Georgia is a relatively small country covering 70,000 square kilometres, lying on the southern foothills of the Greater Caucasus mountain range, and on the south-eastern shores of the Black Sea.
Situated at the juncture of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bordered by Russia to the north, Turkey to the south-west, Armenia to the south and Azerbaijan to the south-east. The capital and largest city is Tbilisi.
A unified Kingdom of Georgia reached the peak of its political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar from the 11th to 13th centuries
Following the Russian collapse in 1917, Georgia established its first-ever republic under German and British protection, but was subsequently invaded by Bolshevik Russia and absorbed into the Soviet Union. It restored its independence in 1991.
