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Georgia and the Caspian Sea
Population: 462,000 (includes Kvemo Svaneti region)
Size: 7504.7 sq. km
Main Town: Zugdidi (population: 68, 200)
Average salary: 128.00 GEL - georgian lari ($71 US) per month (2004)
Principal economic activities: Citrus fruit, hazelnuts, tea
Minorities: 98.6 percent of the administrative region is ethnic
Georgian (Mengrelian and Svan). The remaining 1.5 percent are Russian, Abkhaz,
Armenian, Ukranian, Ossetian, Azerbaijani, and Greek.
Birth Rate: 3.6 per 1,000
Death Rate: 4.8 per 1,000
Different Provinces of Georgia
Nutshell History: Samegrelo (formerly known as Mengrelia) was a major
part of the legendary ancient kingdom of Kolkha (Colchis) in the 9th-6th
centuries B.C. Samegrelo became part of the United Georgian Kingdom in the 11th
century, and fell under Russian jurisdiction in 1803, where it remained (with
the exception of Georgia’s brief sovereignty from 1918-1921) until Georgian
independence was declared in 1991. Inhabitants are Mengrelian, an ethnic
sub-group who speak Mengrelian, part of the South Caucasian language family.
Claim to Fame: Georgia’s first elected president in 1991, Zviad
Gamsakhurdia, was Mengrelian. Following the coup deposing him, Samegrelo became
the epicenter of Georgia’s 1991-1993 civil war until Gamsakhurdia’s
supporters, “Zviadists”, were defeated in December1993. Nonetheless,
stability in the region deteriorated rapidly as some 40,000 refugees (mostly
Mengrelian) from neighboring Abkhazia relocated there after the conclusion of
the 1992-1994 war over the territory.
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