History
Aksaray region was an important stopover along the Silk Road that crossed through Anatolia for centuries and the city of Aksaray has a long history.
The town of Garsaura was named Archelaïs (Greek: Ἀρχελαΐς) by Archelaus of Cappadocia, the last Cappadocian king. In Byzantine times, the town was known as Koloneia (Κολώνεια) and was a bishopric and an important military centre, holding an imperial aplekton.
The region came under the control of the Seljuk Turks after the Battle of Manzikert in 1071. The Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate they founded left important landmarks in and around Aksaray. The Arab traveller Ibn Battuta who was in the region in the 14th century was impressed by the class of Muslim traders that had emerged in Aksaray and noted the urban centre as a beautiful city, surrounded by waterways and gardens, with a water supply coming right to the houses of the city.
Aksaray was incorporated into the Ottoman Empire in 1470 by the İshak Pasha, and many inhabitants of the city were relocated in Constantinople, recently captured by the Ottomans, where they were settled in a quarter of the city that came to be named Aksaray.
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