Imereti (
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
: იმერეთი) is a
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 an ...
of
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 ...
situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the
Rioni River
The Rioni ( ka, რიონი, ; , ) is the main river of western Georgia. It originates in the Caucasus Mountains, in the region of Racha and flows west to the Black Sea, entering it north of the city of Poti (near ancient Phasis). The city o ...
. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 municipalities and the city of
Kutaisi, which is the capital of the region.
Subdivisions
The Imereti region has one self governing city (
Kutaisi) and 11 municipalities with 163 administrative communities (temi), totalling to 549 populated settlements:
* Eleven cities:
Baghdati,
Chiatura
Chiatura () is a city in the Imereti region of Western Georgia. In 1989, it had a population of about 30,000. The city is known for its system of cable cars connecting the city's center to the mining settlements on the surrounding hills.
The city ...
,
Khoni
Khoni ( ka, ხონი) is a town in the Western Georgian region (mkhare) of Imereti with the population of 8987 (2014 Georgia census). It is situated on the left bank of the Tskhenistkali River in the north-west of Imereti, close to the bord ...
,
Kutaisi,
Sachkhere
Sachkhere ( ka, საჩხერე) is a town at the northern edge of the Imereti Province in Western Georgia. It is the center of the Sachkhere Municipality.
Farming is a major contributor to the economy of Sachkhere. Alva LLC estimates th ...
,
Samtredia
Samtredia ( ka, სამტრედია ) is a town in Imereti, Georgia, lying in a lowland between the rivers Rioni and Tskhenis-Tsqali, west of the capital Tbilisi, and west of Georgia's second largest city Kutaisi. Georgia’s most impo ...
,
Terjola
Terjola ( ka, თერჯოლა) is a town in Imereti, Georgia, serving as an administrative center of the homonymous district.
Terjola is situated in the Imereti Lowlands in western Georgia, on the right bank of the Chkhara river. ,
Tqibuli
Tkibuli or Tqibuli ( ka, ტყიბული) is a town in west-central Georgia of 8,620 residents (2022). located in the Imereti region at the foot of the Racha Range and the Nakerala limestone cliff, which marks the boundary of the historic re ...
,
Tsqaltubo
Tskaltubo ( ka, წყალტუბო in English also commonly referred to as "Tskaltubo") is a spa resort in west-central Georgia. It is the main town of the Tsqaltubo Municipality of the Imereti province. It is known for its radon-carbona ...
,
Vani
Vani ( ka, ვანი) is a town in Imereti region of a western Georgia, at the Sulori river (a tributary of the Rioni river), 41 km southwest from the regional capital Kutaisi. The town with the population of 3,744 (2014) is an administr ...
and
Zestafoni
Zestafoni or Zestaponi ( ka, ზესტაფონი, tr, ) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti, which is a part of Imereti ...
;
* Three dabas:
Kharagauli
Kharagauli ( ka, ხარაგაული) is an administrative center of Kharagauli district in Georgia. It is situated on both banks of river in a narrow and deep gorge, 280-400m above the sea level.
Founding
It was founded as a railway s ...
,
Kulashi
Kulashi ( ka, კულაში) is a small town ('' daba'') in Imereti, Georgia with the population of around 1,702 as of 2014. It is located 5 km from the town of Samtredia. It first appears in the 16th century records as a fief of the Mikelad ...
and
Shorapani
Shorapani ( ka, შორაპანი) is a small Georgian town, situated in the Zestafoni District, part of the region of Imereti. Founded in the 3rd century BC, it served as a residence of the ''eristavi'' (dukes) of Argveti (also known as t ...
(;
* Villages: 535
Economy
Aside from the capital
Kutaisi, significant towns and regional centres include
Samtredia
Samtredia ( ka, სამტრედია ) is a town in Imereti, Georgia, lying in a lowland between the rivers Rioni and Tskhenis-Tsqali, west of the capital Tbilisi, and west of Georgia's second largest city Kutaisi. Georgia’s most impo ...
,
Chiatura
Chiatura () is a city in the Imereti region of Western Georgia. In 1989, it had a population of about 30,000. The city is known for its system of cable cars connecting the city's center to the mining settlements on the surrounding hills.
The city ...
(manganese production centre),
Tkibuli
Tkibuli or Tqibuli ( ka, ტყიბული) is a town in west-central Georgia (country), Georgia of 8,620 residents (2022). located in the Imereti region at the foot of the Racha Range and the Nakerala limestone cliff, which marks the boundary ...
(
coal
Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen.
Coal is formed when ...
mining centre),
Zestafoni
Zestafoni or Zestaponi ( ka, ზესტაფონი, tr, ) is the administrative center of Zestafoni District in Western Georgia. Zestafoni is the center of an ancient, historical part of Georgia – Margveti, which is a part of Imereti ...
(known for metals production),
Vani
Vani ( ka, ვანი) is a town in Imereti region of a western Georgia, at the Sulori river (a tributary of the Rioni river), 41 km southwest from the regional capital Kutaisi. The town with the population of 3,744 (2014) is an administr ...
,
Khoni
Khoni ( ka, ხონი) is a town in the Western Georgian region (mkhare) of Imereti with the population of 8987 (2014 Georgia census). It is situated on the left bank of the Tskhenistkali River in the north-west of Imereti, close to the bord ...
, and
Sachkhere
Sachkhere ( ka, საჩხერე) is a town at the northern edge of the Imereti Province in Western Georgia. It is the center of the Sachkhere Municipality.
Farming is a major contributor to the economy of Sachkhere. Alva LLC estimates th ...
. Traditionally, Imereti is an agricultural region, known for its
mulberries
''Morus'', a genus of flowering plants in the family Moraceae, consists of diverse species of deciduous trees commonly known as mulberries, growing wild and under cultivation in many temperate world regions. Generally, the genus has 64 identif ...
and
grape
A grape is a fruit, botanically a berry, of the deciduous woody vines of the flowering plant genus '' Vitis''. Grapes are a non- climacteric type of fruit, generally occurring in clusters.
The cultivation of grapes began perhaps 8,000 years a ...
s.
Demographics
The 800,000 Imeretians speak a
Georgian
Georgian may refer to:
Common meanings
* Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country)
** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group
** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians
**Georgian scripts, three scrip ...
dialect
The term dialect (from Latin , , from the Ancient Greek word , 'discourse', from , 'through' and , 'I speak') can refer to either of two distinctly different types of linguistic phenomena:
One usage refers to a variety of a language that is a ...
; they are one of the local culture-groups of the ethnically subdivided
Georgian people.
Demographic
History
In late
antiquity and early
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 ...
the ancient western Georgian kingdom of
Egrisi
In Greco-Roman geography, Colchis (; ) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi ( ka, ეგრისი) located on the coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians are generally though ...
existed on the territory of Imereti. Its king declared
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 ...
as an official religion of Egrisi in 523 AD. In 975-1466 Imereti was part of the
united Georgian Kingdom. Since
its disintegration in the 15th century, Imereti was an
independent kingdom.
In the 17th-18th centuries, the kingdom of Imereti experienced frequent invasions by the
Turks
Turk or Turks may refer to:
Communities and ethnic groups
* Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages
* Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation
* Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...
and paid patronage to the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
until 1810, when it was invaded and annexed by the
Russian Empire
The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...
. The last King of Imereti was
Solomon II (1789-1810).
From 1918 to 1921, Imereti was part of the independent
Democratic Republic of Georgia
The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to F ...
. Within the
USSR
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, the region was part of the
Transcaucasian SFSR
, conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic
, common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR
, p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR
, flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...
from 1922–1936, and part of the
Georgian SSR
The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц ...
from 1936–1991. Since Georgian independence in 1991, Imereti has been a region of Georgia with Kutaisi as the regional capital.
See also
*
Kingdom of Imereti
The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, Im ...
*
Notes
References
External links
Imereti.com - The Guide to Imereti, Georgia, SakartveloOfficial websiteCivil.GE
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Regions of Georgia (country)
Former provinces of Georgia (country)
Historical regions of Georgia (country)