Maragha in the 13th and 14th centuries (Scientific activities)

Maragha; It is a city that is mentioned as being in the Azerbaijan region in medieval sources. After being the center of the Abbasid Caliphate in the 9th century, it was also important in the Seljuk and Ildenizid periods, but as the first capital of the Ilkhanate in the 13th century, it is a city that reached its peak politically and scientifically. It is important that Maragha is rich in scientific, cultural and social aspects rather than the political and military events that took place in and around Merağa. The process, which started with the establishment of the Maragha Observatory in the capital during the reign of Hulagu Khan, turned into a pool with the flow of ambassadors and scientists. From the second half of the 13th century, Maragha started to affect important cities of the Islamic world, such as Cairo and Baghdad, in addition to Byzantium and Europe. Most of the works that were the source of positive sciences in the Turkish-Islamic madrasas established in Konya, Sivas, Kastamonu, Iznik and Edirne in Anatolia emerged based on the studies of scholars who were written in Meraga or who had done scientific studies in Maragha and Tabriz. The foundations of Shanb-i Ghazan, the most important science center of the Ghazan Khan period, were laid by scholars who worked in Maragha. Curiosity is not only scientifically; At the same time, it affected a very wide area in the field of religion, diplomacy and architecture. Especially for Eastern Christianity, the increasing cultural interaction thanks to Armenian, Nestorian and Syriac churches and their acceptance of ambassadors has also affected architecture and handicrafts. The Maragha-Nakhichevan architectural style has been influential on the style and architectural understanding of the works built in Azerbaijan and Anatolia.