Posts Tagged ‘istanbul’
History Of Istanbul
History of Istanbul:
The first settlement is thought to have been founded by the colonists from Megara led by Byzas in the 7th century BC. According to the legend before coming here, Byzas consulted the oracle in Delphi about founding a new settlement. The answer was short ‘opposite the blind people’. When Byzas and his colony arrived to the Bosphorus in 657 BC, they saw the settlement on the Asian shore at Chalcedon. When they discovered the spectacular natural harbour of the Golden Horn on the European shore they thought ‘these people in Chalcedon must be blind’. They named their new settlement ‘Byzantium’ after their leader Byzas.
Due to its important location, over the next thousand years, Byzantium became a rich trade and commerce center.
When Constantine I defeated Licinius in 324 AD he became the sole ruler of the Roman Empire and began to build a new capital at Byzantium, later named Constantinople which ment the city of Constantine.
Christianity was declared the official religion of the Roman Empire in 330 AD and Constantinople became the capital city of the Byzantine Empire which was rebuilt by Constantine I.
Besides being the new capital of the Empire, Constantinople was also the symbol of the Christendom. Constantius II and Constans the two suns of Constantine, took over the leadership of the empire his death in 337.Ruler of the western provinces was Constans and in 341, he decreed that all pre-Christian Graeco Roman worship and sacrifice should cease and he warned the ones still persisted in practicing ancient Graeco-Roman polytheism with the threat of the death penalty.
The Persian Darius (513 BC), the Athenian Alcibiades (408 BC), the Macedonian Philip II (339 BC), the Arabs (673-78, 717-18 AD), the Bulgarians (813, 913 AD) and the armies of the Fourth Crusade, which twice succeeded in taking the city (1203, 1204 AD) are among the assaliants that besieged the city before it was conquered by the Ottomans in 1453. After it was conqured by the Turks, the city became the capital of the Ottoman Empire until 1923. In the very same year Ankara was declared the capital city of the newly founded Turkish Republic. Great Britain, France and Italy occupied the city from 1918 until 1923.
Before the name was officially changed to Istanbul in 1930 the city went through some name changes; Konstantiniyye, Polis, Stimpol, Estanbul, Istambol and Istanbul.
Istanbul
ISTANBUL
Ones the capital city of the Roman Empire (330–395), then the Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Empire (395–1204 and 1261–1453), then the Latin Empire (1204–1261), and finally the Ottoman Empire (1453–1922), Istanbul is the largest city of Turkish Republic with the population of 12.573.836 according to the census held in 2007 (Estimated to be between 15 to 20 million today).
The Bosphorus, one of the two straits which separete Asia from Europe is located here and Istanbul is situated on both sides of this strait. The natural harbor known as the Golden Horn is located on the European side of the Bosphorus.
It is possible to see the constructions and remains (densely around Sultanahmet district) from Byzantium, Roman and Ottoman periods all over the city. Galata district which includes the famous Taksim square, Istiklal street and Byeoglu is famous with its night-life and considered as the heard of Istanbul. Golden Horn which is situated in between the districts Galata and Sultanahmet is a natural harbour.
Nisantasi and Besiktas are the other two pretty districts of the European site of the city with world famous shops and beautiful bosphorus view. Accross the Bosphorus, on the Anatolian side you can see Kadikoy district from where you can have a ferry to the islands.
Istanbul is one of three European Capitals of Culture in 2010 and in 1985 the historical parts of the city were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List.
