Page:Statesman's Year-Book 1921.djvu/966

 914 GEORGIA.

(Sakartvelo.) The Georgians claim that they first appear in authentic history in the time of Alexander the Great, by whom they were conquered. But on Alexander's death (323 B.C.), the Georgians regained their independence under Pharnavas. With Pharnavas (302— 237 B.C.) began the first of four dynasties : Karthlosi (302-93 B.C.), Arsacidi (93 B.C. -267 a.d.), Khosro-Sassanidi (267-570 a. d.), and Bagratidi (570-1801). In 1801 the Russian Emperor Alexander I. annexed the Kingdom of Georgia. When the Bolshevist reyime was set up in Russia the Georgians, together with the Tartars and Armenians, formed the Transcaucasian Republic, which refused to recognise the Bolshevists. The capital of Georgia, Tiflis, became the centre of that Republic, the independence of which was formally proclaimed by the Transcaucasian Diet {Seym) on April 22, 1918. But Georgia was eventually forced to form a separate State, and on May 26, 1918, its independence was proclaimed in TiHis by the representative organ, the National Council, elected by the National Assembly of Georgia on November 22, 1917. The Act of Independence of Georgia was approved, confirmed and ratified on March 12, 1919, by the Constituent Assembly, elected according to the electoral system of direct, equal, uni- versal, secret and proportional voting of citizens of both sexes. The Govern- ment received de jure recognition by the Allies on January 27, 1921.

Constitution and Government. — Georgia is a Democratic Republic. The executive power is entrusted to a Cabinet of Ministers, elected from amongst the members of the C mstituent Assembly, and the President of the Cabinet is acting temporarily as the Supreme Head of the Republic. All Ministers are responsible to the Constituent Assembly, and every official of the State is subject to the control of the Senate. The Senate is nominated by the Constituent Assembly. The Social Democratic Party, which is strongly supported both by the working classes and the peasantry, dominates in Constituent Assembly and Government.

At present (April, 1921) the Constituent Assembly is working out the Constitution of the State. New elections for the first Parliament will take place as soon as the definite Constitution is adopted.

President of the Cabinet. — Noah Jordania.

Area and Population,— Georgia is situated in Transcaucasia, between the Black and Caspian Seas. Her frontiers are, in the north, the Caucasus ; in the east, the Republic of Azerbaijan ; and in the south, Armenia. The capital of Georgia is Tiflis (in Georgian Tpilisi so called from the hot- springs found there), which was founded by King Vakhtang in the fifth century a.d.

Georgia comprises the following provinces and districts : — Zakathali ; Tiflis (Tpilisi) ; Kutais ; Sukhum ; the southern part of the Black Sea district up to Tuapse (Sotchi district) ; Ardahan ; Olti. This territory has an area of 32,769 square miles, and a population, according to statistics for 1915, of 3,053,345. The population of Georgia is divided into three classes — the remnants of a feudal aristocracy ; the bourgeoisie of the towns, principally shopkeepers and merchants, most of those in Tiflis being of the Armenian race, though Georgian merchants do inhabit the smaller towns ; and peasantry largely of Georgian stock, engaged in agricultural pursuits and the raising of sheep and cattle. While this population is more or le racially solid in character, the Georgians are divided into a number