Şavşat ( ka, შავშეთი, tr) is a town and district of

Artvin Province Artvin Province ( tr, ; ka, , ''Artvinis p’rovincia''; Laz: ართვინიშ დობადონა ''Artviniş dobadona'') is a province in Turkey, on the Black Sea coast in the northeastern corner of the country, on the border w ...

in 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, ...

region, between the cities of

Artvin Artvin ( Laz and ; hy, Արտուին, translit=Artuin) is a city in northeastern Turkey about inland from the Black Sea. It is located on a hill overlooking the Çoruh River near the Deriner Dam. It is a former bishopric and (vacant) Armenia ...

and

Kars Kars (; ku, Qers; ) is a city in northeast Turkey and the capital of Kars Province. Its population is 73,836 in 2011. Kars was in the ancient region known as ''Chorzene'', (in Greek Χορζηνή) in classical historiography ( Strabo), part of ...

on the border with

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 t ...

at the far eastern end of

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

History

According to Rayfield, in 790 BC, King Menua of Urartu invaded Shesheti in Kingdom of Diauehi, which is the Kartvelian province of Shavsheti. In 387 this land was a part of Marzpan Iberia (vassal of Iran). After this, in IX century it was one of the Georgian princedoms in the constellation of several polities which is conventionally known as

Tao-Klarjeti Tao-Klarjeti may refer to: *Tao-Klarjeti Tao-Klarjeti may refer to: * Tao-Klarjeti, part of Georgian historical region of Upper Kartli * Kingdom of Tao-Klarjeti, AD 888 to 1008 {{set index article Kingdom of Iberia Historical regions of Ge ...

in Georgian. The princedom of Shavsheti included today's districts of Şavşat, Borçka, and Murgul in Turkey and Lower Machakheli in Adjara (Georgia). The fortress above the town is primarily of Georgian construction and probably dates from the 9th century A.D., when it was rebuilt by Adarnase I of Iberia. The site has an impressive circuit wall with strategically placed towers and rooms, including two small chapels. In 1983 the fortress was surveyed and three years later an accurate scaled plan and description were published.Robert W. Edwards, “The Fortifications of Artvin: A Second Preliminary Report on the Marchlands of Northeast Turkey,” ''Dumbarton Oaks Papers'' 40, 1986, pp.174-76, pls.31-43. This lasted until it was conquered by the

Ottomans The Ottoman Turks ( tr, Osmanlı Türkleri), were the Turkic founding and sociopolitically the most dominant ethnic group of the Ottoman Empire ( 1299/1302–1922). Reliable information about the early history of Ottoman Turks remains scarce, ...

in 1547. Following the

Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) The Russo-Turkish wars (or Ottoman–Russian wars) were a series of twelve wars fought between the Russian Empire and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 20th centuries. It was one of the longest series of military conflicts in European histor ...

Şavşat was among the territories ceded to

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eigh ...

, and was returned to the new Republic of Turkey in 1921. It was briefly bounded to

Ardahan Province Ardahan Province ( tr, , ku, Parêzgeha Erdêxanê, ) is a province in the north-east of Turkey, bordering Georgia and Armenia. The provincial capital is the city of Ardahan. Demographics With 94,932 inhabitants in 2021, Ardahan was the third ...

between 27 February 1921 and 7 July 1921. People living in Şavşat and Imerkhevi are Georgians and Turkified Georgians.

Geography

Like most districts of Artvin this is a beautiful hilly area surrounded by high mountains on all sides, including the Karçkal mountains to the west, and watered by many mountain streams and pools. There are trout in the largest, Şavşat Karagöl lake and a number of mineral water springs. The area has a cold inland climate, somewhat tempered by being above the

coast, but at these altitudes winter lasts a long time; it snows from November to April. The mountains are covered with pine forest, with some broadleaf forest at lower elevations. In this landscape there is little agricultural land, no industry and the only real potential income is from tourism (people on trekking holidays), herding animals on the mountainside and beekeeping. There are some fruit trees (mainly pears and apples) and some potatoes are grown in the

Çoruh River The Chorokh ( ka, ჭოროხი ''Ch'orokhi'', tr, Çoruh, hy, Չորոխ ''Ch’vorokh'', el, Άκαμψις, ''Akampsis'') is a river that rises in the Mescit Mountains in north-eastern Turkey, flows through the cities of Bayburt, İs ...

valley floor. Of the land area 13% can be planted while 27% is used for grazing, 42% is

forest A forest is an area of land dominated by trees. Hundreds of definitions of forest are used throughout the world, incorporating factors such as tree density, tree height, land use, legal standing, and ecological function. The United Nations' ...

and 17% is high mountain. The town of Şavşat is small (population 7,325) and has few amenities.

Climate

The climate in Şavşat is a mild/cool summer subtype (

Köppen Köppen is a German surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Bernd Köppen (born 1951), German pianist and composer * Carl Köppen (1833-1907), German military advisor in Meiji era Japan * Edlef Köppen (1893–1939), German author and ...

: ''Dfb'') of the

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freez ...

Villages

Places of interest

* Papart forest * Qenciyan Hill, overlooks the border * Şavşat Karagöl lake, a large trout lake in the forest, and the crater lake of Kuyruklu. * Şavşat Castle * Satle Fortress, also known as Shavsheti Fortress, (Turkish: Şavşat) is a monument of Georgian architecture located above the town of Şavşat.

References

External links

local information

Governor's Office

the Municipality

local information2

Carefully documented photographic survey and plan of Şavşat Castle
{{DEFAULTSORT:Savsat Populated places in Artvin Province Historical regions of Georgia (country) Tao-Klarjeti Districts of Artvin Province Şavşat District Cittaslow