Racha (also Račha, , ''Račʼa'') is a highland area in western
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 ...
, located in the upper
Rioni river valley and hemmed in by 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. Under Georgia's current subdivision, Racha is included in the
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ( ka, რაჭა-ლეჩხუმი და ქვემო სვანეთი, ''Rach’a-Lechkhumi da Kvemo Svaneti'') is a region (Mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), mak ...
region (
mkhare
A ''mkhare'' ( ka, მხარე, ''mxare'') is a type of administrative division in the country of Georgia (country), Georgia. It is usually translated as "region".
According to presidential decrees in 1994 and 1996, Georgia's division into ...
) as the municipalities of
Oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess ...
and
Ambrolauri
Ambrolauri ( ka, ამბროლაური) is a city in Georgia, located in the northwestern part of the country, on both banks of the Rioni river, at an elevation of 550 m above sea level. The city serves as the seat of the Racha-Lechkhumi a ...
.
Racha occupies 2,854 km
2 in the north-eastern corner of western Georgia. Spurs of the Greater Caucasus crest separates Racha from the Georgian historical regions of
Svaneti
Svaneti or Svanetia (Suania in ancient sources; ka, სვანეთი ) is a historic province in the northwestern part of Georgia (country), Georgia. It is inhabited by the Svans, an ethnic subgroup of Georgians.
Geography
Situated o ...
and
Lechkhumi
Lechkhumi (Georgian: ლეჩხუმი, ''Lečxumi'') is a historic province in northwestern Georgia which comprises the area along the middle basin of the Rioni and Tskhenistskali and also the Lajanuri river valley. Now part of the Racha-Le ...
on the north-west and from
Imereti
Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...
on the south, while the main Caucasus ridge forms a boundary with
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia, Northern Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the ...
’s
North Ossetia
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography.
Etymology
The word ''north'' is ...
. On the east, Racha is bordered by breakaway
South Ossetia
South Ossetia, ka, სამხრეთი ოსეთი, ( , ), officially the Republic of South Ossetia – the State of Alania, is a partially recognised landlocked state in the South Caucasus. It has an officially stated populat ...
, officially part of Georgia's
Shida Kartli
Shida Kartli ( ka, შიდა ქართლი, , ; "Inner Kartli") is a landlocked administrative region (''Mkhare'') in eastern Georgia. It comprises a central part of the historical-geographic province of Shida Kartli. With an area of , Sh ...
region.
History
Racha had been part of
Colchis
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 (country), Georgia.
Its population, the Colchians a ...
and
Caucasian Iberia
In Greco-Roman geography, Iberia (Ancient Greek: ''Iberia''; la, Hiberia) was an exonym for the Georgian kingdom of Kartli ( ka, ქართლი), known after its core province, which during Classical Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages ...
since ancient times and its main town
Oni
An is a kind of ''yōkai'', demon, orc, ogre, or troll in Japanese folklore. Oni are mostly known for their fierce and evil nature manifested in their propensity for murder and cannibalism. Notwithstanding their evil reputation, oni possess ...
was said to have been founded by King
Parnajom of Iberia
P'arnajom or P'arnajob ( ka, ფარნაჯომი, ფარნაჯობი) (died 90 BC) was a king of Iberia from 109 to 90 BC, the fourth in the P'arnavaziani line. He is known exclusively from the royal list included in the medieval ...
in the 2nd century BC. Upon the creation of the unified Georgian kingdom in the 11th century, Racha became one of the duchies (saeristavo) within it. Rati of the
Baghvashi The Liparitids ( ka, ლიპარიტები), also known as Baghuashi (ბაღჳაში), were a noble house ('' didebuli'') in medieval Georgia, with notable members from the 9th to 12th centuries and famed for their powerful resistanc ...
family was the first duke (
eristavi
''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine '' strategos'' and normally translated into English as "prince" or less commonly as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarch ...
) appointed by King
Bagrat III. Descendants of Rati and his son Kakhaber, eponymous father of Racha's ruling dynasty of
Kakhaberisdze The Kakhaberidze, archaically Kakhaberisdze (pl. -''ebi'') ( ka, კახაბერი ე ბი}, literally "the sons of Kakhaber") was a noble family in medieval Georgia which held sway over the highland northwestern Georgian province of ...
, governed the province until 1278. In 1278 King
David VI Narin
David VI Narin ( ka, დავით VI ნარინი, tr) (also called ''the Clever'') (1225–1293), from the Bagrationi dynasty, was king of Georgia in 1245–1293. From 1259 to 1293, he ruled the kingdom of Imereti under the name David ...
abolished the duchy during his war against the
Mongols
The Mongols ( mn, Монголчууд, , , ; ; russian: Монголы) are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, Inner Mongolia in China and the Buryatia Republic of the Russian Federation. The Mongols are the principal membe ...
. In the mid-14th century, the duchy was restored under the rule of the Charelidze family.
The next dynasty of
Chkhetidze Chkhetidze ( ka, ჩხეტიძე) was a Georgian noble family known in west Georgia from the tenth century. The oldest known representative is Germain Chkhetidze, Archbishop-Metropolitan of Bedia in 999.
It formed the following lines:
*The ...
governed Racha from 1465 to 1769. Vassals of the
King
King is the title given to a male monarch in a variety of contexts. The female equivalent is queen, which title is also given to the consort of a king.
*In the context of prehistory, antiquity and contemporary indigenous peoples, the tit ...
of
Imereti
Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...
, they revolted several times against the royal power. The 1678–1679 civil war resulted in the most serious consequences. In this war, Duke Shoshita II of Racha (1661–1684) supported Prince
Archil, a rival of the pro-
Ottoman Imeretian king
Bagrat IV. On the defeat of Archil, Racha was overrun and plundered by an Ottoman punitive force. Under Rostom (1749–1769), the duchy became virtually independent from
Imereti
Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 munic ...
. However, towards the end of 1769, King
Solomon I of Imereti
Solomon I the Great, ( ka, სოლომონ I დიდი) (1735 – April 23, 1784), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was King of Imereti (western Georgia) from 1752 to 1765 and again from 1767 until his death in 1784.
Solomon was a son of Ale ...
managed to arrest Rostom and to abolish the duchy. In 1784, King
David II of Imereti
David II ( ka, დავით II) (1756 – 11 January 1795), of the Bagrationi Dynasty, was King of Imereti (western Georgia) from 1784 to 1789 and from 1790 to 1791. Life
He was the son of George IX of Imereti, who had briefly ruled in 1741. Aft ...
revived the duchy and gave it to his nephew Anton. Local opposition attempted to use an Ottoman force to take control of Racha, but the victory of King David at Skhvava (January 26, 1786) temporarily secured his dominance in the area. In 1789, the next Imeretian king
Solomon II finally abolished the duchy and subordinated the province directly to the royal administration.
Notable people
*
Prokofy Dzhaparidze
Prokofy "Alyosha" Aprasionovich Dzhaparidze or Japaridze, ( ka, პროკოფი აპრასიონის ძე ჯაფარიძე, russian: Прокофий Апрасионович Джапаридзе; 15 January 1880 – 20 ...
(Alyosha), a
communist
Communism (from Latin la, communis, lit=common, universal, label=none) is a far-left sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology and current within the socialist movement whose goal is the establishment of a communist society, a s ...
revolutionary and one of the
26 Baku Commissars.
*
Ketevan Svanidze, first wife of
Joseph Stalin
Joseph Vissarionovich Stalin (born Ioseb Besarionis dze Jughashvili; – 5 March 1953) was a Georgian revolutionary and Soviet political leader who led the Soviet Union from 1924 until his death in 1953. He held power as General Secreta ...
*
Alexander Svanidze
Alexander Semyonovich "Alyosha" Svanidze ( ka, ალექსანდრე სვანიძე; russian: Александр Семёнович Сванидзе) (1886 – 20 August 1941) was a Georgian Old Bolshevik, politician and historian ...
, Stalin's brother-in-law; executed in 1941
See also
*
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti
Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ( ka, რაჭა-ლეჩხუმი და ქვემო სვანეთი, ''Rach’a-Lechkhumi da Kvemo Svaneti'') is a region (Mkhare) in northwestern Georgia with a population of 28,500 (2021), mak ...
, region in Georgia
*
Lechkhumi
Lechkhumi (Georgian: ლეჩხუმი, ''Lečxumi'') is a historic province in northwestern Georgia which comprises the area along the middle basin of the Rioni and Tskhenistskali and also the Lajanuri river valley. Now part of the Racha-Le ...
*
Nikortsminda
Nikortsminda Cathedral ( ka, ნიკორწმინდის ტაძარი) is a Georgian Orthodox Church, located in Nikortsminda, Racha region of Georgia.
Nikortsminda was built in 1010–1014 during the reign of Bagrat III of Georgi ...
*
Barakoni
Barakoni Church of the Mother of God ( ka, ბარაკონის ღვთისმშობლის ტაძარი), commonly known as Barakoni (ბარაკონი), is an Orthodox church in Georgia, near the town of Ambrolauri, ...
*
1991 Racha earthquake
The 1991 Racha earthquake occurred in the province of Racha, Georgia, at 9:12 UTC on 29 April. Centered on the districts of Oni and Ambrolauri on the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountains, it killed 270, left approximately 100, ...
*
Gebi
{{coord, 42, 38, 10, N, 43, 26, 10, E, region:GE_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title
Former provinces of Georgia (country)
Historical regions of Georgia (country)