Tao-Klarjeti (Georgian [Kartvelian] kingdoms and principalities)
Substate | Defunct
767 CE
to 1008 CE
Tao-Klarjeti is the conventional name of the medieval Georgian (Kartvelian) kingdoms and principalities, succeeding the Principate of Iberia, in what is now part of the provinces of Erzurum, Artvin, Ardahan and Kars in northeastern Turkey.Tao and Klarjeti are originally only the names of the two most important provinces of the Georgian lands that stretch from the "Georgian Gorge" (Turk.
Gürcü Boğazı) in the south to the Lesser Caucasus in the north.Historically, the area comprises the following provinces: West of the Arsiani Mountains are Tao, Klarjeti, Nigali, and Shavsheti, to the east lie Samtskhe, Erusheti, Javakheti, Artaani and Kola.
The landscape is characterized by mountains and the river-systems of the Chorokhi and the Mtkvari.
Tao-Klarjeti’s geographical position between the great Empires of the East and the West, and the fact that one branch of the Silk Road runs through its territory, means that it is subject to a constant stream of diverging influences.
In the ninth to eleventh centuries, Tao-Klarjeti is ruled by the Iberian Bagratuni Dynasty, and the region plays a crucial role in the unification of the Georgian principalities into a single feudal state in 1008.
Alongside the magnificent nature, the architectural monuments of Tao-Klarjeti (churches, monasteries, bridges and castles) function as tourist attractions today, but many monuments are endangered, since nothing is done for their preservation.
There have also been cases of deliberate destruction (for instance in Opiza and Tbeti).
