ABKHAZIA HAS ALWAYS BEEN PART OF GEORGIA Special Thanks to David Gigauri for Contributing to Article

All sources used are specifically NOT Georgian so there is no bias (even though there are plenty of Georgian sources from V century onwards) 2000BC – 100BC

Today's territory of Abkhazia is part of Western Georgian kingdom of Colchis , with capital Aee (Kuta-Aee - Kutaisi (Stone-Aee). Territory populated by Georgians (Laz-Mengrelians and Svans).

•  According to all historians of the time like Strabo, Herodotus, and Pseudo-Skilak - Colchis of this period is populated solely by the Colkhs (Georgians).

•  The same Georgian culture existed throughout Colchis . This is seen through archaeological findings in Abkhazia that are exactly the same as in the rest of western Georgia , with its capital in central Georgian city of Kutaisi . The fact that the centre of Colchian culture was Kutaisi is also seen in the Legend of Jason and the Argonauts (Golden Fleece). They travel through town and river of Phasis (modern day Poti / Rioni, in Mengrelia), to the city of Aee (Kutaisi – in Imereti), where the king of Colchis reigns, to obtain the Golden Fleece (method of obtaining gold by Georgian Svans where fleece is placed in a stream and gold gets caught in it).

Strabo in his works Geography XI , II , 19 clearly shows that Georgian Svan tribes ruled the area of modern day Abkhazia – “ … in Dioscurias (Sukhumi)…are the Soanes, who are superior in power, - indeed, one might almost say that they are foremost in courage and power. At any rate, they are masters of the peoples around them, and hold possession of the heights of the Caucasus above Dioscurias ( Sukhumi ) . They have a king and a council of three hundred men; and they assemble, according to report, an army of two hundred thousand; for the whole of the people are a fighting force…” Also we know of a Georgian Kudji dynasty that ruled Colchis, and in 3 BC voluntarily united with Eastern Georgia , under King Parnavaz.