GEORGIA’S SLAVIC POPULATION
Abstract
As citizens of the newly independent Soviet successor-states that arose after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the Slavs found it extremely hard to adjust to the new conditions. It was particularly difficult to accept the fact that Russian, their native tongue, which used to be lingua franca of sorts, had lost this function and its importance altogether. Large groups of the Slavic population found emigration the only answer; Georgia has already lost nearly all the Slavic groups that used to live on its territory.
Slavs came to Georgia when the Russian Empire stepped up its involvement in the Southern Caucasus. Having strengthened its military and political position, Russia needed reliable local support in the form of non-military Slavic settlements, of which Russians were the largest group.
In 1865, there were 25,900 Russian newcomers in Georgia, or 2 percent of its total population; in 1886, their number increased to 42,500 (2.6 percent). By 1897, there were 92,813 Russians, or 5.3 percent. The Slavic military comprised 22.7 percent (21,113) of Georgia’s total Slavic population. In the latter half of the 19th century, the process continued at a good pace. Slavs settled in great numbers in Tbilisi and the coastal cities, as well as in 21 villages.1 Wide-scale industrialization of Georgia unfolded in the 1920s and attracted numerous migrants from other republics. The collectivization and “dekulakization” of 1930-1933, during which the country lost several millions of lives in Southern Russia, Ukraine, and Kazakhstan, swelled the Slavic (mainly Russian and Ukrainian) population. Driven by famine, hundreds of thousands moved to Georgia. Between the 1926 and 1939 population censuses, the number of migrants in the republic increased from 110,500 to 354,000, that is, by 320 percent.2
Downloads
References
See: N. Zakariadze, “Czarist Colonial Policies and Georgia’s Slavic Population,” Demography, No. 1 (2), 2000,pp. 88-90 (in Georgian).
See: R. Gachechiladze, Population Migration in Georgia and Its Socioeconomic Results, The Letters for Discus-sion Series. The U.N. Development Program—Georgia, Tbilisi, 1997, p. 12 (in Georgian).
See: Ibid., p. 37.
See: Ibid., pp. 43-45.
See: Ibid., p. 33.
See: A. Feofanov, “Iubileynaia obshchina,” Chegemskaia pravda, No. 26, 2005.
Certain public organizations quote smaller figures.
See: The State Department of Statistics of Georgia. Results of the 2002 General Population Census of Georgia.
See: J. Rekhviashvili, “Georgia: Ethnic Russians Feel Insulted from Tensions,” RFE/RL, 11 October, 2006.
See: “Russkoiazychnym zhiteliam SNG predlozhili vernut’sia na Rodinu,” Nezavisimaia gazeta, 25 December,2006, available at [http://www.ng.ru/courier/2006-12-25/12_narodinu.html].
See: Iu. Taratuta, A. Konfisakhor, R. Pearl, “Vsemirny congress sootechestvennikov poluchil gospodderzhku,”Kommersant, No. 200, 25 October, 2006, available at [http://www.kommersant.ru/doc.html?docId=716076].
See: J. Peuch, “Southern Caucasus: Facing Integration Problems, Ethnic Russians Long for Better Life,” RFE/RL,21 August, 2003.
The Ministries of Education and Science of Georgia. The Main Indices of Day Secondary State Schools of Geor-gia for the 2003/2004 Academic Year.
See: J. Peuch, op. cit.
See: S. Mamedov, Iu. Simonian, A. Gordienko, “Nevoennoe rossiyskoe prisutstvie na Iuzhnom Kavkaze,” Neza-visimaia gazeta, 25 December, 2006, available at [http://www.ng.ru/courier/2006-12-25/12_kavkaz.html].
See: Russkie starozhily Zakavkaz’ia: molokane i dukhobory, ed. by V. Kozlov, Moscow, 1995, p. 20.
Before reaching the village of Ul’ianovka, the sectarians from the Saratov Gubernia first lived in Tbilisi in 1859.
See: Russkie starozhily…, p. 142.
See: G. Rioneli, “Dukhobors: 250 years of Wandering,” The Caucasian Accent, No. 19 (92),1-15 October, 2003 (in Georgian).
See: “Etnograficheskiy zapovednik,” Mnogonatsional’naia Gruzia, No. 3, November-December 2001.
See: T. Gugushvili, Georgia’s External Migration and Demographic Problems (1990-1998), Tbilisi, 1998, pp. 75-76 (in Georgian).
See: N. Akhmeteli, “Taxes, Land Reform and Better Life in Russia: The Dukhobor`s Georgian Exodus,” Georgia Today, 24 November, 2006.
See: D. Kamikadze, “Dukhobor Tribulations,” IWPR`s Caucasus Reporting Service, No. 106, 20 November,2001.
See: L. Vardanian, “Tevdoradze’s Visit Ended Peacefully,” Samkhretis Karibche, No. 31 (59), 2007 (in Georgian).
See: O. Vartanian, “Land Reform May Be the Last Straw for Georgia’s Dukhobor Community,” IWPR`s Cauca-sus Reporting Service, 20 September, 2006.
See: Interpress, 17 November, 2006.
The section is based on the following sources: M. Boris (Chairman of the Ukrainians’ Coordinating Rada), Kon-ferentsia: Istorii i realii etnicheskikh obshchin Gruzii (9 November, 2001), Tbilisi, 2003; Assotsiatsia ukraintsev Gruzii,Tbilisi, 2006.
See: State Department of Statistics of Georgia…
See: T. Turula, “Our Diaspora: A Visit with the Ukrainian Community in Tbilisi,” The Ukrainian Weekly, Vol. LXX,No. 30, 28 July, 2002.
The section is based on M. Filina (Chairperson of Polonia, the Cultural-Educational Union of the Georgian Poles),Konferentsia: Istoria i realii etnicheskikh obshchin Gruzii (9 November, 2001).
See: Sh. Kakuria, Tbilisi Population, 1803-1970, Metsniereba Publishers, Tbilisi, 1979 (in Georgian).
See: A. Songulashvili, Culture of the National Minorities of Georgia, Metsniereba Publishers, Tbilisi, 2002, pp. 13,20 (in Georgian).
See: “Pol’skie zhenshchiny,” in: Zhenshchiny Gruzii: Polietnicheskiy i konfessional’ny aspekt, The Women of Multinational Georgia Association, Tbilisi, 2006, pp. 46-51.
See: Svobodnaia Gruzia, No. 259-260 (22617), 28 November, 2002.
The interview the president of the Czech community in Georgia Zlata Praha gave on 21 October, 2006 was used in this section.
See: State Department for Statistics of Georgia…
See: Ts. Beridze, “Cheshskiy muzykant Iosif Ratil v Gruzii,” Cheshskoe zemliachestvo v Gruzii “Zlata Praha.”Sbornik statey, ed. by Harold Šmalcel, Bene Dicta Publishers, Tbilisi, 2006, pp. 87-91.
See: “Cheshskie zhenshchiny,” in: Zhenshchiny Gruzii: Polietnicheskiy i konfessional’ny aspekt, pp. 65-68.
See: H. Šmalcel, “Informatsia o Cheshskom zemliachestve v Gruzii ‘Zlata Praha,’ ” in: Cheshskoe zemliachsetvo v Gruzii “Zlata Praha,” pp. 75-78.
See: State Department for Statistics of Georgia…
See: “Bolgarskie zhenshchiny,” in: Zhenshchiny Gruzii: Polietnicheskiy i konfessional’ny aspekt, pp. 26-29.
See: State Department for Statistics of Georgia…
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2007 Author
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
You are free to:
- Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format for any purpose, even commercially.
- Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.
- The licensor cannot revoke these freedoms as long as you follow the license terms.
Under the following terms:
- Attribution — You must give appropriate credit , provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made . You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.
- No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.
Notices:
You do not have to comply with the license for elements of the material in the public domain or where your use is permitted by an applicable exception or limitation .
No warranties are given. The license may not give you all of the permissions necessary for your intended use. For example, other rights such as publicity, privacy, or moral rights may limit how you use the material.
