Marneuli ( ka, მარნეული , az, Sarvan) is a town in the

Kvemo Kartli Kvemo Kartli ( ka, ქვემო ქართლი, az, Aşağı Kartli) or "Lower Kartli", is a historic province and current administrative region ( mkhare) in southeastern Georgia. The city of Rustavi is the regional capital. Location K ...

region of southern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

and administrative center of

Marneuli Municipality Marneuli ( ka, მარნეულის მუნიციპალიტეტი, az, Marneuli Bələdiyyəsi) is a municipality in Georgia, in the region of Kvemo Kartli. Its administrative center and main town is Marneuli. Location ...

that borders neighboring

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

Toponymy

According to Georgian sources, the name ' is of Georgian origin and some have attested the name to "'" ( ka, მარანი), the Georgian word "

winery A winery is a building or property that produces wine, or a business involved in the production of wine, such as a wine company. Some wine companies own many wineries. Besides wine making equipment, larger wineries may also feature warehouses, ...

". The name used by the

Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis (; az, Azərbaycanlılar, ), Azeris ( az, Azərilər, ), or Azerbaijani Turks ( az, Azərbaycan Türkləri, ) are a Turkic people living mainly in northwestern Iran and the Republic of Azerbaijan. They are the second-most nume ...

to refer to the city, ', The word was borrowed from Persian ' ( fa, ساربان), meaning "the keeper of camels".

Population

According to the 2014 Georgian census the population of the town was 20,211. The town is predominantly populated by

Georgian Azerbaijanis Azerbaijanis in Georgia or Georgian Azerbaijanis ( az, Gürcüstan azərbaycanlıları, ka, ქართველი აზერბაიჯანლები) are Georgian citizens of ethnic Azerbaijani background. According to the 2014 censu ...

(83,1%).

History

Marneuli is the center of the

. By the decree of the

Georgian SSR The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic (Georgian SSR; ka, საქართველოს საბჭოთა სოციალისტური რესპუბლიკა, tr; russian: Грузинская Советская Соц� ...

of March 18, 1947, the village of Borchalo was renamed into Marneuli. It received the status of a city in 1964. On July 1, 1625, north of Marneuli near the Algeti River on the

Marabda Marabda ( ka, მარაბდა) is a community in Georgia, located some 23 km south of the capital Tbilisi, and a few kilometers north of Marneuli. It consists of three villages Akhali Marabda, Kotishi and Dzveli Marabda. According to the ...

field, a major battle of Georgian troops with the Iranian conquerors took place, the Georgian army under the command of

Giorgi Saakadze Giorgi Saakadze the Grand Mouravi ( ka, გიორგი სააკაძე) (c. 1570 – October 3, 1629) was a Georgian politician and military commander who played an important but contradictory role in the politics of the early 17th-ce ...

at first almost defeated the Iranian army of

Isa Khan Isa Khan (c. 1529 – September 1599) was a Muslim Rajput zamindar who was one of the Baro Bhuiyans (twelve landlords) and a Zamindar of Khizirpur in 16th-century Bengal. Throughout his reign he resisted the Mughal empire invasion. It was o ...

, but then it was still defeated and the Iranians entered

Tbilisi Tbilisi ( ; ka, თბილისი ), in some languages still known by its pre-1936 name Tiflis ( ), is the capital and the largest city of Georgia, lying on the banks of the Kura River with a population of approximately 1.5 million pe ...

. On December 19, 1918, a battle of the

Georgian-Armenian War The Armeno-Georgian War was a short border dispute that was fought in December 1918 between the newly-independent Democratic Republic of Georgia and the First Republic of Armenia, largely over the control of former districts of Tiflis Governorat ...

took place near the

Khrami , name_etymology = , image = Khrami River Kirach Muganlo.jpg , image_size = , image_caption = The Khrami near Kirach Muganlo, Georgia , map = KhramiRiver800px.svg , map_size = , map_ ...

River (8 kilometers south of the regional center). As a result of the armistice established on January 1 at the insistence of the British army, which occupied the location of the German army in the region (after the latter was defeated in the First World War), the city remained in the Georgian-Armenian neutral zone, and was subsequently incorporated into

. In 1921, Marneuli again became the center of military operations - units of the Soviet 11th Army marched through it in

during the Soviet-Georgian war. On August 8, 2008, during the

Russo-Georgian War The 2008 Russo-Georgian WarThe war is known by a variety of other names, including Five-Day War, August War and Russian invasion of Georgia. was a war between Georgia, on one side, and Russia and the Russian-backed self-proclaimed republics of Sou ...

, Russian planes bombed the city's airfield, as a result of which 3 people died and the airfield's runway was destroyed.

Culture

There is one university branch ( Tbilisi State University) and one university opened in 2008 (Heydar Aliyev Georgia-Azerbaijan Humanitarian University) in Marneuli. Heydar Aliyev University opens in Marneuli, Nov 2008

References

External links