Imereti

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

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.

The 800,000{{cn|date=April 2024}} Imeretians speak the Imeretian dialect, one of the Northwest dialects of the Georgian language. It is itself subdivided into Upper and Lower Imeretian.{{Cite conference |last=Kevin Tuite |year=1987 |title=The geography of Georgian q'e |url=http://www.mapageweb.umontreal.ca/tuitekj/publications/Tuite-1989-q'e.pdf |conference=5th Conference on the Non-Slavic Languages of the USSR, Chicago |access-date=2007-03-27}} They are one of the local culture-groups of the ethnically subdivided Georgian people.

File:2014 Kutaisi, Katedra Bagrati (24).jpg 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.Woods, David (2006). "Tacitus, Nero, and the 'Pirate' Anicetus" in Latomus 65(3) 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,{{sfn|Odisheli|2018|page=1541}} being baptized in Constantinople in 523 AD, and fighting alongside Eastern Roman emperor Justinian I in the Iberian War.{{sfn|Greatrex|Lieu|2002|page=82}} In 541 AD, the region became the theatre of the Lazic War between Justinian I and Sasanian Persian emperor Khosrow I.{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle=Imeretia|volume=14|page=331}}

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. 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.{{cite book |last=Brosset |first=Marie-Félicité |author-link=Marie-Félicité Brosset |date=1849 |title=Histoire de la Géorgie, depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle - 1re partie |location=St. Petersburg |publisher=Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences |url={{GBurl|hc1CAAAAcAAJ}} }} Since that kingdom's disintegration in the 15th century, Imereti was an independent kingdom from 1466 onwards.{{cite book |last=Brosset |first=Marie-Félicité |date=1856 |title=Histoire de la Géorgie depuis l'Antiquité jusqu'au XIXe siècle - IIe partie: Histoire moderne |publisher=Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences |url=https://archive.org/details/BrossetHistGeo2/ }}

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.

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

{{Notelist}}

{{Reflist|2}}

• {{cite book|last1=Greatrex|first1=Geoffrey|last2=Lieu|first2=Samuel N. C.|title=The Roman Eastern Frontier and the Persian Wars (Part II, 363–630 AD)|location=London, United Kingdom|publisher=Routledge|year=2002|isbn=0-415-14687-9|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NnLDQgAACAAJ}}
• {{ODLA|last=Odisheli|first=Manana|title=Tsathes I|url=https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/acref/9780198662778.001.0001/acref-9780198662778-e-5559}}

{{Sister project links|auto=y}}

• [http://www.Imereti.com Imereti.com - The Guide to Imereti, Georgia, Sakartvelo]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20070710050115/http://www.imereti.ge/?sec_id=4&lang_id=ENG Official website]
• [http://www.civil.ge/eng/article.php?id=21844 Civil.GE]

{{Administrative divisions of Georgia}}

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Category:Regions of Georgia (country)

Category:Former provinces of Georgia (country)

Category:Historical regions of Georgia (country)