From the Baltic to the Ukraine, from the Caucasus to Central Asia, the forceful demands of non-Russians for political autonomy are shaking the foundations of the Soviet Empire. The peoples of the Georgian S.S.R. are among those currently shouting for freedom from Moscow. Although Georgia has been part of the Soviet Union since 1921, its people have never lost their special national identity or their reverence for Georgian history, religion, and culture.
A country of majestic mountains, a misty sea coast, and picturesque valleys, Georgia is located between the southeastern shore of the Black Sea and the Caspian lowlands. With 26,900 square miles of land and 5.24 million people, Georgia is one of the smallest of the fifteen Soviet Republics. Economically and culturally, however, it is among the richest. Its mineral and energy wealth include ample supplies of manganese, marble, coal, oil, and natural gas. Agriculturally, it boasts high grade tobacco, viticulture (with over 120 wineries), and extensive tea production, supplying 95 percent of the USSR's total needs. The mild Black Sea climate gives Georgians n advantage over other Soviet farmers. Every spring, winter-weary Russians seek out infamous Georgian entrepreneurs who illegally peddle their home-grown tangerines and flowers on the still snowy streets of Moscow.
Historic Background
Of all the people living in the Transcaucasian region (between the Black and Caspian Seas), the Georgians claim the oldest political tradition; they also boast a unique alphabet dating back to the fifth century. They call themselves Kartvelni (singular, Kartveli) and their homeland Sakartvelo. The European designations for them, for example, the Italian Georgiano, the French Georgien, and the English Georgian, derive from the Persian Gurdj (pl., Gurdjan), which the European Crusaders altered to resemble the name of Saint George.
The ancestors of the Georgian nation appear early in the first millennium B.C. in the annuals of Assyria and, later, of Urartu (modern-day Armenia). Two of the tribal names mentioned are the Diauhi and the Kulkha, ancestors of the Colchians, who controlled large territories at the eastern end of the Black Sea. The Greeks knew of the fabled wealth of Colchis (western Georgia) and grave expression to it in the legend of Medea and the Golden Fleece. Greek settlers from Miletus colonized Colchis from 600 B.C. onward. During the fifth century B.C. the Georgians fell under the hegemony of the Persian Achaemenid Empire of Cyrus the Great and Darius. After Alexander the Great's campaigns in the fourth century B.C., the Georgians established the kingdom of Iberia east of Colchis.
By 65 B.C., Pompeii's Roman legions had forced the Georgians into dependent status. The geographer Strabo described the land as consisting of two ecological zones and ways of life, with highlanders engaging in animal husbandry and lowlanders cultivating gardens, orchards, and vineyards. With Roman officials and legionnaires stationed at strategic points along the coast and in hinterland garrisons, Georgian sociocultural life came under powerful new influences. The Romans built roads that gave the people access to markets in other parts of the Roman Empire and accelerated the spread of customs, products, and techniques through out the land. During the third century A.D. Roman power declined, and the Sassanids of Iran gained supremacy over eastern Georgia, thereby exposing
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