KONIA. (r) A vilayet in Asia Minor which includes part of the Taurus range and the greater part of the central steppe. The population (570,990 in 1935) is for the most part agricul tural and pastoral. The only industries are carpet-weaving and the manufacture of cotton and silk stuffs. The principal exports are salt, minerals, opium, cotton, cereals, wool and live stock; and the imports cloth-goods, coffee, rice and petroleum.
(2) Its chief town (anc. Iconium), altitude 3,320 ft., situated at the south-west edge of the vast central plain of Asia Minor, amidst orchards famous in the middle ages for their yellow plums and apricots, and watered by streams from the hills. Pop. (1935) 52,485. After the capture of Nicaea by the Crusaders Konia became the capital of the Seljuk Sultans of Rum. (See SEIJUKS and TURKS.) It was temporarily occupied by Godfrey, and again by Frederick Barbarossa, but this scarcely affected its prosperity. During the reign of Ala ed-Din I. (1219-1236) the city was a centre for artists, poets, historians, jurists and dervishes, driven westwards from Persia and Bokhara by the advance of the Mongols, and there was a brief period of great splendour. After the break-up of the empire of Rum, Konia be
came a secondary city of the amirate of Karamania and in part fell to ruin. In 1472 it was annexed to the Osmanli empire by Mohammed II. In 1832 it was occupied by Ibrahim Pasha who defeated and captured the Turkish general, Reshid Pasha, not far from here. There are interesting remains of Seljuk buildings, all showing strong traces of Persian influence in their decorative details. The palace of Kilij Arslan II. contained a famous hall. The most important mosques are the great Tekke (now a mu seum) which contains the tomb of Mevlana Jelal ed-din Rumi, a mystic (sufi) poet, founder of the order of Mevlevi (whirling) dervishes, and those of his successors, the "Golden" mosque and those of Ala ed-Din and Sultan Selim. The walls, largely the work of Ala ed-Din I., are preserved in great part and notable for the number of ancient inscriptions built into them. Konia is connected by railway with Constantinople and is the starting point of the extension towards Baghdad.