 Up until the 1930s, large groups of ethnic Georgian, Armenian, Ossetian and Greek male population of Tetritsqaro would regularly visit the mainly-Azeri populated region of Marneuli for seasonal work as railway workers, miners, guards and shepherds and used Azeri to communicate with the local population.In the nineteenth century, Georgians of Kakheti and Tusheti, as well as Kists from the Pankisi Gorge would herd their sheep down to the pastures in the Azeri-populated lowlands, where they would spend the winter, which also contributed to their knowledge of Azeri.Some Tush Georgians would give their children up for fosterage (a common practice among peoples of the Caucasus aimed at strengthening intercommunal relations) to Azeri families for the duration of their stay on the winter pastures.