Georgia

Georgia is a country 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 and largest city is Tbilisi. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 square kilometres (26,911 sq mi), and its population is about 3.718 million. Georgia is a unitary parliamentary republic, with the government elected through a representative democracy. Georgia is a member of the United Nations, 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 and a major part of the international community consider the regions to be occupied by Russia. The country's history can be traced back to the Bronze Age Colchian and early Georgian kingdoms, which emerged in the 2nd millennium BC. The Georgians adopted Christianity in the early 4th century. The Georgian alphabet was invented in the 5th century AD, and the first Georgian state was founded in the 9th century AD by Bagrat III, the son of Ashot I of Iberia. The united Georgian monarchy continued through the 11th century, until it was dissolved by the Russian Empire in 1801. The independent Kingdom of Georgia lasted until 1810, when it was annexed by the Russian Empire. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia became part of the Transcaucasian Federative Republic, which was dissolved in 1936, and it was annexed by the Soviet Union. In 1991, the Soviet Union collapsed, and Georgia became an independent country once again.