Line #26 UsefulNotes/GeorgiaCaucasus


1	[[quoteright:328:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gg-map.gif]]
2	[[caption-width-right:328:"ატლანტა"-ს ვერ იპოვი.[[note]]You will not find Atlanta.[[/note]]]]
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4	''[[Music/RayCharles Georgia on My Mind...]]''
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6	Not ''[[UsefulNotes/GeorgiaUSA that]]'' [[TheDeepSouth Georgia]] [[note]]although that line is referenced in "Back in the USSR", and it spawned a lot of jokes about Russians in UsefulNotes/{{Atlanta}} during the 2008 invasion[[/note]]--Georgia ('''Georgian''': საქართველო ''Sakartvelo'', '''Russian''': Грузия ''Gruziya'') is a country located right in between Eastern UsefulNotes/{{Europe}} and West UsefulNotes/{{Asia}}. It is situated in UsefulNotes/TheCaucasus, and its national capital is Tbilisi. Formerly the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic]], it became independent with the collapse of the [[UsefulNotes/SovietRussiaUkraineAndSoOn Soviet Union]]. But the history of country goes much further back. It was mentioned in Greek myths as "Kolkhis" and since then it has always been a target of many empires due to its strategic location at the crossroads of Europe and Asia. It has been invaded by [[AncientRome Romans]], [[UsefulNotes/{{Iran}} Persians]], Arabs, UsefulNotes/{{Mongol\|ia}}s, Seljuks, [[UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} Ottomans]], UsefulNotes/{{Russia}}ns and basically every major forces of nearby regions. Because many of these invaders happened to be [[UsefulNotes/{{Islam}} Muslim]], UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} became tightly associated with nationality, and Georgia gained the nickname "Gatekeeper of Christianity".
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8	Georgia produced a lot of aircrafts for the Soviet Union, ending up with some left in the factory when it gained independence, but little else. It had an Su-25 fleet undergoing upgrades. What's left of it is unclear. It was also a major supplier of electric locomotives, and still exports them to UsefulNotes/{{Ukraine}}.
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10	The country underwent a peaceful revolution in 2003, deposing Eduard Shevardnadze, former Soviet foreign minister. Russian forces have now been withdrawn. Georgia was a pro-American state for a time, with plans to join UsefulNotes/{{NATO}}, and has a street in Tbilisi named after UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush. It was a member of the Multinational Coalition that fought in [[UsefulNotes/TheWarOnTerror the Iraq War]], sending 4,000 troops in total.
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12	Georgia has two breakaway regions, UsefulNotes/{{Abkhazia}} and UsefulNotes/SouthOssetia, both backed by Moscow. During the Soviet period, both regions enjoyed autonomous status (Abkhazia as an Autonomous Republic, South Ossetia as an Autonomous Oblast), which meant among other things, their own language media (such as an Abkhazian newspaper and language institute) and different representation in the Supreme Soviet. When Georgia departed from the Soviet Union, it became clear that both regions would lose their prior arrangement. During the chaos of the Georgian Civil War that broke out in 1991, both Abkhazia and South Ossetia decided to break away. The Abkhazian war led to the mass expulsion of ethnic Georgians from Abkhazia and many deaths, with atrocities on both sides. Meanwhile, Georgia also lost control over South Ossetia, although many Georgians remained there after they agreed on a peace treaty. However, tensions remained long after the war, culminating in Georgian troops invading South Ossetia to "restore peace and order" in August 2008. Due to the indiscriminate shelling by Georgian forces, they ended up killing several Russian peacekeepers in the area, as well as dozens of South Ossetian civilians. This was considered an act of war by Moscow, and led to a full-scale Russian invasion of Georgia. The result of ''that'', in turn, was Georgians having to leave South Ossetia as well. To this day, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are only recognized by Russia and a few of its allies, while the rest of the international world recognize them as Georgian territories. They also have significant ties with the breakaway UsefulNotes/{{Moldova}}n territory of UsefulNotes/{{Transnistria}} (which, on the contrary, is not recognized by any UN member). In 2010, a major Georgian television news network broadcasted an [[Radio/TheWaroftheWorlds Orson Wells]]-style hoax stating Russia had invaded Georgia, and that the political opposition had killed the President. Ties between Georgia and Russia remain strained; the two have no formal diplomatic relations, aside from an Interests Section in Russia's [[UsefulNotes/{{Switzerland}} Swiss]] embassy. In October 2012, the then-newly elected Prime Minister Bidzina Ivanishvili pledged to try to mend Georgia's severely damaged relations with Russia.
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14	A third region just north of UsefulNotes/{{Armenia}} known as Samtskhe-Javakheti, populated largely by ethnic Armenians, has also been pushing for autonomy (since the region has been subject to severe neglect, forced ethnic integration, and kept in poverty by an apathetic Georgian government), leading to some instability, ethnic clashes and shaky relations with Armenia as a result. Though Armenia has shown concern for the plight of the people of Javakh, a repeat of the war those two countries had over the region back in 1918 isn't too likely as landlocked Armenia needs Georgia for importing and exporting, and it already has its hands full with UsefulNotes/{{Turkey}} and an increasingly threatening UsefulNotes/{{Azerbaijan}}. Georgia also has a small border dispute with Azerbaijan over the David-Gareja monastery complex, but this has never evolved into a serious issue. Otherwise, Georgia has fairly stable relations with all three countries, aside from Armenia and Azerbaijan often trying to convince it to take sides in their conflicts.
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16	Georgian uses a different alphabet from Russian and a VERY different language. It is (as far as we know) completely unrelated to any of the major language families, instead being part of a "Kartvelian" family more or less consisting of itself and a couple of close relatives.[[note]]Even "Kartvelian" itself is just derived from ''kartveli'', which is Georgian for, well, Georgian.[[/note]]
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18	Georgia is known as the homeland of wine. The first traces of winemaking were found there. Today, there are over 500 sorts of winegrapes known in Georgia. Another cultural characteristic is that Georgia is (one of the) earliest countries to develop polyphonic music, with three vocal parts. Yet another important characteristic is [[SacredHospitality the importance of guests]]. An old saying is that a guest comes from God and was considered sacred. Even today, foreign guests are amazed by the love and respect the strange people show them. Due to the importance of Christianity, its elements are everywhere, most notably almost all of the old architecture consists of churches, and the flag too contains five crosses; that said, Georgia has long had a large minority of Muslims who remain to this day, although many of them have spread across the Muslim world and assimilated there (a good number in the 19th century joined the armies of the neighboring Circassians and ended up in high places across the Arab world). All in all, the Georgian culture was always Western-oriented, but with big Eastern influences, creating a unique culture.
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20	Georgia (West Georgia, to be precise) is also the place [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Jason and the Argonauts went to get the Golden Fleece]], although it was named Colchis at that time and later for quite a while.
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22	The PatronSaint of the country is St. George, as with UsefulNotes/{{Serbia}}, Russia, UsefulNotes/{{England}}, UsefulNotes/{{Greece}}, UsefulNotes/{{Montenegro}} and UsefulNotes/{{Canada}}, among other territories. However the country itself is not named after St. George, at least not directly; the name comes from the Ancient Greek word "geōrgos", which means "land-worker". The Greeks named the country "geōrgos", because they were the only people working on land in the region as they first met them. However, the name George has the same origin; it was a personal name meaning "land-worker", i.e. farmer. (The Georgians reciprocated by calling Greece "Saberdzneti", based on the root word "berdz", which means "wisdom". Georgian is one of two languages that doesn't refer to Greece using derivatives of "Greece", "Ionia", or "Hellas", the other being Chechen, and likely the only one that refers to Greece as "land of wisdom".)
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24	One interesting thing about Georgia is that it's not clear on which continent it is. According to some sources, it's Europe, according to others - Asia (German Post, for example, considers it to be in Asia, as it costs more to send things to Asia than to Europe, but the OECD considers it to be in Europe). Actually, the problem plagues the entire Caucasus; ordinary folks would have problems dictating which continent that neighbors Azerbaijan and Armenia (the latter of which, geographically-speaking, is located ''wholly'' in Asia, but is sometimes classified as a part of Europe due to its Christian heritage) belong to. The three countries, after all, are the crossroad of the two continents and are the definitive examples of "East meets West", sharing this distinction with Turkey, UsefulNotes/{{Cyprus}}, UsefulNotes/{{Kazakhstan}} and Russia.[[note]]The most commonly used of the several competing Europe-Asia geographical boundary lines passes along the spine of the Caucasus range, putting most of Georgia in Asia but slivers of the north in Europe; note, however, that "most commonly used" does not mean "used by the majority" - not even close.[[/note]]
25
26	'''Famous Georgians or Georgian diaspora'''
27	* Katie Melua, a singer.
28	* Ioseb Besarionis dze Jugashvili, (which, by the way, means Iosef Besarion's son Jugashvili and was a common way to name oneself in Soviet Union) aka UsefulNotes/JosefStalin.
29	* Lavrenti Pavles dze Beria, Stalin's right-hand man and the head of the NKVD StateSec. However, his family was actually Mingrelian, an ethnic minority in Georgia that is a distinct subgroup among the Georgian majority. The Soviet government classified them as a part of the Georgian ethnicity beginning in the 1930s, and they have a different language, although it's close to Georgian (most of the Mingrelians know both languages).
30	* Giorgi Kvinitadze, commander-in-chief of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia. He went into exile in France when the Red Army invaded the country and made it a Soviet republic. Actress Creator/MaryamDabo is one of his grandchildren.
31	* Meliton Kantaria, the [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Great Patriotic War]] soldier who raised the Victory Banner over the Reichstag in 1945.
32	* John M. Shalikashvili, Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1993-1997; the only foreign-born general to hold America's top military post.
33	* Eduard Shevardnadze ([[IncrediblyLamePun not to be confused with]] Film/EdwardScissorhands), Foreign Minister of the Soviet Union known for helping bring about an end to the UsefulNotes/ColdWar in the [[TheEighties late 1980s]]. When the Cold War ended, he ran for (and won) the post of President of Georgia, a job he lost in 2004 during the "Rose Revolution" protests.
34	* Nodar Kumaritashvili, a luge specialist who was killed in a training accident just before the [[TheOlympics 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver]]. His teammates considered withdrawing before dedicating their performances to him. They also wore black arm bands and tied a black ribbon around the Georgian flag during the parade of nations.
35	* George Balanchine, famous Georgian-Russian-American ballet choreographer and founder of the New York City Ballet. His family's original surname is Balanchivadze.
36	* Creator/ElenaSatine, although she started on a variety show at the age of 6 in Georgia, she later emigrated to the US and is much better known for her role in ''Series/{{Revenge}}''.
37	* Grigory Shalvovich Chkhartishvili aka Boris Akunin, writer. Author of the ''Literature/ErastFandorin'' series among other things.
38	* Hélène Carrère d'Encausse, born Zourabishvili (family of Georgian refugees who fled the Bolsheviks), French historian and member of the Académie française who specialized in all things USSR and Russia.
39
40	!!Georgian Media
41	* GeorgianMedia
42
43	!! Georgia in fiction
44	* Myth/ClassicalMythology features Georgia, known as "Colchis", as one of the foreign kingdoms that the the ancient Greeks sometimes visited as part of their voyages. Colchis is featured notably in the Jason and the Argonauts story, as the location of the Golden Fleece, the goal of Jason's quest. His lover ([[UngratefulBastard whom he eventually dumped]]), Medea, was a Colchian, too.
45	* ''Theatre/TheCaucasianChalkCircle'' is set in the medieval Kingdom of Georgia, with frame story in modern (that is, given when it was written in 1940s Soviet-era) Georgia.
46	* ''VideoGame/SplinterCell1'' concerns a PresidentEvil from Georgia invading neighboring countries and launching cyberattacks (and planning some even worse things) against the USA. The first and last mission take place in Tbilisi.
47	* The five first missions of ''VideoGame/GhostRecon1'' (released in 2001) take place in Georgia (and the rest takes place in other former Soviet Republics). The country has been invaded by Russian ultranationalists and Ossetian separatists backed by them, and the Ghosts are sent to help liberate it. A Georgian specialist, machine-gunner Guram Osadze, joins the Ghosts after said missions are completed. The most disturbing thing about the game is the date of its events... ''2008'', the very same year as the RealLife war with Russia out of yet another Ossetian crisis. There's also a blatant case of ArtisticLicense regarding the apparently ''[[GratuitousRussian Russian]]'' signs in the war-torn streets of Tbilisi.
48	* Georgia is featured as the main setting of ''[[VideoGame/SniperGhostWarrior Sniper: Ghost Warrior 3]]''.
49	* Abkhazia is featured in the first chapter of ''VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance'', with a terrorist coup trying to decrease Russian influence in the region.
50	* The Abkhazian war is dramatized in Estonian film ''Film/{{Tangerines}}''.
51	* 1964 Soviet film ''Film/FatherOfASoldier'' was a Georgian production about an elderly Georgian farmer who leaves his village to find his son, a tankist serving with the Red Army on the Eastern Front of World War II.
52	* The very first episode of ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' featured an Creator/AlbertBrooks comedy short film in which the United States and the Soviet Union traded Georgias.
53	* Nelly Virsaladze from ''{{Manga/Saki}}'' is from Georgia (sometimes referred to as Sakartvelo), having won the junior high world Mahjong championship. She becomes the captain for the Mahjong team of a Tokyo high school.
54	* Fiction might not be the right word, but the Trio take a trip to Georgia (and neighbouring Azerbaijan) as part of their road trip from the shores of the Black Sea to the shores of the Caspian in season three of ''Series/TheGrandTour''. Apart from getting up to their usual antics in Stalin's home town of Gori, they pronounced the country to be a "hidden gem".
55	* ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2019'' ends in eastern Georgia with an assault on General Barkov's hidden gas factory.
56	* ''Film/DoNotGrieve'' is a 1969 comedy film made during the Soviet era, but in the Georgian language with an all-Georgian cast.
57	----
58	[[AC:The Georgian flag]]
59	https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/georgia_flag_7977.png
60	->The flag is based on the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_George%27s_cross Saint George's Cross]] (the same as UsefulNotes/{{England}}), in honor of its patron saint. Its main differentiation from other flags of its type are four [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bolnisi_cross Bolnisi Crosses]] on each quarter, representing Christianity in Georgia. The flag was adopted in 2003 to replace the original flag of a maroon field with a black-and-white canton, which had been associated with Georgia's post-Soviet troubles.
61	----
62	[[AC:The Georgian national anthem]]
63
64	->ჩემი ხატია სამშობლო,
65	->სახატე მთელი ქვეყანა,
66	->განათებული მთა-ბარი,
67	->წილნაყარია ღმერთთანა.
68	->თავისუფლება დღეს ჩვენი
69	->მომავალს უმღერს დიდებას,
70	->ცისკრის ვარსკვლავი ამოდის
71	->ამოდის და ორ ზღვას შუა ბრწყინდება,
72	->და დიდება თავისუფლებას,
73	->თავისუფლებას დიდება!
74	[[note]]
75	->Čemi xaṭia samšoblo,
76	->Saxaṭe mteli kveqana,
77	->Ganatebuli mta-bari
78	->Ċilnaqaria Ġmerttana.
79	->Tavisupleba dġes čveni
80	->Momavals umġers didebas,
81	->Cisḳris varsḳvlavi amodis
82	->Amodis da or zġvas šua brċqindeba,
83	->Da dideba tavisuplebas,
84	->Tavisuplebas dideba!
85	[[/note]]
86
87	--
88
89	->Our icon is the homeland
90	->Trust in God is our creed,
91	->Enlightened land of plains and mounts,
92	->Blessed by God and holy heaven.
93	->The freedom we have learnt to follow
94	->Makes our future spirits stronger,
95	->Morning star will rise above us
96	->And lightens up the land between the two seas.
97	->Glory to long-cherished freedom,
98	->Glory to liberty!
99	----
100	[[AC:Government]]
101	* Unitary parliamentary constitutional republic
102	** President: Salome Zourabichvili
103	** Chairperson of the Parliament: Shalva Papuashvili
104	** Prime Minister: Irakli Kobakhidze
105	----
106	[[AC:Miscellaneous]]
107	* '''Capital and largest city:''' Tbilisi (თბილისი)
108	* '''Population:''' 3,716,858 (excluding Abkhazia and North Ossetia) or 4,012,104 (including Abkhazia and North Ossetia)
109	* '''Area:''' 69,700 sq km (26,900 sq mi) (119th)
110	* '''Currency:''' Georgian lari (₾) (GEL)
111	* '''ISO-3166-1 Code:''' GE
112	* '''Country calling code:''' 995
113	* '''Highest point:''' Shkhara (5201 m/17,064 ft) (22nd)

Context UsefulNotes / GeorgiaCaucasus