Khoy’s Expansion from Early Islam to Late QajarAccording to Historical Documents

Subject Areas : Urban Design

Lida Balilan Asl ¹ , Elham Jafari ²

1 - Assistant Professor, Faculty of Architecture and Art, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran
2 - Studen , Departmentof Architecture and Art, Islamic Azad University, Tabriz Branch, Tabriz, Iran

Received: 2012-04-09 Accepted : 2012-10-17 Published : 2013-06-01

Keywords: Khoy’s expansion, Early Islam, Late Qajar, Historical Documents,

Abstract :

Khoy, one of the major cities in the west Azarbaijan province is known for its nature, military, borderpositions, proximity to the Silk Road, including many different cultures and overall is one of the important settlements in thearea. This essay investigates Khoy city’s expansion, from early Islam until late Qajar (Fourth - Fourteenth century) according tohistorical documents. This article has been completed, by the help of different types of historical written sources, itineraries,documents and maps (Matrakiminiature and Russian map). This article also illustrates how the location of the town citadel hasfrequently changed during centuries. In the Fourth century (AH), the citadel was located in the west of its current position but unfortunately in the fifth and sixth centuries it has had an ambiguous location and eventually sometimes in the Seventh oreighthcentury was shifted to its today’s location. Next centuries (eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth) until 1941AD/ 1360AH, locationwas in current position. Also destruction of khoy is mentioned 4 times in sources.