GEORGIA

  COUNTRY IN THE CAUCASUS

  SAKARTVELO      in Georgian

  Surface:        70 000 sq km
  Population:     5.5 mln, among them 70% are ethnic Georgians

                * reduced to 4.5 mln due to outgoing migration

Local Time:     GMT + 3 hrs (in winter), + 4 hrs (in summer)

          * since end of June 2004 (closing up with Europe!)
 

Capital:        Tbilissi (population 1,260,000)
Second city:    Kutaissi (some 250,000)

State language: the Georgian  KARTULI

System of writing: original, created 284 BC,
   with adequate correspondence between spelling and pronunciation

Faith:          Orthodox Christianity   adopted circa 335 AD

Statehood:      Kingdom               284 BC -- 1800 AD

                within Russian Empire   1801 -- 1917

                Democratic Republic     1918 -- 1921

                within USSR             1923 -- 1991

                Parliamentary Republic  1992 -- 1995

                                        (joined  CIS  in  March 1994)

                Presidential Republic   since August 1995

Anthem:         The Glory     DIDEBA                 

                * replaced in early 2004 by ouverture from opera Daissi

FLAG:           Five Red Crosses on white background

                that replaced "claret with black & white" in early 2004

Colours:        Claret, Black and White

Crest:          Borj'ghali    (Sun; Eternal Movement)

National

   Holiday:     26th May      Independence Day (1918)

Currency (introduced in October 1995):

                Lari = 100 Tetri (US$ = 1.85 Lari) * by mid-August 2004

Head of State:  Mr Michael SAAKASHVILI, 36, the President

                elected on 4 Jan, 2004