Georgia

Georgia is a country located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia. It is part of the Caucasus region, surrounded by the Black Sea to the west, Russia to the north and east, Turkey and Armenia to the south, and Azerbaijan to the southeast. It covers 69,700 square kilometers (26,911 square miles) and has a population of about 4 million. Georgia is a representative democracy governed as a single parliamentary republic. Tbilisi is the capital and largest city, home to about a quarter of its population.

During the classical period, several independent kingdoms were established in what is now Georgia, such as Colchis and Iberia. Georgians officially adopted Christianity in the early 4th century, which contributed to the spiritual and political unity of the early Georgian state. In the Middle Ages, the unified Kingdom of Georgia emerged and reached the golden age during the reign of David IV and King Tamar from the 12th century to the beginning of the 13th century. The kingdom then declined and eventually collapsed under the hegemony of various regional powers, including successive dynasties of Mongolia, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia. In 1783, one of the Kingdoms of Georgia formed an alliance with the Russian Empire, gradually annexing the territory of modern Georgia throughout the 19th century.

After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia emerged as an independent republic under the protection of Germany. After World War I, Georgia was forcibly annexed to the Soviet Union in 1922, becoming one of the 15 constituent republics. By the 1980s, an independence movement emerged and grew rapidly, with Georgia leaving the Soviet Union in April 1991. For most of the next decade, post-Soviet Georgia suffered from economic crises, political instability, ethnic conflicts, and withdrawal wars. Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Following the bloodless Rose Revolution of 2003, Georgia strongly pursued pro-Western foreign policy. Introduced a series of democratic and economic reforms aimed at integration into the European Union and NATO. The country's western orientation quickly worsened relations with Russia, at some point causing a short war in 2008.

Georgia is a developing country and is classified as "very high" in the Human Development Index. Economic reforms since independence have resulted in higher levels of economic freedom and ease of business, as well as reductions in corruption indicators, poverty and unemployment. It was one of the first countries in the world to legalize cannabis and became the only former communist country in the world. The country is a member of international organizations across both Europe and Asia, including the Council of Europe, the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation, OSCE, Eurocontrol, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and GUAM.