Samegrelo Information: Samegrelo ( Mingrelia ) is an historic province in the western part of the republic of Georgia , formerly also known as Odishi . Samegrelo is bordered by the rebellious province of Abkhazia to the north-west, Svaneti to the north, Imereti to the east, Guria to the south and the Black Sea to the west. The Mingrelians are one of the local culture-groups of the ethnically subdivided Georgian people , who speak both Mingrelian and Georgian, but have only a Georgian script. Cities in Samegrelo Region: Zugdidi Senaki Khobi Chkhorotsku Martvili Poti Abasha Mestia Tsalenjikha
Administratively, the province of Samegrelo is incorporated with the
northern part of the neighboring mountainous province of Svaneti into
the Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region, the capital of which is Samegrelo's
main city Zugdidi . In ancient times Samegrelo was a major part of the
kingdom of Kolkha ( Colchis ) ( 9th - 6th centuries BC ) and the kingdom
of Egrisi ( 4th century BC - 6th century AD ). In the 11th - 15th
centuries Samegrelo was a part of the united Georgian Kingdom .
In the 16th century - 1857 the independent Principality of Samegrelo
was under the rule of a Georgian dynasty Dadiani and the patronage of
the Ottoman Empire . In December of 1803 the Principality came under the
patronage of the Russian Empire by an agreement between the Tsar and
the Megrelian Prince Grigol Dadiani. In 1857 the Principality was
abolished officially by the Tsarist Russian Empire . From 1918 to 1921
Samegrelo was part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG). In 1921
Georgia became part of the Soviet Union, as the Georgian SSR . In April 9
, 1991 independence was restored to Georgia, of which Samegrelo is now
part.
The first President of an independent Georgia, Dr. Zviad Gamsakhurdia
(1939-1993), was a Mingrelian. Therefore, after the violent Coup d'etat
of December 21 , 1991 - January 6 , 1992 , Samegrelo became the centre
of a civil war, which ended with the defeat of Gamsakhurdia's
supporters. Even so, this region was unmanageable by the central
government throughout the presidency of Eduard Shevardnadze ( 1992 -
2003 ). Stability in the region is further deteriorated by the fact that
the Georgian refugees from the Abkhazian war zone (who are considered
by Georgians as victims of ethnic cleansing) are mostly Mingrelians.
After the Rose Revolution of November , 2003 , in 2004 , newly elected
Georgian President, Dr. Mikhail Saakashvili , who vowed to resolve the
conflict whith the breakaway region of Abkhazia solely by peaceful
means, had to disarm groups of Mingrelians, who tried to fight a
guerrilla war against the Abkhazians by incursions from Samegrelo
Zugdidi as the regional capital.
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