Dusheti

Dusheti lies in the foothills above the Aragvi valley, on the routes between eastern Georgia and the passes of the Greater Caucasus. First mentioned in 1215, it became one of the principal residences of the dukes of Aragvi, whose fortresses guarded the approaches to the mountains. Their power made the town a centre of local rule for the surrounding valleys as well as a stopping place on the road north.

In 1743 the people of Aragvi rose against their duke Bezhan and killed him. The duchy was handed to King Teimuraz II, ending the family's long rule from Dusheti. After the Russian annexation of eastern Georgia in 1801, the settlement became a town and the administrative centre of a district in the following year.