Khoy | |
|---|---|
City | |
  Khoy | |
| Coordinates:38°32′47″N44°57′15″E / 38.54639°N 44.95417°E /38.54639; 44.95417[1] | |
| Country | Iran |
| Province | West Azerbaijan |
| County | Khoy |
| District | Central |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | Hassan Nasrollah pour |
| • Parliament | Adel Najafzadeh |
| Elevation | 1,148 m (3,769 ft) |
| Population (2016)[3] | |
• Total | 198,845 |
| Time zone | UTC+3:30 (IRST) |
| Area code | 044-3 |
| Website | www |
Khoy (Azerbaijani:Xoy,Persian:خوی)[a] is a city in theCentral District ofKhoy County,West Azerbaijan province,Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district.[6] Occupied sinceMedian times, it shares a long history as an importantChristian center.[7]
Khoy was named in ancient times for the salt mines that made it an important spur of the Silk Route.[7] 3000 years ago, a city existed on the area where Khoy is located nowadays, but its name became Khoy only in the 14th centuries ago.[8] In 714 BC,Sargon II passed the region of which Khoy is part of in a campaign againstUrartu.[8]
During the reign ofGreater Armenia this city was a part ofNor-Shirakan province (ashkar). Khoy was mentioned in the 8th century AD and was calledHer byAnania Shirakatsi in "Ashkharatsuyts".
In theParthian period, Khoy was the gateway of the Parthian Empire in the Northwest. During the reign of Armenian kingTigranes the Great, Khoy is mentioned as being an important settlement of theSilk Route.[8] Around the year 37 BC,Mark Antony had crossed the plain that is located between Khoy andMarand during one of the many and frequentRoman-Parthian Wars.[8]
Scholars such asJosef Markwart consider Khoy to be the identical to theGobdi station mentioned in theTabula Peutingeriana.[9]
One of the important historic elements of the city isSurp Sarkis Church.Armenian documents wrote that the date of the making has to be either 332 or 333 AD.[8] In the city and its surrounding villages, churches are seen and it is reported thatArmenians have always been comprising a significant amount of the city’s population.[8][page needed]
By the first half of the 11th century theByzantine emperors were actively trying to round off their eastern territories, in an attempt to absorb the unstable Armenian dynasties. In 1021-2 emperorBasil II led his army as far as Khoy within 175 km ofDvin, and obtained the surrender of royalty from theArtsruni dynasty ofVan.[10]
In 1210, the city was conquered by the forces ofKingdom of Georgia sent byTamar the Great under the command of Zakaria and IvaneMkhargrdzeli. This was a response to the sacking of Georgian-controlledAni which occurred in 1208 and left 12,000 Christians dead.[11][12][13]
The city was ruled over by Malika, wife ofJalal al-Din Mangburni after his conquest of the city in the late 1220s.[14]
In the wake of the demise of theSafavids, theOttomans took Khoy on 6 May 1724, a territorial gain which was confirmed withImperial Russia through theTreaty of Constantinople (1724).[15]
Until 1828, Khoy had a large number ofArmenians; however, theTreaty of Turkmenchay (1828), gave the Russians the right to encourage Armenians to immigrate into the Russian Empire. Nevertheless, a small Armenian population remained living in Khoy. This was noted by an American missionary in 1834.[16] He noted further that in the villages around Khoy there were a few more, but the vast majority had migrated to the North of theAras river following Russia's victory over Persia in 1828 and the encouraged settling in the newly incorporated Russian regions ofEastern Armenia.[16]
With the advent of the 1910s, Khoy was occupied byOttoman troops, but they were completely expelled from the area by the Russians by 1911.[17] Khoy was one of the many cities in Iran which garrisoned Russian infantry andCossacks.[17] The Russians retreated at the time ofEnver Pasha's offensive in the Iran-Caucasus region, but returned in around early 1916, and stayed in the region up to the wake of theRussian Revolution.[17] In 1918, for a final brief period, theOttomans took Khoy until the decisive end ofWorld War I and theArmistice of Mudros.[17] InWorld War II, Khoy was again occupied bySoviet troops, who remained until1946. After 1946 the city indefinitely became part ofIran and is located in the far northwest of the country.
At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city's population was 178,708 in 45,090 households.[18] The following census in 2011 counted 200,958 people in 57,149 households.[19] The 2016 census measured the population of the city as 198,845 people in 59,964 households.[3]
Khoy is north of the province's capital and largest cityUrmia, and 807 km north-west toTehran. The region's economy is based onagriculture, particularly the production of fruit, grain, and timber. Khoy is nicknamed as theSunflower city of Iran. At the 2006 census, the city had a population of 178,708, with an estimated 2012 population of 200,985. Khoy is largely populated by ethnicAzerbaijanis,[20] except for the residents of the western edge of Khoy, who are mostlyKurds; The majority of the population (more than 90%) subscribes to theShiite sect of Islam. TheKurds of this less, who live mostly in a nomadic way as opposed to the mostly settledAzerbaijanis, are largelySunni and are composed of two independent tribes,Shakkak and Madrumi.[21]
Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate ascold semi-arid (BSk).[22]
Highest recorded temperature:42.8 °C (109.0 °F) on 26 July 2020[23]
Lowest recorded temperature:−30.0 °C (−22.0 °F) on 24 January 1964[24]
| Climate data for Khoy (1991-2020, extremes 1959-present)[i] | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Month | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec | Year |
| Record high °C (°F) | 17.0 (62.6) | 20.2 (68.4) | 27.2 (81.0) | 32.0 (89.6) | 35.6 (96.1) | 39.8 (103.6) | 42.8 (109.0) | 41.6 (106.9) | 40.0 (104.0) | 32.6 (90.7) | 25.0 (77.0) | 21.4 (70.5) | 42.8 (109.0) |
| Mean daily maximum °C (°F) | 3.4 (38.1) | 7.1 (44.8) | 13.4 (56.1) | 19.2 (66.6) | 24.1 (75.4) | 29.8 (85.6) | 33.1 (91.6) | 33.3 (91.9) | 28.9 (84.0) | 21.7 (71.1) | 12.8 (55.0) | 5.6 (42.1) | 19.4 (66.9) |
| Daily mean °C (°F) | −1.5 (29.3) | 1.5 (34.7) | 7.3 (45.1) | 12.9 (55.2) | 17.5 (63.5) | 22.6 (72.7) | 25.8 (78.4) | 25.5 (77.9) | 20.8 (69.4) | 14.3 (57.7) | 6.6 (43.9) | 0.6 (33.1) | 12.8 (55.1) |
| Mean daily minimum °C (°F) | −6.0 (21.2) | −3.7 (25.3) | 1.2 (34.2) | 6.3 (43.3) | 10.6 (51.1) | 14.6 (58.3) | 17.8 (64.0) | 17.3 (63.1) | 12.4 (54.3) | 7.2 (45.0) | 1.3 (34.3) | −3.4 (25.9) | 6.3 (43.3) |
| Record low °C (°F) | −30.0 (−22.0) | −27.0 (−16.6) | −20.6 (−5.1) | −8.0 (17.6) | −0.2 (31.6) | 3.4 (38.1) | 8.0 (46.4) | 7.0 (44.6) | 2.0 (35.6) | −7.0 (19.4) | −15.7 (3.7) | −25.4 (−13.7) | −30.0 (−22.0) |
| Averageprecipitation mm (inches) | 15.0 (0.59) | 16.6 (0.65) | 29.4 (1.16) | 46.1 (1.81) | 47.1 (1.85) | 23.8 (0.94) | 9.7 (0.38) | 6.0 (0.24) | 10.1 (0.40) | 19.7 (0.78) | 25.6 (1.01) | 18.7 (0.74) | 267.8 (10.55) |
| Average precipitation days(≥ 1.0 mm) | 3.4 | 3.8 | 5.2 | 7.5 | 8.5 | 4.2 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 1.8 | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.4 | 49.4 |
| Average rainy days | 2.1 | 3.1 | 7.3 | 11.6 | 10.4 | 4.8 | 2.2 | 2 | 2.6 | 5.7 | 5.7 | 3.9 | 61.4 |
| Average snowy days | 5 | 5.1 | 2.9 | 0.3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.1 | 1.7 | 4 | 19.1 |
| Averagerelative humidity (%) | 74 | 66 | 56 | 55 | 55 | 47 | 45 | 44 | 48 | 58 | 68 | 76 | 58 |
| Averagedew point °C (°F) | −6.0 (21.2) | −5.0 (23.0) | −2.0 (28.4) | 2.7 (36.9) | 7.1 (44.8) | 9.4 (48.9) | 11.9 (53.4) | 11.2 (52.2) | 8.0 (46.4) | 5.0 (41.0) | 0.5 (32.9) | −3.6 (25.5) | 3.3 (37.9) |
| Mean monthlysunshine hours | 117 | 146 | 183 | 204 | 254 | 317 | 344 | 335 | 289 | 224 | 167 | 113 | 2,693 |
| Source 1:NCEI[25] (snow and sleet days 1981-2010)[26] | |||||||||||||
| Source 2:IRIMO(extremes 1959-2010)[27][24] Meteomanz(since 2021)[28] | |||||||||||||
Khoy is well known for thetomb of Shams Tabrizi, renowned Iranian poet and mystic.
For a complete list see:Category:People from Khoy
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Media related toKhoy at Wikimedia Commons
WMO number: 40703
WMO number: 40703
| International | |
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West Azerbaijan province, Iran | ||
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