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This is a timeline of Georgian history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in Georgia and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of Georgia. See also the List of Georgian Kings and Queens.
Event
Event
Event
Shulaveri. A late Neolithic/Eneolithic culture that existed on the territory of present-day Georgia, Azerbaijan and the Armenian Highlands The culture is dated to mid-6th or early-5th millennia BC and is thought to be one of the earliest known Neolithic cultures. Started in c. 6000 BC and lasted till 4000 BC.
Event
Trialeti culture. The Trialeti age was a second culture to appear in what is present-day Georgia, after the Shulaveri age and it lasted from 4000 BC to 2200 BC.
Event
Kura-Araxes culture. It mostly encompassed, on modern-day territories, the Southern Caucasus (except western Georgia), northwestern Iran, the northeastern Caucasus, eastern Turkey, and as far as Syria.
Event
Diauehi. A coalition of tribes, or kingdoms, located in northeastern Anatolia, that was formed in the 12th century BC in the post-Hittite period. It is mentioned in the Urartian inscriptions. It is usually (though not always) identified with Daiaeni of the Yonjalu inscription of the Assyrian king Tiglath-Pileser I's third year (1118 BC). Diauehi is a possible locus of proto-Kartvelian; it has been described as an "important tribal formation of possible proto-Georgians" by Ronald Grigor Suny (1994).
Event
Colchian culture. Late Bronze Age and Iron Age culture of the western Caucasus, mostly in what is present-day western Georgia.
Event
King Sien of Diauehi leads a large tribal coalition of tribes to stall Assyrian advances. He is captured by Assyrians, forcibly submitted to King Tiglath-Pileser I and later released on terms of vassalage. Tribal alliance of 20,000 Mushks commanded by 5 kings and Kaskian warriors is also defeated by Assyrians in the same year.
Event
Despite numerous attempts of its King Utupurshi of Diauehi to salvage the nation, Diauehi is finally destroyed by the emerging power of Urartu. It is partitioned between Urartu and the entity of Colchis.
Event
Cimmerians and Scythians invade Georgia and the Caucasus. Kingdom of Colchis develops in this age. Later on, Cimmerians play an influential role in the development of both Iberian and Colchian states.
Ancient Greek colonization of the Black Sea begins. Greeks establish a number of colonies on Colchian coast, namely: Phasis, Dioscurias, Pityus, Gyenos and few others.
Event
Kingdom of Colchis appears. Described as being "the earliest Georgian formation", it was kingdom and region in Western Georgia, which played an important role in the ethnic and cultural formation of the Georgians. The Kingdom of Colchis, which existed from the 6th to the 1st centuries BC is regarded as another Georgian state and the term Colchians was used as the collective term for tribes which populated the eastern coast of the Black Sea. Colchis was populated by Colchians, an early Lazuri speaking tribe, ancestral to the contemporary Western Georgians, namely Svans and Mingrelians, as well as the related Lazs.
Event
Colchians are mentioned in the HistoriesofHerodotus alongside Persians and Medes which undoubtedly points out their significant role as well as famed strength renowned throughout the Ancient World.
Event
Kingdom of Iberia, centred in what is present-day eastern Georgia, is founded as an official monarchy by its first king Pharnavaz I of Iberia, after defeating Azo, his predecessor and usurper to the throne. Pharnabazid dynasty is established.
Xenophon, a Greek mercenary and distinguished historical writer of Antiquity, passes through the area later known as Pontus. Recordings of his journey prove invaluable to the early Georgian history and ethnography. Xenophon described the following Proto-Georgian tribes: Chalybes, Drilae, Macrones, Mossynoeci, Phasians, Taochi, Tibareni and others.
Event
According to traditional accounts, Georgian alphabet is created by the King Pharnavaz I of Iberia for the Georgian language.
Event
Artaxiad dynasty begins reigning in Iberia.
Event
Pompey's Georgian campaign. Pompey the Great subjugates Kingdom of Iberia and makes western Georgian Kingdom of ColchisaRoman province.
Year
Date
Event
30AD
Pharnabazid dynasty is restored to the Iberian throne.
Year
Date
Event
117-138 AD
Kingdom of Iberia reaches its peak with the reign of King Pharasmanes II of Iberia, who manages to install his brother Mithridates on the Armenian throne, who is later deposed and replaced by his nephew Rhadamistus. The possibility of uniting the two kingdoms is finally shattered by Parthian invasion and Rhadamistus is overthrown.
189 AD
Arsacid dynasty of Iberia succeeds the Pharnabazids.
Year
Date
Event
270 AD
Anti-Roman uprising in Colchis.
284 AD
Chosroid dynasty, a branch of the House of Mihran, begins reigning over the Kingdom of Iberia.
Year
Date
Event
319 AD, 326 AD or 337 AD
King Mirian III of Iberia declares Christianity in Caucasian Iberia (eastern Georgia) as an official religion.
Year
Date
Event
482-502 AD
Vakhtang I of Iberia fights against growing Persian domination and renewed attempts of forcible conversion of Iberia, Armenia and AlbaniatoZoroastrianism.
560s, 570s AD
Khosrow I abolishes the king as a title of the Iberian ruler and incorporates Iberia into his Empire. Iberia becomes a mere province.
580 AD
Death of Bacurius, the last Chosroid ruler of Iberia and subsequent abolition of Iberian monarchy by Persians.
588 AD
After the abolition of the monarchy by Sassanid Empire, Principate of Iberia is established with Guaram I of Iberia as its first ruler.
Year
Date
Event
526-532 AD
541-562 AD
Year
Date
Event
627 AD
Third Perso-Turkic War - Tbilisi, capital of the Principate of Iberia, whose ruler Stephen I of Iberia is an ally of the Khosrau II, is sacked by the combined forces of Turks and Byzantines.
654 AD
First entry of Arabs into Georgian lands. Principate of Iberia, unable to resist the invaders on its own, surrenders and accepts the terms of vassalage.
Year
Date
Event
735-737 AD
Marwan ibn Muhammad's invasion of Georgia
Year
Date
Event
AD
Year
Date
Event
1000 AD
Bagrat III of Georgia founds Kingdom of Georgia
Year
Date
Event
1040 AD
Seljuk Turks invade Georgia.
1071 AD
Byzantine-Georgian armies are defeated by Seljuk Turks at the Battle of Manzikert.
1089 AD
At the age 16 King David IV of Georgia inherits the throne and organizes the army to combat the Seljuk invaders.
Year
Date
Event
1121 AD
At the Battle of Didgori Seljuks are defeated by the Georgians. Tbilisi and other Georgian lands go back to Georgia.
Year
Date
Event
1204 AD
Queen Tamar of Georgia conquers Black Sea coast of Byzantine Empire and Empire of Trebizond is created. She puts there as emperor her own relative Prince Alexios Komnenos.
Year
Date
Event
AD
Year
Date
Event
1400 AD
Timur the Lame invades Georgia destroys most of the towns in Western Georgia. 60,000 survivors were taken back to the Timurid Empire as slaves.
1463
Self-declared King of Imereti Bagrat VI defeats George VIII forces in the Battle of Chikhori and ensures his power.
1483
Self-declared AtabegofSamtskhe Qvarqvare II Jaqeli assaults royal forces and defeats them in the Battle of Aradeti, therefore ensuring his power. Kingdom of Georgia finally collapses.
1490
Governors of Kartli finally recognizes dissolution of Kingdom of Georgia.
Year
Date
Event
AD
Year
Date
Event
AD
Year
Date
Event
July 24, 1783 AD
the Treaty of Georgievsk is signed between the Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti and the Russian Empire, making Kartli-Kakheti a protectorate of Russia.
1795 AD
Agha Mohammed Khan invades Georgia, capturing and sacking Tbilisi. Eastern Georgia briefly re-occupied by the Iranians.
1798 AD
Civil war breaks out within Kartli following the death of Erekle II over the succession to the throne of Kartli, eventually taken by George XII.
1799 AD
Russians enter Tbilisi.
Year
Date
Event
January 8, 1801 AD
Tsar Paul I of Russia signs a decree on incorporating Kartli-Kakheti into Russia, confirmed by Alexander I on 12 September the same year.
1810
Russian Army invades and annexes Kingdom of Imereti.
18 July 1811
Autocephaly of Georgian Orthodox Church was quashed on order of the Tsar.
24 October 1813 AD
Treaty of Gulistan signed between Qajar Iran and the Russian Empire, ending the Russo-Iranian War of 1804–1813. Eastern Georgia officially ceded by the Iranians to Russia.
9 September 1829
David Gurieli was proclaimed deposed by the Russian authorities and Principality of Guria was directly annexed by Russian Empire.
1858
Principality of Svaneti was abolished by the Russian authorities and was converted into a district of Russian Empire.
1864
Principality of Abkhazia was abolished and incorporated in the Russian Empire, whereas Prince Mikhail Shervashidze was forced to reject his rights and resettle in Voronezh.
1867
Niko Dadiani was deposed and Principality of Mingrelia was abolished and incorporated in the Russian Empire.
13 July 1878
Treaty of Berlin was signed in the aftermath of the Russo-Turkish War. The Ottomans were forced to cede Adjara to the expanding Russian Empire.
Year
Date
Event
1918
22 April
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic established.
1918
28 May
Transcaucasian Democratic Federative Republic disestablished.
1918
26 May
Democratic Republic of Georgia established.
1921
25 February
Democratic Republic of Georgia annexed by the Bolshevik forces of the Soviet Union, following an invasion which begin 14 days earlier on the 11th.
1978
14 April
A wave of demonstrations were held in Tbilisi to protest adopting a new constitution of the Soviet Georgia, no longer declaring Georgian to be the sole state language. Protests resulted in retaining the previous status of the Georgian language.
9 April 1989
Soviet forces disperse demonstrations in Tbilisi, leaving 21 civilians killed.
9 April 1991
Georgia declares independence from the Soviet Union, finalized on 25 December the same year.
May 1991
Zviad Gamsakhurdia elected as the first President of Georgia.
1991-1992
Zviad Gamsakhurdia overthrowed by the military junta.
1991-1993
1991-1992
1992-1993
November 1995
Eduard Shevardnadze elected as the President of Georgia.
Year
Date
Event
November 2003
The Rose Revolution resulted in overthrow of incumbent President Eduard Shevardnadze.
January 2004
Mikheil Saakashvili elected as the new President of Georgia.
May 2004
The Adjara Revolution restored semi-independent region under control of the central government of Georgia.
August 2008
October 2012
Georgian Dream defeats the United National Movement party of incumbent President Mikheil Saakashvili in the parliamentary election.
Middle
Modern
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