GEORGIA 



was taken by the British, who re- 

 tained it until 1782. The Creek and 

 the Cherokee Indians were removed 

 from the state between 1832 and 

 1838. Georgia seceded from the 

 Union in 1861, but was readmitted 

 in 1870. See A Student's History 

 of Georgia, L. B. Evans, 1898. 



Georgia, GULF OR STRAIT OF. 

 Inlet of the N. Pacific Ocean, divid- 

 ing Vancouver from the British 

 Columbian mainland. Its N. ex- 

 tension, Queen Charlotte Sound, 

 connects with the Pacific Ocean, 

 while its S. continuation leads to 

 Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget 

 Sound. Its length is about 250 m., 

 its breadth 29 m. 



Georgia. Republic formed from 

 parts of the Russian governor- 

 generalship of Caucasia. It has an 

 area of 35,500 sq. m. and an esti- 

 mated pop. of 3,176,000, is 

 bounded N. by the Caucasus mts., 

 E. by the republic of Azerbeijan, 

 S. by the Armenian republic of 

 Erivan, and W. by the Black Sea. 



A deep valley corridor runs for 

 500 m. between the Black and 

 Caspian Seas, with the lofty Cau- 

 casus range rising steeply above it 

 to the N., and the Armenian mts. 

 almost as steeply skirting it on the 

 S. The foothills from both ranges 

 meet across the valley about 100 m. 

 from the Black Sea, and form a 

 watershed, the Suram mts. West- 

 ward from these low mountains 

 flows the river Rion to the Black 

 Sea, and eastward the Kura to the 

 Caspian. Georgia is the rich and 

 sheltered land along these rivers 

 for 250 m., and the highlands N. 

 and S. that enclose the valley. 

 Geographical Features 



Through the two valleys, and 

 tunnelling the Suram mts., is the 

 rly. from Batuni to Baku, the cen- 

 tre of the petroleum industry of 

 Azerbeijan, and the oil-pipe to 



3487 



the Black Sea coast follows the 

 line. The area of Georgia E. of the 

 little watershed is grouped round 

 the ancient city of Tiflis, the capi- 

 tal ; and the westward slope centres 

 on Kutais. Batum is neutralised 

 to serve the three republics of 

 Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbeijan 

 as their principal port, and Poti at 

 the mouth of the Rion serves the 

 Kutais province. N. of Poti a nar- 

 rowing strip of the E. Black Sea 

 coast, between the mt. range and 

 the sea, past Sukhum and Sochi 

 to Tuapse, has joined Georgia; and 

 S. of Batum the republic includes 

 the Armenian highlands through 

 Ardahan, formerly in the province of 

 Kars. The Sukhum district in the 

 N.E., backed by the slopes of the 

 Caucasus, resembles the Riviera in 

 its agreeable climate, and, being 

 wider, is more fertile. It lacks 

 rlys., but a main road connects it 

 with the rly. junction of Santredi 

 on the Rion river. 



Crops and Minerals 



Georgia has an exceptionally 

 wide range of productions. Wheat, 

 maize, barley, cotton and tobacco 

 are grown, and tea is harvested on 

 the Black Sea coastal strip. The 

 Armenian hills are heavily tim- 

 bered. Below Tiflis, where the 

 valley opens out towards Azer- 

 beijan, there are wide cattle- 

 breeding steppes. Silk is exten- 

 sively produced. The vine flour- 

 ishes, especially on the Caucasian 

 side of the Kura valley below 

 Tiflis. Fruits abound, including 

 oranges and lemons, olives, apri- 

 oots, peaches, plums, and apples. 

 The mineral wealth is varied and 

 considerable. Manganese ore is the 

 most worked, but copper and coal 

 are also mined. Oil is present, 

 though not so abundantly as in the 

 lower end of the Kura valley in 

 Azerbeijan. 



Georgia. Map of the Caucasian Socialist republic formerly Portion of the 

 Russian empire, in which a Saviet government was set up m 1921 



GEORGIA 



The Georgians, as a race, have 

 a history to be proud of. Though 

 they have held a valley that has 

 been one of the world's natural 

 highways from E. to W., and have 

 been pressed upon almost con- 

 tinuously by more powerful na- 

 tions, they have kept their inde- 

 pendence for 2,000 years, and pre- 

 served their identity, language, and 

 religion with unconquerable tena- 

 city. In 302 B.C. they threw off the 

 yoke imposed by Alexander the 

 Great. Christianity became the 

 state religion in A.D. 323, and 

 though the country has been occu- 

 pied temporarily by the Arabs, the 

 Turks, and the Persians, and over- 

 run and devastated by hordes of 

 Mongols under Jenghiz Khan and 

 Tamerlane on their way to the W., 

 it has revived and prospered. By 

 its fidelity to Christianity Georgia 

 has always been an annex of Europe, 

 an outlying branch of the Eastern 

 ChurchVather than an Asiatic land. 



It was its religious associations 

 that at last temporarily destroyed 

 its independence. Pressed heav- 

 ily by the Turks at the end of 

 the 18th century, the Georgian 

 king, George XIII, appealed to his 

 coreligionist, the tsar of Russia, 

 for protection. The Russians en- 

 tered the country, and, promising 

 to preserve in it all the Georgian 

 rights, annexed it by assent in 1801. 

 The attempt to Russianise a peo- 

 ple who had an independent exist- 

 ence 1,000 years before Russia was 

 heard of, failed, and when in Oct., 



1917, the Bolshevist government 

 was formed in Russia, the three 

 chief races on the southern flank 

 of the Caucasus range consulted as 

 to their future. As a result, the 

 democratic republic of Georgia, the 

 Armenian republic of Erivan, to- 

 gether with the Tartar republic of 

 Azerbeijan agreed to form one 

 independent government as the 

 Federal Democratic Republic of 

 Transcaucasia, each republic re- 

 taining local government. 



The New Republic 

 A united parliament or diet 

 (called the Seym) met April 22, 



1918, but, after five weeks of dis- 

 agreement, the federal republic 

 was dissolved, and each of the 

 temporary partners organised a 

 government in its own capital. 

 Georgian separate independence 

 was proclaimed on May 26, 1918, 

 and on March 12, 1919, an elected 

 assembly, voted for by both sexes, 

 ratified what had been done. Fol- 

 lowing a revolution a Soviet govern- 

 ment was set up in 1921. See The 

 Kingdom of Georgia, 0. Wardiop, 

 1888 ; Mineral Resources of Georgia 

 and Caucasia, D. Ghambusheclze, 

 1919. 



John Derry 



