South Ossetia, formally known as the State of Alania since 2017, It has an officially stated population of just over 56,500 people (2022), who live in an area of , with 33,000 living in the capital city, Tskhinvali. It borders only Russia and Georgia.
As of 2024, five members of the United Nations (UN) recognise South Ossetia as a sovereign stateRussia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Nauru, and Syria. The Georgian government and all other UN member states regard South Ossetia as sovereign territory of Georgia.
The political status of South Ossetia is a central issue of the Georgian–Ossetian conflict and Georgia–Russia relations. The Georgian government informally refers to the area as the Tskhinvali region and considers it a part of Georgia's Shida Kartli region. Georgia maintains local councils elected in 2006 in Akhalgori, Kurta, Tighvi and Eredvi municipalities before they were captured by the separatists and Russia in 2008.
The South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast, established by Soviet authorities in Moscow in 1922, declared independence from the Georgian Soviet Socialist Republic in September 1990. Towards the end of 1990, the situation for ethnic Georgians in the region worsened sharply. There were reports of multiple cases of lootings and beatings committed both by Georgian and Ossetian forces and paramilitaries. The Georgian government responded by abolishing South Ossetia's autonomy and dispatching its troops to the region. After the war, the conflict remained frozen throughout 1990s and saw two major escalations in the 2000s: in 2004 and in 2008. The latter conflict led to the full-scale Russo-Georgian War of August 2008, during which Ossetian and Russian forces gained full de facto control of the territory of the former South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast. Since the 2008 war, Georgia and a significant part of the international community have regarded South Ossetia as occupied by the Russian military.
South Ossetia relies heavily on military, political, and financial aid from Russia. Since 2008, the South Ossetian government has expressed their intention of joining the Russian Federation; if successful, this would end its proclaimed independence. The prospect of a referendum on this matter has been raised multiple times in domestic politics, but none has taken place.
History
Medieval and early modern period
thumb|left|Map fragment of the Caucasus circa 4th century, the Alans occupy the Northern Caucasus and border Georgia along the Caucasus Mountains
The Ossetians are believed to originate from the Alans, a nomadic Iranian tribe. In the 8th century a consolidated Alan kingdom, referred to in sources of the period as Alania, emerged in the northern Caucasus Mountains. Around 1239–1277 Alania fell to the Mongol and later to Timur's armies, who massacred much of the Alanian population. The surviving Alans retreated into the mountains of the central Caucasus and gradually migrated south, across the Caucasus Mountains into the Kingdom of Georgia. The first large-scale conflict between the Ossetians and Georgians occurred in the 13th century. After the Mongol invasion, the Alans left vast lands in the North Caucasus and invaded Georgia. Then the Alans took control of the territory from Gori to Mtskheta and territory of South Ossetia. But in 1306, after a 3-month siege of Gori, the Georgian ruler George V of Georgia managed to take Gori and the territory of South Ossetia under his control. At the same time, the Alans were expelled from Shida Kartli and Dvaleti. In the village Zakagori, an inscription was found on a tombstone in the Ossetian language written in Syriac-Nestorian script, which dates back to 1326.
thumb|left|Historical Russian map of the Caucasus region at the beginning of the 19th century
In the 17th century, by pressure of Kabardian princes, Ossetians started a second wave of migration from the North Caucasus to the Kingdom of Kartli. Ossetian peasants, who were migrating to the mountainous areas of the South Caucasus, often settled in the lands of Georgian feudal lords. The Georgian King of the Kingdom of Kartli permitted Ossetians to immigrate. According to Russian ambassador to Georgia Mikhail Tatishchev, at the beginning of the 17th century there was already a small group of Ossetians living near the headwaters of the Great Liakhvi. The Georgian-Ossetian population of the Ksani took an active part in the Bakhtrioni uprising of 1659. In 1711, Vakhtang VI launched an armed expedition against the Ossetians in South Ossetia and Dvaleti. He destroyed 80 towers and forced the Ossetians of Dvaleti, North part of South Ossetia to submit to Kingdom of Kartli.
thumb|Ossetian migration over time
This period has been documented in the travel diaries of Johann Anton Güldenstädt who visited Georgia in 1772. The Baltic German explorer called modern North Ossetia–Alania simply Ossetia, while he wrote that Kartli (the areas of modern-day South Ossetia) was populated by Georgians and the mountainous areas were populated by both Georgians and Ossetians. Güldenstädt also wrote that the northernmost border of Kartli is the Major Caucasus Ridge. By the end of 18th century, the ultimate sites of Ossetian settlement on the territory of modern South Ossetia were in Kudaro (Jejora river estuary), Greater Liakhvi gorge, the gorge of Little Liakhvi, Ksani River gorge, Guda (Tetri Aragvi estuary) and Truso (Terek estuary).
The Georgian Kingdom of Kartli-Kakheti, including the territory of modern South Ossetia, was annexed by the Russian Empire in 1801. However, the Ossetians refused to submit to the new administration and considered themselves independent. In 1821-1830 the stage of annexation of South Ossetia began, which ended with the conquest of South Ossetia by Paul Rennenkampff in 1830. By 1830, Ossetia was completely under Russian control. Ossetian migration to Georgian areas continued in the 19th and 20th centuries, when Georgia was part of the Russian Empire and Ossetian settlements emerged in Trialeti, Borjomi, Bakuriani and Kakheti as well. Ossetian rebels then proceeded to occupy the town of Tskhinvali and began attacking the ethnic Georgian civilian population. During uprisings in 1919 and 1920, the Ossetians were covertly supported by Soviet Russia, but even so, were defeated. According to allegations made by Ossetian sources, the crushing of the 1920 uprising caused the death of 5,000 Ossetians, while ensuing hunger and epidemics were the causes of death of more than 13,000 people.
thumb|Creation of South Ossetian AO on historical Georgian regions in 1922
thumb|Map of the [[South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast in 1922]]
thumb|Early Coat of Arms of South Ossetia
The Soviet Georgian government, established after the Red Army invasion of Georgia in 1921, created an autonomous administrative unit for Transcaucasian Ossetians in April 1922 under pressure from Kavbiuro (the Caucasian Bureau of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union), called the South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast (AO). Some believe that the Bolsheviks granted this autonomy to the Ossetians in exchange for their (Bolshevik) loyalty in fighting the Democratic Republic of Georgia and favouring local separatists, since this area had never been a separate entity prior to the Russian invasion.
An independence referendum was held in South Ossetia on 19 January 1992, with voters being asked two questions: "Do you agree that South Ossetia should be an independent country?" and "Do you agree with the South Ossetian parliament's solution of 1 September 1991 on reunion with Russia?" Nonetheless, the South Ossetian regional council subsequently passed an "act of state independence" and declared the independence of the Republic of South Ossetia on 29 May 1992. including the town of Akhalgori. A Joined Peacekeeping force of Ossetians, Russians and Georgians was established. On 6 November 1992, the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) set up a mission in Georgia to monitor the peacekeeping operation. From then until mid-2004, South Ossetia was generally peaceful.