# Timeline of Georgian history

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.

## 1800000 BC

* Event
* Homo erectus georgicus

## 8000 BC - 7000 BC

* Event

## 6200 BC - 4000 BC

* 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.

## 4000 BC - 2200 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.

## 3400 BC - 2000 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.

## 2500 BC - 760 BC

* 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).

## 1200 BC - 600 BC

* Event
* Colchian culture. Late Bronze Age and Iron Age culture of the western Caucasus, mostly in what is present-day western Georgia.

## 1112 BC

* 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.

## 760 BC

* 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.

## 700 BC

* 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.

## 600 BC

* 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.

## 500 BC

* Event
* Colchians are mentioned in the Histories of Herodotus alongside Persians and Medes which undoubtedly points out their significant role as well as famed strength renowned throughout the Ancient World.

## 302 BC

* 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.

## 284 BC

* Event
* According to traditional accounts, Georgian alphabet is created by the King Pharnavaz I of Iberia for the Georgian language.

## 90 BC

* Event
* Artaxiad dynasty begins reigning in Iberia.

## 65 BC

* Event
* Pompey's Georgian campaign. Pompey the Great subjugates Kingdom of Iberia and makes western Georgian Kingdom of Colchis a Roman province.

## 1st century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 30 AD | | Pharnabazid dynasty is restored to the Iberian throne. |

## 2nd century

| 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. |

## 3rd century

| 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. |

## 4th century

| 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. |

## 5th century

| Year | Event |
| 482-502 AD | Vakhtang I of Iberia fights against growing Persian domination and renewed attempts of forcible conversion of Iberia, Armenia and Albania to Zoroastrianism. |
| 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. |

## 6th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 526-532 AD | | Iberian War |
| 541-562 AD | | Lazic War |

## 7th century

| 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. |

## 8th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 735-737 AD | | Marwan ibn Muhammad's invasion of Georgia |

## 9th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| AD | | |

## 10th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| 1000 AD | | Bagrat III of Georgia founds Kingdom of Georgia |

## 11th century

| Year | 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. |

## 12th century

| 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. |

## 13th century

| 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. |

## 14th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| AD | | |

## 15th century

| Year | 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 Atabeg of Samtskhe 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. |

## 16th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| AD | | |

## 17th century

| Year | Date | Event |
| AD | | |

## 18th century

| Year | 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. |

## 19th century

| Year | 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. |

## 20th century

| 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 | | Georgian Civil War |
| 1991-1992 | | South Ossetia War. |
| 1992-1993 | | War in Abkhazia. |
| November 1995 | | Eduard Shevardnadze elected as the President of Georgia. |

## 21st century

| Year | 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 | Russo-Georgian War. |
| October 2012 | Georgian Dream defeats the United National Movement party of incumbent President Mikheil Saakashvili in the parliamentary election. |