Georgia, bordered by Russia on the north, Azerbaijan and Armenia on the southeast, Turkey on the southwest, and the Black Sea on the west, is situated on the dividing line between Europe and Asia. The total territory of Georgia is 69,700 square kilometers (43,312 square miles).

The total population of Georgia was estimated at 4.7 million in 2004. Approximately 70 percent of the people are Georgians. The rest are Armenian (8.1%), Russian (6.3%), Azeri (5.7%), Ossetian (3%), Abkhaz (1.8%), and other (5%). About 65 percent of the total population is Georgian Orthodox, 11 percent Muslim, 10 percent Russian Orthodox, 8 percent Armenian Apostolic, and 6 percent unknown. Tbilisi is the capital city.

After decades of domination by czarist Russia, Georgia became an independent country in May 1918. However, in 1921 Georgia was absorbed into the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). A native son of Georgia, Joseph Stalin (1879–1953), was the Soviet Union's most brutal dictator from the 1920s until his death in 1953. After seventy years of...