Istanbul (Turkish:
İstanbul, historically also known as Byzantium and Constantinople;
see the names of Istanbul) is the largest city in Turkey and fifth largest city proper in the world with a population of 12.6 million. Istanbul is also a megacity, as well as the cultural and financial centre of Turkey. The city covers 39 districts of the Istanbul province. It is located on the Bosphorus Strait and encompasses the natural harbour known as the Golden Horn, in the northwest of the country. It extends both on the European (Thrace) and on the Asian (Anatolia) sides of the Bosphorus, and is thereby the only metropolis in the world that is situated on two continents.
In its long history, Istanbul has served as the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922). The city was chosen as joint European Capital of Culture for 2010. The historic areas of Istanbul were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1985.
History
In 2008, during the construction works of the
Yenikapı subway station and the
Marmaray tunnel at the
historic peninsula on the European side, a previously unknown
Neolithic settlement dating from circa 6500 BC was discovered.
[11][12][13] The first
human settlement on the Anatolian side, the Fikirtepe mound, is from the
Copper Age period, with artifacts dating from 5500–3500 BC.
[14] In nearby
Kadıköy (
Chalcedon) a port settlement dating back to the
Phoenicians has been discovered. Cape Moda in Chalcedon was the first location which the
Greek settlers from
Megara chose to colonize in 685 BC, prior to colonizing
Byzantion on the European side of the Bosphorus under the command of King
Byzas in 667 BC. Byzantion was established on the site of an ancient port settlement named
Lygos, founded by
Thracian tribes between the 13th and 11th centuries BC, along with the neighbouring
Semistra,
[15] of which
Pliny had mentioned in his historical accounts. Only a few walls and substructures belonging to Lygos have survived to date, near the
Seraglio Point (
Turkish:
Sarayburnu), where the famous
Topkapı Palace now stands. During the period of Byzantion, the
Acropolis used to stand where the Topkapı Palace stands today.
After siding with
Pescennius Niger against the victorious
Roman emperor Septimius Severus, the city was besieged by the
Romans and suffered extensive damage in 196 AD. Byzantium was rebuilt by
Severus and quickly regained its previous prosperity, being temporarily renamed as
Augusta Antonina by the emperor, in honour of his son.
[16]
The location of Byzantium attracted Constantine I in 324 after a prophetic dream was said to have identified the location of the city; but the true reason behind this prophecy was probably Constantine's final victory over
Licinius at the
Battle of Chrysopolis (
Üsküdar) on the Bosphorus, on 18 September 324, which ended the civil war between the Roman Co-Emperors, and brought an end to the final vestiges of the
Tetrarchy system, during which
Nicomedia (present-day
İzmit, 100 km (62 mi) east of Istanbul) was the most senior Roman
capital city.
[17] Byzantium (now renamed as
Nova Roma which eventually became
Constantinopolis, i.e. "The City of Constantine") was officially proclaimed the new capital of the
Roman Empire six years later, in 330. Following the death of
Theodosius I in 395 and the permanent partition of the Roman Empire between his two sons, Constantinople became the capital of the
Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire. As well as being the centre of an imperial dynasty, the unique position of Constantinople at the centre of two continents made the city a magnet for international
commerce,
culture and
diplomacy. The Byzantine Empire was distinctly Greek in culture and became the centre of Greek
Orthodox Christianity, while its capital was adorned with many magnificent
churches, including the
Hagia Sophia, once the world's largest
cathedral.
[18] The seat of the
Patriarch of Constantinople, spiritual leader of the
Eastern Orthodox Church, still remains in the
Fener (Phanar) district of Istanbul.
[19]
In 1204, the
Fourth Crusade was launched to capture
Jerusalem, but had instead turned on Constantinople, which was sacked and
desecrated.
[20] The city subsequently became the centre of the Catholic
Latin Empire, created by the crusaders to replace the Orthodox Byzantine Empire, which was divided into a number of splinter states, of which the
Empire of Nicaea was to recapture Constantinople in 1261 under the command of
Michael VIII Palaeologus.
In the last decades of the Byzantine Empire, the city had decayed as the Byzantine state became increasingly isolated and financially
bankrupt, its population had dwindled to some thirty or forty thousand people whilst large sections remained uninhabited.
[21] Due to the ever increasing inward turn the Byzantines took, many facets of their surrounding empire were now falling apart, leaving them vulnerable to attack.
Ottoman Turks began a strategy by which they took selected towns and smaller cities over time, enveloping
Bursa in 1326,
İzmit (Nicomedia) in 1337,
Gelibolu (Gallipoli) in 1354, and finally
Edirne (Adrianople) in 1362. This essentially cut off Constantinople from its main supply routes, strangling it slowly.
[22]
Panoramic view of the
Golden Horn in Istanbul, as seen from the
Galata Tower. The
Galata Bridge can be seen in the center of the picture. The
Seraglio Point where the
Topkapı Palace is located is seen at the left tip of the historic peninsula; followed by (left to right) the
Hagia Sophia, the
Sultan Ahmed Mosque, the
Yeni Mosque near the Galata Bridge, the
Beyazıt Tower rising high in the background, and the
Süleymaniye Mosque at far right, among others. The
Sea of Marmara and the
Princes' Islands are seen in the background, on the horizon. At the extreme left of the picture, the district of
Kadıköy (ancient
Chalcedon) on the Asian side of the city can be seen. Behind the Galata Bridge, towards the horizon, the
Column of Constantine (which was surrounded by iron bars for restoration) rises.
On 29 May 1453,
Sultan Mehmed II "the Conqueror"
captured Constantinople after a 53-day
siege (during which the last Roman/Byzantine emperor,
Constantine XI, died near the
Porta Aurea while defending the city) and proclaimed that Constantinople was now the new capital of the
Ottoman Empire. Sultan Mehmed's first duty was to rejuvenate the city
economically, creating the
Grand Bazaar and inviting the fleeing Orthodox and Catholic inhabitants to return. Captured prisoners were freed to settle in the city whilst provincial governors in
Rumelia and
Anatolia were ordered to send four thousand families to settle in the city, whether
Muslim,
Christian or
Jew, to form a unique
cosmopolitan society.
[21] The Sultan also endowed the city with various architectural monuments, including the
Topkapı Palace and the
Eyüp Sultan Mosque. Religious foundations were established to fund the construction of grand imperial mosques (such as the
Fatih Mosque which was built on the spot where the
Church of the Holy Apostles once stood), adjoined by their associated schools, hospitals and
public baths.
Suleiman the Magnificent's reign of the
Ottoman Empire from 1520 to 1566 was a period of great artistic and architectural achievements. The famous architect
Sinan designed many mosques and other grand buildings in the city, while Ottoman arts of
ceramics,
calligraphy and
miniature also flourished.
When the
Republic of Turkey was founded in 1923 by
Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, the capital was moved from Istanbul to
Ankara. In the early years of the republic, Istanbul was overlooked in favour of the new capital. However, starting from the late 1940s and early 1950s, Istanbul underwent great structural change, as new public squares (such as
Taksim Square),
boulevards and
avenues were constructed throughout the city; sometimes at the expense of the demolition of many historical buildings. Starting from the 1970s, the population of Istanbul began to rapidly increase, as people from
Anatolia migrated to the city in order to find employment in the many new factories that were constructed at the outskirts of the sprawling metropolis. This sudden sharp rise in the city's population caused a large demand for
housing development, and many previously outlying villages and forests became engulfed into the greater
metropolitan area of Istanbul. Illegal construction, combined with corner-cutting methods, have accounted for why 65% of the buildings in Istanbul are built without proper planning.
[23] The concerns have increased due to the serious nature of the
Izmit earthquake of 17 August 1999.
[24] On 9 September 2009 the city experienced
extensive flooding.
[25]
