Abkhazia

Abkhazia (Georgian: აფხაზეთი), officially the Republic of Abkhazia (Georgian: აფხაზეთის რესპუბლიკის), is a small de facto country in the Lesser Caucasus of Asia. In whole, it is claimed by Georgia as the Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia (Georgian: აფხაზეთის ავტონომიური რესპუბლიკის). Its capital is Sukhumi (Georgian: სოხუმში).

Early History
Between the 9th and 6th centuries BC, the territory of modern Abkhazia was part of the ancient Georgian kingdom of Colchis (Kolkha).[16][17][18][19] This kingdom was subsequently absorbed in 63 BC into the Kingdom of Egrisi, known to Byzantine Roman sources as Lazica.[20][21]

Between 1000 and 550 BC, the Greeks established trade colonies along the Black Sea coast of present-day Abkhazia, in particular at Pitiunt and Dioscurias, which was to become the capital of modern-day Abkhazia, encountering local warlike tribes whom they dubbed Heniochi. Classical authors described various peoples living in the region and the great multitude of languages they spoke.[22] Arrian, Pliny and Strabo have given accounts of the Abasgoi[23] (generally considered ancestors of the modern Abkhazians) and Moschoi[24] (generally considered as ancestors of Georgian Meskhetians) peoples somewhere in modern Abkhazia on the eastern shore of the Black Sea.

The Roman Empire conquered Egrisi in the 1st century AD and ruled it until the 4th century, following which it regained a measure of independence, but remained within the Byzantine Empire's sphere of influence. Although the exact time when the population of the region of Abkhazia was converted to Christianity has not been determined, it is known that the Metropolitan of Pityus participated in the First Ecumenical Council in 325 in Nicaea.

Around the mid 6th century AD, the Byzantines and the neighbouring Sassanid Persia fought for supremacy over Abkhazia for 20 years, a conflict known as the Lazic War.

Abkhazia, or Abasgia in classic sources, formerly part of Colchis and later of Egrisi (Lazica) until the late 690s, was a princedom under Byzantine authority. Anacopia was the princedom's capital. The country was mostly Christian, with the archbishop's seat in Pityus.[25] An Arab incursion into Abkhazia led by Marwan II, was repelled by Leon I jointly with his Egrisian and Kartlian allies in 736.

After acquiring Egrisi via a dynastic union in the 780s[26] the Kingdom of Abkhazia was established and became a dominant power in western Caucasus. During this period the Georgian language replaced Greek as the language of literacy and culture.[27] The western Georgian kingdom flourished between 850 and 950 when it annexed significant parts of central Georgia. A period of unrest ensued, which ended as Abkhazia and eastern Georgian states were unified under a single Georgian monarchy, ruled by King Bagrat III (who was buried in the Monastery of Bedia in eastern Abkhazia) at the end of the 10th century and the beginning of the 11th century.

In the 16th century, after the break-up of the Georgian Kingdom into small kingdoms and principalities, Principality of Abkhazia (nominally a vassal of the Kingdom of Imereti) emerged, ruled by the Shervashidze dynasty (also known as Sharvashidze, or Chachba).[1] Since the 1570s, when the Ottoman navy occupied the fort of Tskhumi, Abkhazia came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire and Islam. Under Ottoman rule, the majority of Abkhaz elite converted to Islam. The principality retained a degree of autonomy. Georgia signed a treaty with Russia for protection against the Ottoman Empire in 1773 and was seemingly absorbed, while Abkhazia sought protection from Russia in 1801, but was declared as "an autonomous principality" by the Russians in 1810.[28][29] Russia then annexed Abkhazia in 1864, and Abkhaz resistance was quashed as the Russians deported Muslim Abkhaz to Ottoman territories.[1][19][28]