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Kingdom of Georgia

State in the Caucasus from 1008 to 1490 / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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The Kingdom of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს სამეფო, romanized: sakartvelos samepo), also known as the Georgian Empire,[7] was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in c.1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great from the 11th to 13th centuries. Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East and its pan-Caucasian empire[8] and network of tributaries stretching from Eastern Europe to Anatolia and northern frontiers of Iran, while also maintaining religious possessions abroad, such as the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem and the Monastery of Iviron in Greece. It was the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.

Quick facts: Kingdom of Georgiaსაქართველოს სამეფო sakartve...
Kingdom of Georgia
საქართველოს სამეფო
sakartvelos samepo
1008–1490
Flag of Georgia (country)
Flag_of_the_Kingdom_of_Egris-Abkhazia_v2.svg
Flags of Georgia of the 14th–15th centuries according to Dulcert, the Pizzigano brothers and others[1]
Coat of arms of "all-Georgian Kingdom" according to Prince Vakhushti's Atlas (c.1745)Coat of arms of the "Kingdom of Georgia under khan" according to Grünenberg Wappenbuch (1480) of Kingdom of Georgia
Coat of arms of "all-Georgian Kingdom" according to Prince Vakhushti's Atlas (c.1745)
Coat of arms of the Kingdom of Georgia under khan (Grünenberg Wappenbuch, 1480)
Coat of arms of the "Kingdom of Georgia under khan" according to Grünenberg Wappenbuch (1480)[4][5]
Kingdom of Georgia in ~1220, at the peak of its territorial expansion.
Kingdom of Georgia in ~1220, at the peak of its territorial expansion.
Capital
Common languagesMiddle Georgian
Religion
Eastern Orthodoxy (Georgian Patriarchate)
GovernmentFeudal monarchy
King, King of Kings 
 1008–1014 (first)
Bagrat III
 1446–1465 (last)
George VIII
LegislatureCouncil of State
Historical eraHigh Middle Ages to Late Middle Ages
c.1008
1122–1226
1245–1247
 East and West division
1247–1329
 Reunification
1329

1463
1490[lower-alpha 1]
CurrencyVarious Byzantine and Sassanian coins were minted until the 12th century.
Dirham came into use after 1122.[6]
Preceded by
Succeeded by
Blank.png Kingdom of Abkhazia
Blank.png Kingdom of the Iberians
Blank.png Kingdom of Kakheti
Blank.png Kingdom of Hereti
Blank.png Kingdom of Armenia
Blank.png Emirate of Tbilisi
Kingdom of Kartli Blank.png
Kingdom of Kakheti Blank.png
Kingdom of Imereti Blank.png
Principality of Samtskhe Blank.png
1the full title of the Georgian monarchs after 1124 was "King of Kings, Autocrat of all the East and the West, Sword of the Messiah, King of Abkhazia, King of Iberia, King of Kakheti and Hereti, King of Armenia, Possessor of Shirvan."
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Lasting for several centuries, the kingdom fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by the 1340s. The following decades were marked by the Black Death, as well as numerous invasions under the leadership of Timur, who devastated the country's economy, population, and urban centers. The Kingdom's geopolitical situation further worsened after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of Trebizond by the Ottoman Turks. As a result of these processes, by the end of the 15th century Georgia turned into a fractured entity. This whole series of events also led to the final collapse of the kingdom into anarchy by 1466 and the mutual recognition of its constituent kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti as independent states between 1490 and 1493—each led by a rival branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities—Odishi, Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe.