Lechkhumi ( ) is a historic province in northwestern

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

which comprises the area along the middle basin of the

Rioni The Rioni ( ka, რიონი ; , ) is the main river of western Georgia. It originates in the Caucasus Mountains, in the region of Racha and flows west to the Black Sea, entering it north of the city of Poti (near ancient Phasis). The city ...

and Tskhenistskali and also the Lajanuri river valley. Now part of the

Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti ( ka, რაჭა-ლეჩხუმი და ქვემო სვანეთი, ''Rach’a-Lechkhumi da Kvemo Svaneti'' ) is a region (mkhare) in northwestern Georgia (country), Georgia with a population o ...

region, it corresponds roughly to the present day

Tsageri Tsageri ( ka, ცაგერი , ''Cageri'') is a town in Georgia, located in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region in the west of the country and serving as an administrative center of the homonymous district. Tsageri is located at 475 m ab ...

district as well as parts of districts of Tsq'altubo and

Ambrolauri Ambrolauri ( ka, ამბროლაური ) is a city in Georgia, located in the northwestern part of the country, on both banks of the Rioni river, at an elevation of 550 m above sea level. The city serves as the seat of the Racha-Lechkhumi ...

. It is bordered by

Mingrelia Mingrelia or Samegrelo ( ka, სამეგრელო, tr ; ) is a historic province in the western part of Georgia, formerly known as Odishi. It is primarily inhabited by the Mingrelians, a subgroup of Georgians. Geography and climate Mingr ...

to the west,

Svaneti Svaneti (Svan language, Svan: შუ̂ან, ლემშუ̂ანიერა; ''shwan, lemshwaniera'', and Suania in ancient sources; ka, სვანეთი ) is a historic province in the northwestern part of Georgia (country), Georg ...

to the north,

Racha Racha (also Račha, , ''Račʼa'') is a highland area in western Georgia, located in the upper Rioni river valley and hemmed in by the Greater Caucasus mountains. Under Georgia's current subdivision, Racha is included in the Racha-Lechkhumi and ...

to the east, and

Imereti Imereti ( Georgian: იმერეთი, ) is a region of Georgia situated in the central-western part of the republic along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni River. Imereti is the most populous region in Georgia. It consists of 11 mun ...

to the south. The area has been inhabited since the

Neolithic Age The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revolution, a wid ...

and was later dominated by the so-called

Colchian culture Colchian culture ( ka, კოლხური კულტურა; 2700 BCE to 700 BCE) is Neolithic, early Bronze Age and Iron Age culture of the western Caucasus, mostly in western Georgia (country), Georgia. Colchian culture was divided into ...

. The first

recorded history Recorded history or written history describes the historical events that have been recorded in a written form or other documented communication which are subsequently evaluated by historians using the historical method. For broader world h ...

of the area dates back to the early medieval period. The contemporary historic sources call the land Takveri, a name gradually being replaced by a term ''Lechkhumi''. The province is usually identified with Scymnia mentioned by

Procopius Procopius of Caesarea (; ''Prokópios ho Kaisareús''; ; – 565) was a prominent Late antiquity, late antique Byzantine Greeks, Greek scholar and historian from Caesarea Maritima. Accompanying the Roman general Belisarius in Justinian I, Empe ...

(sixth century AD) as a dependency of the

Lazica The Kingdom of Lazica (; ; ), sometimes called Lazian Empire, was a state in the territory of west Georgia in the Roman era, Georgia in the Roman period, from about the 1st century BC. Created as a result of the collapse of the kingdom of Colc ...

n kings&nbs

Within the unified Georgian feudal state (between the eleventh and fifteenth centuries), Takveri/Lechkhumi was subordinated consecutively to the dukes (''

eristavi ''Eristavi'' (; literally, "head of the nation") was a Georgia (country), Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine Empire, Byzantine ''strategos'' and normally translated into English language, English as "prince" or less comm ...

'') of

and

. On the breakup of the Kingdom of Georgia, the province came under the

Kingdom of Imereti The Kingdom of Imereti ( ka, იმერეთის სამეფო, tr) was a Georgian monarchy established in 1455 by a member of the house of Bagrationi when the Kingdom of Georgia was dissolved into rival kingdoms. Before that time, I ...

, 1455. Through incessant feudal warfare, the nobles from the Chikovani (Chikvani) family were eventual winners and established themselves as semi-independent Lords of Lechkhumi (Georgian: ''Lechkhumis Tavi''). In 1714, Bejan Chikovani became Prince of

and assumed the dynastic name of

Dadiani The House of Dadiani ( ka, დადიანი ), later known as the House of Dadiani- Chikovani, was a Georgian family of nobles, dukes and princes, and a ruling dynasty of the western Georgian province of Mingrelia. The House of Dadiani T ...

. Thus, these two western Georgian polities united under the princes of Mingrelia. King

Solomon II of Imereti Solomon II (born as David) ( ka, სოლომონ II; 1772 – February 7, 1815), of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the last king ('' mepe'') of Imereti (western Georgia) from 1789 to 1790 and from 1792 until his deposition by the Imperial Rus ...

(1792-1810) attempted on several occasions, though unsuccessfully, to bring the area back under the Imeretian rule. The

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

intervened on Mingrelian side that resulted in the fall of Solomon's kingdom and incorporation of Mingrelia into the

Tsar Tsar (; also spelled ''czar'', ''tzar'', or ''csar''; ; ; sr-Cyrl-Latn, цар, car) is a title historically used by Slavic monarchs. The term is derived from the Latin word '' caesar'', which was intended to mean ''emperor'' in the Euro ...

ist empire as an autonomous entity. In 1857, the Russian authorities abolished the Principality of Mingrelia and Lechkhumi became a part of Kutais Guberniya. Together with the neighbouring region

, it formed the Lechkhumi

uyezd An uezd (also spelled uyezd or uiezd; rus, уе́зд ( pre-1918: уѣздъ), p=ʊˈjest), or povit in a Ukrainian context () was a type of administrative subdivision of the Grand Duchy of Moscow, the Tsardom of Russia, the Russian Empire, the R ...

from 1867 to 1930, when the

Rayon Rayon, also called viscose and commercialised in some countries as sabra silk or cactus silk, is a semi-synthetic fiber made from natural sources of regenerated cellulose fiber, cellulose, such as wood and related agricultural products. It has t ...

was created.

References

{{coord, 42, 38, 59, N, 42, 45, 35, E, type:adm1st_source:itwiki, display=title Former provinces of Georgia (country) Historical regions of Georgia (country)

See also

References