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There are numerous curative mineral springs the gushing rivers represent a huge hydroelectric potential, and the Landscape, amazing in its diversity, yet is another valuable asset. There are the palms, eucalyptuses and liana-entwined jungle of Colchis, the snowy mountain peaks; pine-and beech-clad slopes of the Greater and Lesser Caucasus ranges; the steppes of the Yori Plateau covered with beard grass; the orchards of Kartli and the world-famous vineyards of Kakheti; Imereti and Samegrelo and the alpine pastures of the upland regions of Svaneti, Tusheti and Khevsureti. Mountains and plateaus cover four-fifths of Georgia"s territory. Ridges of mountains divide the country into regions, each of which have a distinctive landscape and microclimate, and characteristic architecture, costumes, folklore, traditions and customs. Archaeologists and historians have established that Georgia was one of the regions, which saw the emergence, and development of primitive man and the origins of civilization. Stone implements fashioned during the Paleolithic Age, have been found here. The people of Georgia were amongst the first in the Caucasus to master the smelting and casting of metals, first copper and bronze, then, as early as the 9th-7th centuries BC, iron. During the Bronze Age large tribal confederations were formed here, the basis for the first Georgian states, Colchis (6th century B.C.)in Western Georgia , Kartli of Iberia (4th century B.C.) in the east.

The tradition of the unified state was persevered in subsequent centuries, all through the Middle Ages, with old cities formed in the Hellenistic period continuing to grow, and new centers of culture appearing -Mtskheta, Uplistsikhe, Vani, Gori, Shorapani and others. Even before 337, when Christianity was made the official religion in the Kingdom of Kartli (and subsequently in the entire territory of Georgia), an alphabet had been developed and a written language had appeared. Georgia"s path through the centuries and the millennia was arduous and troubled. Like a magnet its lands attracted hordes of conquerors. The Georgians had to fight for their independence against Greeks and Romans, Parthia and Byzantium. Khazars and Arabs, the hordes of Chenghis Khan and Temerlane and the armies of Persia and Turkey. Thousands of Georgians perished in burning cities, tens of thousands were driven into slavery. Churches were desecrated, crops destroyed, vineyards cut down. Georgia is the home of an ancient people and culture about which next to nothing is known.