Aksaray Province ( tr, ) is a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

in central

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

. Its adjacent provinces are

Konya Konya () is a major city in central Turkey, on the southwestern edge of the Central Anatolian Plateau, and is the capital of Konya Province. During antiquity and into Seljuk times it was known as Iconium (), although the Seljuks also called it D ...

along the west and south, Niğde to the southeast,

Nevşehir Nevşehir (from the Persian compound ''Now-shahr'' meaning "new city"), formerly Neapolis (Ancient Greek: Νεάπολις) and Muşkara, is a largely modern city and the capital district of Nevşehir Province in the Central Anatolia Region of ...

to the east, and Kırşehir to the north. It covers an area of . The provincial capital is the city of

Aksaray Aksaray (, Koine Greek: Ἀρχελαΐς ''Arhelays'', Medieval Greek: Κολώνεια ''Koloneya'', Ancient Greek: Γαρσάουρα ''Garsaura'') is a city in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey and the capital of Aksaray Province. In 202 ...

. Aksaray is one of the four provinces in the area of

Cappadocia Cappadocia or Capadocia (; tr, Kapadokya), is a historical region in Central Anatolia, Turkey. It largely is in the provinces Nevşehir, Kayseri, Aksaray, Kırşehir, Sivas and Niğde. According to Herodotus, in the time of the Ionian Revo ...

, along with Nevşehir, Niğde and

Kayseri Kayseri (; el, Καισάρεια) is a large Industrialisation, industrialised List of cities in Turkey, city in Central Anatolia, Turkey, and the capital of Kayseri Province, Kayseri province. The Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality area is comp ...

. Also the volcano

Mount Hasan Mount Hasan ( tr, Hasan Dağı) is a volcano in Anatolia, Turkey. It has two summits, the high eastern Small Hasan Dagi and the high Big Hasan Dagi, and rises about above the surrounding terrain. It consists of various volcanic deposits, includ ...

stands between Aksaray and Niğde. Summers are hot and dry on the plain, but the area is green and covered in flowers in springtime, when water streams off the mountainside. The , Tuz Gölü, lies within the boundaries of Aksaray, a large area of swamp with a maximum depth of .

Districts

Aksaray province is divided into 7

districts A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or counties, several municipalities, subdivisions o ...

(capital district in bold): * Ağaçören *

Eskil Eskil is a town and district of Aksaray Province in the Central Anatolia Region, Turkey, Central Anatolia region of Turkey, situated on the southern shore of Lake Tuz. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 28,952 of which 22,125 ...

* Gülağaç *

Güzelyurt Güzelyurt, formerly Gelveri (Cappadocian Greek: Καρβάλη), is a town and district of Aksaray Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, at a distance of from the city of Aksaray. According to 2000 census, population of the distric ...

Ortaköy Ortaköy ( ''Middle Village)'' is a neighbourhood within the Beşiktaş district of Istanbul, Turkey, on the European shore of the Bosphorus. it was originally a small fishing village, known in Greek as Agios Fokas (Άγιος Φωκάς) in t ...

Sarıyahşi Sarıyahşi is a town and district of Aksaray Province in the Central Anatolia region of Turkey, at a distance of from the province seat of Aksaray. According to 2000 census, population of the district is 12,120 of which 7,751 live in the town of ...

Etymology

In antiquity the area was named ''Archelais Garsaura'', which was mutated to ''Taksara'' during the

Seljuk Turk The Seljuk dynasty, or Seljukids ( ; fa, سلجوقیان ''Saljuqian'', alternatively spelled as Seljuqs or Saljuqs), also known as Seljuk Turks, Seljuk Turkomans "The defeat in August 1071 of the Byzantine emperor Romanos Diogenes by the Turk ...

ish era, and then to ''Aksaray''. ''Aksaray'' means "White Palace" in Turkish.

Aksaray Castle

the Aksaray Castle was a four-cornered, stone-built, solidly built castle on a large area, on the edge of a large river. It was built in the middle of the city. The bastion and its towers were not very high. With all their bastions, teeth and bodies, their crenellated holes and their calculated towers always faced each other. During the siege, the strong warriors of each tower guarded the towers with rifles. There were five gates on the side of the fortresses. Küçükkapı faces west. Demirkapı opens to the qibla. Keçikapısı also opens towards the qibla. Ereğlikapısı opens to the south and Konyakapısı opens to the west. The guards of these gates are the tax collectors. A warehouse was built in the castle to store wheat during the rebels' time. It has no arsenal. There are big balls thrown during Ramadan and other festivals.

Population

History

The plains of central

Anatolia Anatolia, tr, Anadolu Yarımadası), and the Anatolian plateau, also known as Asia Minor, is a large peninsula in Western Asia and the westernmost protrusion of the Asian continent. It constitutes the major part of modern-day Turkey. The re ...

have been settled for 8,000 years, and the area around Aksaray bears monuments to a string of civilisations that have settled on the plain in that time. The mound of

Aşıklı Höyük Aşıklı Höyük is a settlement mound located nearly south of Kızılkaya village on the bank of the Melendiz brook, and southeast of Aksaray, Turkey. Aşıklı Höyük is located in an area covered by the volcanic tuff of central Cappadoci ...

in the town of Kızılkaya indicates a settlement dating back to 5,000BC (and also a skull of a woman who had apparently been trepanned, the earliest known record of brain surgery). Later the

Silk Road The Silk Road () was a network of Eurasian trade routes active from the second century BCE until the mid-15th century. Spanning over 6,400 kilometers (4,000 miles), it played a central role in facilitating economic, cultural, political, and reli ...

came through here so caravanserai and then larger and larger settlements were built to supply and shelter travellers and traders. The city and surroundings of Aksaray thrived in the

Roman Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *''Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a letter ...

Byzantine The Byzantine Empire, also referred to as the Eastern Roman Empire or Byzantium, was the continuation of the Roman Empire primarily in its eastern provinces during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, when its capital city was Constantinopl ...

and the Turkish periods. Today Aksaray is a rural, agricultural province, its people religious and conservative. Since the 1950s many have moved to Europe as migrant workers. The population of Aksaray has long included a higher proportion of

Kurd ug:كۇردلار Kurds ( ku, کورد ,Kurd, italic=yes, rtl=yes) or Kurdish people are an Iranian peoples, Iranian ethnic group native to the mountainous region of Kurdistan in Western Asia, which spans southeastern Turkey, northwestern Ir ...

ish people than most central Anatolian provinces. Many of them were resettled here from

Tunceli Tunceli ( ku, Dêrsim) is a city and municipality in eastern Turkey. It is the capital of Tunceli Province, located in the middle of the Eastern Anatolia Region. The city has a Kurdish-majority population and was a site of the Dersim rebellion. ...

and other eastern cities following the Sheikh Said rebellion in the 1920s.

Places of interest

* Aşıklı Höyük - a Neolithic settlement 25 km east of the city of Aksaray. * Acemhöyük - an early Bronze Age settlement, 18 km north-west of the city of Aksaray. * The ancient city of Nora, in the village of Helvadere near the city of Aksaray. * Ihlara valley - a canyon, 40 km from the city of Aksaray, in the district of Güzelyurt * Taşpınar - known for rugs, south of Aksaray * Çanlı Kilise - ruins of a medieval church and settlement, located southeast of Aksaray.

Gallery

Image:Kısıl Kilise (Sivrihisar) 01.jpg, Kısıl Kilise, meaning “ Red Church” in

. Image:StAnalipsisChurch.jpg, left, St. Analipsis Church, also known as the "High Church". Image:Aksaray Museum03.jpg, Aksaray Museum. Image:Çanlı Kilise 01.jpg, Çanlı Kilise, meaning 'Bell Church' southwest of Aksaray city. Image:Ihlara Valley - panoramio (31).jpg, A view of Ihlara valley, Aksaray Image:Ihlara - 25936870521.jpg, View of Ihlara town Image:Lived on and the living.jpg, Panoramic view towards

Monastery Valley and Church Mosque. Image:Sultanhanı_Kervansaray._Sultanhanı.jpg, Monumental entrance of the

Sultan Han Sultan Han is a large 13th-century Seljuk caravanserai located in the town of Sultanhanı, Aksaray Province, Turkey. It is one of the three monumental caravanserais in the neighbourhood of Aksaray and is located about west of Aksaray on the ...

Image:Aksaray_Ulu_Cami_3109.jpg, Ulu Mosque, also known as the "Grand Mosque" in

Image:Aksaray Kilim.jpg, Aksaray

Kilim A kilim ( az, Kilim کیلیم; tr, Kilim; tm, Kilim; fa, گلیم ''Gilīm'') is a flat tapestry-woven carpet or rug traditionally produced in countries of the former Persian Empire, including Iran, the Balkans and the Turkic countries. Kili ...

, 18th century. The kilim was probably made by a group of settled Hotamis Turkmen in the Aksaray region. It may have been used for a funeral, and was later donated to the local mosque.

References

Site di Aksaray

Notes

{{coord, 38, 25, 51, N, 33, 51, 44, E, region:TR-68_type:adm1st, display=title