The united Kartl-Kakheti Kingdom (1744-1801) bears particular significance in 18th-century Georgian history. The monetary policy and history of this Georgian state also hold special meaning as far as it regards the monetary history of Georgia and the region. Teimuraz II and Erekle II, father and son, kings of Kartli and Kakheti, had to face major military-political and economic challenges immediately after having united their realms. It would have been impossible to deal with these challenges without money. The authorities of the new Georgian state had to elaborate and intermittently transform their monetary policy. In that respect, Erekle II’s restoration of metal-mining and production of gold, silver and copper industry in eastern Georgia seems to be of much importance. The region had been supplied with the currency of Iranian type for a couple of centuries; Tbilisi mint of the Kingdom of Kartli also had more than a century and a-half-long tradition of issuing Iranian-type silver and copper coinage (the mints of the Kingdom of Kakheti ceased operating already in the 17th c., but also issued Iranian type silver and copper coinage). However, it became unacceptable for the ruling elite of the emerging national Georgian state, already mostly independent from Iran, to retain the Iranian monetary traditions. Striving for sovereignty, Georgian monarchs had to initiate novel monetary policy, suitable to particular needs and desires of the realm and society, as illustrated by Erekle II’s monetary reform of 1765/6. Kartl-Kakheti Kingdom constitutes a fascinating case of how monetary policy is conceived and transformed in the emerging national state and how the monetary policy of the ruling elite is affected by the transforming environment.

The goal of the research project is to study the monetary policy and history of the united Kartl-Kakheti Kingdom (1744-1801).