Tbilisi

Tbilisi, or Tiflis (pop. 1,268,000), capital city of the Republic of Georgia, situated on the Kura River south of the Caucasus Mountains. Tbilisi, founded in the 4th century B.C., was subsequently ruled by the Persians, Arabs, Khazars, and Turks into the Middle Ages and was the capital of an independent Georgia (1096–1225). It was then conquered by the Mongols, Iranians, and Turks again before it was finally ceded to Russia in 1801. Following the Bolshevik Revolution (1917), Tbilisi again served as capital of an independent Georgia, but the Communists soon overran it and its neighboring states (1920). Much of the older section of the city remains. Today it is a center for agricultural products and manufacturing. Warm springs, for which the city is named in the Georgian language, are nearby.

See also: Georgia.