Guria

Guria is a region in Georgia, in the western part of the country, bordered by the eastern end of the Black Sea. The region has a population of 113,000, with Ozurgeti as the regional capital.GeographyGuria is bordered by Samegrelo to the north-west, Imereti to the north, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the east, Ajaria to the south, and the Black Sea to the west. The province has an area of 2,033 km².Guria is traversed by the northeasterly line of equal latitude and longitude.Guria consists of three municipalities: Ozurgeti Lanchkhuti ChokhatauriHistoryThe toponym "Guria" is first attested in the c. 800 Georgian chronicle of Pseudo-Juansher.Guria first appears c. 1352 as a fief of the house of Vardanidze-Dadiani; and after 1463 it became a sovereign principality independent of the Kingdom of Georgia under a branch of that house, known thereafter by the name of Gurieli. The principality, comprising modern Guria and much of Adjara with the city of Batumi, was subsequently reduced in size and devastated in a series of conflicts with the Ottoman Empire. A Russian protectorate was established by the treaty concluded on June 19, 1810 between Mamia V Gurieli and the empire, and in 1829, during the regency for the last prince, the Gurieli David, the principality was annexed by Russia.