Ertso-Tianeti ( ka, ერწო-თიანეთი) is a small historical-geographic area in eastern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. It lies along the upper

Iori Valley The Iori ( ka, იორი, az, Qabırrı) is a river in the South Caucasus that originates in the Greater Caucasus Mountains in eastern Georgia and continues into Azerbaijan, where it is also known as Gabirry (Qabirry) and flows into the Mingach ...

in what is now

Tianeti Tianeti is a townlet in east-central Georgia, in the Caucasus Mountains. Tianeti is the administrative center of Municipality of Tianeti, which also comprises the town of Sioni and 43 neighbouring villages (total area – 907 km2; population ...

District in the

region In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as zones, lands or territories, are areas that are broadly divided by physical characteristics (physical geography), human impact characteristics (human geography), and the interaction of humanity and t ...

Mtskheta-Mtianeti Mtskheta-Mtianeti ( ka, მცხეთა-მთიანეთი, literally "Mtskheta-Mountain Area") is a region (Mkhare) in eastern Georgia comprising the town of Mtskheta, which serves as a regional capital, together with its district and t ...

. The area's name is compound, consisting of its two subdivisions: Ertso (ერწო) in the south, and Tianeti (თიანეთი) in the north. Ertso-Tianeti is located on the southern foothills of the

Greater Caucasus The Greater Caucasus ( az, Böyük Qafqaz, Бөјүк Гафгаз, بيوک قافقاز; ka, დიდი კავკასიონი, ''Didi K’avk’asioni''; russian: Большой Кавказ, ''Bolshoy Kavkaz'', sometimes translat ...

mountains. Its historical borders are:

Pshavi Pshavi ( ka, ფშავი) is a small historic region of northern Georgia, nowadays part of the Mtskheta-Mtianeti ''mkhare'' ("region"), and lying chiefly among the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountains along the Pshavis Aragvi ...

to the north,

Kakheti Kakheti ( ka, კახეთი ''K’akheti''; ) is a region (mkhare) formed in the 1990s in eastern Georgia from the historical province of Kakheti and the small, mountainous province of Tusheti. Telavi is its capital. The region comprises eigh ...

to the south and east, and the

Aragvi River The Aragvi ( ka, არაგვი) and its basin are in Georgia on the southern slopes of the Caucasus Mountains. The river is long, and its basin covers an area of . The ground strata are mostly sandstone, slate, and limestone. The Zhinval ...

on the west.History of Tianeti District
The Regional Administration of Mtskheta-Mtianeti website. Accessed on August 19, 2007.

History

Ertso-Tianeti was historically part of the

saeristavo Saeristavo ( ka, საერისთავო), in historical and scientific literature with this term is defined a territorial unit in old Georgia, which was ruled by Eristavi (duke). List of the Duchies of Kingdom of Georgia See also *Eris ...

(duchy) of Kakheti. According to Georgian tradition and accounts from the 11th century,

Saint Nino Saint Nino ( ka, წმინდა ნინო, tr; hy, Սուրբ Նունե, Surb Nune; el, Αγία Νίνα, Agía Nína; sometimes ''St. Nune'' or ''St. Ninny'') ''Equal to the Apostles and the Enlightener of Georgia'' (c. 296 – c. 33 ...

converted the inhabitants of the region to

Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...

along with the rest of

Iberia The Iberian Peninsula (), ** * Aragonese and Occitan: ''Peninsula Iberica'' ** ** * french: Péninsule Ibérique * mwl, Península Eibérica * eu, Iberiar penintsula also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in southwestern Europe, defi ...

, c. 330. Due to its geographical location, Ertso-Tianeti was a region of great strategic and economical significance during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

. It was traversed by a branch of the commercial road joining

Kartli Kartli ( ka, ქართლი ) is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari (Kura), on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role ...

with

Caucasian Albania Caucasian Albania is a modern exonym for a former state located in ancient times in the Caucasus: mostly in what is now Azerbaijan (where both of its capitals were located). The modern endonyms for the area are ''Aghwank'' and ''Aluank'', among ...

and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. During this period (6-9th centuries), Tianeti served as the foothold from which the lords of Kartli extended their political and cultural influence over the

. During the struggle for unification of Georgia (10th century), the

Kingdom of Abkhazia The Kingdom of Abkhazia ( ka, აფხაზთა სამეფო, tr; lit. "Kingdom of the Abkhazians"), also known as Abasgia or Egrisi-Abkhazia, was a Middle Ages, medieval feudalism, feudal state in the Caucasus which was established i ...

used the conquest of Tianeti to bring Kakheti into their allegiance. In the 13th century Ertso-Tianeti had to endure the

Mongol invasions The Mongol invasions and conquests took place during the 13th and 14th centuries, creating history's largest contiguous empire: the Mongol Empire ( 1206- 1368), which by 1300 covered large parts of Eurasia. Historians regard the Mongol devastati ...

. In the 15th century, after the collapse of the unified

Kingdom of Georgia The Kingdom of Georgia ( ka, საქართველოს სამეფო, tr), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in circa 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic ...

, Ertso-Tianeti became one of the ''samouravo'' (districts) of the

Kingdom of Kakheti The Second Kingdom of Kakheti ( ka, კახეთის სამეფო, tr; also spelled Kaxet'i or Kakhetia) was a late medieval/ early modern monarchy in eastern Georgia, centered at the province of Kakheti, with its capital first at Grem ...

. Its territory was the object of frequent conflicts between Kakheti and the

Duchy of Aragvi The Duchy of Aragvi ( ka, არაგვის საერისთავო) was an important fiefdom in medieval and early modern Georgia, strategically located in the upper Aragvi valley, in the foothills of the eastern Greater Caucasus cres ...

. In 1614, the area was virtually depopulated as a result of the

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

invasion of the Kakheti. The vacated villages were later resettled by migrants from the neighboring mountain regions of

and

Khevsureti Khevsureti (Georgian: ხევსურეთი, ''a land of valleys'') is a historical-ethnographic region in eastern Georgia. They are the branch of Kartvelian (Georgian) people located along both the northern (Pirikita khevsureti, Georgian: ...

, with which economic links have always been strong.

References

Former provinces of Georgia (country) Historical regions of Georgia (country) {{Georgia-hist-stub