When did the Kingdom of Georgia exist?

The Kingdom of Georgia existed 1008–c. 1490. On this map it is drawn 1010–1240, 1333–1462, 1468–1578, 1706–1737, 1744–1802.

How large was the Kingdom of Georgia?

At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Georgia covered about 197,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.

Europe · High and late Middle Ages

Kingdom of Georgia

1008–c. 1490

See it on the map → Wikipedia ↗

Existed: 1008–c. 1490
Shown on the map: 1010–1240, 1333–1462, 1468–1578, 1706–1737, 1744–1802 (5 periods)
Peak area: 197k km²
Region: Europe

Overview

The Kingdom of Georgia (Georgian Sakartvelo) was the unified medieval Georgian monarchy, conventionally dated from 1008, when Bagrat III united the eastern and western Georgian realms under the Bagrationi (Bagratid) dynasty. It reached the zenith of its power and prestige in the Middle Ages during the "Golden Age" of the 11th–13th centuries. Its religion was Georgian Orthodox Christianity (the autocephalous Georgian Church), and its high culture—literature, manuscript illumination, cloisonné enamel, and church architecture—flourished in this period.

History

David IV "the Builder" (r. 1089–1125) transformed a war-ravaged, Seljuk-dominated kingdom into the dominant Caucasian power. He reformed the army and administration, founded the Gelati Academy, and, at the Battle of Didgori (1121), with a much smaller force routed a large Seljuk coalition, recovering Tbilisi (1122) and making it his capital. The apogee came under his great-granddaughter Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213), the first woman to rule Georgia in her own right, whose reign saw victories over the atabegs of Azerbaijan (Shamkor, 1195), the seizure of Dvin and Ani, expansion of influence into northern Persia and northeastern Anatolia, and the foundation of the allied Empire of Trebizond (1204). This was the setting of Shota Rustaveli's epic The Knight in the Panther's Skin.

Decline and legacy

Decline followed swiftly. The Khwarezmian invasion (1225) and then the Mongol conquest from 1236 reduced Georgia to a tributary of the Ilkhanate; the 14th century brought recovery under George V "the Brilliant" but then the eight devastating campaigns of Timur (Tamerlane) between 1386 and 1403, which wrecked the kingdom. Turkoman (Qara Qoyunlu and Aq Qoyunlu) pressure, dynastic strife, and the loss of Constantinople (1453)—which cut Georgia off from the Christian world—completed the ruin. In the civil war of 1463–1490 the kingdom disintegrated: by 1490/1491 a royal council formally recognised its partition into the kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti, with the principality of Samtskhe already effectively independent. Georgian historiography relies heavily on the medieval chronicle corpus Kartlis Tskhovreba ("Life of Kartli"), whose earliest layers and dating are debated by scholars, so some early dates and reign-lengths remain uncertain.

Common questions

What was the Kingdom of Georgia?: The Kingdom of Georgia (Georgian Sakartvelo) was the unified medieval Georgian monarchy, conventionally dated from 1008, when Bagrat III united the eastern and western Georgian realms under the Bagrationi (Bagratid) dynasty. It reached the zenith of its power and prestige in the Middle Ages during the "Golden Age" of the 11th–13th centuries.
When did the Kingdom of Georgia exist?: The Kingdom of Georgia existed 1008–c. 1490. On this map it is drawn 1010–1240, 1333–1462, 1468–1578, 1706–1737, 1744–1802.
How large was the Kingdom of Georgia?: At its greatest extent drawn on this map, the Kingdom of Georgia covered about 197,000 km². That is the largest area the border data gives it across the years it is drawn, not necessarily its greatest extent in history.
Who ruled the Kingdom of Georgia?: David IV "the Builder" (r. 1089–1125) transformed a war-ravaged, Seljuk-dominated kingdom into the dominant Caucasian power. He reformed the army and administration, founded the Gelati Academy, and, at the Battle of Didgori (1121), with a much smaller force routed a large Seljuk coalition, recovering Tbilisi (1122) and making it his capital.
How did the Kingdom of Georgia end?: Decline followed swiftly. The Khwarezmian invasion (1225) and then the Mongol conquest from 1236 reduced Georgia to a tributary of the Ilkhanate; the 14th century brought recovery under George V "the Brilliant" but then the eight devastating campaigns of Timur (Tamerlane) between 1386 and 1403, which wrecked the kingdom.

Sources

This compendium cites its sources once for the whole document rather than per territory. Its bibliography names the English Wikipedia articles for each beylik, khanate and principality as the primary basis, with Encyclopædia Britannica, the World History Encyclopedia, museum and academic sources (the Baku Presidential Library on the Shirvanshahs, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum on the Armenian Genocide) and the historiography of early Ottoman state formation (Wittek, Lindner, Kafadar, Lowry). The article this entry is anchored on:

Wikipedia — Kingdom of Georgia en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kingdom_of_Georgia

This entry was last updated 27 September 2026.

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).

See the Kingdom of Georgia in its world

Open the atlas at 1125 and every neighbour, rival and successor is on screen with it — then drag the slider and watch what happens next.

Open the map at 1125 →