Karaman, historically known as Laranda (

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: Λάρανδα), is a city in south central

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

, located in

Central Anatolia The Central Anatolia Region ( tr, İç Anadolu Bölgesi) is a geographical region of Turkey. The largest city in the region is Ankara. Other big cities are Konya, Kayseri, Eskişehir, Sivas, and Aksaray. Located in Central Turkey, it is borde ...

, north of the

Taurus Mountains The Taurus Mountains ( Turkish: ''Toros Dağları'' or ''Toroslar'') are a mountain complex in southern Turkey, separating the Mediterranean coastal region from the central Anatolian Plateau. The system extends along a curve from Lake Eğird ...

, about south of

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 ...

. It is the capital district of the

Karaman Province Karaman Province ( tr, ) is a province of south-central Turkey. It has an area of . A 2010 estimate puts the population at 232,633 people. According to the 2000 census, the population was 243,210. The population density is 27.54 people/km. The ...

. According to the 2000 census, the population of the province is 231,872 of which 132,064 live in the town of Karaman. The district covers an area of , and the town lies at an average elevation of . The

Karaman Museum Karaman Museum is in Karaman, Turkey The museum is at . It is to the east of the Karaman Castle. The museum was established in 1980. In the museum there are two halls one reserved for the archaeological items and one for the ethnographical ite ...

is one of the major sights. Karaman Main Station

Etymology

The town owes its name to Karaman Bey, who was one of the rulers of the

Karamanid The Karamanids ( tr, Karamanoğulları or ), also known as the Emirate of Karaman and Beylik of Karaman ( tr, Karamanoğulları Beyliği), was one of the Anatolian beyliks, centered in South-Central Anatolia around the present-day Karaman Pr ...

dynasty. The former name ''Laranda'' which in turn comes from the

Luwian language Luwian (), sometimes known as Luvian or Luish, is an ancient language, or group of languages, within the Anatolian branch of the Indo-European language family. The ethnonym Luwian comes from ''Luwiya'' (also spelled ''Luwia'' or ''Luvia'') � ...

''Larawanda'', literally means "sandy, a sandy place".

History

In ancient times, Karaman was known as Laranda ( el, Λάρανδα). In the 6th century BC it came under

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Based in Western Asia, it was contemporarily the largest emp ...

rule until 322 BC, when it was destroyed by

Perdiccas Perdiccas ( el, Περδίκκας, ''Perdikkas''; 355 BC – 321/320 BC) was a general of Alexander the Great. He took part in the Macedonian campaign against the Achaemenid Empire, and, following Alexander's death in 323 BC, rose to beco ...

, a former general of

Alexander the Great Alexander III of Macedon ( grc, Ἀλέξανδρος, Alexandros; 20/21 July 356 BC – 10/11 June 323 BC), commonly known as Alexander the Great, was a king of the ancient Greek kingdom of Macedon. He succeeded his father Philip II to ...

, after he had defeated Ariarathes I, king 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 Re ...

. It later became a seat of Isaurian pirates. At some point it was possessed by

Antipater of Derbe Antipater of Derbe ( grc, Ἀντίπατρος) was a tyrant or prince of Derbe. He was a friend of Cicero's, one of whose letters, of uncertain date, is addressed on Antipater's behalf to Quintus Philippus, proconsul of the province of Asia, who w ...

. It belonged to 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 lette ...

and later Byzantine Empires until it was captured by the

Seljuks 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 ...

in the early 12th century. Karaman was occupied by Frederick Barbarossa in 1190 and by the Armenian Kingdom of Cilicia between 1211 and 1216. In 1256, the town was taken by Karaman Bey and was renamed Karaman in his honour. From 1275, Karaman was the capital of the

beylik. In 1468 the Karamanids were conquered by the Ottomans and in 1483 the capital of the province was moved to

. Karaman has retained ruins of a Karamanid castle and some walls, two mosques and a

Koran The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation from God. It is organized in 114 chapters (pl.: , si ...

school ('' madrasah'') from that age. A mihrab from a mosque from Karaman can now be found in the Çinili Pavilion near the Archeology Museum in

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

. The Karamans were Cappadocian Turkomans who fought the Ottomans on the side of the Comnenes, became Christian and migrated westwards. Karaman clocktower 4817 (cropped)

There was a

Roman Catholic 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 let ...

titular see A titular see in various churches is an episcopal see of a former diocese that no longer functions, sometimes called a "dead diocese". The ordinary or hierarch of such a see may be styled a "titular metropolitan" (highest rank), "titular archbis ...

for the city. The poet

Yunus Emre Yunus Emre () also known as Derviş Yunus (Yunus the Dervish) (1238–1328) (Old Anatolian Turkish: يونس امره) was a Turkish folk poet and Islamic Sufi mystic who greatly influenced Turkish culture. His name, ''Yunus'', is the Muslim ...

() resided in Karaman during his later years and is believed to lie buried beside the Yunus Emre Mosque. A small adjacent park is adorned with quotations from his verse, many of them

graffiti Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...

-splattered. In 1222, the Sufi preacher Bahaeddin Veled arrived in town with his family, and the Karamanoğlu

emir Emir (; ar, أمير ' ), sometimes transliterated amir, amier, or ameer, is a word of Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person possessing actual or cer ...

built a ''madrasah'' to accommodate them. Veled's son was the famous Rumi, who married his wife, Gevher Hatun, while his family was living in Karaman. It was here, too, that Rumi's mother died in 1224. She was buried, along with other family members, in the Aktekke Mosque (also known as the Mader-i Mevlana Cami), which Alaeddin Ali Bey had built to replace the original ''madrasah'' in 1370., todayszaman.com When Thomas Jefferson fought Libya's Barbary pirates, he replaced one member of the al-Qaramanli dynasty with another as Pasha.

Notable people

Nestor of Laranda Lucius Septimius Nestor ( grc, Λεύκιος Σεπτίμιος Νέστωρ) also known as Nestor of Laranda (Νέστωρ Λαρανδεύς), was a Greek poet who lived during the late-second and early-third centuries AD. According to Strabo ...

, an epic poet, the father of the poet Peisander.Suda Encyclopedia, §nu.261
/ref> *

Peisander of Laranda Peisander or Pisander of Laranda (; grc, Πείσανδρος ὁ Λαρανδινός, ''Peísandros ho Larandinós'') was a Greek poet who flourished during the reign of Alexander Severus (222–235 AD). He wrote a sixty-book epic called the ''H ...

an epic poet, the son of the poet Nestor.

Karamanlides

The bearers of the Greek name Karamanlis as well as other surnames beginning with "Karaman" are a

toponymic surname A toponymic surname or topographic surname is a surname derived from a place name.

for the town.

Gallery

File:Karaman_Eski_Kütüphane_4722.jpg, Karaman Street view File:Karaman 2144.jpg, Karaman Nefesi Sultan Medresesi monumental entrance File:Karaman 4808.jpg, Karaman Medrese of Nefesi Sultan File:Karaman 2149.jpg, Karaman Hac Beyler Mosque Entrance File:Karaman 4780.jpg, Karaman Haci Beyler Camisi entrance File:Karaman 2199.jpg, Karaman Ibrahim Bey Imareti door File:Karaman 4846.jpg, Karaman Ibrahim Bey Mosque File:Istanbul june 2008 2805.jpg, Ibrahim Bey Mihrab in Çinili Köşk File:Karaman 4856.jpg, Karaman Castle Mosque and surroundings File:Karaman 2230.jpg, Karaman Castle mosque File:Karaman 4768.jpg, Karaman Ak Tekke interior File:Karaman 4862.jpg, Karaman Castle Exterior File:Karaman 4863.jpg, Karaman Castle Interior File:Karaman Museum 2067.jpg, Karaman Museum Can Hasan I Pottery File:Karaman Museum 2063.jpg, Karaman Museum Iconostasis doors File:Karaman Museum 2082.jpg, Karaman Museum Kadın fez süsü File:Karaman Museum 2187.jpg, Karaman Museum Cowry shell adorned objects

Climate

Karaman has a

cold semi-arid climate A semi-arid climate, semi-desert climate, or steppe climate is a dry climate sub-type. It is located on regions that receive precipitation below potential evapotranspiration, but not as low as a desert climate. There are different kinds of semi-ar ...

under

Köppen climate classification The Köppen climate classification is one of the most widely used climate classification systems. It was first published by German-Russian climatologist Wladimir Köppen (1846–1940) in 1884, with several later modifications by Köppen, notabl ...

(''BSk'') and a continental climate under the

Trewartha climate classification The Trewartha climate classification (TCC) or the Köppen–Trewartha climate classification (KTC) is a climate classification system first published by American geographer Glenn Thomas Trewartha in 1966. It is a modified version of the Köppen ...

(''Dc''), with hot, dry summers and cold, snowy winters. Karaman is generally very sunny, with almost 3000 hours of sunshine per year.

References

External links

{{Authority control Archaeological sites in Central Anatolia Cities in Turkey Populated places in Karaman Province Karamanids Districts of Karaman Province Lycaonia