Georgia

Georgians are immensely likeable people. Physically, they are like Greeks or Turks. In temperament they are like the Spanish or Italians. They are Orthodox Christians, like their Russian and Armenian neighbours. They eat and drink with gusto, and prefer managing and giving orders rather digging and carrying.

They make great singers, artists, actors, film directors and cooks, and appalling drivers, politicians and accountants. Like most people in the Caucasus, they also make great friends and terrible enemies, and seem like fairly lively and racy folk, particularly if you are northern European.

Georgia is in fact a multi-ethnic nation, with Georgians (Kartvelians) making up about 70% of the population. The rest consist of Abkhazians, Armenians, Azeris, Ossetians, Russians, Jews, and a huge number of other minorities. Most of the people look the same to the outsider. Despite the civil wars, and a lot of hardened attitudes among the ethnic groups, the people get on with each other pretty well most of the time.

Georgians are very proud people, and very flamboyant and outgoing. The best thing from the traveller’s point of view is their hospitality, which can often stretch to amazing lengths. People you meet on the bus invite you home, and will happily feed you and accommodate you for days at a time. Indeed, it can actually be tricky when you finally move on, and they insist on just one more meal…
Drinking is a big part of life here, although there is surprisingly little drunkenness or bad behaviour after drinking.

The Georgian’s slick way of getting things done extends to business, and they have a reputation in the former USSR as wheeler-dealers and gangsters. There is indeed a lot of corruption and crime, and many big mobsters are Georgian, although no more proportionally than many other Caucasian and Russian groups, and there are many examples of outstanding Georgian businessmen and managers in the former Soviet Union.

Corruption is often an extension of the Georgian’s strong family links, with outright nepotism merely being seen as looking after your own. Georgians are very clannish, and tend to be very family-centric. They are also very religious, and quite nationalistic. They love their country and way of life.

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