Georgia ; Georgian: ??????????, Sakartvelo) is a transcontinental country in the Caucasus region, partially in Eastern Europe and partially in Southwestern Asia. Georgia is bordered to the north by the Russian Federation, to the east by Azerbaijan, to the west by the Black Sea, to the south by Armenia and to the southwest by Turkey. The territory of Georgia covers 69,700 km? and has a temperate seasonal climate. Georgia’s population excluding Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region is 4.4 million, nearly 84% of whom are ethnic Georgians.
Two ancient Georgian states were the Kingdoms of Colchis and Iberia. The latter, one of the first countries to adopt Christianity as an official religion early in the 4th century, subsequently provided a nucleus around which the unified Kingdom of Georgia was formed early in the 11th century. After a period of political, economic and cultural flourishing, this kingdom went into decline in the 13th century and eventually fragmented into several kingdoms and principalities in the 16th century. The three subsequent centuries of Ottoman and Persian hegemony were followed by a piecemeal absorption into the Russian Empire in the 19th century. After the Russian Revolution of 1917, Georgia had a brief period of independence as a Democratic Republic , which was terminated by the Red Army invasion of Georgia. Georgia became part of the Soviet Union in 1922.
After regaining its independence in 1991, the early post-Soviet years were marked by civil unrest and economic crisis. Georgia began to gradually stabilize in 1995, and achieved more effective functioning of state institutions following a bloodless change of power in the so-called Rose Revolution of 2003. However, Georgia continues to suffer from the unresolved secessionist conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Relations with Russia remain tense over these issues as well as Georgia’s aspiration of NATO membership. In August 2008, Georgia engaged in an armed conflict with Russia and separatist groups from South Ossetia
