Avalishvili was a Georgian

Georgia (country)

Georgia is a sovereign state in the Caucasus region of Eurasia. Located at the crossroads of Western Asia and Eastern Europe, it is bounded to the west by the Black Sea, to the north by Russia, to the southwest by Turkey, to the south by Armenia, and to the southeast by Azerbaijan. The capital of...

 noble family, which branched off the Panaskerteli-Tsitsishvili

Tsitsishvili

The Tsitsishvili is a Georgian noble family, with several notable members from the 15th century through the 20th.The Tsitsishvili family was a continuation of the medieval house of Panaskerteli, known in the province of Upper Kartli from the 12th century, who derived their name from the castle of...

 house in the 16th century. The initial appanage of the family was located in the historical area called Tori

Tori (Georgia)

Tori is a historic region in central Georgia, now part of the Samtskhe-Javakheti region, together with Javakheti and Meskheti. It borders on Trialeti to the east, Imereti to the northwest and Shida Kartli to the northeast. The province chiefly lay in what is now known as the Borjomi Gorge. In...

 and now known as the Borjomi Gorge

Borjomi Gorge

Borjomi Gorge is a picturuesque canyon of the Mtkvari River in central Georgia. The Gorge was formed as a result of the Mtkvari River cutting its path through the Lesser Caucasus Mountains where the Trialeti and Meskheti Ranges meet. A significant portion of the Borjomi Gorge is covered by mixed...

 with its center at the village of Sadgeri. From 1545 onward, they were vassals to the princes of Samtskhe, which soon came under the influence of the Ottoman Empire

Ottoman Empire

The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...

 and Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

. Fleeing the Islamization of the area, several members of the Avalishvili family moved into inner Georgia early in the 17th century; those who remained in their patrimonial fiefdom, became Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

 and received the title of bek

Bek

Bek or BEK may refer to:*Bek, an alternative spelling of Bey, master*Khagan Bek, the title of the king of the Khazars*Bek Ohmsford, a character in the Shannara series of books*Bruce Eric Kaplan, a cartoonist for The New Yorker...

. A branch in Imereti

Imereti

Imereti is a province in Georgia situated along the middle and upper reaches of the Rioni river. It consists of the following Georgian administrative-territorial units:#Kutaisi #Baghdati region#Vani region#Zestafoni region...

, western Georgia, soon went into decline and their status was downgraded to that of petty nobility

Petty nobility

Petty nobility is dated at least back to 13th century and was formed by Nobles/Knights around their strategic interests. The idea was more capable peasants with leader roles in local community that were given tax exemption for taking care of services like for example guard duties of local primitive...

. The refugees to the eastern Georgian lands – Kartli

Kartli

Kartli is a historical region in central-to-eastern Georgia traversed by the river Mtkvari , on which Georgia's capital, Tbilisi, is situated. Known to the Classical authors as Iberia, Kartli played a crucial role in ethnic and political consolidation of the Georgians in the Middle Ages...

 and Kakheti

Kakheti

Kakheti is a historical province in Eastern Georgia inhabited by Kakhetians who speak a local dialect of Georgian. It is bordered by the small mountainous province of Tusheti and the Greater Caucasus mountain range to the north, Russian Federation to the Northeast, Azerbaijan to the Southeast, and...

 – were enfeoffed with several estates and were reconfirmed, in 1826 and 1850, as princes of the Russian Empire

Russian Empire

The Russian Empire was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the Soviet Union...

.

See also

• List of Georgian princely families
• Giorgi Avalishvili
  Giorgi Avalishvili
  Giorgi Avalishvili was a Georgian diplomat, writer and one of the founding fathers of the Georgian theatre.Of a princely family hailing from the kingdom of Kakheti in eastern Georgia, Avalishvili was educated in the Russian Empire. After the Russo-Georgian treaty of Georgievsk, he served as envoy...
  
  
• Zurab Avalishvili
  Zurab Avalishvili
  Zurab Avalishvili was a Georgian historian, jurist and diplomat in the service of the Democratic Republic of Georgia . He was also known as Zurab Davidovich Avalov in a Russian manner....