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ImeretiImereti is a historic province in Western Georgia, situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It is bordered by Rach'a to the north, Kartli to the east, Samtskhe-Javakheti to the south, Guria and Samegrelo to the west. The province's main city is Kutaisi; other urban industrial centers include Samtredia, Chiatura (manganese production centre), Tq'ibuli (coal mining centre), Zestaponi (known for metals production), Khoni, and Sachkhere. Traditionally, Imereti is an agricultural region, known for its mulberries and grapes. The 800,000 Imeretians speak Georgian dialect; they are one of the local culture-groups of ethnically subdivided Georgian people. In the late antiquity and early Middle Ages on the territory of Imereti existed the ancient Western Georgian kigdom of Egrisi. Its king declared the Christianity as an official religion of Egrisi in 523 AD. In 975-1466 Imereti was part of the united Georgian Kingdom. Since its disintegration in the 15th century, Imereti was an independent kingdom. In the 17th-18th centuries kingdom of Imereti suffered frequent invasions by the Turks, but managed to maintain its independence to 1810, when it was occupied and annexed by the Tsarist Russian Empire. Last King of Imereti was Solomon II (1789-1810). In 1918-1921 Imereti was part of the independent Democratic Republic of Georgia, In 1922-1936 part of Transcaucasian Federative Soviet Socialist Republic and in 1936-1991 part of Georgian SSR. Since Georgian independence in 1991 Imereti is a region in the Republic of Georgia and Kutaisi is the regional capital.
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