he historical origins of Koya remain unclear so far, although there are archaeological hints that Koya and its surroundings used to be a Christian regional centre – a bishop see – in the period from the 3rd to 7th century AD. Later medieval periods represent a ‘Dark Age’ in the history of the town. One can only speculate that since the 1530s the district (sanjaq) of Koya played important role in the Ottoman borderland protection policy. In the mid- eighteenth century, Koya was already considered the largest and most powerful Kurdish principality in Iraqi Kurdistan, even extending its power over the Erbil and Altun Köpri districts. The power of the town stemmed not only from its strategic position and political role but also from developed agricultural production and commerce, which included also special goods like tobacco. At the beginning of the 19th century, the number of inhabitants of Koya was estimated surprisingly high – 12.000 according to British traveler William Heude. According to the location of the oldest dated landmarks in the city plan, we can conclude that the mid-nineteenth century was a key period of the urban growth and that roughly all areas of the present-day urban nucleus have been already occupied in the first half of the nineteenth century. In 1847, the Ottomans took over direct control of the town, and the commercial character of Koya has been even stressed as a consequence of the Tanzimat policy, which intended to tie the remote provinces closer to the capital. Since the 1960s when Koya was identified as one of the centres of the Kurdish nationalistic uprising, its city suffered many losses caused by both direct military operations and administratively-based reconstruction obstacles. The 27- hectare core of the oval plan, situated on the south-eastern slope and annexed to the Koya stream terrace edge, was originally fortified by a wall punctuated with four gates, according to the local historical tradition. The wall had gone out of use at the beginning of the 19th century and was gradually removed. The main streets used to connect the gates with the central commercial node situated in the area among the Grand Mosque, the bazaar with its two qaysariyas and khans. The axial road running from the south gate to the north-west presumably represented the once most important corridor. In a later phase, probably after the removal of gates, its importance might have been overshadowed by a commercial thoroughfare coming from the southeast, as the orientation of qaysariyas followed its direction and khans were in touch with it.

1 – Great Mosque (1844 AD) 2 – Old Qaysariya (1840 AD) 3 – New Qaysariya (1906 AD) 4 – Mahmud Agha Khan (1277 H, 1861-62 AD) 5 – Jameel Agha House 6 – Murad Agha House 7 – Rasul Agha House (1885 AD) 8 – Mar Yusif Church