Unification of the Georgian realm in the context of "Political movement"

Georgia is a country in the Caucasus region on the coast of the Black Sea. It is located at the intersection of Eastern Europe and West Asia, and is today generally regarded as part of Europe. It is bordered to the north and northeast by Russia, to the south by Turkey and Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. Georgia covers an area of 69,700 square kilometres (26,900 sq mi). It has a population of 3.9 million, of which over a third live in the capital and largest city, Tbilisi. Ethnic Georgians, who are native to the region, constitute a majority of the country's population and are its titular nation.

Georgia has been inhabited since prehistory, hosting the world's earliest known sites of winemaking, gold mining, and textiles. The classical era saw the emergence of several kingdoms, such as Colchis and Iberia, that formed the nucleus of the modern Georgian state. In the early fourth century, Georgians officially adopted Christianity, which contributed to their unification under the Kingdom of Georgia. Georgia reached its Golden Age during the High Middle Ages under the reigns of King David IV and Queen Tamar. Beginning in the 15th century, the kingdom declined and disintegrated due to internal discord and pressure from various regional powers, including the Mongols, the Ottoman Empire, and Persia, before being gradually annexed into the Russian Empire starting in 1801.

The Kingdom of Georgia (Georgian: საქართველოს სამეფო, romanized: Sakartvelos samepo), also known as the Georgian Empire, was a medieval Eurasian monarchy that was founded in c. 1008 AD. It reached its Golden Age of political and economic strength during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great from the 11th to 13th centuries. Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East, and its pan-Caucasian empire and network of tributaries stretched from Eastern Europe to Anatolia and northern frontiers of Iran, while Georgia also maintained religious possessions abroad, such as the Monastery of the Cross in Jerusalem and the Monastery of Iviron in Greece. It is the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.

Kingdom of Georgia emerged in the early 11th century out of unification of various Georgian kingdoms, most notably the Kingdom of the Iberians and the Kingdom of Abkhazia. Lasting for nearly five centuries, the kingdom fell to the Mongol invasions in the 13th century, but managed to re-assert sovereignty by the 1340s. The following decades were marked by the Black Death, as well as numerous invasions under the leadership of Timur, who devastated the country's economy, population, and urban centers. The Kingdom's geopolitical situation further worsened after the conquest of the Byzantine Empire and the Empire of Trebizond by the Ottoman Turks. As a result of these processes, by the end of the 15th century Georgia turned into a fractured entity. This whole series of events also led to the final collapse of the kingdom into anarchy by 1466 and the mutual recognition of its constituent kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti, and Imereti as independent states between 1490 and 1493—each led by a rival branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities—Odishi, Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe.

Georgians, or Kartvelians (/kɑːrtˈvɛliənz/; Georgian: ქართველები, romanized: kartvelebi, pronounced [kʰaɾtʰʷelebi]), are a nation and Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Georgian kingdoms. Significant Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union.

Georgians arose from Colchian and Iberian civilizations of classical antiquity; Colchis was interconnected with the Hellenic world, whereas Iberia was influenced by the Achaemenid Empire until Alexander the Great conquered it. In the early 4th century, the Georgians became one of the first to embrace Christianity. Currently, the majority of Georgians are Orthodox Christians, with most following their national Georgian Orthodox Church; there are also small Georgian Catholic and Muslim communities as well as a significant number of irreligious Georgians. Located in the Caucasus, on the continental crossroads of Europe and Asia, the High Middle Ages saw Georgian people form a unified Kingdom of Georgia in 1008 AD, later inaugurating the Georgian Golden Age. This lasted until the kingdom was weakened and later disintegrated as the result of the 13th–15th-century invasions of the Mongols and Timur, the Black Death, the Fall of Constantinople, as well as internal divisions following the death of George V the Brilliant in 1346, the last of the great kings of Georgia.

The Kingdom of the Iberians (Georgian: ქართველთა სამეფო, romanized: kartvelta samepo) was a medieval Georgian monarchy under the Bagrationi dynasty which emerged circa 888 AD, succeeding the Principality of Iberia, in historical region of Tao-Klarjeti, or upper Iberia in north-eastern Turkey as well parts of modern southwestern Georgia, that stretched from the Iberian gates in the south and to the Lesser Caucasus in the north.

Historically, the area comprised the following historical districts: West of the Arsiani Mountains were Tao, Klarjeti, Nigali, and Shavsheti, to the east lay Meskheti, Erusheti, Javakheti, Artaani, Abotsi, Kola and Basiani. The landscape is characterised by mountains and the river-systems of the Çoruh and the Kura. The region played a crucial role in the unification of all Georgian lands and principalities into the Kingdom of Georgia in 1008.

The Kingdom of Abkhazia (Georgian: აფხაზთა სამეფო, romanized: apkhazta samepo; lit. 'Kingdom of the Abkhazians', Greek: Αμπχαζικό βασίλειο, romanized: Ampchazikó vasíleio) was a medieval feudal state in the Caucasus which was established in the 780s. Through dynastic succession, it was united in 1008 with the Kingdom of the Iberians, forming the Kingdom of Georgia.

Byzantine sources record that in the early years of the 10th century Abkhazia stretched three hundred Greek miles along the Black Sea coast, from the frontiers of the thema of Chaldia to the mouth of the river Nicopsis, with the Caucasus behind it.

The Bagrationi dynasty (/bʌɡrʌtiˈɒni/; Georgian: ბაგრატიონი, romanized: bagrat'ioni [ˈbäɡɾätʼio̞n̪i]) is a royal dynasty which reigned in Georgia from the Middle Ages until the early 19th century, being among the oldest extant Christian ruling dynasties in the world.

The origins of the dynasty are disputed. Most scholars agree that the dynasty comes from the Armenian Bagratuni dynasty, and is seen as a smaller branch of the Bagratids. The early Georgian Bagratids gained the Principality of Iberia through dynastic marriage after succeeding the Chosroid dynasty at the end of the 8th century. In 888 Adarnase IV of Iberia restored the Georgian monarchy; various native polities then united into the Kingdom of Georgia, which prospered from the 11th to the 13th century. This period of time, particularly the reigns of David IV the Builder (1089–1125) and of his great-granddaughter Tamar the Great (1184–1213) inaugurated the Georgian Golden Age in the history of Georgia.

David III Kuropalates (Georgian: დავით III კურაპალატი, Davit’ III Kurapalati) or David III the Great (დავით III დიდი, Davit’ III Didi), also known as David II, (c. 930s – 1000/1001) was a Georgian prince of the Bagratid family of Tao, a historic region in the Georgian–Armenian marchlands, from 966 until his murder in 1000 or 1001. Kuropalates was a Byzantine courtier title bestowed upon him in 978 and again in 990.

David is best known for his crucial assistance to the Byzantine Macedonian dynasty in the 976–9 civil war and his unique role in the political unification of various Georgian polities as well as his patronage of Christian culture and learning. Between 987 and 989, David joined his friend Bardas Phocas in a revolt against the Byzantine emperor Basil II, but was defeated and agreed to cede his lands to the empire on his death. Yet he was able to secure for his heir, Bagrat III, an opportunity to become the first ruler of a unified Georgian kingdom.

Bagrat III (Georgian: ბაგრატ III) (c. 960 – 7 May 1014), also known as Bagrat the Unifier, of the Bagrationi dynasty, was the king (mepe) of the Kingdom of Abkhazia from 978 (as Bagrat II of Abkhazia) and king of the Kingdom of Georgia from 1008 until his death in 1014. Through dynastic inheritance, military conquest, and diplomatic efforts, he successfully united these realms, effectively founding the Kingdom of Georgia. Prior to his coronation as king, Bagrat III also ruled in Kartli as co-ruler with his father, Gurgen of Iberia, from 976 to 978.