Konya

Konya
Selçuklu Tower in Konya
Konya Location of Konya, Turkey
Coordinates: 37°52′N 32°29′E / 37.867°N 32.483°E / 37.867; 32.483
Country	Turkey
Region	Central Anatolia
Province	Konya
Government
- Mayor	Tahir Akyürek
Area
- Total	39,000 km2 (15,058 sq mi)
Elevation	1,200 m (3,937 ft)
Population (2007)
- Total	1,412,343
- Density	50/km2 (129.5/sq mi)
Time zone	EET (UTC+2)
- Summer (DST)	EEST (UTC+3)
Postal code	42XXX
Area code(s)	(+90) 332
Licence plate	42
Website	www.konya.bel.tr

Konya is a city in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey. It is the capital of the Konya Province, and had a city population of 980,973 in 2008^[1] while the provincial population (including the other urban centers in the Konya Province) was 1,959,082 in the same year.^[2]

Etymology

Konya, also spelled in some historic English texts as Konia or Koniah, was known in classical antiquity and during the medieval period as Iconium in Latin, and Ἰκόνιον (Ikónion) in Greek. The name Konya is a cognate of icon, as an ancient Greek legend ascribed its name to the "eikon" (image), or the "gorgon's (Medusa's) head", with which Perseus vanquished the native population before founding the city.^[3]

Ancient history

Excavations have shown that the region was inhabited during the Late Copper Age, around 3000 BC.^[3] The city came under the influence of the Hittites around 1500 BC. These were overtaken by the Sea Peoples around 1200 BC. The Phrygians established their kingdom in central Anatolia in the 8th century BC. Xenophon describes Iconium, as the city was called, as the last city of Phrygia. The region was overwhelmed by Cimmerian invaders c. 690 BC. It was later part of the Persian Empire, until Darius III was defeated by Alexander the Great in 333 BC. Alexander's empire broke up shortly after his death and the town came under the rule of Seleucus I Nicator. During the Hellenistic period the town was ruled by the kings of Pergamon. As Attalus III, the last king of Pergamon, was about to die without an heir, he bequeathed his kingdom to Rome. Under the rule of emperor Claudius, the city's name was changed to Claudioconium, and during the rule of emperor Hadrianus to Colonia Aelia Hadriana.

Saint Paul and Barnabas preached in Iconium during the First Missionary Journey in about 47-48 AD (see Acts 14:1-5 and Acts 14:21), and Paul and Silas probably visited it again during the Second Missionary Journey in about 50 (see Acts 16:2).^[4] In Christian legend, it was also the birthplace of Saint Thecla. During the Byzantine Empire the town was destroyed several times by Arab invaders in the 7th-9th centuries.

Seljuk era

The city was conquered by the Seljuk Turks following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and from 1097 to 1243 it was the capital of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, though very briefly occupied by the Crusaders Godfrey of Bouillon (August 1097) and Frederick Barbarossa (May 18, 1190). The name of the town was changed to Konya by Rukn al-Dīn Mas'ūd in 1134.

Konya reached the height of its wealth and influence as of the second half of the 12th century when Anatolian Seljuk sultans also subdued the Turkish Beyliks to their east, especially that of the Danishmends, thus establishing their rule over virtually all of eastern Anatolia, as well as acquiring several port towns along the Mediterranean (including Alanya) and the Black Sea (including Sinop) and even gaining a momentary foothold in Sudak, Crimea. This golden age lasted until the first decades of the 13th century.

Mevlana Museum

By the 1220s, the city was filled with refugees from the Khwarezmid Empire, fleeing the advance of the Mongol Empire. Sultan Alā al-Dīn Kayqubād bin Kaykā'ūs fortified the town and built a palace on top of the citadel. In 1228 he invited Bahaeddin Veled and his son Mevlana, the founder of the Mevlevi order, to settle in Konya.

In 1243, following the Seljuk defeat in the Battle of Köse Dag, Konya was captured by the Mongols as well. The city remained the capital of the Seljuk sultans, vassalized to the Ilkhanate until the end of the century.

Following the fall of the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, Konya was made an emirate in 1307 which lasted until 1322 when the city was captured by the Beylik of Karamanoğlu. In 1420, Karamanoğlu fell to the Ottoman Empire and, in 1453, Konya was made the provincial capital of the Ottoman Province of Karaman.

Ottoman era

Under the Ottoman Empire, in the vilayet system established after 1864, Konya was the seat of the Vilayet of Konya.

According to the 1895 census, Konya had a population of nearly forty-five thousand, of which 42,318 were Muslims, 1,566 were Christian Armenians and 899 were Christian Greeks. There were also 21 mosques and 5 Churches in the town.^[5] A still-standing Catholic church was built for the Italian railroad workers in the 1910s. By 1927, after the Greco-Turkish population exchange accord of 1923, the city's population became almost exclusively Muslim.

Universities

Selçuk University

Konya is home to Selçuk University, one of the largest universities in Turkey.

Notable residents and visitors

• Ibn Arabi, the Sufi, visited Konya in 1207 at the invitation of the Seljuk governor of that time and married the mother of his disciple Sadreddin Konevi.
• The tomb of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the Persian Sufi poet commonly known as "Mevlâna" and who is the founder of the Sufi Mevlevi order (known for the Whirling Dervishes), is located in Konya where he spent the last fifty years of his life.
• Hazrat Shah Jalal was born in 1271 in Konya.
• Nasreddin died in Konya in the 13th century.
• Orkut Büyükkökten, a software engineer who developed the social networking service Orkut, was born in 1975 in Konya.^[6]

Notable structures

• Alaeddin Mosque
• Ince Minaret Medrese-- Museum
• Karatay Medrese -- Museum
• Mevlana Museum, formerly the tekke of Mevlana

Culture

Mevlana Cultural Center

Konya has the reputation of being one of the more religiously conservative metropolitan centers in Turkey. It was once known as the "citadel of Islam" and is still more devout than other cities.^[7] Konya was the final home of Rumi, whose followers established in 1273 the Mevlevi Sufi order of Islam in this city and became known as the whirling dervishes.

A Turkish folk song is named "Konyalım" (making reference to a loved one from Konya).^[8]

Konya produced Turkish carpets that were exported to Europe during the Renaissance.^[9][10] These expensive, richly-patterned textiles were draped over tables, beds, or chests to proclaim the wealth and status of their owners, and were often included in the contemporary oil paintings as symbols of the wealth of the painter's clients.^[11]

Image gallery

Selçuklu Tower at night	Selçuklu Tower and the Monument of the Fallen Soldiers in Konya	Selçuklu Tower at Kule Site in Konya	Kombassan Tower
Rixos Konya	Mevlana Museum	İnce Minareli Medrese	Alaeddin Mosque
City Council of Konya	Governorship of Konya	Governorship of Konya	Konya Train Station
Central Post Office	Central Post Office	Dedeman Konya	Real Shopping Mall
Alaeddin Hill Park	Alaeddin Hill Park	Picnic area in Meram	Meram Brook

International relations

Twin towns — Sister cities

Konya is twinned with:

• Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina^[12]
• Tetovo, Macedonia^[13]
• Multan, Pakistan^[14]

See also

• Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate
• Konya Province, Ottoman Empire
• Anatolian Tigers
• Konya Carpets and Rugs

References and notes

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Konya

• Encyclopædia Britannica: Konya
• Emporis: Database of highrises and other structures in Konya
• Detailed Pictures of Mevlana Museum
• Pictures of the city, including Mevlana Museum and several Seljuk buildings
• William M. Ramsay, Cities of St. Paul, 316-384

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