Mtiuleti is a historical province in eastern Georgia

Eastern Georgia

Eastern Georgia commonly refers to the eastern part of the nation of Georgia, which in historic times included the kingdom of Iberia in the Caucasus. The present-day term refers to the territory of Georgia which lies to the east and south of the Likhi and Meskheti Ranges, but excludes the region...

, on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus

Greater Caucasus

Greater Caucasus , sometimes translated as "Caucasus Major", "Big Caucasus" or "Large Caucasus") is the major mountain range of the Caucasus Mountains....

 Mountains. It primarily comprises the White Aragvi Valley, and is bordered by Gudamakari on the east, Khando on the south, Tskhrazma on the west, and Khevi

Khevi

Khevi is a small historical-geographic area in northeastern Georgia. It is included in the modern-day Kazbegi district, Mtskheta-Mtianeti region...

 on the north. Mtiuleti occupies parts of modern-day districts of Dusheti

Dusheti

Dusheti is a town in Georgia, situated in the Mtskheta-Mtianeti region, 54 km northeast of the nation’s capital of Tbilisi.Dusheti is located on both banks of the small mountainous river of Dushetis-Khevi at the foothills of the Greater Caucasus crest at an elevation of 900 m above sea level...

 and Kazbegi, Mtskheta-Mtianeti

Mtskheta-Mtianeti

Mtskheta-Mtianeti is a region in eastern Georgia comprising the town of Mtskheta, which serves as a regional capital, together with its district and the adjoining mountainous areas.- External links :...

 region (mkhare

Mkhare

Mkhare is a subdivision in the country of Georgia. It is usually translated as region.The country is divided, according to the Presidential decrees from 1994 to 1996, into regions on a provisional basis until the secessionist conflicts in Abkhazia and South Ossetia are resolved...

). A townlet (daba) Pasanauri

Pasanauri

Pasanauri is a townlet in Georgia, situated in the Dusheti district, Mtskheta-Mtianeti region.Pasanauri lies about 90 km north of the nation’s capital of Tbilisi, at elevation of 1,050 m. above sea level. Located on the Georgian Military Road, Pasanauri is flanked by the Aragvi River, and...

, famous for its khinkali

Khinkali

Khinkali are Caucasian dumplings filled with various fillings such as mushrooms or cheese, but mostly with spiced meat with greens, onions and garlic. They are eaten plain, or with coarse black pepper. The meat filling is uncooked when the Khinkali is assembled, so when cooked the meat's juices...

, is a traditional center of the region.

In its original and narrower sense, Mtiuleti comprises a small historic mountainous community called Tskhavati. Since the 13th century, the neighboring valleys of Khado and Gudamakari have also been frequently viewed as parts of Mtiuleti.

According to a historic tradition, St. Nino, a female baptizer of Georgians

Georgians

The Georgians are an ethnic group that have originated in Georgia, where they constitute a majority of the population. Large Georgian communities are also present throughout Russia, European Union, United States, and South America....

, preached Christianity

Christianity

Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...

 here in the early 4th century. We next hear of Mtiuleti and its people in connection with the Georgian campaign by the Arab

Arab

Arab people, also known as Arabs , are a panethnicity primarily living in the Arab world, which is located in Western Asia and North Africa. They are identified as such on one or more of genealogical, linguistic, or cultural grounds, with tribal affiliations, and intra-tribal relationships playing...

 commander Bugha al-Kabir

Bugha al-Kabir

Bugha al-Kabir al-Sharabi or Bugha the Elder, also known as Bugha al-Turki , was a 9th-century Turkic general who served the Abbasids....

, whose army assaulted the mountains of Iberia

Caucasian Iberia

Iberia , also known as Iveria , was a name given by the ancient Greeks and Romans to the ancient Georgian kingdom of Kartli , corresponding roughly to the eastern and southern parts of the present day Georgia...

/Kartli

Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...

 in the 850s, but failed to force the Mtiuletians into submission. In the subsequent centuries, the Mtiuletians remained loyal subjects to the Georgian crown and joined the expedition sent by Queen Tamar to subdue the rebellious mountainous clans in the early 13th century. Under Tamar, due its strategic location, Mtiuleti was placed under the administration of high-ranking Georgian officials such as Abulasan, a viceroy of Kartli, and Tchiaber, a chancellor of Georgia

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

. Later, in the early 14th century, Mtiuleti was contested between two powerful feudal houses, the eristavi

Eristavi

Eristavi was a Georgian feudal office, roughly equivalent to the Byzantine strategos and normally translated into English as "duke". In the Georgian aristocratic hierarchy, it was the title of the third rank of prince and governor of a large province...

s of the Ksani

Ksani

Ksani is a small river in central Georgia, which rises on the southern slopes of the Greater Caucasus Mountain Range in South Ossetia and flows into the Kura River. Ksani is often associated with the Medieval Georgian Ksani Fortress which lies close to the Ksani River....

 and the Aragvi

Duchy of Aragvi

The Duchy of Aragvi was an important fiefdom in medieval and early modern Georgia, strategically located in the upper Aragvi valley, in the foothills of the eastern Greater Caucasus crest, and ruled by a succession of eristavi from c...

. Initially supported by the kings of Georgia, the former prevailed, but for a short time. Eventual winners, the eristavs of Aragvi, ruled the area until being dispossessed by the king of Georgia in 1743. From May to September 1804, Mtiuleti was a scene of an uneasy revolt against Imperial Russia, which had annexed Georgia in 1801. The uprising quickly spread to the neighboring mountainous regions, but was eventually suppressed by the Russian commander Pavel Tsitsianov

Pavel Tsitsianov

Pavel Dmitriyevich Tsitsianov was the Georgian Imperial Russian military commander and infantry general from 1804. A member of the noble Georgian family Tsitsishvili , Tsitsianov participated in suppression of the Kościuszko Uprising and in the Russo-Persian War...

after heavy fighting.