Timeline of Abkhazian Independence
1600s-1700s: Abkhazia and other Caucasian regions struggle for freedom from Ottoman rule.
1801: Abkhazia seeks protection from Russia against the Ottoman Empire.
1810: Czar Alexander I declares Abkhazia an autonomous principality.
1864: Russia annexes Abkhazia and begins a series of oppressive measures that will eventually force about half the Abkhaz population to flee.
1917 - 1918: Menshevik government of Georgia annexes Abkhazia.
March 1921: Bolsheviks overthrow Mensheviks in Georgia, establish Abkhazian SSR.
1922: Abkhazia joins USSR as a sovereign Abkhazian Republic.
1925: Abkhazia adopts its first Constitution, with a Treaty of Alliance with Georgia.
1931: Joseph Stalin and Lavrenti Beria reduce Abkhazia to a Republic within Georgia.
1937 - 1953: Stalin and Beria pursue policy of forced "Georgification," forbid public use of the Abkhaz language, close Abkhaz schools, force use of the Georgian alphabet, and outlaw Abkhaz newspapers, journals, and literature.
1978: Abkhazia protests oppression of Abkhazia and "Georgianization." The USSR suppresses protests, but allows the opening of a University and TV station in Abkhazia.
1988 - 1990: The Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic moves to secede from the USSR while attempting to stamp out Abkhazian independence.
1992: Abkhazia declares its territorial sovereignty. Georgia responds by invading Abkhazia, beginning a 14-month war.
September 1993: Georgian forces are defeated and driven out of Abkhazia.
November 26, 1994: Abkhazia adopts its current constitution and holds national elections. Russia, Georgia and other CIS states impose economic sanctions.
2008: Russia and other CIS countries ease sanctions. Georgia does not.
August 26, 2008: Following Georgia's attack on Abkhazia and South Ossetia and subsequent defeat, Russia becomes the first nation to recognize independent Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Nicaragua and Venezuela follow suit.
