Georgia

Georgia is a country with big mountains.

The Black Sea is on one side. Snowy peaks are on the other side. The capital city is called Tbilisi.

Georgia is a country in the region called Transcaucasia, at the eastern end of the Black Sea. The wall of the Greater Caucasus mountains runs along its north, and its neighbors are Russia, Azerbaijan, Armenia and Turkey.

For a small country, Georgia has a huge variety of landscapes, from warm, green Black Sea shores to ice and snow on the mountain tops. More than a third of the land is covered by forest or brush. About 3.9 million people lived in Georgia at the start of 2026, and its capital is Tbilisi.

Georgia lies in Transcaucasia at the eastern end of the Black Sea, on the southern flanks of the main crest of the Greater Caucasus. Russia borders it to the north and northeast, Azerbaijan to the east and southeast, Armenia and Turkey to the south, and the Black Sea to the west. Britannica lists three ethnic enclaves within it: Abkhazia in the northwest, Ajaria in the southwest and South Ossetia in the north.

Except for the fertile Kolkhida Lowland, the terrain is largely mountainous, and more than a third is covered by forest or brushwood. The 2024 Population and Agricultural Census of the National Statistics Office (Geostat) counted 3,929,581 people on 14 November 2024, 5.8 percent more than in 2014, and Geostat's estimate for 1 January 2026 was 3,941,100. Geostat's census and estimates do not include Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Tbilisi is the capital city.

A river runs through it. Old streets and new buildings stand side by side. Gelati is an old monastery on a green hill.

Tbilisi, the capital, lies in eastern Georgia on the Kura River, partly in a steep, scenic gorge. It was founded more than 1,500 years ago, in 458 (some sources say 455). Its old town has narrow, winding streets below the ruins of an old fortress. The 2024 census counted about 1.33 million people in Tbilisi.

Kutaisi, in the west, is one of the oldest cities of Transcaucasia. Just outside it stands Gelati Monastery, begun in 1106. It was a center of science and learning, with an academy that was one of the most important places of culture in old Georgia.

Tbilisi stands on the Mtkvari (Kura) River where it cuts between the Trialeti and Kartli ranges. Founded in 458 (in some sources 455), when the capital moved there from Mtskheta, it controlled the route between western and eastern Transcaucasia and changed hands many times; in 1122 David IV restored it as a capital, and in 1921 it became capital of the Georgian republic. Geostat's 2024 census counted 1,331,485 people there, 20.1 percent more than in 2014. Kutaisi, on the Rioni River where it leaves the foothills, served at times as capital of several Georgian kingdoms.

Gelati Monastery, a World Heritage Site since 1994, was begun by David IV in 1106 near Kutaisi; its main church was completed in 1130. UNESCO calls it a masterpiece of Georgia's medieval golden age, marked by facades of large, smoothly hewn blocks and blind arches, with mural paintings from the 12th to 17th centuries and a 12th-century mosaic. Its academy was one of the most important centers of culture in ancient Georgia.

Georgia has very high mountains.

Some peaks have snow and ice all year. Mount Kazbek is an old volcano. Near the sea, winters are mild and it rains a lot.

The Greater Caucasus range forms a wall along Georgia's north, cut by deep, wild gorges. Its highest peak in Georgia, Shkhara, rises more than 5,000 meters. Mount Kazbek, 5,047 meters tall, is an extinct volcano covered with icefields, and streams flowing from them start the Terek River.

In the west, the Kolkhida Lowland beside the Black Sea was once a swamp; canals and river embankments were built to drain it, and now crops grow there. The mountains block cold air from the north, while warm, moist air comes in from the sea. Western Georgia gets 1,000 to 2,500 millimeters of rain a year, and its coast has mild winters, about 5 °C on average. The east is drier.

Georgia has three bands of relief: the Greater Caucasus in the north, central lowlands in a great structural trough, and the ranges and plateaus of the Lesser Caucasus in the south, which reach 3,301 m at Didi-Abuli. Georgia's National Statistics Office (Geostat) and Britannica both give the highest point, Shkhara, as 5,068 m, while Wikidata lists 5,193 m and the Georgian National Tourism Administration 5,203 m, so published heights differ. Kazbek (Mkinvari), 5,047 m in Geostat's table (Britannica gives 5,033 m), is an extinct volcano with a double cone and lava flows up to 300 m thick. The Meskhet and Likh ranges divide the Black Sea and Caspian basins.

The Caucasus shields Georgia from northern cold air, while moist Black Sea air keeps the west humid and subtropical, with 1,000–2,500 mm of rain a year, coastal winters averaging about 5 °C and summers about 22 °C. In the east, rainfall falls to about 400–700 mm on the plains, July lowland temperatures reach about 25 °C and January averages 0–3 °C. Above about 3,400–3,500 m, snow and ice last all year. The Kolkhida Lowland, built of river deposits, was an almost continually stagnant swamp until drainage canals, embankments and new forests turned it into farmland.

Brown bears and wolves live in Georgia's forests.

Wild goats live high in the mountains. Big eagles live there too. Rivers and mountain lakes are full of trout.

More than a third of Georgia is forest and brush. Oak, chestnut, beech and alder trees grow there, along with Caucasian fir. In the wet west, some forests are tangled with climbing vines, and rare pines called Pitsunda pines survive in the west. The east has fewer forests and more dry steppe grassland.

The forests are home to wild boars, deer, brown bears, lynx, wolves, foxes and jackals. Goats and Caucasian antelope live in the high mountains, and birds such as the Caucasian black grouse and the bearded eagle live there too. Clear rivers and mountain lakes are full of trout.

Britannica describes Georgia's wildlife as very diverse. A long, stable climate in the west has preserved relict and rare plants, including the Pitsunda pine (Pinus pithyusa). The forests mix oak, chestnut, beech, alder, Caucasian fir, ash and linden with apple and pear trees; in the west the underbrush is mostly evergreen, such as rhododendron and holly, and lianas entwine some of the forests. The east has fewer forests; its steppes carry feather grass and beard grass, and subalpine and alpine meadows cover the highest ground.

Goats and Caucasian antelope live in the high mountains, rodents in the high meadows, and birds include the mountain turkey, the Caucasian black grouse and the mountain and bearded eagles. The forests hold wild boar, roe and Caucasian deer, brown bears, lynx, wolves, foxes, jackals, hares and squirrels, with birds from thrushes to the black vulture. Raccoons, mink and nutria were introduced to the lowlands, and the clear rivers and mountain lakes are full of trout.

Almost four million people live in Georgia.

Most people speak Georgian. Georgian has its own alphabet. Many people sing songs together in different parts at once.

About 3.9 million people lived in Georgia at the start of 2026, and about six in ten live in towns and cities. Most people are Georgians, who call themselves Kartveli and their country Sakartvelo. Azerbaijanis and Armenians are the next largest groups, and Russians, Ukrainians and many others live there too.

Georgian belongs to its own family of languages, called Kartvelian, and has its own alphabet. Georgian polyphonic singing, where several singers sing different parts at the same time, is on UNESCO's heritage lists. Grapes have been grown there for a very long time, and there are more than 500 kinds.

Geostat's 2024 census found that 62.5 percent of people lived in urban areas. Ethnic Georgians numbered 3,304,075 (84.1 percent), followed by Azerbaijanis (6.8 percent) and Armenians (4.3 percent); Georgian was the mother tongue of 85.1 percent and Azerbaijani of 6.8 percent. Orthodox Christians made up 82.0 percent and Muslims 11.1 percent. Georgian is a Kartvelian (South Caucasian) language with its own alphabet, thought to have developed about the 5th century, and several other Caucasian languages, many unwritten, are spoken by minorities.

UNESCO inscribed Georgian polyphonic singing in 2008: complex polyphony in Svaneti, polyphonic dialogue over a bass in Kakheti and contrasted three-part polyphony in the west, with work songs such as the Naduri. Qvevri winemaking, inscribed in 2013, uses egg-shaped earthenware vessels that are sealed and buried in the ground; Britannica dates Georgian winemaking to 300 BCE and counts more than 500 grape varieties. Its literary tradition goes back to the 5th century, and Britannica calls Shota Rustaveli's 12th-century The Knight in the Panther's Skin an epic masterpiece.