The Republic of Georgia is located in the Caucasus region of what was formerly the Soviet Union, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. It is bordered on the north by Russia, on the southwest by Turkey, and on the southeast by the Republic of Armenia and Azerbaijan, being situated at the strategically important crossroads where Europe meets Asia.
The capital city is Tbilisi (Tiflis) and the total area of the country is 26,911 square miles (69,700 square kilometers) which is slightly smaller than South Carolina.
Georgia was part of the Russian Empire in the 19th century and enjoyed a brief period of independence from 1918 to 1921. For the next 70 years, until it regained its independence in 1991, it belonged to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. Georgia is currently a representative democracy with a president as a head of state and government and it is a member of United Nations.
Its population was estimated at 4.65 million in 2007 and 83.8 percent of the population is Georgian. Other nationalities include Azeri (6.5 percent), Armenian (5.7 percent), Russian (1.5 percent), and other (2.5 percent).
The official language is Georgian and Abkhaz is also an "official language" in Autonomous Republic of Abkhazia.
Georgia adopted Christianity in the AD 300's and it has its own national church, Georgian Orthodox, within the Eastern Orthodox Church. A small but important community of Muslims resides mainly in the region of Adjaria in the southwest and Georgia also has a notable community of Russian Orthodox Christians.
Its monetary unit is the Lari.
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