Tbilisi (Georgian: თბილისი [tʰ'biliˌsi] ( listen)),[3][4][5] formerly known as Tiflis, is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Mtkvari River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgia's ancient precursor Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the Georgian capital. Formerly, the city had also served as the seat of the Imperial administration of the Caucasus during the Russian rule from 1801 to 1917, the capital of the short-lived Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic in 1918, of the Democratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921, of the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic from 1921 to 1991, and the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic from 1922 to 1936.
Located on the southeastern edge of Europe, Tbilisi's proximity to lucrative east-west trade routes often made the city a point of contention between various rival empires throughout history and the city's location to this day ensures its position as an important transit route for global energy and trade projects. Tbilisi's varied history is reflected in its architecture, which is a mix of medieval, classical, and Soviet structures.
Historically, Tbilisi has been home to people of diverse cultural, ethnic, and religious backgrounds, though it is overwhelmingly Eastern Orthodox Christian. Notable tourist destinations include cathedrals like Sameba and Sioni, classical Freedom Square and Rustaveli Avenue, medieval Narikala Fortress, pseudo-Moorish Opera Theater, and the Georgian National Museum.
Early history[edit]
According to an old legend, the present-day territory of Tbilisi was covered by forests as late as 458. One widely accepted variant of the legend of Tbilisi's founding states that King
Vakhtang I Gorgasali of
Georgia went hunting in the heavily wooded region with a
falcon (sometimes the falcon is replaced with either a
hawk or other small
birds of prey in the legend). The King's falcon allegedly caught or injured a
pheasant during the hunt, after which both birds fell into a nearby
hot springand died from burns. King Vakhtang became so impressed with the hot springs that he decided to cut down the forest and build a city on the location. The name
Tbilisi derives from the
Old Georgian word "Tbili" (თბილი), meaning warm. The name 'Tbili' or 'Tbilisi' ('warm location') was therefore given to the city because of the area's numerous
sulphuric hot springs that came out of the ground. Archaeological studies of the region have indicated human settlement in the territory of Tbilisi as early as the 4th millennium BCE.
King
Dachi I Ujarmeli, who was the successor of
Vakhtang I Gorgasali, moved the capital from
Mtskheta to Tbilisi according to the will left by his father. Tbilisi was not the capital of a unified Georgian state at that time and did not include the territory of
Colchis. It was, however, the capital city of
Eastern Georgia/
Iberia. During his reign, King Dachi I oversaw the construction of the fortress wall that lined the city's new boundaries. From the 6th century, Tbilisi grew at a steady pace due to the region's favourable and strategic location which placed the city along important trade and travel routes between Europe and Asia.
Foreign domination[edit]
Tbilisi's favourable and strategic location did not necessarily bode well for its existence as Eastern Georgia's/Iberia's capital. Located strategically in the heart of the
Caucasus between Europe and Asia, Tbilisi became an object of rivalry between the region's various powers such as the
Roman Empire,
Persia,
Arabs,
Byzantine Empire, and the
Seljuk Turks. The
cultural development of the city was somewhat dependent on who ruled the city at various times, although Tbilisi (and Georgia in general) was able to maintain a considerable autonomy from its conquerors
Detail from the Nautical chart by
Angelino Dulcert, depicting Georgian Black Sea coast and Tiflis, 1339.
From 570–580, the Persians took over Tbilisi and ruled it for about a decade. In the year 627,
Tbilisi was sacked by the
Byzantine/
Khazar armies and later, in 736–738, Arab armies
entered the town under
Marwan II Ibn-Muhammad. After this point, the
Arabs established an
emirate centered in Tbilisi. The Arab domination brought a certain order to the region and introduced a more formal/modernized judicial system into
Georgia. In 764, Tbilisi, still under Arab control was once again sacked by the
Khazars. In 853, the armies of Arab leader
Bugha Al-Turki (Bugha the Turk) invaded Tbilisi in order to enforce its return to
Abbasid allegiance. The Arab domination of Tbilisi continued until about 1050. In 1068, the city was once again sacked, only this time by the Seljuk Turks under
Sultan Alp Arslan.
Capital of a unified Georgian state[edit]
In 1122, after heavy fighting with the
Seljuks that involved at least 60,000
Georgians and up to 300,000
Turks, the troops of the King of Georgia
David the Builder entered Tbilisi. After the
battles for Tbilisi concluded, David moved his residence from
Kutaisi (Western Georgia) to Tbilisi, making it the capital of a unified Georgian State and thus inaugurating the
Georgian Golden Age. From 12–13th centuries, Tbilisi became a dominant regional power with a thriving economy (with well-developed trade and skilled labour) and a well-established social system/structure. By the end of the 12th century, the population of Tbilisi had reached 100,000. The city also became an important literary and a cultural center not only for Georgia but for the
Eastern Orthodox world of the time. During
Queen Tamar's reign,
Shota Rustaveli worked in Tbilisi while writing his legendary epic poem,
The Knight in the Panther's Skin. This period is often referred to as "Georgia's Golden Age"
[6] or the Georgian
Renaissance.
[7]
Mongol domination and the following period of instability[edit]
Tbilisi's "Golden Age" did not last for more than a century. In 1226 Tbilisi was captured by the refugee
Khwarezmian Empire Khwarezmian Shah
Mingburnu and its defences severely devastated and prone to Mongol armies. In 1236, after suffering crushing defeats to the
Mongols,
Georgia came under
Mongol domination. The nation itself maintained a form of semi-independence and did not lose its statehood, but Tbilisi was strongly influenced by the Mongols for the next century both politically and culturally. In the 1320s, the Mongols were forcefully expelled from Georgia and Tbilisi became the capital of an independent Georgian state once again. An outbreak of the
plague struck the city in 1366.
From the late 14th until the end of the 18th century, Tbilisi came under the rule of various foreign invaders once again and on several occasions was completely burnt to the ground. In 1386, Tbilisi was
invaded by the armies of
Tamerlane (Timur). In 1444, the city was
invaded and destroyed by
Jahan Shah (the Shah of the town of
Tabriz in
Persia). From 1477 to 1478 the city was held by the
Ak Koyunlutribesmen of
Uzun Hassan.
Iranian control[edit]
In 1503, Tblisi came alongside wider
Kartli and
Kakheti under Safavid Persian vassalship.
[8] In 1522, Tbilisi came for the first time under nominal
Persian control but was later freed in 1524 by King
David X of
Georgia.
[9] During this period, many parts of Tbilisi were reconstructed and rebuilt. Beginning with the 1555
Treaty of Amasya, and more firmly from 1614 to 1747, with brief intermissions, Tbilisi was garrisoned by the Persian forces and functioned as a seat of the Persian vassal kings of Kartli, whom the shah conferred with the title of
wali.
[10] Under the later rules of
Teimuraz IIand
Erekle II, Tbilisi became a vibrant political and cultural center free of foreign rule, but the city was
devastated in 1795 by the Persian
Qajar ruler
Agha Mohammad Khan, who sought to reassert Persian suzerainty over Georgia.
[11][12] At this point, sensing that Georgia could not hold up against Persia alone, Erekle sought the help of Russia.
Russian control[edit]
In 1801, after the Georgian kingdom of
Kartli-Kakheti of which Tbilisi was the capital was annexed by the
Russian Empire,
Persia officially lost control over the city and the wider Georgian lands it had been ruling for centuries.
[13] Under Russian rule, the city subsequently became the center of the
Tbilisi Governorate (
Gubernia). In the course of the 19th century, the largest ethnic group of Tbilisi were Armenians, who, at some point, formed 74.3% of the population.
[14] From the beginning of the 19th century Tbilisi started to grow economically and politically. New buildings mainly of European style were erected throughout the town. New roads and railroads were built to connect Tbilisi to other important cities in Russia and other parts of the
Transcaucasus (locally) such as
Batumi,
Poti,
Baku, and
Yerevan. By the 1850s Tbilisi once again emerged as a major trade and a cultural center. The likes of
Ilia Chavchavadze,
Iakob Gogebashvili,
Aleksandr Griboyedov,
Mirza Fatali Akhundzade,
Nar-Dos,
Pertch Proshian,
Raffi,
Gabriel Sundukyan,
Hovhannes Tumanyan,
Akaki Tsereteli,
Simon Zavarianand many other statesmen, poets, and artists all found their home in Tbilisi.
Tbilisi was visited on numerous occasions by and was the object of affection of
Alexander Pushkin,
Leo Tolstoy,
Mikhail Lermontov, the
Romanov Family and others. The Romanov Family established their residence (in
Transcaucasia) on
Golovin Street (Present-day Rustaveli Avenue). Throughout the century, the political, economic and cultural role of Tbilisi with its ethnic, confessional and cultural diversity was significant not only for Georgia but for the whole Caucasus. Hence, Tbilisi took on a different look. It acquired different architectural monuments and the attributes of an international city, as well as its own urban folklore and language, and the specific
Tbilisuri (literally, belonging to Tbilisi) culture.
Independence[edit]
After the
Russian Revolution of 1917, the city served as a location of the
Transcaucasus interim government which established, in the spring of 1918, the short-lived independent
Transcaucasian Federation with the capital in Tbilisi. At this time, Tbilisi had roughly the same number of Armenians as Georgians, with Russians being the third largest ethnic group.
[15] It was here, in the former Caucasus Vice royal Palace, where the independence of three Transcaucasus nations – Georgia,
Armenia and
Azerbaijan – was declared on May 26 to 28 1918. After this, Tbilisi functioned as the capital of the
Democratic Republic of Georgia until 25 February 1921. From 1918 to 1919 the city was also consecutively home to a
German and British military headquarters.
Under the national government, Tbilisi turned into the first Caucasian University City after the
Tbilisi State University was founded in 1918, a long-time dream of the Georgians banned by the
Imperial Russian authorities for several decades.
[16] On 25 February 1921, the
Bolshevist Russian 11th
Red Army invaded
[17][18] Tbilisi after bitter fighting at the outskirts of the city and declared Soviet rule.
Communist government[edit]
The Red Army entered Tbilisi on 25 February 1921.
After the break-up of the Soviet Union[edit]
Since the
break-up of the Soviet Union, Tbilisi has experienced periods of significant instability and turmoil. After a brief civil war, which the city endured for two weeks from December 1991 to January 1992 (when pro-
Gamsakhurdia and Opposition forces clashed with each other), Tbilisi became the scene of frequent armed confrontations between various
mafia clans and illegal business entrepreneurs. Even during the
Shevardnadze Era (1993–2003), crime and corruption became rampant at most levels of society. Many segments of society became impoverished because of unemployment caused by the crumbling economy. Average citizens of Tbilisi started to become increasingly disillusioned with the existing quality of life in the city (and in the nation in general). Mass protests took place in November 2003 after falsified parliamentary elections forced more than 100,000 people into the streets and concluded with the
Rose Revolution. Since 2003, Tbilisi has experienced considerably more stability with decreasing crime rates, an improved economy and a real estate boom.
[20] During the
2008 South Ossetia war the Tbilisi area was hit by multiple Russian air attacks.
After the war, several large-scale projects were started, including a streetcar system,
[21] a railway bypass and a relocation of the
central station[22] and new urban highways.
[23]
Politics and administration[edit]
The status of Tbilisi, as the nation's capital, is defined by the Article 10 in the
Constitution of Georgia (1995) and the
Law on Georgia's Capital – Tbilisi (February 20, 1998).
[24]
Administratively, the city is divided into
raions (districts), which have their own units of central and local government with jurisdiction over a limited scope of affairs. This subdivision was established under Soviet rule in the 1930s, following the general
subdivision of the Soviet Union. Since Georgia regained independence, the raion system was modified and reshuffled. According to the latest revision, Tbilisi raions include:
Most of the raions are named after respective historical neighbourhoods of the city. The citizens of Tbilisi widely recognise a system of the smaller non-formal historical neighbourhoods. Such neighbourhoods are several, however, constituting a kind of hierarchy, because most of them have lost their distinctive topographic limits. The natural first level of subdivision of the city is into the Right Bank and the Left Bank of the Mt'k'vari. The names of the oldest neighbourhoods go back to the early Middle Ages and sometimes pose a great linguistic interest. The newest whole-built developments bear chiefly residential marketing names.
In pre-Revolution Tiflis, the Georgian quarter was confined to the southeastern part of the city; Baedeker describes the layout succinctly:
In the north part of the town, on the left bank of the Kurá and to the south of the railway station, stretches the clean German Quarter, formerly occupied by German immigrants from Württemberg (1818). To the south is the Gruzinian or Georgian Quarter (Avlabár). On the right bank of the Kurá is the Russian Quarter, the seat of the officials and of the larger business firms. This is adjoined on the south by the Armenian and Persian Bazaars.
—Karl Baedeker,
Russia: A Handbook for Travelers[25]
Avlabari is considered "the integral component of the so-called 'old Tbilisi'" and is currently the object of planning and cultural heritage preservation.
[26]
Geography[edit]
Location[edit]
Tbilisi is located in the
South Caucasus at 41° 43' North Latitude and 44° 47' East Longitude. The city lies in
Eastern Georgia on both banks of the
Mt'k'vari River. The elevation of the city ranges from 380–770 metres
above sea level (1,250–2,530 ft) and has the shape of an amphitheatre surrounded by mountains on three sides. To the north, Tbilisi is bounded by the
Saguramo Range, to the east and south-east by the
Iori Plain, to the south and west by various endings (sub-ranges) of the
Trialeti Range.
The relief of Tbilisi is complex. The part of the city which lies on the left bank of the Mt'k'vari (
Kura) River extends for more than 30 km (19 mi) from the
AvchalaDistrict to River Lochini. The part of the city which lies on the right side of the Mt'k'vari River on the other hand is built along the foothills of the
Trialeti Range, the slopes of which in many cases descend all the way to the edges of the river Mt'k'vari. The mountains, therefore, are a significant barrier to urban development on the right bank of the Mt'k'vari River. This type of a geographic environment creates pockets of very densely developed areas while other parts of the city are left undeveloped due to the complex topographic relief.
To the north of the city, there is a large reservoir (commonly known as the Tbilisi Sea) fed by irrigation canals.
Climate[edit]
Tbilisi has a
humid subtropical climate (
Köppen climate classification Cfa) with warm to hot summers and relatively cold winters. The city receives enough rainfall to avoid the
semi-arid classification. The city's climate is influenced both by dry (Central Asian/Siberian) air masses from the east and
oceanic (Atlantic/Black Sea) air masses from the west. Because the city is bounded on most sides by mountain ranges, the close proximity to large bodies of water (Black and
Caspian Seas) and the fact that the Greater
Caucasus Mountains Range (further to the north) blocks the intrusion of cold air masses from Russia, Tbilisi has a relatively mild
microclimate compared to other cities that possess a similar continental climate along the same latitudes.
The average annual temperature in Tbilisi is 12.7 °C (54.9 °F). January is the coldest month with an average temperature of 0.9 °C (33.6 °F). July is the hottest month with an average temperature of 24.4 °C (75.9 °F). The absolute minimum recorded temperature is −24 °C (−11 °F) and the absolute maximum is 40 °C (104 °F). Average annual precipitation is 568 mm (22.4 in). May and June are the wettest months (averaging 84 mm (3.3 in) of precipitation each) while January is the driest (averaging 20 mm (0.8 in) of precipitation). Snow falls on average 15–25 days per year. The surrounding mountains often trap the clouds within and around the city, mainly during the Spring and Autumn months, resulting in prolonged rainy and/or cloudy weather. Northwesterly winds dominate in most parts of Tbilisi throughout the year. Southeasterly winds are common as well.
.png)
