KHOI. A district and town in the Persian province of Azer baijan, lying in the north-west corner of Persia between Lake Urmia and the R. Aras. The district, which contains many flour ishing villages, consists of an elevated valley 16 to 18 miles long and 8 miles broad, well drained and highly cultivated under a skilful system of irrigation which produces rich crops of wheat, barley, rice, cotton, and many kinds of fruit. Timber however is scarce as the surrounding hills are treeless.
The town of the same name lies in 38° 37' N. by 15' E., at an elevation of 3,00o ft., 91 miles north-west of Tabriz, on the great trade-route from Trebizond at its junction with the road from Urmia to the Aras. The Kotur Chai tributary of the latter river flows two miles to the east of the town and is crossed by a brick-built bridge of 7 arches, 75 yd. long, with a roadway of 18 ft. Owing to its topographical position with reference to the frontiers of Persia, Turkey and Russia, Khoi seems always to have been regarded as possessing considerable strategical im portance, and in the early part of the 19th century was surrounded with strong fortifications under the direction of a French engi neer. James Morier saw the building work in progress when he passed through in 181o. The design took the form of a quadri lateral with faces 1,200 yd. in length and fortifications consisting of 2 lines of bastions and fosses, which made Khoi the most strongly fortified town in Persia. The city however surrendered
to the Russians in 1827 without fighting and for some time after the conclusion of the ensuing treaty of Turkmanchai (Feb. 1828) was held by a garrison of 3,00o Russian troops as a guarantee for the payment of the war indemnity. During the Crimean war and again during the Russo-Turkish war of 1877-78 a consider able body of Persian troops was located there at the request of Russia. In the early part of 1911 the place was occupied by Turkish troops who however withdrew when a Russian Consul General put in an appearance with an escort of 4,00o men, and during the ensuing year this number was increased to something between 9 and io thousand, of all arms.
If its extensive suburbs are included, the population of Khoi must approach 6o,000 souls, but of these only about one-third live within the walls. The community includes a considerable Ar menian element, probably 500 families, who inhabit a quarter of their own outside the walls. The city within the walls is one of the best laid out towns in Persia, cool streams with lines of willows running along its broad and regular streets. There are some good buildings, including the Governor's residence ; several mosques, an extensive brick-built bazaar and a fine caravanserai, and the town is the centre of a considerable transit trade as well as of local traffic with the districts across the Turkish border.