Europe · The successor kingdoms
Georgia
drawn on the map AD 567–576, 638–646, 724–1009, 1918–1921, 1992–2024
This entry is a cross-referencing thread tying together the separate early Georgian polities (Principality of Iberia/Kartli in the east; Lazica and the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the west; the Bagratid principalities of Tao-Klarjeti; and Kakheti-Hereti). The Georgians (Kartvelians) were among the earliest Christian peoples, Kartli/Iberia having been converted in the 4th century (traditionally by St. Nino).
- Shown on the map
- AD 567–576, 638–646, 724–1009, 1918–1921, 1992–2024 (5 periods)
- Peak area
- 86k km²
- Region
- Europe
Overview
This entry is a cross-referencing thread tying together the separate early Georgian polities (Principality of Iberia/Kartli in the east; Lazica and the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the west; the Bagratid principalities of Tao-Klarjeti; and Kakheti-Hereti). The Georgians (Kartvelians) were among the earliest Christian peoples, Kartli/Iberia having been converted in the 4th century (traditionally by St. Nino). Through the early Middle Ages, Georgian lands were fragmented and contested among Byzantium, Sasanian Persia, and the Arab caliphate, but were unified culturally by the Georgian church and the Georgian literary language.
The unification into a single Kingdom of Georgia was achieved by Bagrat III (b. c. 963, d. 7 May 1014), of the Bagrationi dynasty, son of Gurgen of Iberia and Gurandukht of Abkhazia (daughter of King George II of Abkhazia), and adopted heir of David III of Tao. Bagrat became king of Abkhazia in 978 (as Bagrat II) through his maternal inheritance, and eristavi/king of Kartli from 975. When his father Gurgen died in 1008, Bagrat inherited the Kingdom of the Iberians (Kartli); already holding Abkhazia, he thereby became the first king of a unified Abkhazia and Iberia — effectively founding the Kingdom of Georgia in 1008. He completed the unification by annexing Kakheti-Hereti in the east in 1010. Kutaisi served as the capital of the unified kingdom.
Note
Georgia reached its medieval apogee later, under David IV the Builder (r. 1089–1125) and Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213), beyond the scope of this early-medieval treatment. (Bagrat III's birth is given as c. 963 in his own article, c. 960 elsewhere.)
Common questions
- What was Georgia?
- This entry is a cross-referencing thread tying together the separate early Georgian polities (Principality of Iberia/Kartli in the east; Lazica and the Kingdom of Abkhazia in the west; the Bagratid principalities of Tao-Klarjeti; and Kakheti-Hereti). The Georgians (Kartvelians) were among the earliest Christian peoples, Kartli/Iberia having been converted in the 4th century (traditionally by St. Nino).
- When is Georgia shown on the map?
- The border data draws Georgia AD 567–576, 638–646, 724–1009, 1918–1921, 1992–2024, in 5 separate periods. The source samples borders at fixed dates, so a span can begin late or run on past the end.
- How large was Georgia?
- At its greatest extent drawn on this map, Georgia covered about 86,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Sources
This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each polity as the primary basis, cross-checked against Encyclopædia Britannica and the World History Encyclopedia, while flagging entries built on thin or contested evidence — Samo's Empire on a single Fredegar passage, Venice's 697 founding date as legendary, the Pacta conventa as a probable forgery. The article this entry is anchored on:
- Wikipedia — Georgia (country) en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georgia_(country)
This entry was last updated .
This entry was researched and drafted with AI from the sources above, and has not been reviewed by a historian. How entries are made
Text available under CC BY-SA 4.0: reuse it with a credit to The World Through Time and a link to this page. Passages drawing on the Wikipedia articles listed above are also licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by their contributors.
Border geometry for the map itself comes from Cliopatria v0.12 (Seshat Global History Databank, CC-BY-4.0).
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