Georgians

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Not to be confused with the people of the U.S. state of Georgia or the people of the Georgian era of British history.
See also: Demographics of Georgia (country)
Georgians
ქართველები
Kartvelebi
Total population
c. 4 million[a]
Regions with significant populations
 Georgia c. 3,223,600[1][a]
 Turkey ~158,000[2]
 Russia ~157,803[3]
 Iran ~100,000[4]
 Ukraine ~34,199[5]
 Greece ~27,400[6][7]
 Italy ~14,045[8]
 Canada ~3,155[9]
Languages
Georgian and other Kartvelian languages
Religion
Predominantly Eastern Orthodox Christian (Georgian Orthodox Church)[10]
Minority: Catholicism, Islam, Judaism
a. ^ The total figure is merely an estimation; sum of all the referenced populations.

The Georgians or Kartvelians (Georgian: ქართველები, translit.: kartvelebi) are a nation and ethnic group who constitute a majority of the population in Georgia. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States, and to a lesser extent throughout the European Union.

Georgians arose from the ancient Colchian and Iberian civilizations. After Christianization of Iberia by Saint Nino they became one of the first who embraced the faith of Jesus in the early 4th century and now the majority of Georgians are Eastern Orthodox Christians and most follow their national autocephalous Georgian Orthodox Church. There are also small Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities in Tbilisi and Adjara, as well as a significant number of irreligious Georgians.

A complex process of nation formation has resulted in a diverse set of geographic subgroups of Georgians, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialects and, in the case of Svans and Mingrelians, own regional languages. The Georgian language, with its own unique writing system and extensive written tradition, which goes back to the 5th century, is the official language of Georgia as well as the language of education of all Georgians living in the country.

Located on the crossroads of predominantly Christian Europe and Muslim Western Asia, Georgian people have maintained their Christian identity in the face of great pressure from neighboring Muslim empires. By the early 11th century they formed a unified Kingdom of Georgia and inaugurated the Georgian Golden Age, a height of political and cultural power of the nation. This lasted until being weakened by Mongol invasions, as well as internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant, the last of the great kings of Georgia. Thereafter and throughout the early modern period Georgians became politically fractured and fell into decline due to the onslaught of various hostile empires, including the Ottoman Empire and successive dynasties of Persia. To ensure Georgia's survival, in 1783 Heraclius II of Georgia forged an alliance with the Russian Empire, which Georgians viewed as a replacement for their fallen traditional ally — Byzantine Empire. The Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty, proceeding to annex the troubled kingdom in 1801. Georgians briefly reasserted their independence from Russia under the First Georgian Republic from 1918-1921, and finally, in 1991 from the Soviet Union.

Etymology[edit]

Further information: Name of Georgia (country)

Georgians call themselves Kartvelebi (ქართველები), their land Sakartvelo (საქართველო), and their language Kartuli (ქართული). According to The Georgian Chronicles, the ancestor of the Kartvelian people was Kartlos, the great-grandson of the Biblical Japheth. However, scholars agree that the word is derived from the Karts, the latter being one of the proto-Georgian tribes that emerged as a dominant group in ancient times.[11] Ancient Greeks (Homer, Herodotus, Strabo, Plutarch etc.) and Romans (Titus Livius, Cornelius Tacitus, etc.) referred to western Georgians as Colchians and eastern Georgians as Iberians.[12]

The term "Georgians" is derived from the country of Georgia. In the past, lore based theories were given by the traveller Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name's origin by the popularity of St. George amongst Georgians,[13] while traveller Jean Chardin thought that "Georgia" came from Greek γεωργός ("tiller of the land"), as when the Greeks came into the region (in Colchis[11]) they encountered a developed agricultural society.[11]

However, as Prof. Alexander Mikaberidze adds, these explanations for the word Georgians/Georgia are rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian word gurğ/gurğān ("wolf"[14]) as the root of the word.[15] Starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages.[11][16] This term itself might have been established through the ancient Iranian appellation of the near-Caspian region, which was referred to as Gorgan ("land of the wolves"[17]).[11]

Origins[edit]

Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period.[18] Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.[19]

The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians.[20][21] East Georgian tribes of Tibarenians-Iberians formed their kingdom in 7th century BCE. However, western Georgian tribes (Moschians, Suanians, Mingrelians and others) established the first Georgian state of Colchis (circa 1350 BCE) before the foundation of the Iberian Kingdom in the east.[22] According to the numerous scholars of Georgia, the formations of these two early Georgian kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia, resulted in the consolidation and uniformity of the Georgian nation.[23]

The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal).[24]

Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia, a region that was part of Georgia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of the Georgians. Modern Georgians still refer to this region, which now belongs to present-day Turkey, as Tao-Klarjeti, an ancient Georgian kingdom. Some people there still speak the Georgian language.[25]

Colchians in the ancient western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis were another proto-Georgian tribed. They are first mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II, and are also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.[22][26]

Iberians, also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, lived in the eastern Georgian Kingdom of Iberia.[22]

Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.[27][28]

According to the scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff:

Colchis appears as the first Caucasian State to have achieved the coalescence of the newcomer, Colchis can be justly regarded as not a proto-Georgian, but a Georgian (West Georgian) kingdom ... It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation.[29]

Genetics[edit]

Georgian peasant in Mestia, c. 1888

A study of human genetics by Battaglia, Fornarino, al-Zahery, et al. (2009) suggests that Georgians have the highest percentage of Haplogroup G (30.3%) among the general population recorded in any country. Georgians' Y-DNA also belongs to Haplogroup J2 (31.8%), Haplogroup R1a (10.6%), and Haplogroup R1b (9.1%).[30]

Culture[edit]

Main article: Culture of Georgia (country)

Language and linguistic subdivisions[edit]

Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz. The language known today as Georgian is a traditional language of the eastern part of the country which has spread to most of the present-day Georgia after the post-Christianization centralization in the first millennium AD, today Georgians regardless of their ancestral region use Georgian as their official language. The regional languages Svan and Mingrelian are languages of the west that were traditionally spoken in the pre-Christian Kingdom of Colchis, but later lost importance as the unified Kingdom of Georgia emerged. Their decline is largely due to the capital of the unified kingdom, Tbilisi, being in the eastern part of the country known as Kingdom of Iberia effectively making the language of the east an official language of the Georgian monarch.

All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.

Georgian dialects include Imeretian, Racha-Lechkhumian, Gurian, Adjarian, Imerkhevian (in Turkey), Kartlian, Kakhetian, Ingilo (in Azerbaijan), Tush, Khevsur, Mokhevian, Pshavian, Fereydan dialect in Iran in Fereydunshahr and Fereydan, Mtiuletian, Meskhetian and Javakhetian dialect.

Religion[edit]

Main articles: Religion in Georgia (country) and Secularism and Irreligion in Georgia
The Bagrati Cathedral, The Cathedral of the Dormition, built during the reign of King Bagrat III, one of Georgia's most significant medieval religious buildings returned to its original state in 2012.

According to Orthodox tradition, Christianity was first preached in Georgia by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century. It became the state religion of Kartli (Iberia) in 337.[31][32] At the same time, in the first centuries C.E., the cult of Mithras, pagan beliefs, and Zoroastrianism were commonly practiced in Georgia.[33] The conversion of Kartli to Christianity is credited to St. Nino of Cappadocia. Christianity gradually replaced all the former religions except Zoroastrianism, which become a second established religion in Iberia after the Peace of Acilisene in 378.[34] The conversion to Christianity eventually placed the Georgians permanently on the front line of conflict between the Islamic and Christian world, while allying themselves permanently with the Eastern Roman Empire. Georgians remained mostly Christian despite repeated invasions by Muslim powers, and long episodes of foreign domination.

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. Medieval Georgian culture was greatly influenced by Eastern Orthodoxy and the Georgian Orthodox Church, which promoted and often sponsored the creation of many works of religious devotion. These included churches and monasteries, works of art such as icons, and hagiographies of Georgian saints.

Today, 83.9% of the Georgian population, most of whom are ethnic Georgian, follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity.[35] However, many Georgians nominally identify themselves with Orthodox Christianity for traditional, cultural and historical reasons, with an estimated quarter of the population stating that religion does not necessarily play an important role in their day-to-day life.[36] Additionally, as of 2010, only 32% of the country's population attended religious services, suggesting strong secular influences.[37]

A sizable Georgian Muslim population exists in Adjara. This autonomous Republic borders Turkey, and was part of the Ottoman Empire for a longer amount of time than other parts of the country. Those Georgian Muslims practice the Sunni Hanafi form of Islam. Islam has however declined in Adjara during the 20th century, due to Soviet anti-religious policies, cultural integration with the national Orthodox majority, and strong missionary efforts by the Georgian Orthodox Church.[38] Islam remains a dominant identity only in the eastern, rural parts of the Republic. In the early modern period, converted Georgian recruits were often used by the Persian and Ottoman Empires for elite military units such as the Mameluks, Kizilbash, and ghulams. The Georgians in Iran are all reportedly Shia Muslims today, while the Georgian minority in Turkey are mostly Sunni Muslim.

There is also a small number of Georgian Jews, tracing their ancestors to the Babylonian captivity.

In addition to traditional religious confessions, Georgia retains irreligious segments of society, as well as a significant portion of nominally religious individuals who do not actively practice their faith.[39]

Cuisine[edit]

Georgians having a feast at Supra and Tamada making a toast. Painting by Niko Pirosmani.

The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from other European culinary traditions, as well as those from the surrounding Western Asia. Each historical province of Georgia has its own distinct culinary tradition, such as Megrelian, Kakhetian, and Imeretian cuisines. In addition to various meat dishes, Georgian cuisine also offers a variety of vegetarian meals.

The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a Caucasian feast, or supra, when a huge assortment of dishes is prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of wine, and dinner can last for hours. In a Georgian feast, the role of the tamada (toastmaster) is an important and honoured position.

In countries of the former Soviet Union, Georgian food is popular due to the immigration of Georgians to other Soviet republics, in particular Russia. In Russia all major cities have many Georgian restaurants and Russian restaurants often feature Georgian food items on their menu.[40]

Geographic subdivisions and subethnic groups[edit]

Geographical subdivisions[edit]

The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited.

Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region. For example, if a Gurian moves to Tbilisi (part of the Kartli region) he will not automatically identify himself as Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. This may, however, change if substantial amount of time passes. For example, there are some Mingrelians who have lived in the Imereti region for centuries and are now identified as Imeretian or Imeretian-Mingrelians.

Main article: Georgian surname

Last names from mountainous eastern Georgian provinces (such as Kakheti, etc.) can be distinguished by the suffix –uri (ური), or –uli (ული). Most Svan last names typically end in –ani (ანი), Mingrelian in –ia (ია), -ua (უა), or -ava (ავა), and Laz in –shi (ში).

Name Name in Georgian Geographical region Dialect or Language
Adjarians აჭარელი achareli Adjara Adjarian dialect
Gurians გურული guruli Guria Gurian dialect
Imeretians იმერელი imereli Imereti Imeretian dialect
Javakhians ჯავახი javakhi Javakheti Javakhian dialect
Kakhetians კახელი kakheli Kakheti Kakhetian dialect
Kartlians ქართლელი kartleli Kartli Kartlian dialect
Khevsurians ხევსური khevsuri Khevsureti Khevsurian dialect
Lechkhumians ლეჩხუმელი lechkhumeli Lechkhumi Lechkhumian dialect
Megrelians მეგრელი megreli Samegrelo Megrelian language
Meskhetians მესხი meskhi Meskheti (Samtskhe) Meskhian dialect
Mokhevians მოხევე mokheve Khevi Mokhevian dialect
Pshavians ფშაველი pshaveli Pshavi Pshavian dialect
Rachians რაჭველი rachveli Racha Rachian dialect
Svans სვანი svani Svaneti Svan language
Laz people ლაზი lazi Chaneti (Turkey) Laz language
Tushs (Chagma) თუში tushi Tusheti Tushetian dialect

The 1897 Russian census (which accounted people by language), had Imeretian, Svan and Mingrelian languages separate from Georgian.[41] During the 1926 Soviet census, Svans and Mingrelians were accounted separately from Georgian.[42] Svan and Mingrelian languages are both Kartvelian languages and are closely related to the national Georgian language.

Outside of modern Georgia[edit]

Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. According to the London School of Economics' anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans,[43] Lazs residing in Georgia frequently identify themselves as "first-class Georgians" to show pride, while considering their Muslim counterparts in Turkey as "Turkified Lazs".[44]

Subethnic groups Georgian name Settlement area Language
(dialect)		 Number Difference(s) from mainstream Georgians
(other than location)
Fereydani ფერეიდანი Pereidani Fereydan (Iran) Pereidnuli dialect 100,000 + [45] Religion: Muslim[45]
Chveneburi ჩვენებური chveneburi Black Sea Region (Turkey) Georgian language 91,000[46]–1,000,000[47] Religion: Muslim[46]
Ingiloy people ინგილო ingilo Saingilo Hereti Zaqatala District (Azerbaijan) Ingiloan dialect 12,000 Religion: Muslim majority,[48]
Orthodox minority[49]
Shavshians შავში shavshi Shavsheti (Turkey) Imerkhevian dialect
Klarjians კლარჯი klarji Klarjeti (Turkey) Imerkhevian dialect

Extincted Georgian Subdivisions[edit]

Through out history Georgia also have lost some Georgian subdivisions

Name Name in Georgian Geographical location Dialect or Language
Dvals დვალები dvalebi Russian Federation North Ossetia Dval dialect Ossetian dialect

See also[edit]

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ Ethnic Georgians form about 86.8 percent of Georgia's current population of 3,713,804 (2014 census). Data without occupied territories — Abkhazia and Tskhinvali region.
  1. ^ Total population by regions and ethnicity
  2. ^ "Georgian in Turkey". Joshua Project. Retrieved 17 March 2017. 
  3. ^ "Итоги Всероссийской переписи населения 2010 года в отношении демографических и социально-экономических характеристик отдельных национальностей". Retrieved 21 August 2015. 
  4. ^ Jump up to: a b Rezvani, Babak (Winter 2009). "The Fereydani Georgian Representation". Anthropology of the Middle East 4 (2): 52–74. doi:10.3167/ame.2009.040205.
  5. ^ "Всеукраїнський перепис населення 2001 - English version - Results - Nationality and citizenship - The distribution of the population by nationality and mother tongue - Selection:". Retrieved 21 August 2015. 
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2013-12-25. Retrieved 2014-06-03. 
  7. ^ ქართველები საბერძნეთში State Ministry on Diaspora Issues of Georgia
  8. ^ [1] ISTAT
  9. ^ Statistics Canada. "2011 National Household Survey: Data tables". Retrieved 11 February 2014. 
  10. ^ "საქართველოს მოსახლეობის საყოველთაო აღწერის საბოლოო შედეგები" (PDF). National Statistics Office of Georgia. 28 April 2016. Retrieved 29 April 2016. 
  11. ^ a b c d e Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 3. ISBN 978-1442241466. 
  12. ^ Braund, David. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, pp. 17-18
  13. ^ Peradze, Gregory. "The Pilgrims' derivation of the name Georgia". Georgica, Autumn, 1937, nos. 4 & 5, 208–209
  14. ^ Hock, Hans Henrich; Zgusta, Ladislav (1997). Historical, Indo-European, and Lexicographical Studies. Walter de Gruyter. p. 211. ISBN 978-3110128840. 
  15. ^ Mikaberidze, Alexander (2015). Historical Dictionary of Georgia (2 ed.). Rowman & Littlefield. p. 3. ISBN 978-1442241466. However, such explanations are rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian gurğ/gurğān as the root of the word (...) 
  16. ^ Boeder; et al. (2002). Philology, typology and language structure. Peter Lang. p. 65. ISBN 978-0820459912. The Russian designation of Georgia (Gruziya) also derives from the Persian gurg. 
  17. ^ Rapp Jr., Stephen H. (2014). The Sasanian World through Georgian Eyes: Caucasia and the Iranian Commonwealth in Late Antique Georgian Literature. Ashgate Publishing. p. 21. ISBN 978-1472425522. 
  18. ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 19
  19. ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 66
  20. ^ Georgia A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus, Roger Rosen, p 18
  21. ^ The Making of the Georgian Nation, Ronald Grigor Suny, p.4
  22. ^ a b c Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 80
  23. ^ Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p. 58
  24. ^ The Complete Works, Jewish Antiquities, Josephus, Book 1, p 57
  25. ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p. 58
  26. ^ The Georgians, David Marshal Lang, p 59
  27. ^ Charles Burney and David Marshal Lang, The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, p. 38
  28. ^ Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p. 57
  29. ^ CToumanoff. Cyril Toumanoff, Studies in Christian Caucasian History, p 69,84
  30. ^ Battaglia V, Fornarino S, Al-Zahery N, et al. (June 2009). "Y-chromosomal evidence of the cultural diffusion of agriculture in southeast Europe". European Journal of Human Genetics. 17 (6): 820–30. doi:10.1038/ejhg.2008.249. PMC 2947100Freely accessible. PMID 19107149. 
  31. ^ Toumanoff, Cyril, "Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule", in Studies in Christian Caucasian History, Georgetown, 1963, pp. 374-377. Accessible online at "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-02-08. Retrieved 2012-06-04. 
  32. ^ Rapp, Stephen H., Jr (2007). "7 - Georgian Christianity". The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity. John Wiley & Sons. p. 138. ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9. Retrieved 11 May 2012. 
  33. ^ "GEORGIA iii. Iranian elements in Georgian art and archeology". Retrieved 1 January 2015. 
  34. ^ "The Making of the Georgian Nation". Retrieved 2 January 2015. 
  35. ^ 2002 census results - p. 132
  36. ^ Gallup Public Opinion Research, 2008 Gallup World Poll, Question:"Does religion occupy an important place in your life?" with possible answers of "Yes" and "No".
  37. ^ Gallup Public Opinion Research, 2010 Gallup World Poll, Question:"Have you attended a place of worship or religious service within the past 7 days?" with possible answers of "Yes" and "No".
  38. ^ Thomas Liles, "Islam and religious transformation in Adjara", ECMI Working Paper, February 2012, [2], accessed June 4, 2012
  39. ^ Caucasus Analytical Digest No.20, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 11 October 2010
  40. ^ Mack, Glenn R.; Surina, Asele (2005). Food Culture In Russia And Central Asia. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-313-32773-4. 
  41. ^ (Russian) Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г.
  42. ^ (Russian) ССР ГРУЗИЯ (1926 г.)
  43. ^ "Dr Mathijs Pelkmans". Retrieved 21 August 2015. 
  44. ^ Pelkmans,Mathijs. Defending the border: identity, religion, and modernity in the Republic of Georgia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2006, pg. 80
  45. ^ a b Rezvani, Babak (Winter 2009). "The Fereydani Georgian Representation". Anthropology of the Middle East. 4 (2): 52–74. doi:10.3167/ame.2009.040205. 
  46. ^ a b "The Other Languages of Europe". Guus Extra & Durk Gorter. Google Books. Retrieved 26 May 2014. About 91,000 Muslim Georgians living in Turkey. 
  47. ^ "Türkiye'deki Yaşayan Etnik Gruplar Araştırıldı". Milliyet (in Turkish). 2008-06-06. Retrieved 2008-06-07. 
  48. ^ Ramet, Sabrina P. (1989). Religion and Nationalism in Soviet and East European Politics. Durham: Duke University Press. p. 187. ISBN 9780822308911. 
  49. ^ Friedrich, Paul (1994). Encyclopedia of World Cultures: Russia and Eurasia, China (1. publ. ed.). Boston, Massachusetts: G.K. Hall. p. 150. ISBN 9780816118106. A part of the Ingilo population still retains the (Orthodox) Christian faith, but another, larger segment adheres to the Sunni sect of Islam. 
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