Sukhumi
Sukhumi or Sokhumi is a city in a wide bay on the Black Sea's eastern coast. It is both the capital and largest city of Abkhazia, a partially recognized state that most countries consider a part of Georgia. The city has been controlled by Abkhazia since the Abkhazian war in 1992–93. The city, which has an airport, is a port, major rail junction and a holiday resort because of its beaches, sanatoriums, mineral-water spas and semitropical climate. It is also a member of the International Black Sea Club.
Sukhumi's history can be traced to the 6th century BC, when it was settled by Greeks, who named it Dioscurias. During this time and the subsequent Roman period, much of the city disappeared under the Black Sea. The city was named Tskhumi when it became part of the Kingdom of Abkhazia and then the Kingdom of Georgia. Contested by local princes, it became part of the Ottoman Empire in the 1570s, where it remained disputed until it was conquered by the Russian Empire in 1810.
After a period of conflict during the Russian Civil War, it briefly became part of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, until it was again taken by the Bolsheviks. Within the Soviet Union, Sukhumi served as the capital of the Socialist Soviet Republic of Abkhazia and then the Abkhaz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR. It was also a popular holiday destination. As the Soviet Union dissolved in the early 1990s, the city suffered significant damage during the Abkhaz–Georgian conflict. The present-day population of 60,000 is only half of the population living there toward the end of Soviet rule.
Toponym
In Georgian, the city is known as Sokhumi, amongst Samurzakanians in Megrelian the city is sometimes referred to as Aqujikha, and in Russian as Сухум or Сухуми. The toponym Sokhumi derives from the Georgian word Tskhomi/Tskhumi, which in turn is supposed to be derived from Svan tskhum meaning "hornbeam tree". In Abkhaz, the city is known as Aqwa which is believed to derive from a-qwara, meaning "stony seashore". According to Abkhaz tradition Aqwa signifies water.Medieval Georgian sources knew the town as Tskhumi. Later, under Ottoman control, the town was known in Turkish as Suhum-Kale, which was derived from the earlier Georgian form Tskhumi or read to mean "Tskhumi fortress".
The ending -i in the above forms represents the Georgian nominative suffix. The town was officially called Сухум in Russian until 16 August 1936, when this was changed to Sukhumi. This remained so until 4 December 1992, when the Supreme Council of Abkhazia restored the previous version. Russia also readopted its official spelling in 2008.
In English, the most common form today is Sukhumi, although Sokhumi is increasing in usage and has been adopted by sources including United Nations, Encyclopædia Britannica, Esri and Google Maps.
History
Ancient history
The history of the city began in the mid-6th century BC when an earlier settlement of the second and early first millennia BC, frequented by local Colchian tribes, was replaced by the Milesian Greek colony of Dioscurias. The city is said to have been founded and named by the Dioscuri, the twins Castor and Pollux of classical mythology. According to another legend it was founded by Amphitus and Cercius of Sparta, the charioteers of the Dioscuri. The Greek pottery found in Eshera, further north along the coast, predates findings in the area of Sukhumi bay by a century suggesting that the centre of the original Greek settlement could have been there.It became busily engaged in the commerce between Greece and the indigenous tribes, importing salt and wares from many parts of Greece, and exporting local timber, linen, and hemp. It was also a prime center of slave trade in Colchis. The city and its surroundings were remarkable for the multitude of languages spoken in its bazaars.
Although the sea made serious inroads upon the territory of Dioscurias, it continued to flourish and became one of the key cities in the realm of Mithridates VI of Pontus in the 2nd century BC and supported his cause until the end. Dioscurias issued bronze coinage around 100 BC featuring the symbols of the Dioskuri and Dionysus. Under the Roman emperor Augustus the city assumed the name of Sebastopolis. But its prosperity was past, and in the 1st century Pliny the Elder described the place as virtually deserted though the town still continued to exist during the times of Arrian in the 130s. The remains of towers and walls of Sebastopolis have been found underwater; on land the lowest levels so far reached by archaeologists are of the 1st and 2nd centuries AD. According to Gregory of Nyssa there were Christians in the city in the late 4th century. At the beginning of the Lazic War in 542, the Romans evacuated the town and demolished its citadel to prevent it from being captured by the Sasanian Empire. In 565, however, the emperor Justinian I restored the city wall and adorned Sebastopolis with streets and buildings. The city was sacked by the Arab conqueror Marwan II in 736 according to Juansher Juansheriani.
Medieval and early modern history
Afterwards, the town came to be known as Tskhumi. Restored by the kings of Abkhazia from the Arab devastation, it particularly flourished during the Georgian Golden Age in the 11th–12th centuries, when Tskhumi became the summer residence of the Georgian kings and an important cultural and administrative center of the Georgian state. The city also became a major trade center after the Genoese established their trading port in Tskhumi in the end of 13th century. A Catholic bishopric existed there which is now a titular see. A Genoese consulate was established in 1354 with the consul dispatched from Caffa. In spite of occasional conflicts with the locals, the consulate functioned until 1456. In addition to the Genoese, the city was the home to Armenian, Muslim and Jewish merchants. The city was a major centre of Black Sea slave trade. Wax, wine and grain were exported to Europe via Sukhumi while cloth, luxury goods and salt were imported. Tskhumi served as capital of the Odishi — Megrelian rulers, it was in this city that Vamek I, the most influential Dadiani, minted his coins.Documents of the 15th century clearly distinguished Tskhumi from Principality of Abkhazia. The Ottoman navy occupied the town in 1451, but for a short time. Later contested between the princes of Abkhazia and Mingrelia, Tskhumi finally fell to the Turks in the 1570s. The new masters heavily fortified the town and called it Sohumkale, with kale meaning "fort" but the first part of the name of disputed origin. It may represent Turkish su, "water", and kum, "sand", but is more likely to be an alteration of its earlier Georgian name.
19-21st centuries
At the request of the pro-Russian Abkhazian prince, the town was stormed by the Russian Marines in 1810 and turned, subsequently, into a major outpost in the North West Caucasus.. Sukhumi was declared the seaport in 1847 and was directly annexed to the Russian Empire after the ruling Shervashidze princely dynasty was ousted by the Russian authorities in 1864. During the Russo-Turkish War, 1877–1878, the town was temporarily controlled by the Ottoman forces and Abkhaz-Adyghe rebels. After its annexation, Sukhumi became the administrative center of the Sukhumi Okrug.Following the Russian Revolution of 1917, the town and Abkhazia in general were engulfed in the chaos of the Russian Civil War. A short-lived Bolshevik government was suppressed in May 1918 and Sukhumi was incorporated into the Democratic Republic of Georgia as a residence of the autonomous People's Council of Abkhazia and the headquarters of the Georgian governor-general. The Red Army and the local revolutionaries took the city from the Georgian forces on 4 March 1921, and declared Soviet rule. Sukhumi functioned as the capital of the "Union treaty" Abkhaz Soviet Socialist Republic associated with the Georgian SSR from 1921 until 1931, when it became the capital of the Abkhazian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic within the Georgian SSR. By 1989, Sukhumi had 120,000 inhabitants and was one of the most prosperous cities of Georgia.
Beginning with the 1989 riots, Sukhumi was a centre of the Georgian-Abkhaz conflict, and the city was severely damaged during the 1992–1993 War. During the war, the city and its environs suffered almost daily air strikes and artillery shelling, with heavy civilian casualties. On 27 September 1993 the battle for Sukhumi was concluded by a full-scale campaign of ethnic cleansing against its majority Georgian population, including members of the pro-Georgian Abkhazian government and mayor of Sukhumi Guram Gabiskiria.
Although the city has been relatively peaceful and partially rebuilt, it is still suffering the after-effects of the war, and it has not regained its earlier ethnic diversity. Its population in 2017 was 65,716, compared to about 120,000 in 1989. During summer holidays season its population usually doubles and triples with a large inflow of international tourists.
In 2021, there was unrest in the city leading to the resignation of President Aslan Bzhani.
Population
Demographics
Historic population figures for Sukhumi, split out by ethnicity, based on population censuses:| Year | Abkhaz | Armenians | Estonians | Georgians | Greeks | Russians | Turkish | Ukrainians | Total |
| 1886 Census* | 0.1% | 12.9% | – | 27.9% | 22.6% | 28.9% | – | – | 412 |
| 1897 Census* | 1.8% | 13.5% | 0.4% | 30.9% | 14.3% | 21.1% | 2.7% | – | 7,998 |
| 1916 almanac** | n/a | 13.3% | n/a | 40.6% | n/a | 30.5% | n/a | n/a | 61,974 |
| 1926 Census | 3.1% | 9.4% | 0.3% | 23.3% | 10.7% | 23.7% | – | 10.4% | 21,568 |
| 1939 Census | 5.5% | 9.8% | 0.5% | 19.9% | 11.3% | 41.9% | – | 4.6% | 44,299 |
| 1959 Census | 5.6% | 10.5% | – | 31.1% | 4.9% | 36.8% | – | 4.3% | 64,730 |
| 1979 Census | 9.9% | 10.9% | – | 38.3% | 6.5% | 26.4% | – | 3.4% | 108,337 |
| 1989 Census | 12.5% | 10.3% | – | 41.5% | – | 21.6% | – | – | 119,150 |
| 2003 Census | 56.3% | 12.7% | 0.1% | 4.0% | 1.5% | 16.9% | – | 1.6% | 43,716 |
| 2011 Census | 67.3% | 9.8% | – | 2.8% | 1.0% | 14.8% | – | – | 62,914 |