Major Agricultural Crops in the XVI Century Samtskhe-Javakheti

Abstract

The paper represents a study of the XVI century historical document, known as the ‘The Great Defter of Gurcistan Vilayet’ and shows the agricultural image of the time. The document contains data describing Samtskhe-Javakheti region, which is located in the southern part of Georgia and unites six administrative municipalities. Above, mentioned historical source contains the info-rmation about the population, settlements, agricultural crops and taxes imposed on them. The paper focuses on the rye, millet, broad bean, cicer and lentil crops, which were widespread in described area, in the second half of the XVI century, but disappe-ared later. Research included landuse mapping, also creation of databases. The work also shows the results of the analysis of agricultural censuses from XX and XXI centuries, which revealed the major factors of disappearance of the crops.