Land of Anatolia, that our country exists on it today, was named as ‘Small Asia’ in old periods especially among the west societies. The region, which is called Cappadocia was used to define definite settlement and civilization region in Anatolia in antiquity.
In Antiquity the region of Cappadocia was comprising very large geographical area compared to our definition of today. Borders of the region was reaching up to the coasts of Black Sea before Christ (BC) sixth century. Before Christ (BC) in the year of 360 region splited into two main parts. One of them was called Cappadocia of Black Sea or Pontos and the other one was called Big Cappadocia. The region of Big Cappadocia was consisting Kırşehir, Nevşehir, Aksaray, Niğde, Kayseri, Yozgat, Malatya, east of Ankara, south of Sivas and north of Adana of today. Borders of Cappadocia were changed many times later. Today, Cappadocia is understood as a region which includes Nevşehir as a center, and lands which are geographically continuation of Nevşehir in Aksaray, Kırşehir, Kayseri and Niğde.

The bases of the name Cappadocia
Persians, who came from the high plateaus of Iran, obtained Greece cities one by one in the period of classical age of Greece colonialism in Anatolia and they achieved to establish a big Persian Kingdom in Anatolia. It is coincided with the name of Cappadocia firstly in Persian inscription from this period. There is a word of ‘Katpatuka’ on the inscription which is on the column that is set up in the period of Persian King I. Dareios power before Christ between the years of 522-486. This word means Cappadocia in Persian language. There are advanced views that the meaning of Katpatuka in Persian language is ‘country of beautiful horses’ and these views reflected to many resources. But there are also different views about the origin and the meaning of the word.
In ‘Giant Dictionary of Old Persian Language’, which is published by Bartholomae, there is not a word of Katpatuka. Huv-Aspa is used as ‘country has beautiful horses’ in this dictionary. According to Prof. Dr. Bilge Umar, word of Cappadocia’s origin comes from Anatolia. He stated with the examples that the name of Katpat, which forms the main body of word, is Khepat (Hepat) who is the mother goddess of Hittite and -uka which is at the end of the word is a suffix which is used a lot in that period to make up folk and nation names.
Khepat-ukh or Karpatuka, as the use of Persians, means ‘Khepat folk’ or ‘country of Khepat folk.’ If it is took into consideration that in these periods countries are named with the names of head Gods this giving of name is compatible with the understanding of the period. By this approach it is stated that the first form of the word of Cappadocia has Hittite origin and means the country of mother goddess Kerpat. The word of Khepatukh later used as the form of Katpatuka by the Persian clans of Iran. Hellene society used this word as Cappadocia. Today we call this region Cappadocia.

The first inhabitants of Cappadocia during the Stone Age
The reason of Cappadocia’s importance is not only the natural formations. Rocks formed by tufa stone can easily worked up. Because of that they call attention of people. Archeological findings showed that Cappadocia is the settlement place from prehistoric period up to today. The foundlings from Paleolithic Age in Cappadocia prehistoria major on Neolithic Age (8000-5500 BC) Calcolithic Age (5500-3000 BC) and Bronze Age (3000-1200 BC). The works of art, belong to prehistoric period and excavated out of the mounds of the region, are being exhibited in local museums. Most of the excavation areas are not visually attractive. But, the foundlings belong to this period have an important place in the name of Anatolian archeology and history.

The community of Anatolia before the Hittites
During the Bronze Age, especially on the period between 3000 BC and 2000 BC, it is known that communities which tried to become a nation such as Hattis, LUVIs and Hurrians, have been existed on Anatolian lands. Unfortunately we do not have that much information about these communities. In recent years, the conception of these communities’ being Anatolia originated become prevalent. The only information that we have today is, these communities effected quite alot the nations especially the Hittites, existed after them. Due to language, scripture and religous life, the Hittites were effected by their peers not only before them but also in their era. This interaction occured because of their living together for many years.

The historical ages in Anatolia
The history starts with scripture. At this sense, human being’s finding the scripture is the turning point in history. The period before the scripture is named as prehistoric period and by the usage of scripture the periods are named as historical ages. The first usage of scripture has been reclined on 3200 BC in Egypt and Mesopotamia. The usage of scripture became widespread in Anatolia starting from 1900 BC. The scripture has been brought to Anatolia by Assyrians who had commercial aims. That’s why, the beginning of Historical Ages in Anatolia befitted to Assyrians Commercial Colonies Era (1900-1800 BC).

Hittites and scripture
It is known that the Hittites are the first community in Anatolia, used scripture. The Hittites used two different types of scriptures. One of them was cuneiform script which they have learnt from Assyrian trade men and the other was Hittite hieroglyph. They have translated Assyrian cuneiform script into their own language and used it mainly for commercial correspondences. Later on the other cuneiform script that used by Hittites was Babylon originated and used between 1650 BC and 1200 BC. The scripture known as Hittite Hieroglyph was developed by LUVIs, one of Anatolian communities. This type of scripture has been developed on the basis of symbols during the Assyrian Colonies Era and later on it has become a scripture of diagram and syllables. The Hittites mostly used this scripture on cave carved and stone monuments. The language of this scripture mostly used by the local inhabitants called LUVICIAN.

The first examples of free zones in Anatolia
Beginning from Neolithic period human being’s settling down and establishing villages and sites as well as the necessity of corresponding the needs of the cities have brought up the inter-civilization commercial. The period of 100 years between 1900 and 1800 BC, was named by the historians as ‘Assyrian Commercial Colonies Era’ because of Assyrians’ establishing commercial colonies in Anatolia.
By paying taxes to the local kingdoms, the Assyrian traders have been established ‘Karum’ which were market like districts, nearby the big cities. These districts can be accepted as the first implementation of the today’s free zones, 4000 years ago. The Assyrian traders have been brought tin and textile from Mesopotamia by caravan consisted of 200 -250 donkeys and as a reward for in Anatolia, they have been bought gold and silver.

The Hittites, Anatolian glory
It is assumed that Assyrian Commercial Colony period has been ended as the traders left Anatolia because of the wars between the local kingdoms around 1800 BC. The foundlings of fire in many of the Karums, which has belonged to Assyrians, are supporting this thesis quite a lot.
We might say that, at the beginning of 1900 BC, the Hittites period has started in Anatolia. It is thought that Hittites were one of the local nations of Anatolia but beside this thesis, there is an other one which says that, Hittites came from Caucasians to Anatolia. It seems that this discussion will be clear as the new foundlings and researches are done. According to the written tablets, the first settlement of Hittites were in the cities of Kuşşara and Neşa. It is anticipated that Kuşşara is today’s Alişar close to Çorum and Neşa is today’s Kaniş close to Kayseri. Later on, Hittites have chosen Hattuşaş near Çorum as a capital city.
It is known that the first political unification in Anatolia has been created by Hittites. According to the written tablets that have been found in archives of Boğazköy, Anitta, the King of Kuşşara, has been successful in gathering many independent cities of Anatolia under one governance by using the tactic of night descents. In later periods, in some of the texts it was written that some Hittite Kings have been crowing of being the grandchild of this man of Kuşşara. During the years of 1500 BC, the strongest civilizations on earth were the Egyptians, Babylonians, Mitannis and Hittites. Because of this list, one may understand clearly that, the Hittite Civilization who has been ruled Anatolia nearly 1000 years, has effected deeply the nations and civilizations established after them. The Hittite State history can be examined in three parts
1- The Old Kingdom: 1800-1400 BC
2- The Great Hittite Empire: 1400-1200 BC
3- The Neo Hittite City States: 1200-700 BC
The land of Anatolia, has been witnessed transaction of hordes which have been come from west and called ‘Sea Horde’ in Egyptian sources. This horde transaction, called ‘Aegean Emigration’ in the history, has ravaged everything that they came across. This emigration got the biggest power in 1200 BC and because of them many of the great civilizations have lost power and fall down in time line. The falling down of Hittite Empire in central Anatolia and the falling down of Troia in Western Anatolia happened in this period as well.
The Hittite Empire has been fall down but it has not been disappear totally. Following the falling of the empire, there occurred many city states in Anatolia. These city states, which have been ruled the land for 500 years, have been called The Neo Hittite City States. The Neo Hittite City States created different styles due to the settlement area and nations that they encountered with. As the Urartian State (840-585 BC) was being established in Eastern Anatolia, the dark era was dominating in Central and Western Anatolia. This era can be accepted as deterioration and anarchy era in Anatolia in general. Since the usage of scripture was getting less, the historians calls this period Iron Era (1250-750 BC), they accept and examine it among the prehistoric eras.

The Kingdom of Tabal (BC 900-680)
One of the Neo Hittite City States, the Kingdom of Tabal was established in Cappadocia region. The center of the kingdom was Tuvvana, close to Niğde Kemerhisar and its territories were covering today’s Kayseri, Niğde and Nevşehir. During Roman period, this region was named as Tyana. Among the Neo Hittite City States, the Kingdom of Tabal was the one which was situated in the very west. It was surrounded by Milid (Malatya) on the east and by Kingdom of Que which was settled in Adana region, on the south. As we learned from Assyrian texts, during the period of Salmanassar III, the Assyrian king (858-824 BC), in Tabal there were 24 small kingdoms. From this information, we might confirm that the Kingdom of Tabal did not have only one king but it was governed by a kind of confederation.
Actually, we do not know which of the small kingdoms formed the confederation but it is written in the founded text that Saruvanas, the King of Nahita (Niğde), was one the members of Tabal Confederation. The Kingdom of Tabal and other Neo Hittite City States were always in conflict with Assyrians who wanted to rule the whole Anatolia. They sometimes needed to accept the Assyrian domination and sometimes needed to accept their neighbours and coevals, Urartian and Phrygian domination. At the end, the Assyrians took the control of the whole region and abrogated the Kingdom of Tabal.
In the triangle of Niğde, Kayseri and Nevşehir, the Kingdom of Tabal epigraphies which were written by using of Hittite hieroglyph, were found. These foundlings include scripture monuments of Topada, Bolkar Madeni, Erkilet, Gökçetoprak, Bahçe, Karadağ, Karaburna, Çalapverdi, Bor Stele, İvriz and Andaval. On some of them, the name of Varpalavas, the King of Tabal, was mentioned. Among the monuments, İvriz Monument, situated in İvriz Village (Aydınkent) of Halkapınar, Ereğli, Konya and Bor Stele, situated in Bor Town of Niğde are the most important ones. The Bor Stele is being exhibited in İstanbul Archeological Museum.

Phrygians (750-676 BC)
While talking about the old nations of Cappadocia, it is important to mention the names of Mushkis and Phrygians. It is obvious that the dark period of Iron Era was ended by the Phrygians who were leading the first political recovery in Central Anatolia. The societies which formed the Phrygians were the hordes coming through Thrace to Anatolia in the years of 1200 BC. At the beginning, these hordes settled down in Marmara Region and then, they started to move into Anatolia.
Among these, there were Mushkis who were accepted as the ancestors or pioneers of Phrygians. The Mushkis, who were also mentioned in Assyrian texts, were living in migratory way until they managed a political unification. The land of Mushkis within the territory of Cappadocia later on has been become the Kingdom of Tabal and it consisted of the region in north west and north east.
In the region, the Phrygians at first encountered with the locals and gained the identity of a nation and then with the period of King of Midas, they managed to create a political unity. Although they had the roots of Indo-European society, they effected a lot by the Neo Hittite culture. Of course the interaction was mutual. For example, the safety pin of Varpalavas, the King of Tabal, was a typical Phrygian fibula.
The Phrygians, whose center was Gordion close to Polatlı Ankara, were neighbour and coeval of Kingdom of Tabal, Neo Hittite City State and dominated Cappadocia. Today during the excavation in Cappadocia and mounds surrounding, the foundlings belongs to Phrygians after the Hittite period shows us that they were able to span to Cappadocia.
During the Phrygian period, Anatolia has been witnessing the emigration of Cimmerian and later on Iskit hordes, which was accepted one of the biggest invasion after the Aegean one. Starting from 700 BC, the Cimmerian were moving from Caucasians towards Anatolia and after overwearing Urartians, they gravitated to Central Anatolia. Therefore, the battle between Cimmerian and Phrygian were inevitable. After this war, the land of Phrygia was overwhelmed. Cimmerian pressure and attacks culminated in the suicide of its last king, Midas, (676 BC).

The domination of Medes and Persians in Anatolia
As the Phrygians fell down, Cimmerians immediately became neighbours of Lydia State (680-545 BC), who has chosen Sardes near Manisa as a capital city. The attacks and pressure of Cimmerian also caused the defections in Lydia State. But at that moment Cimmerians suddenly left Anatolia because of an unknown reason. After Cimmerians, the Medes and Persian periods started in Anatolia. Medes and Persians formed of hordes, emigrating to Iran through Caucasians at 1300 BC. At the beginning they had nomadic life but during the time, they managed a political unification and they created a great civilization where they were settled down.
Medes State, appeared on the scene of history around 700 BC. On 612 BC, Medes joined with Iskits and destroyed the most powerful political union of Asia Minor, the Assyrian Empire. On 585 BC, Medes went ahead Anatolia and finalized the hegemony of Urartian State. After this success, Medes continued to span in Anatolia and settled down also in Cappadocia region. The Medes domination continued in Anatolia until 550 BC when, the Persians destroyed Medes and caused Medes’ worn off the history. Starting from this year, the Persians started to span in Anatolia and took the control of the region from east until the Kızılırmak and became the neighbour of Lydia. Under this circumstance, the battle of Lydia and Persian seemed very close. The Persian State won this battle and after 547 BC, they took the control of whole Anatolia. The domination of the Persians in Anatolia ended on 331 BC by the King of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, who won many battles against the Persians and caused the collapsed of Persian Empire.
During the Persian period in Anatolia (547-331 BC), Cappadocia, naturally was under control of the Persians. The Persians administrated Anatolia by ‘satrap’ which was kind of military governor. The center of Cappadocia Satrap was in Kayseri. The Persians build the famous ‘King Road’ which started from Ephesus, passed through Cappadocia and reached to Mesopotamia, at this period. The name of Cappadocia for the first time was mentioned in the Persian scripts of this period. In one of the scripts on a column built in the period of the Persian King Dareios I, who was in the government between 522 and 486 BC, mentioned the word ‘Katpatuka’. This word means Cappadocia in Persian language. One may say that the word Katpatuka in Persian language means ‘beautiful horse land’ but of course there are many different approaches on the roots and the meaning of the word.

The Kingdom of Cappadocia (332 BC-17 AC)
The King of Macedonia, Alexander the Great, did not come across strong resistance in Anatolia during his famous Asia expedition on 331 BC, which conduced the end of Persian domination. Only the Persian Satrap of Cappadocia resisted to Alexander. The King took the possession of South west part of Cappadocia and continued his expedition. After Alexander’s departure, on 332 BC Ariarates, one of the supporters of Persians, took the control as a semi independent king of Cappadocia.
Ariarates continued his kingship of Cappadocia until 333 BC, when Alexander the Great suddenly died because of tropical malaria. After the death of Alexander, Perdiccas took the control and in order to add Cappadocia to the Empire, he killed Ariarates by a glory. However, the conflict between the two sides never ended. At the end of the conflicts, the supporter of the Persians became strong and starting from 280 BC the Kingdom of Cappadocia became a settled down power in the region.
Later on, for a long time the Kingdom of Cappadocia had to fight against the ones who wanted to take the control of the region. After the battles against Galats (Celts), Macedonians, Pontus and Romans, the Kingdom lost power and at first had to recognize the domination of Pontus and then the domination of Romans. On 17 AC, the Kingdom of Cappadocia became one of the provinces of Romans in Anatolia.

The Roman Period in Cappadocia (17-395 AC)
The Cappadocia, which became one of the provinces of Roman Empire on 17, during Tiberius period, layed over a wide region, surrounded by Samsun on North, Adana on South, Salt Lake on west, Fırat River on East. The region reduced the circumstances because of the long war period. The region was tried to be arouse by reducing the taxes as well as building roads and utilities such as roads between Galatian and Cappadocia and the connections of Nevşehir to West.
During the Roman period, there are three main centers in Cappadocia. These are Kayseri (Casearea), Kemerhisar (Tyana) and Avanos (Venessa). We know that during the Roman period, the Sassanids of Iran (226-651) attacked the Cappadocia region. Moreover, Kayseri was under control of Sassanids for a short period. The Roman Emperor Gordianus III, built up city wall around Kayseri in order to prevent the Sassanid invasions. This city wall was strengthened in later centuries on Byzantian and Islamic period. The other threat for the region at the same period was the Goths who entered Anatolia through Thrace. The Romans became very weak because of the internal and external conflicts and on 395 the Empire divided into two, East and West.

Pervasion of Christianity in Anatolia
During the Roman Empire period, the Christianity, spreading among the Jewish society in Palestine, confronted with the authoritarian attitude of Roman governorship which apotheosized the institutions of empire. In this period, Christianity was sprawling fast and diversified because of the different interpretations. The ones who were against of this diversification prepared the bases of Orthodox thought. During these years, while the first Christians were suffering, alio loco Basileos (Basileus, Basil, Basileios) the Archbishop of Kayseri (329-379), was laying down the foundation of Orthodoxism in Cappadocia.
In the history of Christianity, monastery life style has started in Egypt at the end of 3rd century and the beginning of 4th century, and then generalized in Palestine and Syria immediately. Basileos during his stay in Egypt and Syria, followed this development closely. Therefore, the similiar style’s starting in Cappadocia during Basileos period cannot be a coincidence. These years were the ones, which the Christians who wanted to continue their prays in a peaceful atmosphere drawed away in the rocky areas of Cappadocia and built up monasteries and churches into the rocks. Göreme area is one of the first settlement areas. In one of the text which read the life of Basileos, Göreme is mentioned for the first time as ‘Korama’.
The three important Saint of Cappadocia are Basileos of Kayseri, his brother Gregorius of Nevşehir (bishop of Nyssa) and Gregorius of Nazianzos. They were the founders of monastery life style in Cappadocia. The Bekarlar Village of Aksaray today is thought to be Nazianzos. The Mosque-Church in Güzelyurt, was built in the name of this Saint. The majority of the Cappadocia region accepted Christianity before the Roman Empire because of these three Saints and their studies in the region. The first Christians established a life style which based on the cooperation. In this period, Christianity seemed as a religion for the poors. Later on the philosophy of cooperation started to fall off.
During the period of Roman Emperor Julianus Apostata (361-363), there were many oppressions on the people in order to bend the effectiveness of Basileos. The Emperor Diokletianus divided the province into two; North and South (372) in order to narrow the effect of him as well. But within the Romans Christianity was embraced quickly. During the Theodosius period (379-395) the Christianity became the official religion of the state and polythesim was forbidden.

The Byzantine Empire Period (395-1453)
After the division of Roman Empire into two on 395, Cappadocia region stayed within the territory of East Roman Empire whose capital was İstanbul (Constantinopolis). The first years of Byzantines passed full of with conflicts occurred because of religion and religious sects. During that period Sassanids were situated at the east border of Byzantines. The Sassanids who was ruling regions including Iran and Irak between 226 and 651, had conflicts first with Romans and then the Byzantines. On 608, the Crown of Sassanids Hüsrev II, attacked Byzantines and captured Kayseri. Kayseri stayed under control of Sassanids until 611. The Sassanids lost Kayseri and exiled on 611 but on 626 they re-captured Kayseri and continued their moving along.
‘Four Caliphs Period’ of Islamic history was the end of the Sassanids. It was collapsed on 651 during the period of Osman. Sassanids’ falling down, meant Byzantines that one of the important enemies disappeared. But Arabic originated Umayyads, centralized in Sam (661-750) and then Abbasids (750-1258) immediately became the important enemies of Byzantines. The Umayyads attacked Cappadocia region on 709 and captured the city of Tyana. The attacks continued until 713 and almost the whole Cappadocia was under the control of Arabs. On 726 Kayseri was under attacked of Arabs once more. The Christians of the region started to draw back to the underground cities and caves in order to protect themselves from Arab invasions as well as to be able to pray freely. After this period the number of Cave Churches increased quite a lot.
On 726, the Byzantine Emperor Leon III, somehow managed to expile Arabs from Kayseri and add the region till Malatya back to Byzantine territories. The same Emperor forbit the icons and paintings of the churches. This period was between the years of 726 and 843 and lasted for 117 years and it is called as ‘Iconoclasm’, which is the deliberate destruction. On 843, the Empress Theodore liberated the icons again. The reasons behind this prohibitations were to reduce the impact of priests on the government and to get rid of the dedication for the icons like worshiping. Islam can be accepted as an other reason for this prohibitation. During this Iconoclasm period there happened many conflicts. As the supporters of Iconoclasm got stronger in Byzantine, the supporter of the cross current hided themselves in the rocky area of Cappadocia region and built up churches with icons freely. That helped the acceleration of the cave churches in Cappadocia. In this period only around Göreme, there built up 400 churches.
Byzantine was under attack of Arabs during the Abbasi period as well. Even, at that period, Byzantine tried to protect its territories from invasion by paying taxes to Abbasi State. But since Byzantine did not pay the tax, the Abbasian Caliph Harun Reşid (786-809), occupied Tyana. During the time, Arab oppression in the region got looser and looser.

The Seljuks (1040-1318)
The Great Seljuk Empire (1040-1157), established by Turks, domiciled around Iran and was the Eastern neighbour of Byzantine. Later one, Seljuk Empire accepted Islam. After that date, the spreading of Turks in Anatolia can be seen. Because of that the states who accepted each other as a barrier, encountered.
After the victory of Alparslan the Sultan of Seljuk Empire against Romanos Diogenes, the Emperor of Byzantine, in Battle of Malazgirt; Byzantine lost power in the region and therefore the doors of Anatolia were open to the other Turk societies. The Sultan Alpaslan authorized his Turcoman generals to carve their own principalities out of formerly Byzantine Anatolia, as atabegs loyal to him. One of them was Danishmendis in central and North Anatolia (1086-1178). The Danishmendis together with Anatolian Seljuks fight against Crusaders. But as a contradiction, the atabeg was ruined by Anatolian Seljuks. The work of art Danishmendis are exhibited in Cappadocia, especially in Kayseri.
During the period of Great Seljuk Empire, Süleyman Shah was nominated to conquer Anatolia; he got many successes and conquered the great portion of Anatolia in a short time. He declared that Anatolian Seljuk State (1078-1318) was established, centralized İznik. On 1157, Sultan Sencer was died and the empire was almost collapsed; this moment Seljuks were gathered under Anatolian Seljuk State. During that period, the Mongoloids, dominating the Iran region, was drawing attention as an invader power in Anatolia. The defeat of Kösedağ Battle against Mongoloids on 1243 and especially after 1277 the Mongoloids domination was seen in Anatolia. Because of all these, on 1318, Anatolian Seljuk State completely destroyed. During Anatolian Seljuk period, many important buildings such as mosques, madrasahs, cupolas, inns and caravanserais were built up.

The Mongoloids are in Cappadocia (1318-1398)
After the falling down of Anatolian Seljuk State, the Turkcoman beyliks countiuned their existance in Anatolia. Among them there was Kayı Beylik which would be the founder of Ottoman Empire in the future. During this period, the Mongoloids influence was continuing in Anatolia.
On 1318, the Mongoloids assigned Timurtaş as a governor to Anatolia. During his period, the capital city moved to Kayseri from Sivas. Timurtaş, who gained power in the region, afterwards declared his independence. On 1327, after Timurtaş’ death, there occured an authority gap and one of his follower Eretna Bey filled this gap and on 1343 he declared his independence and dominate the region. Eretna Bey, who is originated from Uyghur Turks, by dominating the whole Central Anatolia, defined first Sivas and then Kayseri as a center. The Beylik of Eretna on 1381, after the first interial conflicts, demolished by Kadı Burhanettin who was promoted to vizierate from Kadı of Kayseri. The period of 1381-1398 was known as Kadı Burhanettin period in the region. Kadı Burhanettin was killed on 1398 by Akkoyunlus. The Karamanoğulları who managed to get the control of Nevşehir on 1365 during the internal conflict of Eretna Beylik, conquered the whole region by taking the advantage of Kadı Burhanettin’s murder.

The Karamanoğulları (1256-1483)
The Karamanoğulları, dominating the South of Central Anatolia was Turkcomans. They were originated from Oghuz Clan’s Avşar Tribe and they accepted Turkish as an official language and forbit the usage of Persian in scriptures. One of the most important competitors of Karamanoğulları in Anatolia was Ottoman Beylik who had a new identity after 1299. The Karamanoğulları who were mostly dominating Konya region, tried to reach to Cappadocia during the time.
The Ottomans’ Sultan Yıldırım Beyazıt organized an expedition against Karamanoğulları who got the region after the death of Kadı Burhanettin and on the same year the Ottomans seized the region and dominated it between 1398 and 1402. At the same time, the Mongol Empire, established a great civilization around Central Asia, Iran and Mesopotamia, entered to Anatolia with the troops of Timur. They managed to got Sivas and began to move towards West through Kayseri. On 1402, the troops of Timur won the Battle of Ankara against the Ottomans and there occurred again Mongoloid domination in the region. But they left the administration of the lands to Turk Beyliks who have been settled down in the region before. Thereby, the region became under control of Karamanoğulları once again (1402-1436). The Karamanoğulları has been erased from the scene of the history by Ottoman Sultan, Mehmet II, the Conqurer, on 1483. The works of art in the region, remained from the Karamanoğulları are interesting in the sense of usage of plaster and ceramic tile.
The other Turcoman Beylik was Dulkadiroğulları who was effective in the area of Maraş and Malatya (1337-1522). During the hegemony wars between the Ottomans and Memluks and Karamanoğulları on the east, Dulkadiroğulları was kind of buffer zone. The Ottoman Sultan, Murad II, the Conquerer, on 1463 had a cooperation with Dulkadiroğulları in order to end the domination of Karamanoğulları in the region. After this cooperation, Kayseri and its surroundings were left to the control of Dulkadiroğulları. The efficiency of Dulkadiroğulları in the region continued between 1436 and 1515. On 1522, the Dulkadiroğulları Beylik was demolished by the Ottomans.

The Ottoman Empire (1299-1923)
On 1453, the Ottomans terminated the Byzantines by conquering İstanbul and because of the conquer movement in a short period, the Ottomans showed a great develop and owned a larger geography. Since the Cappadocia region is situated in the mid lands of the Ottoman Empire, it has not witnessed any battles. Addition to that, during the years, one of the grandviziers, from Nevşehir Damat İbrahim Pasha has tried to enable the developments in Nevşehir; Karavezir Mehmet Seyyid Pasha has shown efforts to develop Gülşehir and Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha endeavoured a lot for the development of İncesu.
After the First World War, the Ottoman Empire was defeated and lost most of its lands. During that era, many regions of Anatolia was occupied by prevailing countries. The Sultan and his followers were thinking about leaving the country under the hegomonia of prevailing countries but on the contrary to this thought, Anatolian community gathered under the leadership of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk and started Independence War against occupying countries. The Independence War was ended on 1923 with the victory of Anatolia. Today, Turkish Republic whose territories was created on 1923 by Lozan Treaty tries to protect and keep the peace in land.

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