On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. This article is about the Caucasian ethnic group. Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Thereafter and throughout the early modern period, Georgians became politically fractured and were dominated by the Ottoman Empire and georgian spices online dynasties of Iran.

The Georgian nation was formed out of a diverse set of geographic subgroups, each with its characteristic traditions, manners, dialects and, in the case of Svans and Mingrelians, own regional languages. Saint George popular among the Georgians, whether pagan or Christian. The term “Georgians” is derived from the country of Georgia. In the past, lore-based theories were given by the medieval French traveller Jacques de Vitry, who explained the name’s origin by the popularity of St. Most historians and scholars of Georgia as well as anthropologists, archaeologists, and linguists tend to agree that the ancestors of modern Georgians inhabited the southern Caucasus and northern Anatolia since the Neolithic period. The Georgian people in antiquity have been known to the ancient Greeks and Romans as Colchians and Iberians. According to the renowned scholar of the Caucasian studies Cyril Toumanoff, the Moschians also were one of the early proto-Georgian tribes which were integrated into the first early Georgian state of Iberia.

Diauehi in Assyrian sources and Taochi in Greek lived in the northeastern part of Anatolia. This ancient tribe is considered by many scholars as ancestors of the Georgians. Colchians in the ancient western Georgian polity of Colchis were another proto-Georgian tribe. They are first mentioned in the Assyrian annals of Tiglath-Pileser I and in the annals of Urartian king Sarduri II, and also included western Georgian tribe of the Meskhetians. Iberians, also known as Tiberians or Tiberanians, lived in the eastern Georgian kingdom of Iberia. Both Colchians and Iberians played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the modern Georgian nation.

It would seem natural to seek the beginnings of Georgian social history in Colchis, the earliest Georgian formation. Georgian language is written in its own unique alphabet since the 5th century. Georgian is the primary language for Georgians of all provenance, including those who speak other Kartvelian languages: Svans, Mingrelians and the Laz. All of these languages comprise the Kartvelian language family along with the related language of the Laz people, which has speakers in both Turkey and Georgia.

Jvari Monastery, one of the oldest churches in Georgia, located in country’s ancient capital city of Mtskheta. According to Orthodox tradition, Christianity was first preached in Georgia by the Apostles Simon and Andrew in the 1st century. As was true elsewhere, the Christian church in Georgia was crucial to the development of a written language, and most of the earliest written works were religious texts. Georgian population, most of whom are ethnic Georgian, follow Eastern Orthodox Christianity. A sizable Georgian Muslim population exists in Adjara.

There is also a small number of Georgian Jews, tracing their ancestors to the Babylonian captivity. In addition to traditional religious confessions, Georgia retains irreligious segments of society, as well as a significant portion of nominally religious individuals who do not actively practice their faith. Georgian Tamada making a toast at Supra, by Niko Pirosmani. The Georgian cuisine is specific to the country, but also contains some influences from other European culinary traditions, as well as those from the surrounding Western Asia. Each historical province of Georgia has its own distinct culinary tradition, such as Megrelian, Kakhetian, and Imeretian cuisines.

The importance of both food and drink to Georgian culture is best observed during a Caucasian feast, or supra, when a huge assortment of dishes is prepared, always accompanied by large amounts of wine, and dinner can last for hours. In countries of the former Soviet Union, Georgian food is popular due to the immigration of Georgians to other Soviet republics, in particular Russia. In Russia all major cities have many Georgian restaurants and Russian restaurants often feature Georgian food items on their menu. The Georgians have historically been classified into various subgroups based on the geographic region which their ancestors traditionally inhabited. Even if a member of any of these subgroups moves to a different region, they will still be known by the name of their ancestral region.

Kartlian despite actually living in Kartli. Imeretian, Svan and Mingrelian languages separate from Georgian. Laz people also may be considered Georgian based on their geographic location and religion. The fresco was a demonstration of the ambitious imperial example on which the Georgian rulers modeled themselves and competed in magnificence with those of Constantinople. Data without the occupied territories of Georgia. Statistics Archived 13 August 2020 at the Wayback Machine 22.

The Designations of the Georgians and Their Etymology, pp. Georgia in Antiquity: A History of Colchis and Transcaucasian Iberia, 550 BC-AD 562, pp. The Pilgrims’ derivation of the name Georgia”. Anthropologists’ views on race, ancestry, and genetics: WAGNER et al”. Charles Burney and David Marshal Lang, The Peoples of the Hills: Ancient Ararat and Caucasus, p. Toumanoff, Cyril, “Iberia between Chosroid and Bagratid Rule”, in Studies in Christian Caucasian History, Georgetown, 1963, pp. The Blackwell Companion to Eastern Christianity.