Imereti

Administrative region of Georgia

Mkhare in Georgia

Imereti

იმერეთი

Mkhare (region)

From the top to bottom-right: Kutaisi, Okatse Canyon, Katskhi Pillar, Sulori Gorge, Tkibuli Reservoir

Overlapping borders of de jure Imereti region and de facto South Ossetia[a]

Country|  Georgia
Capital| Kutaisi
Government

• Governor| Zviad Shalamberidze[1] (Georgian Dream)
Area

[b]

• Total

| 6,680 km2 (2,580 sq mi)
Population

(2024)[2]

• Total

| 442,373
• Density| 66/km2 (170/sq mi)
Gross Regional Product

[3]

• Total| ₾ 5.51 billion (2022)
• Per capita| ₾ 11,444 (2022)
ISO 3166 code| GE-IM
Districts| 11 districts, 1 city
HDI (2021)| 0.800 [4]
very high · 3rd
Website| imereti.ge

Imereti (Georgian: იმერეთი, pronounced [imeɾetʰi]) 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 municipalities and the city of Kutaisi, which is the capital of the region.

## Subdivisions

[edit]

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, Khoni, Kutaisi, Sachkhere, Samtredia, Terjola, Tkibuli, Tsqaltubo, Vani and Zestaponi;
* Three dabas: Kharagauli, Kulashi and Shorapani;
* Villages: 535

Map  | Municipality

|

City of Kutaisi
Baghdati Municipality
Vani Municipality
Zestaponi Municipality
Terjola Municipality
Samtredia Municipality
Sachkhere Municipality
Tkibuli Municipality
Chiatura Municipality
Tsqaltubo Municipality
Kharagauli Municipality
Khoni Municipality

## Economy

[edit]

Aside from the capital Kutaisi, significant towns and regional centres include Samtredia, Chiatura (manganese production centre), Tkibuli (coal mining centre), Zestaponi (known for metals production), Vani, Khoni, and Sachkhere. Traditionally, Imereti is an agricultural region, known for its mulberries and grapes.

## Demographics

[edit]

The 800,000[citation needed] Imeretians speak the Imeretian dialect, one of the Northwest dialects of the Georgian language. It is itself subdivided into Upper and Lower Imeretian.[5] They are one of the local culture-groups of the ethnically subdivided Georgian people.

Demographic history of the Imereti region[6]

| 1959 | 1970 | 1979 | 1989 | 2002* | 2002** | 2014 | 2021
Imereti |  651,959 |  718,558 |  739,189 |  772,251 |  699,410 |  632,126 |  533,906 |  481,473
City of Kutaisi |  128,203 |  162,787 |  194,297 |  234,870 |  185,965 | - |  147,635 |  134,378
Baghdati Municipality |  29,560 |  30,973 |  30,056 |  29,053 |  29,235 | - |  21,582 |  18,363
Chiatura Municipality |  64,562 |  72,059 |  69,582 |  68,501 |  56,341 | - |  39,884 |  38,231
Kharagauli Municipality |  36,486 |  35,591 |  31,948 |  28,702 |  27,885 | - |  19,473 |  18,571
Khoni Municipality |  32,548 |  32,718 |  37,968 |  34,979 |  31,749 | - |  23,570 |  21,123
Sachkhere Municipality*** |  38,202 |  45,552 |  44,859 |  44,968 |  46,590 | - |  37,775 |  34,848
Samtredia Municipality |  62,556 |  67,141 |  65,400 |  64,504 |  60,456 | - |  48,562 |  43,448
Terjola Municipality |  43,847 |  46,438 |  44,709 |  44,019 |  45,496 | - |  35,563 |  31,427
Tkibuli Municipality |  44,411 |  42,733 |  39,451 |  36,686 |  31,132 | - |  20,839 |  17,898
Tsqaltubo Municipality |  62,389 |  67,086 |  69,738 |  75,061 |  73,889 | - |  56,883 |  46,803
Vani Municipality |  40,999 |  41,505 |  38,346 |  35,369 |  34,464 | - |  24,512 |  21,241
Zestaponi Municipality |  68,196 |  73,975 |  72,835 |  75,539 |  76,208 | - |  57,628 |  55,142
* Research after 2014 census showed the 2002 census was inflated by 8-9 percent.[7]
**Corrected data based on retro-projection 1994–2014 in collaboration with UN[8]
*** Part of Sachkhere is outside Georgian government authority and has not been counted since 2002.

## History

[edit]

Bagrati Cathedral in Kutaisi

In ancient times, the region was a part of the Kingdom of Colchis, until it was conquered by the Kingdom of Pontus. After the Third Mithridatic War, Colchis was under loose Roman control, and unsuccessfully revolted in 69 AD under Anicetus.[9] After the collapse of Colchis, the kingdom of Lazica was established in 131 AD as a Roman vassal. Tzath I was the first Christian king of Lazica,[10] being baptized in Constantinople in 523 AD, and fighting alongside Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I in the Iberian War.[11] In 541 AD, the region became the theatre of the Lazic War between Justinian I and Sasanian Persian emperor Khosrow I.[12]

Between 750 and 985, Imereti was ruled by a dynasty of native princes, but was devastated by hostile incursions, reviving only after it became united to Georgia.[12] After the Mongol invasions of Georgia, Imereti was intermittently part of the independent Kingdom of Western Georgia, until being reunited in 1415 as the Duchy of Samokalako under the united Georgian Kingdom.[13] Since that kingdom's disintegration in the 15th century, Imereti was an independent kingdom from 1466 onwards.[14]

In the 17th–18th centuries, the kingdom of Imereti experienced frequent invasions by the Turks and paid patronage to the Ottoman Empire until 1810, when it was invaded and annexed by the Russian Empire. The last King of Imereti was Solomon II (1789–1810).

From 1918 to 1921, Imereti was part of the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia. Within the USSR, the region was part of the Transcaucasian SFSR from 1922 to 1936, and part of the Georgian SSR from 1936 to 1991. Since Georgian independence in 1991, Imereti has been a region of Georgia with Kutaisi as the regional capital.

## See also

[edit]

* Kingdom of Imereti
* Administrative divisions of Georgia (country)

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ South Ossetia's status is disputed. It considers itself to be an independent state, but this is recognised by only a few other countries. The Georgian government and most of the world's other states consider South Ossetia de jure a part of Georgia's territory.
2. ^ Nominal area 6,680 km², de facto controlled by Georgia 6,415 km².

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "New Governor of Imereti Appointed".
2. ^ "Population and Demography - Population by cities and boroughs as of 1 January". National Statistics Office of Georgia (Geostat). Retrieved 2021-11-26.
3. ^ "Regional Gross Domestic Product" (PDF).
4. ^ "Sub-national HDI - Area Database - Global Data Lab". hdi.globaldatalab.org. Retrieved 2018-09-13.
5. ^ Kevin Tuite (1987). The geography of Georgian q'e (PDF). 5th Conference on the Non-Slavic Languages of the USSR, Chicago. Retrieved 2007-03-27.
6. ^ "Divisions of Georgia". Population Statistics Eastern Europe and former USSR. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
7. ^ "Population Dynamics in Georgia - An Overview Based on the 2014 General Population Census Data" (PDF). National Statistics Office of Georgia, Geostat. 2017-11-29. pp. 1–4. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
8. ^ "Retro-projection of main demographic indicators for the period 1994-2014". National Statistics Office of Georgia, Geostat. 2018-05-18. pp. 3, Table 1. Retrieved 2022-02-04.
9. ^ Woods, David (2006). "Tacitus, Nero, and the 'Pirate' Anicetus" in Latomus 65(3)
10. ^ Odisheli 2018, p. 1541.
11. ^ Greatrex & Lieu 2002, p. 82.
12. ^ a b  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Imeretia". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 14 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 331.
13. ^ Brosset, Marie-Félicité (1849). Histoire de la Géorgie, depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle - 1re partie. St. Petersburg: Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.
14. ^ Brosset, Marie-Félicité (1856). Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle - IIe partie: Histoire moderne. Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences.

### Bibliography

[edit]

* Greatrex, Geoffrey; Lieu, Samuel N. C. (2002). The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD). London, United Kingdom: Routledge. ISBN 0-415-14687-9.
* Odisheli, Manana (2018). "Tsathes I". In Nicholson, Oliver (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Late Antiquity. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866277-8.

## External links

[edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Imereti.

* Imereti.com - The Guide to Imereti, Georgia, Sakartvelo
* Official website
* Civil.GE

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Administrative divisions of Georgia

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42°10′N 42°59′E﻿ / ﻿42.167°N 42.983°E﻿ / 42.167; 42.983
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