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Sandwiched between the Greater and Lesser Caucasus, Georgia is a mountainous country, with a Black Sea coastline running north–south from Abkhazia to Ajaria. Georgia was one of the first republics to demand independence from the Soviet Union. It has been plagued by civil war, ethnic disputes in Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and in 2004 by a defiant local chief in Ajaria. Georgia is primarily agricultural, and is noted for its wine.