History

Georgia is the country of ancient civilization. This area was inhabited 1.7-1.8 million years ago. This fact is proved by Homo erectus (human) skull and Anthropos lower jaw discovered in Dmanisi territory, in the south-east of Georgia, in 1999. Nowadays Dmanisi people are regarded as the oldest inhabitants of Eurasia and even called “The first European”.

The recorded history of Georgia dates back more than 4,000 years. The country is proud of the unique Georgian alphabet introduced in 5th century BC. Georgia is also one of the first world countries that adopted Christianity as the state religion in the first half of the 4th century.

Over the centuries, Georgia has been a home for people of different cultural, ethnic and religious backgrounds.

Throughout its long and eventful history Georgia was the object of rivalry between Persia, Turkey and Russia, before being eventually annexed by Russia in the 19th century.

Since emerging from the collapsing Soviet Union as an independent state in 1991, Georgia has gone through the armed conflicts with the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia in 1992-1993, a peaceful Rose Revolution in 2003, and an armed conflict with Russia in 2008.