Municipality's Logo
Istanbul (Turkish spelling: İstanbul) is the largest city in Turkey. Until 1930 this city was commonly known by its original Greek name Constantinople by westerners; some writings named it Stambul, especially in the 19th century. In Classical Antiquity it was known as Byzantium or Byzantion. Constantinople is the area between the Golden Horn and the Sea of Marmara of today's Istanbul. With a population of between 11 and 15 million people, Istanbul is the most populous city of Turkey and by some counts one of the largest cities in Europe, although the city straddles the Bosphorus Strait. The city is also the administrative capital of the Istanbul Province.
Founded by the Roman emperor Constantine on the site of the ancient Greek colony of Byzantium, and called Constantinople after him, it became the eastern capital of the Roman Empire and later the capital of the Byzantine Empire. After the Fall of Constantinople in 1453 it became part of and soon capital of the Ottoman Empire. Before the conquest Turks called the city İstanbul, but officially used the name Qustantaniyyeh (قسطنطنيه), that means "City of Constantine" in Arabic. Only on March 28, 1930, was the city officially renamed Istanbul.
Constantinople, the old city is mainly located on the south west corner of the Bosporus strait, which separates Europe from Asia and the Black Sea from the Marmara Sea. However, the modern city is much larger and covers both European and Asian sides of the Bosporus. Famous tourist destinations include Sultanahmet, Kilyos, Sariyer, Eyüp and Taksim on the European side, and Beykoz, Sile, Üsküdar, Kadiköy and Adalar (the Prince's Islands) on the Asian side. Although Istanbul is not the capital of Turkey, it is still arguably the most important city to Turkish industry, commerce and culture and the most important import and export center.
Etymology of the name
There are two mainstream hypotheses about the etymology of the name Istanbul: the first states that the name Istanbul comes from the Greek words eis tin Poli εἰς τὴν πóλι meaning "at the City" (the City/Polis being Constantinoupolis), while the second suggests that the name is merely a Turkish contraction of Constantinoupolis. The sound rendered by "i" is prepended by the virtue of the language. Many Turkic languages forbid certain combinations of consonants at the beginning of the word, hence certain borrowed words acquire a vowel chosen according to the rule of vowel harmony. In this way Smyrna became Izmir and Nicaea became Iznik, just as "machine" became "amashina" in e.g., Abkhaz language. The intermediate form Stamboul was commonly used in the 19th century.
History
Byzantium was the original name of the modern city of Istanbul. Byzantium was originally settled by Greek colonists from Megara in 667 BC and named after their king Byzantas. The name "Byzantium" is a Latinization of the original Greek name Byzantion (Βυζάντιον). Bυζαντιον, pronounced roughly Booz-dan-tee-on).
After siding with Pescennius Niger against the victorious Septimius Severus the city was besieged by Rome and suffered extensive damage in AD 196. Byzantium was rebuilt by the now Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and quickly regained its previous prosperity. The location of Byzantium attracted Constantine the Great who, in AD 330, refounded it as Nova Roma or Constantinoupolis (Constantinople, Greek Greek: Konstantinoupolis or Κωνσταντινούπολη or Κωνσταντινούπολις) after a prophetic dream was said to have identified the location of the city. The East Roman Empire which had its capital in Constantinople from then until 1453, has often been called the Byzantine Empire or Byzantium by modern scholars.
The name is a reference to the Roman emperor Constantine I who made it the capital of the Roman Empire on May 11, 330 AD. Constantine named the city Nova Roma (New Rome), but that name never came into common use.
Of course it did not take a prophet to see that this combination of imperialism and location would play an important role as the crossing point between two continents (Europe and Asia), and later a magnet for Africa and others as well, in terms of commerce, culture, diplomacy and strategy. At a strategic position, Constantinoupolis was able to control the route between Asia and Europe, as well as the passage from the Mediterranean Sea to the Euxinos Pontus (Black Sea).
Constantinople was the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire, also known as the Byzantine Empire. In Byzantine times the Greeks called Constantinople i Poli ("the City"), since it was the centre of the Greek world and for most of the Byzantine period the largest city in Europe. It was captured and sacked by the Fourth Crusade in 1204 and then re-captured by Nicaean forces under the command of Michael VIII Palaeologus in 1261.
On May 29 1453 the city fell to the Ottoman Turks (See the Fall of Constantinople) and was part of the Ottoman Empire until its official dissolution on November 1 1922. The Ottoman Turks called the city Stamboul or Istanbul, which are Turkish renderings of Constantinople, although westerners still called the city by its Greek name. Since then it has remained a part of the Republic of Turkey (first declared on January 20 1921, generally recognized on October 29 1923).
Istanbul only became the official name in 1930. When the Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923, the capital was moved from Istanbul to Ankara.
Places to visit
- Topkapi Palace
- Hagia Sophia
- The Grand Bazaar, Istanbul
- The Spice Bazaar, Istanbul
- Sultan Ahmed Mosque or Blue Mosque
- Suleiman Mosque
- Istiklal Avenue
- Basilica Cistern
- Bulgarian St Stephen Church (also known as Bulgarian Iron Church)
- Golden Horn
- Galata Tower
- Prince's Islands
- Dolmabahçe Palace
- Taksim Square
- Beyoglu
- Bebek fish restaurants
The cross-continent European walking route E8 trail begins/ends here, running 4700km to Cork, Ireland.
Education
Airports
Districts
Adalar Avcilar Bagcilar Bahcelievler Bahcesehir Bakirkoy Bayrampasa Besiktas Beyoglu Buyukcekmece Beykoz Catalca Eminonu Esenler Fatih Gaziosmanpasa Gungoren Kadikoy Kagithane Kartal Kucukcekmece Maltepe Pendik Sariyer Sultanbeyli Sile Sisli Tuzla Umraniye Uskudar Zeytinburnu
See also
- The Bosphorus
- Bosporus Bridge
- Fatih Sultan Mehmet Bridge
- Fenerbahçe
- Galata Bridge
- Galatasaray
- Hippodrome of Constantinople
- Istanbul cymbals
- List of hospitals in Istanbul
- Tünel
See also: Roman Empire, Roman Emperors, Constantinople, List of Byzantine Empire-related topics, Byzantine architecture, Byzantine Empire, and Byzantine Emperors.
External links
- Description of Byzantine monetary system - 5th Century BC : History of money FAQ's
- Byzantine antiquities of Istanbul