The Konya reference article from the English Wikipedia on 24-Apr-2004 (provided by Fixed Reference: snapshots of Wikipedia from wikipedia.org)

Konya

Konya (Koniah, Konieh, Konia, Historically called Iconium) is a city in Turkey, on the central plateau of Anatolia. Its ancient name was Iconium and it is the capital of Konya Province.

From 1097 - 1098 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 1205 to 1239 when the sultans controlled all of Anatolia, Armenia, some of the Middle East and also Crimea. During this period the city was filled with refugees from Persia under Allah ad-Din Muhammad II (1219 - 1220), fleeing the advance of the Mongols. Konya was eventually captured by Mongols as well.

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.

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

This is the "Konya" reference article from the English Wikipedia. All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. See also our Disclaimer.