Persia and Georgia have had relations for thousands of years. Eastern and Southern Georgia had been under intermittent Persian suzerainty for many centuries up to the early course of the 19th century, while western Georgia had been under its suzerainty for much shorter periods of time throughout history. Georgia especially rose to importance from the time of the Persian Safavids. Due to these millennia long intertwined relations, there has been a lot of political and cultural exchange between the two nations for thousands of years. In the words of Keith Hitchins / Encyclopædia Iranica: