2020-05-26 Tue

Georgia celebrates its Independence Day on May 26 every year. It is the national day of Georgia that commemorates the establishment of the short-lived Democratic Republic of Georgia in 1918. In the aftermath of the 1917 revolutions in Russia (both February and October), Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Georgia declared the Transcaucasian Federation on April 22, 1918. The newly independent state was short-lived. On May 26, Georgia split from the federation and announced the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Georgia. Unfortunately, the young state was unable to withstand the Bolshevik invasion three years later and was incorporated into the Soviet Union in 1922. The maneti was the currency of the Democratic Republic of Georgia and the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic between 1919 and 1923. It replaced the first Transcaucasian ruble at par and was subdivided into 100 kapeiki. Only paper money was issued, with the Democratic Republic producing denominations of between 50 kapeiki and 5000 maneti. The above banknote is the 500 ruble banknote of 1919. The banknote is printed with Black-green on red-brown underprint. The banknote depicts Woman seated with shield and lance at the center on the obverse and St. George on horseback on the reverse. The banknote also depicts plaited lines watermark. Image Courtesy: numismondo.net