Georgian Coins

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Ancient History
What is now Georgia was well known to the ancient world, and the Kartvelebi tribes (predecessors of modern Georgians) who lived there were in contact with (and often at war with) the Hittites, Urartians, Medes, Proto-Persians and Cimmerians (although there is little evidence to suggest that Conan the Barbarian himself ever set foot in Georgia).
The precursor Georgian states of Colchis and Iberia around the 6th - 4th centuries BC respectively. Milenesian Greeks also founded settlements along the Black Sea Coast.
Much of Iberia came under the control of the Kingdom of Armenia by 189 BC, and Colchis came largely under the control of Mithridates VI of Pontus in about 101 BC.
The Roman War against Mithridates VI led to the conquest of Pontus by Pompey the Great in the 60s BC and the reduction of Armenia to the status of client kingdom. Roman forces occupied Colchis and Iberia, and over the next few centuries, the area was frequently used as a battleground between the Romans/Byzantines and the Parthians/Sassanids.

Arrival of Christianity
Thanks to the proximity of the area to both the Romans and the Persians, religious beliefs prior to the arrival of Christianity were dominated by the Roman cult of Mithras and the Persian-originated religion of Zoroastrianism. Christianity began to gain a foothold in the region. Finally in the early 4th century AD, Mirian III, King of Iberia, adopted Christianity as the state religion. Shortly after, the Roman Empire was converted to Christianity by Constantine the Great, and the adoption of Christianity throughout the Roman World was encouraged.
The Kingdom of Georgia first emerged as a united nation 1008, when Bagrat III, King of the Abkhazians inherited the throne of Gurgen, Georgian 'King of Kings'. Under the Bagrationi Dynasty, Georgia entered a golden age of prosperity and cultural advancement. However, during the 13th Century, The Mongol invasions brought this golden age to an end, and the Bagrationis found themselves reduced to the status of puppet kings. George V the Brilliant led a brief period of revival in the late 13th and early 14th Centuries, but invasions by Timur later in the 14th century shattered Georgian power. By the end of the 15th century, the Bagrationi Dynasty fragmented into rival branches, and presided over the separate kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti and Immereti, alongside a variety of other autonomous princely states.
These states, when not fighting each other, struggled to contain the expansionist aims of the neighbouring Persian and Ottoman Empires. However, they survived these encroachments to emerge, reunited in 1762 under Heraclius II. The independent Kingdom of Georgia did not long survive after this however, and was under constant pressure from both Russia and Persia. Finally, George XII, last of the Bagrationi Dynasty, died in December 1800, and Paul I of Russia annexed Georgia to the Russian Empire, a few months before his own death by assassination in March of 1801.

Georgia under Russian Rule
At the time of its annexation by Imperial Russia, Georgia was a backwards, feudal nation compared to Russia (which was itself a backwards and feudal nation by the standards of most of the rest of Europe). However, the security and protection of Russian rule allowed economic development and the rise of an industrial and merchant middle class to take place. However, the dominance of Armenians within this rising middle class was a source of tension between ethnic Georgians.
The abolition of serfdom throughout the Russian Empire brought liberation to thousands of Georgian peasants in 1861, although they were for many years afterwards just as dependent on their former owners who still owned the land upon which they lived and worked.

Revolution
In 1917, the Tsarist regime collapsed when Nicholas II was forced to abdicate. The October Revolution, which brought the Bolsheviks to power, set the stage for a coming civil war between the Russian 'Whites' and the Bolshevik 'Reds'. Many of the Russian soldiers in Georgia deserted their posts and headed north to fight for the respective factions, and in 1918 Georgia declared independence as part of the Democratic Federative Republic of Transcaucasia, along with Armenia and Azerbaijan. This federation lasted less than a month however, and in May 1918, the new Democratic Republic Georgia was born, led by the Mensheviks, the factional enemies of the Bolsheviks.

Soviet Annexation
The new Republic did not last long however, and in 1921, Georgia was invaded by Bolshevik troops, who by this point were gaining the upper hand over the Whites in the on-going Russian Civil War. The Democratic Republic of Georgia was disbanded. Initially incorporated as part of a Transcaucasian Socialist Federative Republic, Georgia was separated from this Federation and incorporated with the USSR in its own right as a separate Soviet Socialist Republic in 1936. By this time Josef Stalin (aka Iosif Vissarionovich Dzhugashvil) an ethnic Georgian, had risen to power as leader of the Soviet Union.
During World War II, some 700,000 soldiers fought in the Red Army, approximately half of whom were killed as a result.
In 1989, as the Berlin Wall fell, a Georgian demonstration demanding independence was put down with violence by Soviet troops. Unlike many other former Socialist Republics, Georgia did not regain its independence until the ultimate collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.

Post-Independence
Georgian Independence did not go as smoothly or conclusively as it generally had elsewhere in the Soviet Union. The enclaves of South Ossetia and Abkhazia, which had been turned into autonomous oblasts under Soviet Rule, resisted inclusion into the newly independent Georgian Republic. Tensions developed between Russia and Georgia over alleged Georgian support for Chechen Separatists in nearby Chechnya whilst Georgia in turn was rankled by Russian support for the separatists in South Ossetia and Abkhazia. These issues were exacerbated by the Georgian Government's robust attempts to forge greater links with NATO.
In 2008 a brief but bloody war was fought between Russia and George over South Ossetia and Abkhazia following an escalation in Georgian attempts to assert military control over them. The Russians succeeded in driving Georgian forces out of the disputed enclaves, which were then recognised as independent republics by Russia.

Coinage of Georgia
At various times in Georgia's history, coins of the Greek states, Rome, Byzantine, Parthia, Armenia, Khazaria and others have circulated there. In addition to native issues struck in the name of the Kingdoms of Colchis, Iberia and other princely states prior to the unification of Georgia under Bagarat III.
The currency of the Kingdom of Georgia prior to Russian annexation was the Abazi, which was subdivided into 200 dinar. The Abazi was not replaced by the Russian rouble until 1833, prior to which imperial issues of 5, 10 and 20 copper dinars were issued, in addition to 100, 200 and 400 dinar coins in silver. The Abazi was then exchanged at 5 abazi to the rouble.
Between 1919 and 1923, the maneti, subdivided into 100 kapeiki was issued, although this was issued in banknote form only. The Soviet rouble replaced this currency in 1923; two years after the Bolsheviks brought Georgia back under Russian control.
In 1993, the rouble was replaced by the lari at par. The lari is subdivided into 100 tetri (a term for various coins once issued in medieval Georgia). This initial lari was replaced in 1995 due to hyperinflation with a new lari at 1 million to 1. Coins of 1, 2, 5, 10, 20 & 50 tetri, as well as 1 & 2 lari are issued for use in circulation.

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