Week 34: Climate & Geography

After a quick scan through, I realized, to much dismay, that I completely failed to include any maps or geography of Georgia! This post is here to remedy that!

Map of Georgia!

Geography
Nestled between the Northern and Southern Caucasian mountains, Georgia is a surprisingly diverse nation despite its small size. ***Extremely*** mountainous in both the north and the south, the country is strikingly flat in the western Imereti and Samagrelo regions with rolling hills everywhere else. In fact, this pancake-like topography reminded me of Ohio! 

The mountains of the Svaneti region in the north

As for its general size, it takes about ~7 hours to travel from the eastern part of the country to the southwest and maybe several hours from the the north to the south depending on how you travel and where you are going.

The country is within the Black Sea and Caspian sea watershed with all rivers and streams heading to their respective bodies of water. There are many lakes dotting the country, but, none, in my opinion, that are notable. The Black Sea and it's beaches are the ideal places that many vacation-goers flock to.

Politics
The country is divided into 12 unique regions with Tbilisi, the capital, being some sort of federal district. However, due to the civil wars, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are currently under Russia's control (more on that in a later post) and Adjara remains an autonomous republic. The regions are further divided into municipalities with an anchor city as the respective capital. Parliament was moved in the 2000s from Tbilisi to the center of the country in Kutaisi.

Parliament of Georgia in Kutaisi

Climate
For the most part, the climate is fairly temperate with parts of the west being more marshy and the east being more desert-like. The climate varies depending on region with the more mountainous areas being significantly colder (obvi). In my experience, the winters are brutally cold here which are simply highlighted by the lack of indoor heating! It can be anywhere from -10 degrees to 32 degrees Fahrenheit and several inches or feet of snow in the winter while the current weather is a comfortable 80 degrees! My friends in Svaneti stated that the snow melts from most of the mountains much later than the rest of the country. The spring and fall, much like the Midwest, are characterized by rain! Georgia very much experiences all seasons!

December in Chiatura

Population
Georgia is made up of about 4.3 million people with much of that population concentrated in Tbilisi (1.5 million people). The other notable cities are Kutaisi, in the center, Batumi in the southwest, and Zugdidi in the northwest. Outside of that, villages are scattered about! Often, many villages can be extremely isolated from the rest region and it can take hours to go to the nearest city center.

The Bridge of Peace in Tbilisi

Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the wars that followed, large swaths of the population have either left the country or moved to the city centers. It's not uncommon to see former communities' populations nearly halved! In my own hometown, Chiatura was a boom town of 40,000 with a current population of 20,000!

Before I bore you with any more facts, I wanted to share an excellent video that explains Georgia in a much more entertaining medium! I'll be highlighting the environment, and cuisine in the weeks to come!