Konya (also Koniah, Konieh, Konia, and Qunia; historically known as Iconium) is a city in Turkey, on the central plateau of Anatolia. It has a population of 742 690 (in 2000) and it is the capital of Konya Province, which is the biggest province areawise.

Iconium is an ancient city, visited by Saint Paul according to the Book of Acts. In Christian legend, it was also the birthplace of Saint Thecla.

From 1097 to 1243 it was the capital of the Seljuk Sultans of Rüm, though temporarily occupied by the Crusaders Godfrey of Bouillon (August 1097) and Frederick Barbarossa (May 18, 1190).

Konya reached its height of wealth and influence from 1205 to 1239 when the sultans controlled all of Anatolia, Armenia, some of the Middle East and also Crimea. In 1219, the city was filled with refugees from the Khwarezmid Empire in Persia, fleeing the advance of the Mongols who had defeated the Shah of Khwarezmid, Muhammad II. In 1243, Konya was captured by Mongols as well. The city remained the capital of the Turkish puppet-ruler under the Mongol warlord Möngke Khan.

Following the fall of the Sultanate of Rüm, Konya was made an emirate in 1307 to 1322 when it was captured by the Karamanids. In 1420, Karamanid fell to the Ottoman Empire and, in 1453, Konya was made the provincial capital of the Ottoman Province of Karamanid.

Both Saladin and the Ottoman Sultan Selim II has built mosques in Konya. The tomb of Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, a mystical poet and founder of The Whirling Dervishes, is located there and therefore Konya is one of the holy cities of Islam.

The city is well-known in Turkey for the piety of its residents ("Citadel of Islam") and, paradoxically, for the high consumption of raki.

On February 2, 2004, an apartment building collapsed in Konya, killing 92.

External links

• Pictures of the city, amongst them the Mevlana Muzesi and several Seljuk buildings