The Armenians have historically been one of the main ethnic groups in the city of Tbilisi, the capital of Georgia. Armenians are the largest ethnic minority in Tbilisi at 4.8% of the population. Armenians migrated to the Georgian lands in the Middle Ages, during the Muslim rule of Armenia. They formed the single largest group of city's population in the 19th century. Official Georgian statistics of 2014 put the number of Armenians in Tbilisi at 53,409 people.[10]
Tbilisi or Tiflis (as most Armenians call it) was the center of cultural life of Armenians in the Russian Empire from early 19th century to early 20th century.
^"in 1803 it was considered up to 2700 houses in Tiflis from which more than 2500 belonged to Armenians. Thus, the capital made then quite the property of Armenians". (the guidebook across Caucasus of Russian geographer Vladikin, М.Владыкин, "Путеводитель и собеседник в путешествии по Кавказу", 1885 год, с.300.
^(in Russian)Первая всеобщая перепись населения Российской Империи 1897 г.. Изд. Центр. стат. комитета МВД: Тифлисская губерния. — St. Petersburg, 1905, pp. 74—75.(Note: the census did not contain a question on ethnicity, which was deduced from data on mother tongue, social estate and occupation)[1]