Van
History
Urartu
Under the ancient name of Tushpa, Van was the capital of the
Urartian kingdom in the 9th century BC. Its ancient
inhabitants called themselves Nairi. The early settlements
are believed to have centered on the steep-sided bluff now
known as Van Castle (Van Kalesi), close to the edge of Lake
Van and a few kilometers west of the modern city. Here have
been found Urartian cuneiform inscriptions dating to the 8th
and 7th centuries BC.
The region came under the control of the Medes in the early
7th century BC and later by Persians in the mid 6th century
BC. In 331 BC, Van was conquered by Alexander the Great and
after his death became part of the Seleucid Empire. By the
early 2nd century BC it was part of the Kingdom of Armenia.
It became an important center during the reign of the
Armenian king, Tigranes II, who founded the city of
Tigranakert in the 1st century BC . The Persian Sassanids
finally gained control of the area in the 4th century AD.
The Byzantine Empire and Vaspurakan
The Byzantine Empire briefly held the region from 628 to
640, after which it was invaded by the Muslim Arabs, who
consolidated their conquests as the province of Ermeniye.
Decline in Arab power eventually allowed local Armenian
rulers to re-emerge, with the Artsruni dynasty soon becoming
the most powerful. Initially dependent on the rulers of the
Kingdom of Ani, they declared their independence in 908,
founding the kingdom of Vaspurakan. The kingdom had no
specific capital: the court would move as the king
transferred his residence from place to place, such as Van
city, Vostan, Aghtamar, etc. In 1021 the last king of
Vaspurakan, John-Senekerim Artsruni, ceded his entire
kingdom to the Byzantine empire, who established the
Vaspurakan theme on the former Artsruni territories.
The Seljuk Empire
Incursions by the Seljuk Turks into Vaspurakan started in
the 1050s. After their victory in 1071 at the battle of
Manzikert the entire region fell under their control. After
them, local Muslim rulers emerged, such as the Ahlatshahs
and the Ayyubids (1207). For a 20 year period Van was
captured by the Anatolian Seljuk Sultanate, until the 1240s
when it was conquered by the Mongols. In the 14th century
Van was captured by the Kara Koyunlu Turks and later the
Timurids.
The Ottoman Empire
The first half of the 15th century saw the Van region become
a land of conflict as it was disputed by two Powers, namely
the Ottoman Empire and the Persian Safavid Empire. The
Safavids captured Van in 1502. The Ottomans took the city in
1515 and held it for a short period. The Safavids took it
again in 1520 and Ottomans gained final and definite control
of the city in 1548. They first made Van into a sanjak
dependent on the Erzurum eyalet, and later into a separate
Van eyalet in about 1570.