The Georgian province of Guria revolts against…

The Georgian province of Guria revolts against the Russian Empire on May 22, 1841.

A small and poor Georgian rural province on the Black Sea, Guria has been under the Russian hegemony since 1810.

In 1829, the Russians had eliminated the local autonomous princely rule and imposed a Russian administration.

The province has already been a scene of anti-Russian insurrection in 1820 and will gain more notability with a popular Social-Democratic uprising in 1905.

In 1841, without regard to local conditions, the Russian government orders Gurian peasants to cultivate potatoes and to pay their taxes in Russian cash.

Guria still maintains a primarily natural economy based on corn and millet.

Rumors begin to spread among the peasants that money payments will soon be required and that peasants will be drafted into the army.

When the tax collections begin in May 1841, the peasants of the Lanchkhuti community resist and take up arms on May 22, 1841.

The disturbances spread through all Guria and soon the rebels have almost seventy-two hundred men in their ranks.

They take control of most fortified points in the province and block roads leading to the city of Kutaisi.