Khulo

Khulo (Georgian: ხულო) is a townlet (daba) in Adjara, an autonomous republic in southwest Georgia, 88 km east to the regional capital Batumi, in the upper valley of Adjaris-tsqali. The town and adjoining 77 villages form the mountainous Khulo District (Rayon). Area – 710 km; population – 33,430 (2002). The town, formerly known as Khula, was a merchant place located on a medieval road that linked Samtskhe-Javakheti to the Black Sea coast. During the Ottoman times, Khulo was a chief settlement of Upper Adjara governed by the Khimshiashvili clan. In 1829, it was briefly occupied by the Russian force of General Osten-Sacken who sacked the Khimshiashvili residence before withdrawal. Khulo's population, largely Islamized under the Ottomans,...