Travelling around Georgia, you constantly meet history: fortresses on cliffs, 6th-century churches, cave cities, statues of kings in squares. To make it all fit together, it helps to know the key milestones. Here's a short timeline — from the first humans to today — with tips on where to "see" each era for yourself.

Ancient times

  • About 1.8 million years ago. At Dmanisi in southern Georgia, remains of some of the earliest humans outside Africa were found. A museum-reserve operates there today.
  • About 8,000 years ago. Some of the world's oldest evidence of winemaking — pottery with wine residue — was found in Neolithic settlements of the Shulaveri-Shomutepe culture. Hence Georgia's proud claim to be "the cradle of wine".

Where to see it: Dmanisi; the Georgian National Museum in Tbilisi.

Colchis and Iberia

In antiquity, two major kingdoms existed on Georgian territory:

  • Colchis in the west, on the Black Sea. According to Greek myth, the Argonauts sailed here for the Golden Fleece. Colchis was famed for its gold and fertile land.
  • Iberia (Kartli) in the east, with its capital at Mtskheta.

Where to see it: the Vani museum (Colchian finds), Mtskheta, Armazi.

Conversion to Christianity

In the early 4th century, tradition holds, Saint Nino of Cappadocia preached in Mtskheta and converted Queen Nana and King Mirian III. Around the 330s Christianity became Iberia's state religion, and faith has been part of Georgian identity ever since.

Where to see it: Mtskheta — Svetitskhoveli and Jvari; Bodbe Monastery in Kakheti, where Saint Nino is buried.

Vakhtang Gorgasali and Tbilisi

In the 5th century King Vakhtang Gorgasali strengthened Iberia and, legend says, founded Tbilisi. While hunting, a wounded bird fell into a hot spring and was cooked — so the king discovered the warm sulphur waters and decided to build a city. The name comes from "tbili", "warm". The capital later moved from Mtskheta to Tbilisi.

Where to see it: the Gorgasali statue near Metekhi, the Abanotubani sulphur baths.

The Arabs and unification

From the 7th to 10th centuries Tbilisi was under Arab rule (the Emirate of Tbilisi) and the country was fragmented. In the early 11th century Bagrat III of the Bagrationi dynasty united most Georgian lands into a single kingdom.

Where to see it: Bagrati Cathedral in Kutaisi.

The Golden Age: David the Builder and Queen Tamar

  • David IV the Builder (1089–1125) reformed the army and church, won the famous Battle of Didgori in 1121 and recaptured Tbilisi, making it his capital. He founded the Gelati Academy, a centre of learning.
  • Queen Tamar (reigned 1184–1213) presided over the peak of Georgia's power. The country was one of the strongest in the region, and architecture, literature and art flourished. In this era Shota Rustaveli wrote the epic "The Knight in the Panther's Skin", Georgia's greatest literary work.

Where to see it: Gelati (UNESCO), where David the Builder is buried; Vardzia, Tamar's cave monastery; Rustaveli Avenue in Tbilisi.

Invasions and fragmentation

From the 13th century Georgia was devastated by the Mongols, and at the end of the 14th century by Timur (Tamerlane). The unified kingdom split into Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti and several principalities. For centuries the country was caught between two empires — Persia and the Ottoman Empire — competing for the Caucasus.

Where to see it: Ananuri and Narikala fortresses, the defensive towers of Svaneti and Khevsureti.

Erekle II and the Russian Empire

King Erekle II of Kartli-Kakheti signed the Treaty of Georgievsk with Russia in 1783, placing his kingdom under its protection. In 1795 the Persian shah Agha Mohammad Khan sacked Tbilisi after the Battle of Krtsanisi. In 1801 the kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti was annexed by the Russian Empire, followed later by the western Georgian lands.

In the 19th century Tbilisi (then Tiflis) gained theatres, avenues and mansions, many of which you'll see in Sololaki and along Rustaveli Avenue.

Where to see it: Telavi (Erekle II's palace), old Tbilisi, Sololaki.

The Democratic Republic (1918–1921)

On 26 May 1918 the Democratic Republic of Georgia was proclaimed. Its independence was short-lived: in 1921 the Red Army invaded and Georgia became part of the Soviet Union. 26 May is today's Independence Day.

The Soviet period

Georgia was a Soviet republic. Factories, resorts (Borjomi, Tskaltubo, Gagra) and winemaking developed, and you'll see plenty of Soviet architecture, from modernist buildings to the sanatoriums of Tskaltubo. On 9 April 1989 a peaceful pro-independence rally in Tbilisi was violently dispersed — the date became a symbol of the struggle for freedom.

Where to see it: Tskaltubo; the former Ministry of Highway Construction building in Tbilisi; the Soviet occupation exhibition at the National Museum.

Restored independence

On 9 April 1991 Georgia adopted the act restoring its independence. The 1990s were very hard: economic crisis, internal conflict and wars in Abkhazia and the Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia), which remain outside Tbilisi's control today.

In 2003 the Rose Revolution led to a period of reforms. In August 2008 there was a war with Russia. In the following years Georgia signed an Association Agreement with the EU (2014), gained visa-free travel to the Schengen area (2017) and received EU candidate status (December 2023). Political life remains lively — check the news before your trip.

The timeline in one line

Dmanisi → winemaking → Colchis and Iberia → Christianity (4th c.) → Tbilisi (5th c.) → unification (11th c.) → David the Builder and Tamar (12th c.) → Mongols and Timur → fragmentation → Russian Empire (1801) → republic (1918) → USSR (1921) → independence (1991).

Using this on your trip

  • Start at the Georgian National Museum for the big picture.
  • Visit Mtskheta, the cradle of Georgian Christianity.
  • In Imereti, see Gelati and Bagrati Cathedral — the era of unification and the golden age.
  • In Samtskhe-Javakheti, see Vardzia, Queen Tamar's monastery.
  • Stroll through Sololaki — 19th-century Tiflis.

In short

Georgia's history is millennia of survival and cultural flowering at the crossroads of empires: early humans and wine, the Golden Fleece, early Christianity, the golden age of David the Builder and Queen Tamar, centuries of invasions, the Russian Empire, the brief 1918 republic, the Soviet period and new independence. Knowing these milestones, you'll see Georgia's fortresses, churches and streets with very different eyes.