MODERN HISTORY

MODERN HISTORY - I

( Section 1: 1446 - 1555 )

The end of the 15th century was marked by further decline and disintegration of Georgia. Despite desperate attempts by Georgian kings George VIII and Constantine III to reconstruct the empire "from sea to sea" the battle for a united Georgia was lost to the great feudal lords and territorial princes. Consequently, by the year 1512 Georgia was a kind of "patchwork quilt" of smaller states - the Kartlian, Kahetian and Imeretian kingdoms and the South Georgian principality of Samtskhe-Saatabago. As time went on the Imeretian Kingdom disintegrated even further. By 1520 the independent principalities of Mingrelia, Svanetia and Guria had, in effect, separated themselves within Imeretia. The disintegration of Georgia resulted in the series of internal wars and the development of dominions (satavados) - semi-independent feudal holdings headed by local feudals (didebuli tavadi) who held administrative and judicial power in their own hands and openly opposed the kings.

During this period the Armenian lands remained in the hands of the Turkomans. By the middle of the 15th century most of the Armenian feudal aristocracy was already destroyed, their lands taken by Turkoman, Tatar and even Kurdish nomadic military nobility. Thus the Armenian Apostolic Church remained the only major force cementing Armenian people and keeping them apart from the new conquerors and settlers from Central Asia. The transfer of the throne of Catholicos of all Armenians to Echmiadzin (near Yerevan) in 1441 enhanced the importance of the Ararat valley and the city of Yerevan as the new center of the Armenian lands.

In Northern Azerbaijan the rulers of Shirvan and Arran wavered between Georgian and Persian protection until early in the 16th century when they were incorporated into the Safavid Empire.

The peoples of North Caucasus (maneuvering between Georgians and Tatars after the break-up of the Kypchak Empire) were finally lost for Georgia by the end of 1560ies. The lands of Circassians and Kabardians, who were living side by side with the new Turco-Mongolic settlers were incorporated into the Khanate of Crimea, mountain Kabardia preserving certain autonomy. The Alans, as well as the tribes of Dagestan were ruled by their local warlords. From time to time they accepted the suzerainty of the Khan of Astrakhan and tended to be increasingly hostile towards the weakening Georgians.

Beginning in the early 16th century, the Transcaucasia became the arena for a bitter struggle between the new Islamic superpowers: Ottoman Turkey and the Azero-Persian Safavid Empire. The Ottoman Turks had taken Constantinople in 1453 and Trebizond in 1462. In 1464 they had subordinated the Khanate of Crimea and by 1475 conquered the last Genoese enclaves in South Crimea and North-West Caucasus. The Black Sea became "an Ottoman lake" and the Christian lands of the Caucasus were cut off from the rest of Christian world. Moreover, great geographic discoveries had revealed new trade routes for Western Europe, and the ancient routes to the Far East and India through the Caucasus lost their significance, thus turning the area into "political backwater".

While the Ottoman Empire was rising in East Mediterranean, the Azerbaijani Safavid Dynasty took power in Persia. In 1502 Ismail 1 (1486-1524) overthrew the Turkoman ruler, proclaimed himself shah and established a new empire. Shah Ismail was regarded as a saint by the Iranians. Thus the Shiite doctrine became an official religion of his mighty state, covering a vast territory from the deserts of Central Asia to the Euphrates river. By the middle of the 16th century almost all of Azerbaijan had come under Safavid rule. The Azerbaijani nobility played a leading role in the new empire, both regional administration and court being in its hands . The army was composed primarily of Azerbaijanis, whose language was used at the Shah's court and in diplomatic correspondence.

The consolidation of both the Ottoman and the Safavid empires facilitated a series of wars for hegemony in the area, causing the territories of Armenia, Georgia and Mesopotamia to become battlefields. The wars between the two Islamic powers resulted, finally, in the partition of Armenia. In the year 1555 the Safavids dominated the area of modern Armenia around lake Sevan, most of the Khachen (Karabakh) and the cities of Yerevan, Jugha (Julfa) and Nakhichevan. All the rest of Armenia remained under the Ottoman Turks. The Ottoman sultans ruled the Armenian lands through the system of millet, according to which the ecclesiastical authority over the Armenian people belonged to the Armenian Apostolic Church.

Torn apart by feudal separatism and lack of centralized power, and thus unable to keep its sovereignty and integrity, Georgia was also to divide into separate spheres of influence. By the year 1545 the Ottoman Turks had annexed Southern Georgia (Chanetia, Ajaria and the Principality of Samtskhe) and began to carry out forced Turkization. By the end of the 16th century Georgians completely lost their battle against the new Moslem powers. West-Georgian lands (Imeretia, Mingrelia and Svanetia) became dependent on the Ottoman Empire, while the kings of Cartlia and Kahetia became tributary to the Safavids.