Georgians

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This article is about the Caucasian ethnic group. For the inhabitants of Georgia, see Demographics of Georgia (country). For the inhabitants of the US state, see Demographics of Georgia (U.S. state). For other uses, see Georgian (disambiguation).
Georgians
Byzantine-influenced fresco[a] wearing Byzantine dress at the Gelati Monastery, UNESCO's World Heritage Site landmark.[3]
Total population
c. 5 million[b]
Regions with significant populations
 Georgia 3,224,600[4][c]
For more, see
Georgian Orthodoxy[5]
Significant: Catholicism and Islam[6]

The Georgians, or Kartvelians

Greece, Iran, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union
.

Georgians arose from

kings of Georgia.[15]

Thereafter and throughout the

Kartli-Kakheti forged an alliance with the Russian Empire. The Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty, proceeding to annex[18][19] the troubled kingdom in 1801[20] as well as the western Georgian kingdom of Imereti in 1810.[21] There were several uprisings and movements to restore the statehood, the most notable being the 1832 plot, which collapsed in failure.[22] Eventually, Russian rule over Georgia was acknowledged in various peace treaties with Iran and the Ottomans, and the remaining Georgian territories were absorbed by the Russian Empire in a piecemeal fashion through the course of the 19th century. Georgians briefly reasserted their independence from Russia under the First Georgian Republic from 1918 to 1921 and finally in 1991 from the Soviet Union
.

The Georgian nation was formed out of a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners,

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. According to the State Ministry on Diaspora Issues of Georgia, unofficial statistics say that there are more than 5 million Georgians in the world.[23]

Etymology

exonymic term "Georgian" resulted from the merger of Persian designation "gurğ" (wolf), with the cult of Saint George popular among the Georgians.[24] The saint's name played a definite role in the transformation of "gurğ/gorg" into "Georgia/Georgian".[25]

endonym "kartveli"[d] (ႵႠႰႧႥႤႪႨ) was found as an archaeological artifact in the neighborhood of Umm Leisun, nearby Jerusalem.[26]
Further information:
Names of the Georgians

Georgians call themselves Kartveli

Iberians.[34]

The term "Georgians" is derived from the country of Georgia. In the past, lore-based theories were given by the medieval French traveller Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name's origin by the popularity of St. George amongst Georgians,[35] 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[32]) they encountered a developed agricultural society.[32]

However, as 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"[36]) as the root of the word.[37] Starting with the Persian word gurğ/gurğān, the word was later adopted in numerous other languages, including Slavic and West European languages.[32][38] 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"[39]).[32]

Anthropology

Further information: Caucasian race

The 18th-century German professor of

British Royal Society Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, widely regarded as one of the founders of the discipline of anthropology and the theory of biological race,[40]
regarded Georgians as the most beautiful race of people.

Caucasian variety – I have taken the name of this variety from Mount Caucasus, both because its neighborhood, and especially its southern slope, produces the most beautiful race of men, I mean the Georgian; and because all physiological reasons converge to this, that in that region, if anywhere, it seems we ought with the greatest probability to place the autochthones (original members) of mankind.[41]

History

A Georgian woman, by Teramo Castelli; and a man, by Cesare Vecellio.
Further information: History of Georgia (country) and Prehistoric Georgia

Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the

Neolithic period.[42] Scholars usually refer to them as Proto-Kartvelian (Proto-Georgians such as Colchians and Iberians) tribes.[43]

The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the

Colchian tribes) established the first Georgian state of Colchis (c. 1350 BCE) before the foundation of the Kingdom of Iberia in the east.[46][47] 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.[48]

According to the renowned scholar of the Caucasian studies

Moschians also were one of the early proto-Georgian tribes which were integrated into the first early Georgian state of Iberia.[47]
The ancient Jewish chronicle by Josephus mentions Georgians as Iberes who were also called Thobel (Tubal).[49] David Marshall Lang argued that the root Tibar gave rise to the form Iber that made the Greeks pick up the name Iberian in the end for the designation of the eastern Georgians.[50]

Skylitzes Chronicle
.

Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of the Georgians.[51] 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.[52]

Colchians in the ancient western Georgian polity of Colchis were another proto-Georgian tribe. They are first mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II, and also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians.[47][53]

Iberians, also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, lived in the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia.[47]

Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.[54][55]

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.[56]

Genetics

Further information:
Genetic history of the Caucasus

An FTDNA collection of Georgian Y-DNA suggests that Georgians have the highest percentage of

I2 (3.8%) and other more minor haplogroups such as E, T and Q.[57]

Culture

unique alphabet
since the early 5th century.
Main article: Culture of Georgia (country)

Language and linguistic subdivisions

Main article: Georgian language

Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other

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.

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

Gelati Monastery, one of the most significant religious structures in Georgia, located near the former capital city of Kutaisi.
Main articles:
Secularism and irreligion in Georgia

According to Orthodox tradition,

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.[61]
The conversion to Christianity eventually placed the Georgians permanently on the front line of conflict between the Islamic and Christian world. 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.

Mameluks, Qizilbash, and ghulams. The Iranian Georgians are all reportedly Shia Muslims today, while Ingiloy (indigenous to Azerbaijan), Laz (indigenous to Turkey), Imerkhevians (indigenous to Turkey), and Georgians in Turkey
(who descend from Georgian immigrants) 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.[64]

Peter the Iberian, Hilarion the Iberian, Shio of Mgvime, John the Iberian, Euthymius the Athonite, George the Hagiorite and David of Gareji on the 14th-century triptych titled as the "Radiant Georgians", kept at the Saint Catherine's Monastery on Mount Sinai.

Cuisine

Georgian Supra, 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.[65]

Geographic subdivisions and subethnic groups

Svan peasant in Mestia, c. 1888

Geographical subdivisions

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
Mingrelians მეგრელი megreli
Samegrelo
 Mingrelian 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
Tushs თუში tushi Tusheti Tushetian dialect

The

1897 Russian census (which accounted people by language), had Imeretian, Svan and Mingrelian languages separate from Georgian.[66]
During the 1926 Soviet census, Svans and Mingrelians were accounted separately from Georgian.[67] Svan and Mingrelian languages are both Kartvelian languages and are closely related to the national Georgian language.

Outside modern Georgia

Main article: Georgian diaspora

Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. According to the London School of Economics' anthropologist Mathijs Pelkmans,[68] Lazs residing in Georgia frequently identify themselves as "first-class Georgians" to show pride, while considering their Muslim counterparts in Turkey as "Turkified Lazs".[69]

Subethnic groups Georgian name Settlement area Language
(dialect) 		Number Difference(s) from mainstream Georgians
(other than location)
Laz people ლაზი lazi Chaneti (Turkey) Laz language 1 million Religion: Muslim majority, Orthodox Minority
Fereydani ფერეიდნელი pereidneli Fereydan (Iran) Pereidnuli dialect 100,000 +[6] Religion: Muslim[6]
Chveneburi
 ჩვენებური chveneburi Black Sea Region (Turkey) Georgian language 91,000[70]–1,000,000[71] Religion: Muslim[70]
Ingiloy people ინგილო ingilo
Zaqatala District
(Azerbaijan) 		Ingiloan dialect 12,000 Religion: Muslim majority,[72]
Orthodox minority[73]
Imerkhevians

(Shavshians)

შავში shavshi
Shavsheti
(Turkey) 		Imerkhevian dialect Religion: Muslim majority.
Klarjians კლარჯი klarji Klarjeti (Turkey) Imerkhevian dialect

Extinct Georgian subdivisions

Throughout history Georgia also has extinct Georgian subdivisions

Name Name in Georgian Geographical location Dialect or language
Dvals დვალი dvali Georgia (
North Ossetia
)
Dval dialect

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The fresco was a demonstration of the ambitious imperial[1] example on which the Georgian monarchs modeled themselves and competed in magnificence with those of Byzantine Empire.[2]
  2. ^ The total figure is merely an estimation; sum of all the referenced populations only.
  3. Russian-occupied territories of Georgia
    .
  4. ^
    Georgian unification, the term would come to signify all-Georgian enterprise, becoming absolute and universal.[29]

References

  1. ^ Rapp (2016), location: 8958
  2. ^ Eastmond, pp. 26-61-62
  3. ^ Eastmond, pp. 60-28
  4. ^ Census data of National Statistics Office of Georgia
  5. ^ "საქართველოს მოსახლეობის საყოველთაო აღწერის საბოლოო შედეგები" (PDF). National Statistics Office of Georgia. 28 April 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 29 April 2016.
  6. ^
    doi:10.3167/ame.2009.040205
    .
  7. ^ Rayfield, pp. 18—19
  8. ^ Suny, p. 21
  9. ^ Rayfield, p. 39
  10. ^ Suny, p. 32
  11. ^ Rayfield, p. 71
  12. ^ Eastmond, p. 39
  13. ^ Rapp (2016), location: 453
  14. ^ W.E.D. Allen, location: 1157
  15. ^ W.E.D. Allen, location: 337
  16. ^ W.E.D. Allen, location: 1612
  17. ^ W.E.D. Allen, location: 344
  18. ^ Suny, pp. 63-65-88
  19. ^ Rayfield, p. 259
  20. ^ Suny, p. 59
  21. ^ Suny, pp. 64-66
  22. ^ Suny, pp. 71-72
  23. ^ Statistics Archived 13 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine 22.04.2015
  24. ^ Rayfield, p. 12
  25. ISBN 5-511-00775-7
  26. ISBN 978-88-6240-274-3
  27. ^ Rapp & Crego, 2, pp. 1-2
  28. ^ Rapp & Crego, I, pp. 1-3
  29. ^ Rapp & Crego, 12-I, pp. 4-5
  30. ^ Suny, p. 3
  31. ^ Rapp (2016), location: 656
  32. ^
    ISBN 978-1-4422-4146-6
    .
  33. ^ Rayfield, p. 13
  34. ^ Braund, David. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, pp. 17–18
  35. ^ Peradze, Gregory. "The Pilgrims' derivation of the name Georgia". Georgica, Autumn, 1937, nos. 4 & 5, 208–209
  36. ISBN 978-3-11-012884-0
    .
  37. ISBN 978-1-4422-4146-6
    . However, such explanations are rejected by the scholarly community, who point to the Persian gurğ/gurğān as the root of the word (...)
  38. ISBN 978-0-8204-5991-2
    . The Russian designation of Georgia (Gruziya) also derives from the Persian gurg.
  39. ^ Rapp (2016), location: 1086
  40. PMID 27874171
    .
  41. ^ Blumenbach, De generis humani varietate nativa (3rd ed. 1795), trans. Thomas Bendyshe (1865). Quoted e.g. in Arthur Keith, '"Blumenbach's Centenary", Man (journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute of Great Britain and Ireland), v. 40, pp. 82–85 (1940).
  42. ^ Lang, p. 19
  43. ^ Lang, p. 66
  44. ^ Georgia A Sovereign Country of the Caucasus, Roger Rosen, p 18
  45. ^ Suny, p. 4
  46. ^ Rayfield, pp. 13-14
  47. ^ a b c d Toumanoff, p. 80
  48. ^ Toumanoff, p. 58
  49. ^ The Complete Works, Jewish Antiquities, Josephus, Book 1, p 57
  50. ^ Suny, p. 11
  51. ^ Suny, p. 6
  52. ^ Lang, p. 58
  53. ^ Lang, p. 59
  54. ^ Charles Burney and David Marshal Lang, The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, p. 38
  55. ^ Toumanoff, p. 57
  56. ^ Toumanoff, pp. 69—84
  57. ^ "FamilyTreeDNA - Georgian DNA Project". www.familytreedna.com. Retrieved 19 December 2022.
  58. ^ Toumanoff, Cyril, "Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule", in Studies in Christian Caucasian History, Georgetown, 1963, pp. 374–377. Accessible online at "Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule by Cyril Toumanoff. Eastern Asia Minor, Georgia, Georgian History, Armenia, Armenian History". Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  59. ISBN 978-1-4443-3361-9
    . Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  60. ^ "GEORGIA iii. Iranian elements in Georgian art and archeology". Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  61. ISBN 0-253-20915-3
    . Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  62. ^ "2002 census results – p. 132" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 October 2015. Retrieved 4 June 2012.
  63. ^ Thomas Liles, "Islam and religious transformation in Adjara", ECMI Working Paper, February 2012, [1] Archived 5 November 2015 at the Wayback Machine, accessed 4 June 2012
  64. ^ Caucasus Analytical Digest No.20, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, 11 October 2010
  65. ISBN 0-313-32773-4
    .
  66. ^ (in Russian) Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г.
  67. ^ (in Russian) ССР ГРУЗИЯ (1926 г.)
  68. ^ "Dr Mathijs Pelkmans". Retrieved 21 August 2015.
  69. ^ Pelkmans, Mathijs. Defending the border: identity, religion, and modernity in the Republic of Georgia. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 2006, pg. 80
  70. ^
    ISBN 978-1-85359-509-7. Retrieved 26 May 2014. About 91,000 Muslim Georgians living in Turkey. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help
    )
  71. ^ "Türkiye'deki Yaşayan Etnik Gruplar Araştırıldı". Milliyet (in Turkish). 6 June 2008. Retrieved 7 June 2008.
  72. ISBN 978-0-8223-0891-1
    .
  73. ISBN 978-0-8161-1810-6
    . A part of the Ingilo population still retains the (Orthodox) Christian faith, but another, larger segment adheres to the Sunni sect of Islam.

Bibliography
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