Guria (Georgian:გურია) is a region (mkhare) inGeorgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of theBlack Sea. The region has a population of 104,338 (2023),[4] withOzurgeti as the regional capital.
Guria is bordered bySamegrelo to the north-west,Imereti to the north,Samtskhe-Javakheti to the east,Ajaria to the south, and theBlack Sea to the west. The province has an area of 2,033 km2 (785 sq mi).
Guria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.
The territory that is now Guria was part of the kingdom ofColchis, best known in the West for the tale of theGolden Fleece. Following the collapse of the Colchian Kingdom it became part of the Kingdom ofLazica in the first century BC.[5] In antiquity the area was a significant source of iron, as early as the fifth century BC, and also copper and gold.[6]
The toponym "Guria" is first attested in the c. 800 Georgian chronicle ofPseudo-Juansher.[7]
Historical Guria in modern international borders of Georgia
Guria first appears c. 1352 as a fief of the house ofVardanidze-Dadiani; and after 1463 it became a sovereign principality independent of theKingdom of Georgia under a branch of that house, known thereafter by the name ofGurieli. The principality, comprising modern Guria and much ofAdjara with the city ofBatumi, was subsequently reduced in size and devastated in a series of conflicts with theOttoman Empire. ARussian protectorate was established by the treaty concluded on June 19, 1810 betweenMamia V Gurieli and the empire, and in 1829, during the regency for the last prince, the GurieliDavid, the principality was annexed by Russia.[8]
There were uprisings against Russian rule in 1819 and againin 1841. In 1840, Guria was made a county (uyezd) and renamed Ozurgeti, after one of its main towns. In 1846, it was transferred to the newKutais Governorate. By 1904, the population was just under 100,000, occupying an area of approximately 532,000 acres (2,150 km2) of mountains and swampy valleys, covered by corn fields, vineyards, and some tea plantations. It was the most ethnically homogenous of Georgian areas, with the peasantry and lesser rural nobility making up almost the entire population, with a high level of literacy and a relatively high degree of economic self-satisfaction. The peasant protest movement, which originated in 1902 and culminated in an open insurrection against the government during theRussian Revolution of 1905, was the most effective and organized peasant movement in the empire. The peasants’ self-government, the so-calledGurian Republic, survived into 1906, when it was crushed and Guria devastated by theCossackpunitive expedition.[9] The region was a native powerbase of theGeorgian Social Democratic (Menshevik) Party which dominated theDemocratic Republic of Georgia from 1918 to 1921. Guria was a scene of guerrilla resistance to themilitarily imposedSoviet rule early in the 1920s. Under the Soviet government, Guria was an agrarian area divided into three administrative districts. In 1995, the Georgian government decreed the creation of the region (mkhare) of Guria, restoring the province's historical name to official usage.
Gomismta and the Lesser Caucasus mountains (Guria region)
Some say that the root of the word [Guria] refers to restlessness and the word should mean “the land of the restless” and is associated with events during the eighth and ninth centuries when “Leon became the King ofAbkhazeti. Guruls (governor of Guria) refused to obey the ruler ofOdzrakho, ceased their vassal relations with Adarnase andAshot Bagrationi and united with Leon” as it was described inVakhushti Bagrationi’s historical works of the eighteenth century.[10]
According to a later explanation, in the times of Georgia’s prosperity, when its borders stretched from "Nikopsia toDaruband", Guria was situated in the heart of the Georgian territory.[10]
The linguistic evidence for the above hypothesis is theMegrelian word for “heart” – “guri” (Georgian: “guli”).
Subtropic farming and tourism are a mainstay of the region's economy. Water is one of Guria's main assets. The province is famous for the mineral water ofNabeglavi, which is similar toBorjomi in its chemical composition, and theBlack Sea health resort ofUreki, which is rich in magnetic sand. Guria is also one of the largesttea growing regions in Georgia.
According to the 2014 census, Guria has a population of 113.350 inhabitants, which accounts for 3.1% of the total population ofGeorgia. 98% of the population is ethnicGeorgian (mostly nativeGurians), 1% is ethnicArmenian and the remaining 1% is composed ofRussians andUkrainians and the majority of the population isOrthodox Christians (87%), followed byIslam (11%).
TheGurians orGurulebi (Georgian: გურულები) is one of the ethnographical groups of Georgians, inhabiting Guria. Gurians are Orthodox Christian and speak theGurian dialect of theGeorgian language.[11]
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