Iranian Georgians or Persian Georgians are Iranian citizens who are ethnically Georgian, and are an ethnic group living in Iran. Today's Georgia was subject to Iran in the ancient times under the Achaemenid and Sassanian empires and from the 16th century till the early 19th century, starting with the Safavids in power and later Qajars. Shah Abbas I, his predecessors, and successors, relocated by force hundreds of thousands of Christian, and Jewish Georgians as part of his programs to reduce the power of the Qizilbash, develop industrial economy, strengthen the military, and populate newly built towns in various places in Iran including the provinces of Isfahan, Mazandaran and Khuzestan. A certain number of these, among them members of the nobility, also migrated voluntarily over the centuries, as well as some that moved as muhajirs in the 19th century to Iran, following the Russian conquest of the Caucasus. The Georgian community of Fereydunshahr have retained their distinct Georgian identity to this day, despite adopting certain aspects of Iranian culture such as the Persian language.
Safavid courtiers leading Georgian captives. A mid-16th century Persian textile panel from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Shah Suleiman I and his courtiers, Isfahan, 1670. Painter is Aliquli Jabbadar, and is kept at The Saint Petersburg Institute of Oriental Studies in Russia, ever since it was acquired by Tsar Nicholas II. Note the Georgian letters at the top left.
A shop in Fereydunshahr with Georgian signage
The Georgians, or Kartvelians, are a nation and indigenous Caucasian ethnic group native to present-day Georgia and surrounding areas historically associated with the Georgian kingdoms. Significant Georgian diaspora communities are also present throughout Russia, Turkey, Greece, Iran, Ukraine, the United States, and the European Union.
The Georgian kings, queens consort and the Catholicos-Patriarch depicted on a Byzantine-influenced fresco wearing Byzantine dress at the Gelati Monastery, UNESCO's World Heritage Site landmark.
Georgians presenting gifts to the Byzantine emperor. The Skylitzes Chronicle.
Georgian language is written in its own unique alphabet since the early 5th century.
Gelati Monastery, one of the most significant religious structures in Georgia, located near the former capital city of Kutaisi.