Georgia

Population: 4,469,200 (est.)

Language(s): Georgian

Capital: Tbilisi (Official), Kutaisi (Legislative)

Interesting Facts:

• The Georgian lari is the official currency of Georgia.
• Most of the population in Georgia practices Orthodox Christianity, primarily the Georgian Orthodox Church. Muslims make up 9.9% of the population.
• There is also a sizeable Jewish community in Tbilisi served by two synagogues.
• Georgia’s main economic activities include the cultivation of agricultural products such as grapes, citrus fruits, and hazelnuts; mining of manganese, copper, and gold; and output of a small industrial sector producing alcoholic and nonalcoholic beverages, metals, machinery, and chemicals.
• Georgia’s economy was severely damaged due to civil strife in the 1990s.
• The climate of Georgia is typical of a humid subtropical climate with most of the state having mild winters and hot summers.
• The deepest known cave in the world is the Voronya Cave in Georgia.
• Georgia gained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.
• Georgia is considered a transcontinental country.

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of Georgia is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is almost 4.7 million. Georgia is a unitary, semi-presidential republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy.

During the classical era independent kingdoms became established in what is now Georgia. The kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. A unified Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar in the 11th–12th centuries. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the Russian Empire. After a brief period of independence following the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia was occupied by Soviet Russia in 1921, becoming the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic and part of the Soviet Union. After independence in 1991, post-communist Georgia suffered from civil unrest and economic crisis for most of the 1990s. This lasted until the Rose Revolution of 2003, after which the new government introduced democratic and economic reforms.

Georgia is a member of the Council of Europe and the GUAM Organization for Democracy and Economic Development. It contains two de facto independent regions, Abkhazia and South Ossetia, which gained limited international recognition after the 2008 Russo-Georgian War. Georgia considers the regions to be part of its sovereign territory under Russian military occupation.

Source: Wikipedia

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