10 Facts About Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari, on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated.

Kartli had no strictly defined boundaries and they significantly fluctuated in the course of history.

The historical lands of Kartli are currently divided among several administrative regions of Georgia.

Georgians living in the historical lands of Kartli are known as Kartleli and comprise one of the largest geographic subgroups of the Georgian people.

Toponym "Kartli" first emerges in written accounts in the 5th-century Martyrdom of the Holy Queen Shushanik, the earliest surviving piece of Georgian literature.

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The kings of Kartli did not relinquish the titles of the all-Georgian monarchs whose legitimate successors they claimed to be.

Kingdom of Kartli was a battleground of the Ottoman-Safavid wars, conflicts among neighboring Georgian and Caucasian rulers, and of its own civil wars into the 18th century.

Many members of the aristocratic elite of Kartli had important positions in the Persian military and administration and several noble women entered the shah's harems.

In 1748, Kartli became essentially independent, with only formal side of Persian vassalage still observed.

In 1762, Kartli was united with the neighboring eastern Georgian kingdom of Kakheti into a single state, which became a Russian protectorate in 1783, but it suffered a devastating Persian invasion in 1795, when Agha Mohammad Khan of Persia's newly established Qajar dynasty sought to bring Georgia again under Persian hegemony.