Konya

37°51N 32°30E, pop (2000e) 618 000. Holy city and capital of Konya province, SC Turkey, 260 km/162 mi S of Ankara; visited by St Paul; order of the Whirling Dervishes founded here by Islamic mystical poet, Jalal al-Din Rumi, known as Mevlana (‘our lord’); airfield; railway; trade centre of a rich agricultural and livestock-raising region; carpets, textiles, leather; notable Seljuk architecture; annual ceremony of the dance to commemorate the death of Mevlana (Dec).

Konya (Ottoman: قونیه;

Iconium was an ancient city in Lycaonia, visited by Saint Paul according to the Book of Acts.

The city was captured by the Seljuk Turks following the Battle of Manzikert in 1071, and 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 the interior 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.

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 built mosques in Konya.