Sultanhanı is a town in
Aksaray Province
Aksaray Province () is a province in central Turkey. Its adjacent provinces are Konya along the west and south, Ankara to the northwest, Niğde to the southeast, Nevşehir to the east, and Kırşehir to the north. Its area is 7,659 km2, an ...
,
Turkey
Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...
. It is named after the famous ''han'' (
caravanserai
A caravanserai (or caravansary; ) was an inn that provided lodging for travelers, merchants, and Caravan (travellers), caravans. They were present throughout much of the Islamic world. Depending on the region and period, they were called by a ...
) within the town. It is the seat of
Sultanhanı District, created in 2017.
[İlçe Belediyesi]
Turkey Civil Administration Departments Inventory. Retrieved 12 January 2023. Its population is 10,958 (2021).
Geography
The distance to
Aksaray is about and to the south coast of
Lake Tuz
Lake Tuz ( meaning 'Salt Lake) is the second largest lake in Turkey with its
surface area and one of the largest hypersaline lakes in the world. It is located in the Central Anatolia Region, northeast of Konya, south-southeast of Ankara and ...
is .
History
Presently, Sultanhanı is not on one of the main highways of Turkey. But it was one of the most important stops in
caravan routes during the Middle Ages. The
Seljuk han, which was commissioned by
Alaattin Keykubat ('Alā' ad-Dīn Kay Qubād) is considered one of the best preserved hans of the
Seljuk period. After the
Age of Discovery
The Age of Discovery (), also known as the Age of Exploration, was part of the early modern period and overlapped with the Age of Sail. It was a period from approximately the 15th to the 17th century, during which Seamanship, seafarers fro ...
, like other caravan routes the Sultanhanı han became neglected.
Another milestone in local history was the Battle of Sultanhanı (also called the Battle of Aksaray) in 1256, where a
Mongol
Mongols are an East Asian ethnic group native to Mongolia, China (Inner Mongolia and other 11 autonomous territories), as well as the republics of Buryatia and Kalmykia in Russia. The Mongols are the principal member of the large family of M ...
army under the command of
Baiju defeated the Seljuks.
[Prof. Yaşar Yüce-Prof. Ali Sevim: Türkiye tarihi Cilt I, AKDTYKTTK Yayınları, İstanbul, 1991 p 130]
Economy
Although the land around Sultanhanı is quite salty, the town economy is flourishing. Main agricultural products are cereal and sugar cane, produced by mechanized agriculture. There is a sugar mill in the town. Another profitable business is ancient rug and carpet restoration. Some people are employed in stock breeding.
See also
*
Lake Tuz Natural Gas Storage
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sultanhani
Populated places in Aksaray Province
District municipalities in Turkey
Sultanhanı District
Lycaonia