National Atlas of Georgia
This first National Atlas of Georgia in the English language gives a comprehensive and contemporary picture of the country with information in introductory text pages for each chapter, followed by hundreds of maps and figures.
[1] This required intense interdisciplinary cooperation of all involved scientists during many years of work, and the support of several national institutions in Georgia and Germany.
Georgia was a comparably privileged republic within the Soviet Union due to its agriculture and industry, and the tourist areas on the Black Sea and in the Caucasus mountains.
The detailed table of contents of the National Atlas is bilingual (English and German), and helps to find texts and maps easily.
In 1731 the Wissenschaftliche Zeitung (Leipzig) published a report about a "Prinz aus Tiflis" (prince from Tbilisi) who authored remarkable maps of the Caucasus Mountains.
[4][5][6] Georgia achieved this extraordinary status within the USSR thanks to the commitment of Edvard Shevardnadze, native-born Georgian and Soviet foreign minister from 1985 to 1991.
Considering this linguistic background, it is understandable that the first National Atlas of Georgia that appeared in 2012 was published entirely in Georgian, a language that hardly anyone outside the country can read.
[8] After 1992 and under the leadership of Eduard Shevardnadze, Georgia established diplomatic relations with other countries and joined major international organizations: the UN (1992), OSCE (1992), Council of Europe (1999), and WTO (2000).
Georgia has signed free trade agreements with a number of political entities including the European Union (EU), neighbouring Turkey and faraway China.
Moreover, and because of the fast development of Georgia in recent years, it was necessary to reassess many maps and tables in the light of the results of the 2014 census and other updated statistics.
The Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography at Tbilisi State University (TSU), which has compiled several atlases in recent decades, agreed to take over the responsibility for this ambitious project for the Frankfurt Book Fair 2018 with Georgia as guest of honor.
The Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University was the scientific cooperation partner for JLU, supported by programmes of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Germany) (BMBF).
Displayed alongside a large number of Georgian novels and other books, this atlas depicts Georgia with its diversity, resources and potential for future further development.
This is the first publication of the National Atlas of Georgia in English, and was done to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the foundation of the Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.
[12] Within the frame of Georgia's location in the mountains of the South Caucasus, it depicts the country's political history from the “Golden Era of the 12th and 13th century” until today with the present governing party of the “Georgian Dream”.
Together with the neighboring states of Armenia and Azerbaijan it belongs to the "South Caucasus" and is thus part of the land bridge between the Black and Caspian Seas.
As Georgia is covered with geologically young high mountains, geoecological hazards include landslides, mudflows, snow avalanches, floods and inundation, erosion, and earthquakes.
Other mountains (the Likhi Range) divide the country into the subtropical west with much precipitation and the dry and sunny east with excellent conditions for viticulture.
Georgian society is described in detail, with eight texts depicting its population, cities, economy, tourism, sports, language and national alphabet.
Viticulture and winemaking are the oldest traditional fields, as shown by archeological, paleobotanical, ethnological, ampelographic, historical, philological and linguistic studies.
Historical maps explain the settlement and formation of Georgia's territory, including significant archaeological and architectural monuments over a period of 3000 years.
Some large maps covering two pages show Georgia's unique wealth of historical monuments, museums and archaeological sites in detail.
A special chapter is dedicated to the Dmanisi archaeological site, where archaeologists obtained important new information on early expansions of hominins out of Africa.
[14] The atlas concludes with a list of more than 75 scientists who have contributed, and over 40 individuals, consultants and the technical team at the Vakhushti Bagrationi Institute of Geography, Tbilisi State University (TSU).
