Overall view
The city consists of three separate elements - the old Turkish town (Eminönöü, Aksaray, Fatih), in the form of an almost equilateral triangle, which extends from the right bank of the Golden Horn to the Sea of Marmara; linked with the old town by the Galata and Atatürk Bridges, the district of Beyoglu with its suburbs of Galata and
Harbiye, largely inhabited by foreigners, on the slopes between the Golden Horn and the Bosporus; and the district of Üsküdar, with its suburbs, on the Asiatic side of the Bosporus. Istanbul is a unique and unforgettable sight with its towers and its palaces and the numerous domes and minarets of the 35 large and over a hundred smaller mosques rising above the water. Little is left of the colorful Oriental life of the old capital of the Sultans, and the people now wear European dress. Street names and shop signs are in the Latin alphabet; and the old rows of brown timber houses with red roofs and latticed kafes (bow-windows) have given place in the central areas to stone and reinforced-concrete blocks.
The climate of Istanbul is marked by sharp contrasts. In the evening it is frequently cool, even in summer. Among the city's numerous birds visitors will be impressed particularly by the black kites and, on the Bosporus, the black cormorants. Dolphins are a frequent sight in the Bosporus and the Sea of Marmara.
History
About 660 B.C. Dorian Greeks founded on what is now Seraglio Point the city of Byzantion (in Latin Byzantium), which controlled access to the Black Sea at the entrance to the Bosporus. In 513 B.C. the town was captured by the Persian King Darius I. During the sixth and fifth century it was a member of the first and second Attic Leagues. In 148 B.C. the free city of Byzantion entered into an alliance with Rome, and thereafter it several times lost and then regained its freedom. In A.D. 196 the city was captured and harshly treated by Septimius Severus, but soon recovered. In 324, after his victory over Licinius, Constantine I (306-37) resolved to make a second capital of the Empire.
In the autumn of 326 a beginning was made with the construction of a line of town walls taking in an area which extended far to the west, and on May 11th 330 the new city was solemnly inaugurated, under the name of Nova Roma or New Rome, soon to be changed to Constantinopolis. Like Rome the new city was divided into fourteen regions, and even had its seven hills. After the division of the Empire in 395 Constantinople became the capital of the Eastern Roman Empire. In the reign of Justinian (527-65) who rebuilt the city in greater magnificence after much of it had been reduced to ashes during the Nika Insurrection, it enjoyed its period of greatest splendor. Late Greek and Roman culture developed into the distinctive Byzantine culture, which found expression in the Greek language.
Soon afterwards, however, the Empire was torn by domestic and external conflicts. The city was harried by the Avars and Persians (627) and by the Arabs under the Omayyad caliphs; in 813 and again in 924 it was besieged by the Bulgars; and in 907 and 1048 Russian fleets appeared off Constantinople. Finally came the catastrophe of 1204, when, following disputes over the succession to the Imperial throne, the Crusaders captured the city and founded a Latin Empire.
After the Ottoman conquest of Asia Minor in the 13th century and the transfer of the capital from Bursa to Edirne (Adrianople) Constantinople was increasingly encircled by Turks. In 1453 Mehmet II Fatih (the Conqueror) took the city, which now became the Ottoman capital under the name of Istanbul. There was a great wave of building by the Sultans and Turkish grandees, particularly by Selim I (1512-20) and Süleiman the Magnificent (1520-66). Many major buildings were also erected in the 17th and 18th century During the 19th century Western influences began to make themselves felt in the city's architecture.
After the First World War, in which Turkey had been allied with the Central Powers, Istanbul was occupied by the Allies. In 1922, following Turkey's victory in the War of Independence, Turkish troops re-entered the city. In 1923 the Sultanate and Caliphate were abolished and Turkey became a Republic and its first President, Mustafa Kemal Atatürk, moved the capital to Ankara. In a drastic program of reform Atatürk banned the fez, the wearing of veils by women, the Order of Dervishes and polygamy and introduced the Latin alphabet, the metric system and regular surnames. The aspect of Istanbul has since then been increasingly Europeanized by the driving of wide modern streets through the old town, the pulling down of the old wooden houses and their replacement by new blocks of flats and offices, the establishment of a new commercial and business center north of Taksim Square and the development of whole new districts of the city.
Istanbul made a bid to host the 27th Summer Olympic Games in the year 2000.
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