Situated at the strategically important crossroads where Europe meets Asia, Georgia has a unique and ancient cultural heritage and is famed for its traditions of hospitality and cuisine. Over the centuries, Georgia was the object of rivalry between Persia, Turkey, and Russia, before eventually being annexed by Russia in the 19th century.

Since emerging from the collapsing Soviet Union as an independent state in 1991, Georgia has once again become the arena of conflicting interests—this time between the United States and a revived Russia. Tense relations with Russia have been further exacerbated by Moscow’s support for the separatist regions of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.