Karaman: Turkey

Karaman is a town in south central Turkey, located north of the Taurus Mountains, ca 100 km south of Konya. It is the capital of the Karaman Province. In 2000 it had a population of 105 384. The Karaman Museum is one of the major sights.

In ancient times Karaman was known as Laranda. It was destroyed by Perdiccas about 322 BC and later became a seat of Isaurian pirates. It belonged to the Roman and later Byzantine Empire until it was captured by the Seljuks in the early 12th century. It was occupied by Frederick Barbarossa in 1190.

In 1256 the town was taken by the Turkish warlord Karamanoglu Mehmed Bey and was renamed Karaman in his honor. From 1275 Karaman was the capital of the emirate (and later Ottoman province) of Karamanid. In 1468 Karamanid was conquered by the Ottomans and in 1483 the capital of the province was moved to Konya. Karaman has retained ruins of a Karamanid castle and some walls, two mosques and a Qur’an school (medrese) from that age. An exquisite mihrab from a mosque in Karaman can now be found in the Çinili Pavilion near today’s Archeology Museum in Istanbul.