, the Georgian capital moved from
Kutaisi to Tbilisi.) After the disintegration of the united Kingdom in the
15th century, Kartli became an independent Kingdom, which suffered from frequent Persian invasions. In
1762, the Kingdom of Kartli was united with the neighboring
Kingdom of Kakheti. This Kingdom too was soon weakened by the Persian aggression. In
1801 the Kingdom of
Kartl-Kakheti was annexed to the
Russian Empire. Kartli was part of the independent
Democratic Republic of Georgia in
1918-
1921, of the
Transcaucasian SFSR in
1922-
1936 (whose capital was Tbilisi, the province's and Georgia's main city), and of the
Georgian SSR in
1936-
1991.
Since the disintegration of the
USSR in 1991, Kartli is part of the independent Republic of Georgia, while Tbilisi, Kartli's main city, is the nation's capital. Besides Tbilisi, the province of Kartli is divided into three administrative regions:
Kvemo Kartli (Capital of which is
Rustavi),
Mtskheta-Mtianeti (With
Mtskheta as its capital) and
Shida Kartli (Capital of which is
Gori). The last region officially includes the historical district of
Samachablo, the majority of whose population is
Ossetian since the
18th century* and which had the status of autonomous district within Georgian SSR during the Soviet period (1922-1991). Since the Georgian-Ossetian civil war in 1991-
1992, this district, which is known as
South Ossetia, is
de facto an independent state, though no nation officially recognizes its sovereignty.
*During the 16th-18th centuries, the Ossetians, who were forced to flee their land in the fields of the Northern Caucasus, migrated southwards to the northern slopes of the Greater Caucasus mountain range. Some of them crossed the mountains to the Southern Caucasus and thus settled in the mountainous region of Kartli (historical district of Samachablo).
Further Information
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