History of Abkhazia

The history of Abkhazia traces societies and political powers on the eastern Black Sea coast, including its shifting ties to neighboring states and its disputed modern status.

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Colchis: An ancient kingdom on the eastern Black Sea coast, associated with western Georgia and Greek accounts of the Argonauts. Greek sources place the coastal lands of ancient Abkhazia within or beside Colchis.
Kingdom of Georgia: A medieval Caucasian monarchy that unified much of present-day Georgia at its height. The medieval Kingdom of Abkhazia became part of the Georgian monarchy’s formation.
Nestor Lakoba: An Abkhaz Bolshevik leader who headed Soviet Abkhazia during the 1920s and early 1930s. His leadership is closely associated with Abkhazia’s initial Soviet-era autonomous status.
Russo-Abkhaz conflict of 1864: The final phase of Russian conquest in the western Caucasus, followed by mass displacement of Circassians and Abkhaz. Its aftermath drove large-scale Abkhaz migration and reshaped the region’s population.
Abkhazian diaspora: Communities of Abkhaz people living outside Abkhazia, especially in Turkey and other parts of the former Ottoman world. Migration and exile, especially after nineteenth-century conquest, created a large diaspora.
Ancient Greeks on the Black Sea: Greek settlement and trade around the Black Sea beginning in the archaic period. Greek colonies and commerce linked the Abkhazian coast to wider Black Sea networks.
Ottoman Empire: A transcontinental empire that ruled parts of southeastern Europe, western Asia, and North Africa from the fourteenth to twentieth centuries. Ottoman expansion altered Black Sea power and introduced lasting Muslim influence in Abkhazia.
Lavrentiy Beria: A Soviet security chief and Communist Party leader born in Georgia, influential in the Caucasus during the 1930s. Beria’s policies in the 1930s are linked to centralization and demographic change in Abkhazia.
Abkhaz-Georgian conflict, 1918–1921: A period of political struggle and armed conflict over Abkhazia’s status during the collapse of the Russian Empire and creation of Soviet rule. It established early precedents for disputes over Abkhazia’s relationship with Georgia.
Internally displaced persons in Georgia: People forced from their homes within Georgia by conflict, including large numbers displaced from Abkhazia. Displacement from Abkhazia remains a major humanitarian and political issue in Georgia.