Tbilisi ( ), commonly known by its former name
Tiflis, and often mispronounced as
Tiblisi, is the capital and the
largest city of
Georgia, lying on the banks of the
Kura River with a population of roughly 1.5 million inhabitants. Founded in the 5th century by the monarch of Georgia's ancient precursor
Kingdom of Iberia, Tbilisi has since served, with intermissions, as the capital of various Georgian kingdoms and republics. Under the
Russian rule, from 1801 to 1917 Tiflis was the seat of the
Imperial Viceroy governing both sides of the entire
Caucasus.
