Historical Svaneti also included the Kodori Gorge in the adjoining rebel province of Abkhazia, and part of the adjacent river valleys of Kuban and Baksan north of the crest of the Caucasus.

In general, the lowest regions of Svaneti (800–1200 meters / 2624–3936 feet above sea level) are characterized by long, warm summers and relatively cold and snowy winters.

Areas above 2000 meters above sea level lie within a zone that experiences short, cool summers (less than 3 months) and long and cold winters.

Due to Svaneti's close proximity to the Black Sea, the region is spared from the extremely cold winter temperatures that are characteristic of high mountains.

The province had been a dependency of Colchis, and of its successor kingdom of Lazica (Egrisi) until AD 552, when the Svans took advantage of the Lazic War, repudiated this connection and went over to the Persians.

The province's Orthodox culture flourished particularly during the Georgian “golden age” under Queen Tamar (r. 1184–1213), who was respected almost as a goddess by the Svanetians.

Facing serious internal conflict, Prince Tsioq’ Dadeshkeliani of Svanetia signed a treaty of protectorate with the Russian Empire on November 26, 1833.

Despite having suffered heavy losses, the Russian army units eventually crushed the rebels burning their stronghold Khalde to the ground in 1876.

Part of the Russian governorate of Kutais, Svanetia was divided into two raions (districts) — Mestia (former Sethi) and Lentekhi — under the Soviet rule.

In the aftermath the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union passed a decree to resettle some 2,500 families to districts of eastern Georgia (eco-migration to Marneuli, Tetritskaro, Bolnisi, Sagarejo, Gardabani, Dmanisi, Kaspi, Tskaltubo, Khoni, Ozurgeti, and Lanchkhuti rayons).

While the Svanetian population resisted the unpleasant conditions of the high mountain environment they lived in for centuries, the increasing economic difficulties of the last two decades and frequent natural disasters — floods and landslides as of April 2005 ([1]) have brought about a strong tendency towards migration.

Large-scale anti-criminal operations carried out by the Georgian Special Forces as of March 2004 [4] resulted in significant improvement of the situation.

[citation needed] The famous[editorializing] Svanetian tower houses, erected mainly in the 9th-12th centuries, make the region's villages more attractive.

[editorializing] With a high quantity of these unique houses and exceptional preservation of a medieval rural village, the community of Ushguli in Upper Svaneti was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996.