This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of

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 ...

. Georgia is in the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, mainly comprising Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia (country), Georgia, and parts of Southern Russia. The Caucasus Mountains, including the Greater Caucasus range ...

region of

Eurasia Eurasia (, ) is the largest continental area on Earth, comprising all of Europe and Asia. Primarily in the Northern and Eastern Hemispheres, it spans from the British Isles and the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Japanese archipelago ...

. Situated at the juncture of Eastern Europe and Western Asia, it is bounded to the west by the

Black Sea The Black Sea is a marginal mediterranean sea of the Atlantic Ocean lying between Europe and Asia, east of the Balkans, south of the East European Plain, west of the Caucasus, and north of Anatolia. It is bounded by Bulgaria, Georgia, Rom ...

, to the north by Russia, to the south by

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with a small portion on the Balkan Peninsula in ...

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 ' ...

, and to the east by

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 t ...

. Georgia covers a territory of 69,700 km² and its population is 4.385 million. At the beginning of the 19th century, Georgia was annexed by the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. ...

. After a brief period of independence following the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of political and social revolution that took place in the former Russian Empire which began during the First World War. This period saw Russia abolish its monarchy and adopt a socialist form of government ...

, Georgia was invaded by

Bolshevik The Bolsheviks (russian: Большевики́, from большинство́ ''bol'shinstvó'', 'majority'),; derived from ''bol'shinstvó'' (большинство́), "majority", literally meaning "one of the majority". also known in English ...

armies in 1921 and incorporated into the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

in 1922. The independence of Georgia was restored in 1991.

First stamps

The first stamps of Georgia as the

Democratic Republic of Georgia The Democratic Republic of Georgia (DRG; ka, საქართველოს დემოკრატიული რესპუბლიკა ') was the first modern establishment of a republic of Georgia, which existed from May 1918 to F ...

were issued on 26 May 1919. A further series was issued in 1921.''Stanley Gibbons Stamp Catalogue Part 10 Russia''. 6th edition. London: Stanley Gibbons, 2008, pp.426–441. Stamp Georgia 1919 10k.jpg, 1919 St. George Series Democratic Republic of Georgia stamp 02.jpg, 1919 St. George Series Democratic Republic of Georgia stamp 03.jpg, 1919 St. George Series Democratic Republic of Georgia stamp 04.jpg, 1919 St. George Series Democratic Republic of Georgia stamp 01.jpg, 1919 St. George Series Stamp Georgia 1920 2r.jpg, 1920 Queen Thamar series Stamp Georgia 1920 01.png, 1920 Queen Thamar series Stamp Georgia 1920 02.jpg, 1920 Queen Thamar series

Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic

In January and February 1922 a series of five stamps were issued for Georgia's membership as a Soviet Republic. ZSFSR stamp 10000 roubles.jpg, A 1922 stamp

Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic

In March 1922 until September 1923 overprinted stamps of The

Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , conventional_long_name = Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic , common_name = Transcaucasian SFSR , p1 = Armenian Soviet Socialist RepublicArmenian SSR , flag_p1 = Flag of SSRA ...

were used. From 1 October 1923 general issues of the Transcaucasian Federation were used.

Soviet stamps

From 1924 until 1993 stamps of the Soviet Union were used in Georgia following the absorption of the Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic into the U.S.S.R.

Independence

Following the fall of the Soviet Union, Georgia became independent again in April 1991 and issued stamps in its own name from 31 July 1993. Unlike other ex-Soviet republics, Georgia did not

overprint An overprint is an additional layer of text or graphics added to the face of a Postage stamp, postage or revenue stamp, postal stationery, banknote or Ticket (admission), ticket after it has been Printing, printed. Post offices most often use ...

Soviet stamps to meet their postal needs after independence, although a number of overprints were carried out on Georgian stamps in 1994.

Abkhazia

Stamps have been produced purporting to be from the

Republic of Abkhazia Abkhazia, ka, აფხაზეთი, tr, , xmf, აბჟუა, abzhua, or ( or ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, recognised by most countries as part of Georgia, which vi ...

, an area in western Georgia that is not recognised as a sovereign state by all but few countries. Most stamps of Abkhazia are believed to be bogus, produced in foreign countries solely for sale to collectors, but more recently Abkhazia has produced stamps that may have legitimate use locally within the borders of the disputed area. They are not recognised by the

UPU Upu or Apu, also rendered as Aba/Apa/Apina/Ubi/Upi, was the region surrounding Damascus of the 1350 BC Amarna letters. Damascus was named ''Dimašqu'' / ''Dimasqu'' / etc. (for example, "Dimaški"-(see: Niya (kingdom)), in the letter correspon ...

References

External links

Philately of the former Soviet Union.
{{PostalhistoryAsia History of Georgia (country) by topic Postal system of Georgia (country)