Meskheti Range

Meskheti Range (Georgian: მესხეთის ქედი) (Meskh/Meskhet/Meskhetian Range, Adzhar-Imereti Range, Adzhar-Akhaltsikh Range also Moschian Mountains) is a part of the Lesser Caucasus mountain range in Meskheti region, in southwestern Georgia.

The length of the range is 150 km and the highest point is Mount Mepistskharo at an elevation of 2,850 m above sea level. The Meskheti Range is characterized by high amounts of precipitation. The territory around Mt. Mtirala (the Ajarian section of the range) was the wettest region within the Soviet Union and is the most humid area of the Caucasus with an annual precipitation of approximately 4500mm/year. The slopes of the Meskheti Range are mainly covered by deciduous forests (oak, chestnut, maple, hornbeam, beech) below 1,200 m above sea level and by coniferous forests (spruce, fir and in some cases pine) from 1,200-1,800 m. The highest regions of the range are covered by sub-alpine and alpine meadows.

Strabo mentions the Moschian Mountains as joining the Caucasus. (Geography, 11.2.1)

Meskheti

Meskheti (Georgian: მესხეთი), also known as Samtskhe (Georgian: სამცხე), is in a mountainous area of Moschia in southwestern Georgia.

History

Ancient tribes known as the Mushki (or Moschi) and Mosiniks (or Mossynoeci) were the first known inhabitants of the area of the modern Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Some scholars credit the Mosiniks with the invention of iron metallurgy.

Between the 2nd millennium BCE and the 4th century BCE, Meskheti was part of the Georgian Kingdom of Diaokhi. It was subsequently, until the 6th century CE, part of the Kingdom of Iberia.

During the 10th-15th centuries, this region was a part of the united Georgian Kingdom. In the 16th century Meskheti was occupied and annexed by the Ottoman Empire.

In 1829-1917 the region was a part of Tbilisi Governorate (Tiflisskaia Gubernia), and then briefly (1918-1921) part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Between 1921-1990 it was a part of the Soviet Union, as the Georgian SSR.

Meskheti is now part of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, together with Javakheti and Tori.