Mikhail, Prince of Abkhazia

Prince Mikheil Scharwaschidse († 1866) was from 1822 to 1864 head of state of the Principality of Abkhazia.

At the time, took over as Scharwaschidse power in Abkhazia, the region had only recently been declared a Russian protectorate, resulting from a manifesto of Tsar Alexander I in the year 1810. In the reign Scharwaschidses the Crimean War was from 1853 to 1855, during which the Ottoman army marched into Abkhazia. Scharwaschidse was brought to the Ottomans assure his loyalty; 1864, the Russians finally accused him therefore to have cooperated with the Ottoman Empire. He was sent to Voronezh (Russia) into exile, where he died about two years later.