Lazic WarThe Lazic War, also known as the Colchidian War or in Georgian historiography as the Great War of Egrisi was fought between the Byzantine Empire and the Sasanian Empire for control of the ancient Georgian region of Lazica. The Lazic War lasted for twenty years, from 541 to 562, with varying success and ended in a victory for the Persians, who obtained an annual tribute in exchange for ending the war. The Lazic War is narrated in detail in the works of Procopius of Caesarea and Agathias.
Laz peopleThe Laz people, or Lazi (ლაზი Lazi; ლაზი, lazi; or ჭანი, ch'ani; Laz), are a Caucasian ethnic group native to the South Caucasus, who mainly live in Black Sea coastal regions of Turkey and Georgia. They traditionally speak the Laz language (which is a member of the Kartvelian language family) but have experienced a rapid language shift to Turkish. From the 103,900 ethnic Laz in Turkey, only around 20,000 speak Laz and the language is classified as threatened (6b) in Turkey and shifting (7) in Georgia on the Expanded Graded Intergenerational Disruption Scale.
Abkhazia_Republic of Abkhazia Abkhazia (æbˈkɑːziə ), officially the Republic of Abkhazia, is a partially recognised state in the South Caucasus, on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, at the intersection of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It covers and has a population of around 245,000. Its capital and largest city is Sukhumi. The political status of Abkhazia is a central issue of the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict and Georgia–Russia relations.
Ethnic groups in the CaucasusThe peoples of the Caucasus, or Caucasians, are a diverse group comprising more than 50 ethnic groups throughout the Caucasus. Caucasians who speak languages which have long been indigenous to the region are generally classified into three groups: Kartvelian peoples, Northeast Caucasian peoples and Northwest Caucasian peoples.
ColchisIn classical antiquity and Greco-Roman geography, Colchis ('kɒlkɪs; Κολχίς) was an exonym for the Georgian polity of Egrisi (ეგრისი) located on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, centered in present-day western Georgia. Its population, the Colchians, are generally thought to have been an early Kartvelian-speaking tribe ancestral to contemporary western Georgians, namely Svans and Zans. According to David Marshall Lang: "one of the most important elements in the modern Georgian nation, the Colchians were probably established in the Caucasus by the Middle Bronze Age.
GeorgiansThe Georgians, or Kartvelians (kʌrtˈvɛliənz; tr, ˈkhaɾthvelebi), are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to Georgia and the South Caucasus. Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, United States, and European Union. Georgians arose from Colchian and Iberian civilizations of classical antiquity; Colchis was interconnected with the Hellenic world, whereas Iberia was influenced by the Persian Achaemenid Empire until Alexander the Great conquered it.